Originally we tried to sign up online. For some reason that didn’t go through, so I called them via phone. They processed my order from there. I asked them to make sure they closed off or somehow linked the order I filled out on the web. They assured me all would be ok.

First issue was… yeah… on day 1. Like a bunch of people, we already have a router in our house, that delegates our traffic out to different machines. The one thing that may be a little different is that, we had a web server too, which our home router directed web traffic to. So, I open up the Primus box o’ stuff… I do what they tell me to do. That is, I plug their phone router into my cable modem, then plug my regular router into my new phone router. The phone appeared to work ok… we had internet access… so ok, it was a start.

Problem was, when I tried to get to my web server via the internet, I couldn’t get there. Ok, I’ll call Primus support. I explain my situation. The guy on the other end starts talking me through how to configure my own router to allow Primus voice traffic through. Wait a second… you are telling me to configure my router to allow voice traffic through? “Yes.” But that’s not an issue because your router is the 1st device after the modem. Clearly voice traffic is getting through since I’m talking to you on the phone. “So” he asks “what is the problem?” I explain again. I also mentioned that, I was a bit confused because usually when you set up a router, you have to configure what machine should receive certain traffic (ie. I need to tell it to send web traffic to my web server, otherwise it won’t work) and I didn’t see any such setting in their router config. He insisted that, no firewall was running on their router. Well… be that as it may - I believe him… but if I didn’t tell the router which machine is the web server, how does it know how to route web traffic? “Well, it will send it to the web server” Oh….kay, but… how does the router know which machine is the web server, unless I tell it? “It just knows.” Hmmk. I think I gave up on support, at this point. Partly because they weren’t helping, partly because, thick asian accent on top of crackly phone line, I couldn’t really make out what he was saying anyway.

Oh, one thing worth mentioning at this point as well… I noticed while picking through the router setup that, the router configuration that basically contains ALL of my telephone logs and setup… that configuration tool is left WIDE open to the ENTIRE internet the way that they ship it to you. Better yet, the default password on the router is generic for every customer. Just for kicks, I did a Google search on the default password for the model of router I received and found the login in about 60 seconds. Nice. Even better, nothing in Primus’ setup instructions suggested changing the login password on the router, or locking down how it could be accessed. Even better still, I decided to do just that while I was picking through the router settings, and the support guy I spoke to assured me that no, I shouldn’t have changed those settings, I should instead have left the gaping security hole as is. Since I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to whether I took his advice or not, I decided to close up the security hole.

Second issue was probably day 3 or 4. In spite of them assuring me that they had my order issues figured out, a second router arrived in the mail. I called them again, they mailed me a box to return back the 2nd router which I did. Sigh. Ok, whatever.

Third issue came right after that. My Primus router couldn’t get connected at all, so I had no phone service. I called their support via cellphone (which is great, 30 min wait time on my cell minutes - appreciated). Turns out when they shipped the 2nd router, they changed things on their end so that only the new router could connect to their phone service. The existing router was not allowed to connect. So… some tweaking on their end, and we’re back up again. Ok.

A couple of months follow, of semi-working phone, poor audio quality, etc, etc. The next big drama happened was an old friend called and said they lost our new number but they got it from 411. Wait… but we asked for an unlisted number ?! So I called Primus support (again). Told them that yes, I definitely needed an unlisted number, and since I had wanted an unlisted number from the get-go, I needed my number changed. They told me that there was a $35 charge for a new number. I explained to them that I asked for an unlisted number a couple months back, and paying $35 to fix a mistake that they made is not something I’m really into. I also pointed out that I had requested an unlisted number both when I signed up for TalkBroadband on the web site, and again when I called to sign up - and that I thought that after asking twice for an unlisted number it would be reasonable to expect to get it. Their support guy was extremely rude, told me they had no record of me requesting an unlisted number (which was odd, their billing department had a record of it since they remembered to charge me for it) and basically strongly implied I was lying and contradicting my own “story”. I explained that I have no desire to justify myself to a support gimp (ok, I didn’t say “gimp” but I wish I had) and I wanted to terminate my service.

I asked what the process was for shutting down my service. He explained that they would cancel in about a month. They would send shipping details for us to send back the router to them. After a month passed, I heard nothing at all, so I wrote again and asked what was going on. A few days later, the shipping info arrived so I boxed up the router and sent it along. Yay, got rid of them right?

Wrong. My last bill arrived and on there was a $100 charge for cancelling my service. I asked them about this and they said that they do impose cancellation charges sometimes. They pointed me to their terms and conditions (which, by the way, says that Primus “may impose cancellation charges ‘from time to time’” - hardly legally binding). I responded that, if their terms and conditions are not specific about a cancellation charge, and their support people don’t disclose it when asked specifically, how am I to know that there is a cancellation charge? No answer to that one. I’ve basically given up fighting and decided that the lousy $100 is a bargain to get these people out of my life.