The strangest thing happened to me a few minutes ago and it has left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I had Americable hooked up in our tower apartment about a week or two ago and everything seemed fine. The only problem was that our remote that came with the converter would'nt work properly. The tech attempted to fix it but could'nt and told us to go get another remote or change out our box. Now keep in mind that I am paying the premium for both cable and internet so I think everything should work and I shouldnt be inconvienced ; but I let it go.  Then about 2 days ago the cable box shut off and rebooted then shut off again. I called the tech support and he was very helpful in trying to fix the problem, he even attempted to fix my remote but to no avail. So he said he would put in a tech call and scheduled me an appointment and that appointment is for today at 3pm to 5pm.  Here is the problem, I called and spoke with the supervisor and confirmed that the tech will be bringing and extra box and remote to insure that he can fix the problem. She was very nice and said yes I will call him and remind him. NOW THAT WAS easy.  Well then I get the phone call from hell. The woman that called me back, which I wont say her name, was very rude. She wanted to make sure I knew that see was in charge of scheduling and not her supervisor. I said to her I already spoke to the supervisor and she took care of it. She then ignored me and started saying that I wasnt giving the tech time to come in and see what the problem was. I tried to explain why I call the first time she then started to tell me to calm down, I said I am calm and she then replied if you are going to talk to me that way I don't have to speak to you. I said I am not being disrespectful, I am not cursing or yelling at you I am trying to explain myself. I then stop and asked to speak to the supervisor and she replied with an attitude that the supervisor was out to lunch. The conversation changed to why I couldn't go to their office and pick up a new cable box and remote. I said my husband has duty and I have tendonitis in my ankles and can't go down there today and besides I am paying around $140 a month I think I should'nt have to go down there. She then reply so we are suppose to send our tech with another cable box and remote because you have a medical problem. I then perceived she was trying to vex me so I let her talk and she continue to say that I wasnt givng the tech time to fix the problem, I said maam that is not what I am doing, but when you are using words like calm down, I am going to hang up on you and saying I have said something I didnt say is very upsetting and not at all what is going on. She interrupts me and says well I am sorry you are having a bad day but I have to get back to work and CLICK she hangs up on me.
None of that was necessary and it really made me feel sick and disgusted inside. Eventhough this person should give excellent customer service she should also respect other spouses and military members and not in any way attempt to vex or belittle someone. I am writing and telling my story because I needed to get my frustration out. I would like to apologize to all military members and spouses that have been treated rudely by people in customer service serving on this base that have no respect for us. I am a Veteran, Spouse, and a Christian and to have someone do that so close to Christmas is very sad.
So thank you for letting me vent and I pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas.

Well I hope this doesn't hold you down when it comes to celebrating with your family. Karma is a bitch and she will have it coming to her. Just know that you were not in the wrong. don't let anyone tell you that. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! I'd talk more but my kitten is begging for attention. :p

Americable has a monopoly on the base, let's face it. It's typical of the way that military bases automatically renew contracts for these sleeze-bags. I remember a few years ago when I live on base I noticed that the audio signal on AFN was mono, when it should be stereo in most cases. So, I go over to Americable office and speak to this guy who gives me a line of bull about how that would be too hard for them to do because it was "too expensive." Well, I complained to the CMC, that didn't do any good because that guy rolls out of here every two years, and dropped the service. Good luck with your problem and I would elevate it to the Ombudsman level.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are enough people on this base willing to go without TV in order to boycott americable into submission.

I would ICE them into submission. Supposedly somebody pretty high up at CNFJ (not CFAY) monitors them closely. Keep complaining until somebody listens to you. Don't give up the fight if you feel you've been wronged. In your ICE complaint I would be very specific as to to your "remedy," not just exact an apology. Just my 2 cents worth.

