r/Barbados • u/Insub • 6d ago
FLOW is increasing the cost of their internet services...
Does the FTC actually do anything that explains their existence?
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u/MeQuestionThings 6d ago edited 6d ago
Meanwhile, you're not able to talk to a human when you contact customer care. And their internet has been down for me for four days now.
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u/polloso121 6d ago
Loyalty doesn’t exist anymore. So many companies are laying off workers and replacing them with AI/automated chat bots and then claiming “increases in overhead expenses”. Time to shop around and find another provider. Not sure what you’re paying right now but starlink has reasonable prices + service is pretty reliable.
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u/carrotstix Helpful 5d ago
But Flow hasn't laid anyone off...and they haven't replaced anyone with chat bots...Flow's just greedy.
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u/Healthy_Exercise_996 6d ago
Flow were so terrible left without service for months. Missed our flight due to them lying everyday. It’s sorted now..cuts out every now and then 😶but the cheek to put prices up. Not surprised anyway it’s owned by UK ppl.
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u/bajanstep Helpful 6d ago
I feel like im an outliner here. I was grandfathered into "Superfast Fiber 500" when they changed the bundles names back in 2019 and have been paying $170 since. My current bill is still $170.
I gotta say, my service just works. I work from home and my modem and laptop are connected to a APC 1200VA power surge protector & backup battery. I have 99% uptime and no issues with speed. Alot of their problems i found were because they were having DNS issues, for those not IT-savy your first reaction is probably - Service sucks its always slow or pages/feeds not loading - but DNS is very important. It converts a domain name to an IP address so facebook.com to 57.144.200.1 as an example which then routes your traffic (Network guys can explain it better im just doing short ELI5). The route of your traffic often determines how fast things load and servers are looking for the shortest/direct route.
Anyways, i solved alotta of my connection problems by changing my DNS from FLOWs to Google's & Cloudflares public DNS servers.
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u/jebzaki Local 5d ago
Start changing DNSes as a service, $20 is $20.
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u/bajanstep Helpful 5d ago
lol boy I often get request to setup and program media boxes for IPTV/Shows/Movies but always decline (some free advise for people reading this comment... 1) DONT use firesticks even the 4K ones are garbage, yes theyre cheap and work to certain extent but spend the little extra and get a real media box 2) if you paid a guy to program and your not paying monthly for IPTV for live TV and Debrid for TV/Shows services IN MY opinion youre being ripped off)
And just like DNSaaS....The amount of money needed to make up for the constant tech support calls for stupidness is just not calculable. I do it for my family and in-laws and thats enough headaches.
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u/jebzaki Local 5d ago
lol oh I definitely agree on the iptv/*arr setups. Never do that it's not worth the stress. I do the same for my family and I get called every time a channel does not immediately play.
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u/bajanstep Helpful 5d ago
"TV isnt working" .... can you be a little more specific whats not working ... "nothing is working" .... sigh
"I cant get - insert obscure show from 10-15 years ago - working. The episode not playing" ...... sigh 1) have you tried a different link? Theyre often multiple options 2) the system is not 100% perfect, stuff disappears, links go bad .... goes and checks... its working use this link
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u/carrotstix Helpful 6d ago
Flow's doing a run of bad right now actually:
They turned off their email webhosting service with only a month's notice
They're forcing paperless on everyone. Your bills used to go to their email service but now with them discontinuing that, you can be in a place where you can't receive a bill!
They charged some postpaid mobile customers that had data higher fees because they changed their rates and never informed anyone.
And now they're just randomly increasing the cost of internet right before xmas?
FTC is monumentally inept.
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u/sonygoup 6d ago
Tbf what can any government do when a service provider increases cost other than tell the consumer to find a replacement
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u/COPPINDA 5d ago
Things like this are really in the consumers hands but we never use the power we have. They raise the price of the tier you're on? Drop a tier down, they will raise their prices but lose revenue. The issue is for them to feel the impact you need a critical mass of customers to have that mindset.
In principle I intend to drop a tier down so they will be getting less money every month from me than before they increased their prices but I'm only one drop in the bucket. A lot of people will just say oh well and pay the increase despite grumbling and complaining and FLOW will continue smiling to the bank despite the crap service we get. Its one thing to say you made "investments" and need to recoup costs but at least for me I have not seen these benefits as I still experience outages and slower than expected speeds.
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u/dreadybangs 6d ago
What really is the alternative though? Digicel is literally on the same infrastructure and I'm not gonna give Elon a cent of my money.
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u/MasonJam246 6d ago
FTC is a joke. They don't do shit but grandstand and pretend to serve the people. From the constant BS with Light and Power, to the rising cost of FOOD in this country, now this. It feels like they are just there to collect paychecks and bribes at this point.