TSTT Forum: Razzzhead - Viewing Profile

For a very long time Tobago internet connectivity has been suffering due to the loss of the rented fibre optic cores in one of the T&TEC submarine HV cables that go between Toco and Milford Substation at Crown Point. Since the cable failed, TSTT have switched back to the legacy microwave link which is probably steam driven it's so old. In recent weeks the speed during the day and evening was only a crawl with the worst performance around 6:00pm when if you got more that 200kbs, you were lucky. However there was light at the end of the tunnel when TSTT anounced it was to get it's very own submarine fibre optic cable which was due to be installed during July. Yesterday I was having trouble in that local sites were fine but every ten minutes or so, international sites would be unreachable. This would continue for a few minutes then every thing would be ok again. I called the helpdesk and was told that there was some server work going on in Tobago which may account for the issues. Later there was a minor power dip which resulted in the modem dropping out and rebooting. Following that the internet speed was really sailing. It's still been good all day today. My conclusion is that the new cable must be in operation. Here is the latest speedtest result from my favourite speedtest site at Columbus Networks in Florida:-


Click:Speedtest.jpg
Last Result:
Download Speed: 12138 kbps (1517.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 622 kbps (77.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 90 ms
Monday, 06 August 2012 18:26:14

Back in 2008, I signed up for Blink Broadband and opted for the special deal where if you sign up for a minimum of three years, you get a 15% discount on the bill. Everything was fine (as far as the billing) during that time. However after the three years expired, I noticed the internet part of the phone bill suddenly jumped by quite a few dollars. I questioned this at the local office only to be told that my "contract had expired". I pointed out that I still have a contract with them! They provide me with a service, they send me a bill, I pay the bill and so on - month by month. If it was a fixed term contract, after the three years the phone would be cut, I would send back the modem etc. and there would be no more bills. I clearly don't have that sort of contract, I have a perpetual one. I tried to point out that the agreement I had with them is that if within a three year period of starting the contract, should that contract should be terminated at my request, then I would be liable to pay an excess. The clerk wasn't having it. She was adamant that my contract had expired so therefore I have to pay more. I maintain I still have a contract with them because I still have a service and still get (and pay) a bill. She says no - "your contract has expired - that's why you pay more". I tried to reason with her by pointing out that I entered into an agreement to undertake to keep the contract going for at least three years, and as a reward for my loyalty, TSTT would give me a 15% discount. She still wasn't having it. She was adamant that my contract had expired. I went on to point out that they are breaking the law unless they inform me in writing that the contract terms are now changed. What they did was to increase the monthly price without warning.

The Adverse Trade Practices Order, 2000 states that:-

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I intend to take this further with the TSTT management and if I don't get satisfaction I will make a formal complaint with the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago as well as with The Consumer Affairs Division.

Customer loyalty indeed!

Has any other Blink Customer come across this nonsense? If they won't budge, we should start a Class Action.

I think the default settings in the Blink / Zhone ADSL modem can lead to a serious security breach. After returning from an overseas trip I was unable to login to my modem as the password for 'admin' was not accepted. I had previously changed the admin password from the default 'admin' to something more secure and was sure I had not forgotten what it was. No matter what I tried I could not get past the login screen. I also tried 'user | user' and also 'support | support' - both of which had been left on the default settings: these would not work either. Although the modem was still working, I was suspicious that something was wrong as my PC, (which was connected to the modem via LAN) was not able to browse the internet, although my laptop which was connected wirelessly to the modem could browse. The only difference in the network settings for the two machines was the DNS settings. The PC's DNS settings were default therefore was using the DNS from the modem, whereas the laptop was using OpenDns settings of 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. I concluded that the modem had been hijacked and that the DNS settings had been corrupted along with the access passwords. I then decided to do a factory reset of the modem by pressing the reset button for about a minute. I assumed I would then be able to log in with the default 'admin | admin' to be able to input the correct ppp username and password. But then something strange happened - after rebooting, the modem connected automatically, both my PC and laptop were able to browse and my original admin password worked again. The factory reset had not worked, even though the button had been pressed for long enough.

A number of friends have experienced similar experiences of not being able to access their modems, so I'm wondering if this is a widespread phenomenon. A number of questions remain:-

Is this behaviour really due to a malicious attack, or is it that TSTT have been doing some remote "updates" and have screwed things up?
Can a hacker access the modem remotely even if the admin password is secure - by logging in as 'support | support' perhaps?
Is remote management of the modem by TSTT via the TR-069 client a good or bad thing?
Can a hacker who knows that the ACS password is 'OneAcsToRuleThemAll' use the TR-069 client as a backdoor to access the modem?
Why didn't the factory reset work?
Does the Access Control | Services | HTTP | WAN checkbox being ticked allow access to the modem even though the passwords are secure?

I have now set a secure password for all three user names, have made sure none of the WAN access checkboxes are ticked and have disabled the TR-069 Client so that TSTT cannot perform any conjuring tricks behind my back.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

It seems Blink is being quietly rolled out in Tobago.

There are reports of applicants in Carnbee, Bon Accord and Canaan being invited to pick up their modems. Please encourage new Tobago Blinkers to enrol on this forum and let us know their experiences.

This is sad.

I got through to the CSR on the New Delhi Helpdesk and enquired about the IMAP client configuration settings that I had read on TSTT Support Customer Resource Center site, which was a bit confusing regarding the server name and so on. After asking me for my name and phone number, Kim (I kid you not) said that my account was suspended. I replied that was surprising as I was calling on that number and was able to browse successfully. After putting me on hold and speaking to her supervisor, Kim eventaually came back and reported that her supervisor had told her that if the customer was able to hear her and was able to browse, it was unlikely that the account was suspended. I realised that Kim and her super were masters of pedantry. I was getting nowhere.

At last I was able to get to the point of my enquiry regarding the IMAP settings. After going through the settings as described on this link, Kim informed me that TSTT Webmail does not support IMAP. I pointed out that I wasn't refering to TSTT Webmail but the new Google enabled email as described on the New Blink Google page

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After putting me on hold again and referring to her wise supervisor, she returned still confused. I invited her to browse to the links herself so as to attempt to cut shorter what was becoming a very long story.

(During this time I had finished setting up my client and the IMAP access did in fact work after all.) After carefully spelling out the link (no cut & paste over the phone...) she quietly informed me that unfortunately she could not browse to that website as their facility did not have online internet access for 'security reasons'. I was speechless.

I informed her that I had managed to sort out the problem anyway and if she needed to set up IMAP herself or to check a link online, to give me a call, and was there anything else I could help her with today?