Comments Received By Someone On My Facebook Wall: http://www.facebook.com/japanbases

Americable sucks.
---------------------------------------------
We use to have Americable in Okinawa. Now we have Mediattii. They suck just as bad. Internet is extremely slow & seems to be getting worse even though they just upgraded...???

From my take on things: I use JCOM out in town, and have never experienced the delays, or problems that I hear.. Your not the first to complain, and will not be the last. I have posted the last 3 years of SEAHAWK question/answers, and some of those come directly from ICE. Try using the

Search  and type in Americable. You will see a lot of different complaints..

I think Mike is right.  Use ICE, and explain your issues.  I can assure you, they read this forum as well.  Your issues are being addressed, and hopefully someone can help fix the problems.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone..

Comments Received By Someone On My Facebook Wall: http://www.facebook.com/japanbases

The problem is they have no competition man i would hate to live on base for because of Americable

www.hulu.com
www.watch-movies-links.net or something like that
use utorrent to download movies and tv shows from www.btjunkie.com or isohunt.com
We only use the TV for Noggin and espn anyway. We watch all our state side tv shows on the PS3 and Xbox360. I stream movies and TV shows from my desktop to my big screen. If you want to learn how to do this just ask and I can hook you up with my magic.

Prime's right, hulu.com is a good way to go. I use JCOM as well, but I've heard nothing but negative things from co-workers who live on base. If you're a fan of Apple's products, you also have the option of getting their Apple TV or whatever they call it. It has a number of good features. Give it a look if you're interested, and I'm here if you have any questions.

Welcome to life with Americable. Since they do have a monopoly they prettymuch do what they want. Yokota was able to get rid of them & hire a new service. I'm not sure how it was done but it's worth looking into. You should also call & speak to the supervisor about the incident. It sounds like the lady took the opportunity to call & berate you when the supervisor wasn't there to overhear the conversation. It needs to be brought to their attention.

OH NO! My box just "went out!" They are supposed to be coming tomorrow to fix/replace it and prorate us... I hope I have better luck than you did! I'm not putting up with their bullshit! Let's just hope they play nice, otherwise I'm not going to!

Is J-Com only available out in town, or do they have on base connectivity also? I would hate to stay on the base, and be subject to use only one company. Especially if Americable is as bad as everyone makes it.

I get there in two weeks and I need a good internet connection. Any suggestions?

Yes J-COM is only available out in town. I pay around 10,000 yen per month for both internet and cable tv. I only have 1 box though, so 1 television downstairs and 1 internet connection upstairs. From my internet connection upstairs I use a Wireless connection so my 2nd PC downstairs can use Wi-Fi and my laptop. The internet connection is very good. I believe its 100Mbps.

One thing I did in Japan, since I am so mobile, and travel all over the place was I purchased a special adapter from E-Mobile. It cost around 12,000 yen \ $130 for the adapter, and then you pay a monthly fee for around 5900 yen \ $70 give or take per mo.. That is unlimited service though. Doesnt mean you will reach the max for bw usage. I think it starts somewhere around $10 per month for the monthly fee, but the max it would ever get to depending on how much you use, will be around $70.

Why do I use E-Mobile?

Well like I said I travel on the weekends, and some times when your in Japan, they dont always have internet connection. I have it ANYWHERE I go in Japan, and because I am a web developer it allows me instant access (from anywhere) to update, or respond to questions users may have.

I find it great for me, but some would not want to fork out paying the extra money..

Your other option, if you will be onbase, is they have Wi-Fi setup (which I dont believe is Americable) but possibly could be, and its FREE.. Not bad either for the connectivity, although I never use it, and am always on my E-Mobile card..

**Anytime you use anyone's Wi-Fi connection remember they sniff the traffic through the network ** Lets say the base did or didnt have some sort of key logging/capturing packet on the proxy. So every packet that was sent was sniffed for keywords, or if they got really intense your bank account #'s, passwords, etc.. This could happen anywhere, not just onbase, but even STARBUCK's free Wi-Fi.. Thats why I dont use FREE services like that...
I set up my own secure network, and recommend to people they use a Secure VPN, which costs around $5.00 a month which will protect your traffic when you browse online.

