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Life without the internet is unimaginable. Just ten minutes without an active connection can have your skin crawling and heart sinking into unfathomable depths. It’s a scary feeling. And, unfortunately, even after subscribing to the most reliable internet service provider in town, you’ll have to contend with it. The worst part though is that where once internet outages were a rare occurrence, they are all too common now and happening more often than we’d like.
A major reason behind the shift can be attributed to the recent breakout of COVID-19 that has forced millions to work and study from home. People are not only using the internet for telecommuting and distant learning but for entertainment purposes—indulging in hours of online gaming and streaming since there hasn’t been much else to do. Data-intensive activities that eat on bandwidth, combined with the huge influx of traffic, history’s first really, is testing the infrastructure in place and pushing it to the limit. And simply put, from the looks of its existing network capabilities just can’t handle all that. So there are times when you don’t find an operating service at your home. Yet, that doesn’t mean it has to be more difficult than it already is for everyone.
WOW! strives to provide the best service to users in 9 states under its network coverage. And, while unpredictable outages may be out of their hands, they are always there to support you in every way they can. This includes getting a team to work on the problem right away, and communicating with you to assuage concerns. After all, in 2019 WOW! Customer Service received the Cablefax Top Ops Independent Customer Service Award for outstanding achievement in the field of customer support. Here we’ll detail the measures WOW! has taken to stay on top of the ongoing crisis, and get it under control with minimum downtime at the user’s end.
The sixth-largest residential cable provider of digital services in the USA, WOW! offers internet services across 9 states with greater coverage in Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. Estimates suggest 7.2 million people are covered by the WOW! network—in June 2020 WOW! subscribers were as many as 844,500. With 3.2 million homes and businesses in over 300 communities depending on the provider, it adds to the pressure. Luckily WOW! is not one to disappoint. Delivering services in 19 markets, the advanced hybrid fiber-coaxial WOW! network, is capable of giving you the consistent quality that you’re sure to appreciate.
WOW! not only offers cable broadband but digital TV and home phone services too—a complete service suite for your home. Meaning, you can get the whole deal under one roof. And, it also has attractive fiber plans in 179 Zip codes for businesses looking to get WOW! Internet.
WOW! Internet comes to you over a mix of coaxial and fiber optic lines, and this hybrid infrastructure gives you the best of both worlds. With data traveling via fiber-optic lines for the greater part of the way, you get super-fast speeds. The bottleneck caused, when data hops over to the coaxial lines within a neighborhood, does affect the speed of transfer, but you still get very fast and reliable internet. And, at a price comparable to that of affordable cable broadband.
With so much to do and so much to download, a data cap can feel very limiting. With WOW! however, there’s none to worry about. This makes WOW! Internet the perfect partner for those working from home or engaged in distant learning.
With the WOW! internet service you not only get unlimited data but also a variety of download speeds—you can pick any tier that matches your pace—300 Mbps, 600 Mbps, 1000 Mbps, 1200 Mbps and 2 Gig. Download large excel and PowerPoint files with ease. And if you’re worried about the next Zoom meeting, put that anxiety to rest. You’ll get a voice with no buzz to it, and video with no blur to it—no disruptions or distortions.
You’d also be happy to learn WOW! is offering a complete no-contact pro installation, which is worth $50 in value, with its internet service. And, WOW! gives you convenient options to pay your bill—you can do so from the comfort of your home. Such perks are sure to come in handy under the prevailing circumstance.
The only thing that might put a wrench in your plans is a WOW! internet outage. So, if you’re struggling with one, here are the answers you seek. Even if you are not yet subscribed to WOW! read on. The information we are about to share can prove useful once you become a WOW! subscriber.
WOW! offers a steady internet connection that delivers at every turn. Their cable network outperforms DSL and is the more capable of the two. The only downside is that with a cable broadband connection, households in a neighborhood must share the bandwidth. And, in peak hours when everyone is logged in, speed lags are sure to occur. These can be frustrating no doubt, but when compared with a dedicated DSL connection, you’re still getting higher speeds and more bandwidth.
What’s more, the hybrid WOW! network more than makes up for the loss in performance at peak times, because data transfer occurs at much faster rates until it reaches a specific neighborhood. Laying down fresh fiber connections to every house can be really expensive, which is why each house gets coaxial cables hooked up to the fiber backbone of the network. However, by using the DOCSIS 3.0 & 3.1 protocols, despite the “last mile” hop over to coaxial cables, WOW! is able to deliver a great online experience, with more bandwidth to work with.
With that said, outages still occur. So, let’s take a look at the areas where the service is reported to be most affected.
When it comes to outages, some WOW! internet service areas are reported more than others. If you’re based in any of these places, chances are you’re facing more frequent outage episodes than usual. Here’s a list of the cities and towns that have reported a higher number of outage incidents in recent times:
The second one hears of an outage, the first thought that comes to mind is a total blackout of internet, TV, and phone services. Fortunately, that is something rare still. Of the problems most reported, it is WOW! internet outage that makes for over 80% of the complaints. Even then, the outage is intermittent and only affects certain WOW! internet service areas. If you’re getting an unbearable lag time or can’t access the internet at all, you should give WOW! Customer Service a call at 1-855-349-9313. They’ll be able to guide you about how to reach a resolution to the problem.
Once your WOW internet status is ascertained, and it is determined an outage is causing a disruption in service, they’re sure to mobilize teams to resolve the issue at the earliest. They’ll also let you know whether it’s the entire neighborhood experiencing an outage or just your setup. This can help you troubleshoot the problem on your own too, saving you from much hassle and stress. At a time when staying connected online is of utmost importance, this approach is sure to help.
Calling in for tech support is never easy. Conveying the problem is hard especially since it is tech-related. Most of us do not understand the jargon and find ourselves getting irritated fast. To ensure it is a good experience for you and the customer support team, here are some things you can take care of beforehand:
This helps you tackle the problem without interfering with whatever it is that you’re doing. And, you get everything in writing so you don’t need to take down notes.
Speaking of taking notes, when you do call make sure you have pen and paper ready to write. Additionally, note the date and time to keep track of things. Make sure you also jot down the representative’s name. With everything written, you’ll be able to get the problem resolved in a more organized manner—and faster.
If you feel like you’re not being heard or understood, you can ask to speak to a supervisor at any time during the conversation. However, for the most part, the representatives should be able to help you out.
The main reason behind an outage is network congestion. A system can only cater to so many people and so if too many people are logged in at the same time the system will crash.
Internet outage refers to a regional or an even wider-scale outage caused by weather problems, faulty hardware, damaged cables, and malicious software. An outage can also occur when routine maintenance takes place.
For troubleshooting, try going over these steps. Check to see if your cable TV service is working properly since a cable outage can affect both TV and the internet. Next, check your cable connection to ensure the coaxial cable is connected properly to all devices. Check your Ethernet and USB connections and confirm they are not connected incorrectly or are not loose. You should also reset your modem just in case. If all these measures don’t work, you should definitely give customer service a call.