Good luck with the transition, 2 weeks will be here in no time. Not sure what rank you are, or where you are planning to live, possibly the barracks, or TPU, but they should have internet connection onbase you could use in the mean time..

Thanks for the response Adam. Now say I live within off-base housing, such as Ikego or Negishi. Will I have the option of getting J-COM in those locations? I would really like to be able to get an internet connection and TV that is pretty fast, reliable and not as shaky as Americable sounds.

There are a few companies that offer Internet and Television coverage off-base.  I think even YahooBB..  I have never used them, maybe others know more information about them.

JCOM is available throughout Japan, and doubt you will experience any problems with them if you live off-base.

JCOM JAPAN

Since I don't live on base, I have JCOM, and for the most part, have no issues. I also have a Satellite box that I got from over at the NEX Car Rental place along with Antenna and the rest for receiving AFRTS programming. Why is everyone using Americable if you can use AFRTS Satellite. Does Americable have more channels?

Just curious.

@AdrianBrac, let's be clear here... Living on base equates to a house via official Military housing whether it be located on Yokosuka Base, Ikego Housing Base or Negishi Housing base. All three locations are "living on base" and are limited to Americable. Now for TV only you could get SkyPerfect TV similar to DirectTV lots of channels different packages available and pretty reliable (I would say more so that DirectTV because my mum's goes out whenever there is a bad storm outside and SkyPerfect is still strong even during Typhoons).

For Internet if you are in Negishi you could get UQWimax (about 40 MBps download) for a reasonable price (I believe no more than $60 USD per month)... With that you have two options you could get their card for your PC (Mostly laptops) and be limited to that one PC or you could get a "base station" and plug it in to a cable router for dispersing it throughout the house. Bad thing with the base station is that you aren't as mobile as you could be since UQWimax is available throughout cities in Japan. Ikego might be able to receive UQWimax, but Yokosuka base still isn't covered (yet).

As for off-base (means paying rent/utilities) there are several providers of Internet & TV. In Yokosuka there is only one Cable TV provider, in Yokohama there are two that I know of, but like Adam said if you get Hikari Fiber to your house you can subscribe to your ISP's TV services. Several providers out there.

JCOM's max Internet Speed is currently 160 MBps down and I believe 8 MBps up whereas Hikari Fiber is available up to 1 GBps down & spread speeds UP (lowest I know of being 100 MBps up). The 1 GBps service is only available in certain areas right now, but their service areas are expanding monthly.

Great info provided Wilson, Thanks!

Outstanding Wilson.

I was hoping that the Off-Base Military Housing was confined to Americable, as the On-Base Housing is. Unfortunately that is not the case.

In order to get a cable/internet service that is more reliable than Americable, it seems that Off-Base Rentals is the only option.

I looked into Americable's services, and it seems pretty basic for the amount of money being spent for that type (reliability-wise) of service being offered. Not only that, but users of Americable are only limited to 20GB of bandwidth a month. So, not only are customers subject to the unsatisfactory work ethic of Americable, but also limited to the service being offered.

I pay $100 for HDTV (DVR & Extra channels included) and internet (25Gbps Down/15Gbps Up) from Verizon FIOS. I understand the trade-off due to geographical location, but I still find this odd, since Military customers are easily paying close to double for intermittent services.

I'd be pretty confident saying that overall customer satisfaction is not quite up-to-par for Americable.

For $150 off base you can get 160 MBps down 10 MBps up and HDTV with DVR (no extra channels) (http://www.jcom.co.jp/english/prici...ack4.html)

Thanks Wilson for the info. I just want to be clear as to what off base means.

Are you referring to the Off-Base Military Housing (i.e., Ikego & Negishi), or Off Base Rental Property (personnel who receive OHA)?

Just wanted to shoot a laugh everyone's way:

There's a JO onboard who's attempting to single-handedly right the wrongs of Americable. They're the provider for our onboard WiFi and supposedly it's down or something. Anywho, he thinks it's a good idea if the entire base's population "revolts" (his exact choice of words) against this company to force some kind of change.

So if you're all for this Down With Crappy Service thing, join the revolt. X-D

Viva La Revolucion!

You all might as well join the cause... Anything worth doing in large groups has larger gains.

Adrian,
People who do not reside within the confines of any military facillity are off base.

Also, please realize (for those of you onbase), that Americable has a new "excessive use" policy. They will restrict your bandwidth ----- WITHOUT WARNING. I pay $59.75/month for the 10Mbps plan. I went from being able to download at 4-8 Mbps (never getting to 10), and have now been restricted to less than .5 Mbps on a good night.

Hooked up to my network:

- one computer
- Xbox 360
- Apple TV

The restriction makes the Apple TV pointless. It takes 70-90 minutes to download a 30 minute TV episode. Movies take overnight. It's ridiculous.

I have lodged a complaint, but, it won't go too far. It's not like I could cancel and switch to Comcast or anything.

This is just my opinion, but do you people really need TV that bad?

TV is a morale issue for most of us.

I don't know that saying "we need it that bad" is accurate or fair.

Of course we don't NEED it, but many sure like to have it and want to have it.

And, the internet issue is a pretty big deal. It is my sole method of communicating with loved ones back in the states

I agree with the internet thing... it's pretty much our only link to our families back in the states. A lot of people out here would lose their minds without it... how did people survive without internet out here back in the day? And as far as "needing it that bad", I just asked it that way because I personally don't watch tv, and I don't see the big deal in not having it. Like I said, it's just my opinion.

Hmmm, we really don't watch TV so we don't pay for the cable TV package, just the top tier cable internet package... and I expect to be able to use a easy to load site like Livejournal.com without issue. It's gotten to the point in the last month where those pages just... time out. They won't load. That's ridiculous.

So if I'm paying for the top tier I should be able to use something like iTunes no problem either, seeing as that's how I get the certain TV shows/movies I want. Or even Hulu. We also don't have a "home phone". we rely on Skype and now I'm getting kicked off that. This was not happening a couple months ago!

So if Americable is issuing this "excessive use" policy then there is a problem 'cause I'm not even seeing the bandwidth I'm paying for, not even close. I can't even use up my bandwidth because the internet is too slow to get there!

It's just really frustrating because the only thing you can do is complain while they shrug and charge more, put in new policys etc, etc.

have you guys been submitting ICE comments?

We are, absolutely.

I also hope that everyone on the other thread that said they're getting slow internet will do the same, 'cause obviously there has been a change in net speeds the last month. Someone reading ICE needs to see that people have noticed a difference that is severely effecting them. 'Specially you guys that were monitoring your exact speeds before.

My next question: what happens when that doesn't work?

I think that's why we're complaining and moaning because we know there is a small chance that it'll "get fixed". The only real choice is to... move off base. But for someone like us with less than year and a 1/2 here that's not very practical.

My only hope that the net returns to what it used to be, and there really is a difference in the pay tiers... or they allow "off base" internet. That would really give Americable a kick in the butt to get their act together.

I remember when we were signing up as newbs to the base they just laughed at us when we were mentioning bandwitdth/sling box/hitting the limit... like what were we gonna do, they're the only game in town. Ugh.

I live off-base and have J-Com with no major problems with the internet, although I must admit I don't have the high tier rates. You guys on-base are stuck with Americable until the brass make internet speed on-base a serious Quality of Life issue.   If people in 7th Fleet start some serious complaining,  then MAYBE something will get done. Has anybody tried to contact the COTAR (contract administrator) to see if the terms of the contract are being fulfilled?   All these gov't contracts have oversight, and the person who oversees the contracts isn't the dude who runs Americable here.   Didn't Yokota deep-six Americable for another company because of all the complaints?

We just got here about a month ago and I must agree that Americable is BAD. I'm kicking the cable to the curb as soon as the boat pulls out. It's not worth $70 to me! The internet is slow and drops a lot and the cable channels are lacking. I was planning on calling them tomorrow to see what the deal was but I see it's not just me. I'll submit an ICE comment as well.

Sounds to me like the base is getting plenty of ICE comments but no visible progress is being made.

I think all that the complaining did was give Americable an excuse to raise the rates again. It also helped them to get a "fluff" article in the Stars and Stripes explaining why they can't meet the demands of their unreasonable, illegal file sharing customers who won't be nice and share the limited bandwith with everyone else as Americable thinks they should. Americable somehow turned the complaints into "well if thats what they want, we need more money" without focusing on the fact they arent providing what the current rates are being paid for.

If you have 3 people signed up for 15 Mbps, you should have 45 Mbps available, but they dont. They probably have like 20Mbps and just split it 3 ways hoping that all 3 people wont be online at the same time or wont be using that much. Now that they have realized that wont happen and that people actually want to USE what they are paying for, they have gone back and done a rate increase. So how many months will we have to pay an increased rate before they use that extra money to even START  upgrading their infrastructure? thats the question....

And Americable is the only one you can get on base? Does that include Negishi and Ikego too or just the main base? I don't want to have to deal with their crap once I get there... I need internet to keep in contact with my hubby.

WOW! I just read all the comments on Americable and can relate 100%.
I was sitting at the Gazebo by McD's last summer and couldn't connect to the internet. I called Americable Tech Support and got some yahoo that told me I was too close to the WiFi unit inside the Gazebo.
Hmm like all things that run wireless move farther away and the signal gets weaker...sit closer and they get stronger.
The problem was there was NO signal at all. When I explained to the "Tech" there was no signal being sent from his WiFi router he got condescending and indignant. Which I have come to know is the Americable SOP towards it's customers.
I have heard some of the Americable Help Desk Techs have no IT certifications what so ever.
I believe it.
Up until recently they used to have constant freezing on their cable tv shows. I discovered that I was paying for TV that was recorded onto CDs and sent over from the US!! What a rip off!
I spoke with the Director of Americable here in Japan and he is no better than his employees!
Nut doesn't fall far from the tree I guess.

I presently live out in town and use a Japanese ISP. I can't recall who it is because I have never had to call them because my Internet NEVER has a problem.

Americable needs to go. They have had plenty of time to get any kinks out of their network.
Several years ago Americable was kicked off of Yokota. I am not sure whether it was for poor customer service or because their owner back in the US was under investigation/arrested for some tax problem.
Either way their extremely poor customer service and poor Cable/Internet service needs to be dealt with on the CNFJ Command Level.

Recon,

I appreciate your feedback, but I disagree with you a tad bit. I think ICE possibly could work in your favor, but you have to get additional feedback like these forum posts, the computer speed test (computers & internet forum) which provide real inputs from users and their experiences. I can almost guarantee that the people that can make the changes that need to be made have read or will read this forum post. These topics do get reviewed by the site and issues are being brought up the chain. Thanks again for your honest opinion.
www.japanbases.com

Actually I and several others that were tired of bad service documented each time we had Cable TV interruptions and Internet connectivity issues/drops in service. My TV added up to be something like 30hrs of interruptions and several days of dropped internet, all of which I had to pay for.
We sent this in an ICE comment and received the normal "canned" response but no action and no follow up.
Since I don't live on base now I didn't keep them....I think I should have though.

It is definitely not a case of "not knowing" it is a case of "not caring". They even used the complaining about their service to make us pay more money so that they can supposedly fix it. The jury is out on when/if that will happen. To be fair, they probably went to the contract people and said "we are tired of people complaining about us" and threatened to pull out, then there would be NO internet at all for a period of months. So rather than that, I am sure whoever is in charge gave in and even authorized them a rate increase to get them to stay. This is the problem with a monopoly and why it is usually illegal.

So if I am paying for 15mbps and usually get only 3mbps then I could change my payment plan to 5Mbps and still get 3mbps? Or would they then decrease my speed down to 1mbps to keep the "20% of what I am paying for" ratio? (seems likely based on lack of action to fix all this to date)

I have written ICE comments and even asked that I receive a reply and give my name and contact info and to date (almost one month later, just a day or 2 short), I still haven't received anything from them at all. I received a horribly nasty call from one of their people there. I lost my grandmother and just found out that particular day. When they called me, she was VERY rude and abrupt with me. My account is even paid ahead an entire month, so even if there is a problem, why are they being so incredibly rude to me, especially when I explained the situation. I was distraught on the phone, crying and her rude demeanor did not make it any better to say the very least. I wish someone would have at least called me back about the situation, as I requested in my ICE comment.

Well apparently they don't care if they get paid or not either. I have had problems with them the last two months about payments (they had our payment info wrong after I gave it to them right twice) and then waiting days before they smite the payment. Then tries to tell me it takes 3 or 4 days for the payment to come out. I'm calling BULL!! What they don't realize is when you call the bank and ask when the payment was smited they can tell you the exact min. Also just as soon as the payment is smited you get a email response back saying your payment went through. This 3 or 4 days they are taking about is the time for it to completely come out and be in the transaction page but what they also fail to realize is some banks have it now to where you can even see what the pending activitys are. So this crap saying they had smited my payment when they actually haven't is getting on my nerves. I am so tempted to go and put my box on that woman's desk and just leave. I mean this women is like I'm stealing from them or something.

Well, just to let everyone know, ICE comments do work. Be very specific about what happened, who you spoke with (their name is important), and such. If you want to get a response back from your specific comment, you will need to leave your name and contact info, otherwise you can remain anonymous.
I have gotten positive feedback from the ICE comments and hope that things will change soon because of the suggestions made in them. I hope that other people will also use the ICE comments to make the company aware of their areas of need, so to speak. Hope this helps. Here is the link if anyone needs it:

http://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=ca...egory_id=2

or http://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=site&site_id=14 and then click on Communications, then Americable.

Posted By vicsec_angel on 06 Apr 2010 03:24 PM
Well, just to let everyone know, ICE comments do work. Be very specific about what happened, who you spoke with (their name is important), and such. If you want to get a response back from your specific comment, you will need to leave your name and contact info, otherwise you can remain anonymous.
I have gotten positive feedback from the ICE comments and hope that things will change soon because of the suggestions made in them. I hope that other people will also use the ICE comments to make the company aware of their areas of need, so to speak. Hope this helps. Here is the link if anyone needs it:

http://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=ca...egory_id=2

or http://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=site&site_id=14 and then click on Communications, then Americable.

Judging from the amount of complaints, lack of follow up after ICE comments are made and unresolved issues I would say the ICE comments are having little effect on making Americable get off their backsides and actually provide decent service.

Posted By vicsec_angel on 05 Apr 2010 10:03 PM
I have written ICE comments and even asked that I receive a reply and give my name and contact info and to date (almost one month later, just a day or 2 short), I still haven't received anything from them at all. I received a horribly nasty call from one of their people there. I lost my grandmother and just found out that particular day. When they called me, she was VERY rude and abrupt with me. My account is even paid ahead an entire month, so even if there is a problem, why are they being so incredibly rude to me, especially when I explained the situation. I was distraught on the phone, crying and her rude demeanor did not make it any better to say the very least. I wish someone would have at least called me back about the situation, as I requested in my ICE comment.

I was contacted by one of their Tech support folks named "Bob"....... a more condescending, arrogant, abrasive individual you will rarely ever meet.