Why I think KPN has made a bad move with internetplusbellen

Since we moved to KPN and there service "internetplusbellen", we had some troubles. First with the internet connection, then with our phone. And still it doesn't really work the way it should. Here are my 5 reasons, why KPN has made a bad move implementing voip for their costumers.

1) KPN has included the home-network under KPN service. As long as I know, all ISP (Internet Providers) give you, is 1 connection to the internet. Normally with a simple device called a modem. KPN has changed this tactic and gives you a so called ExperiaBox. This box is not only a modem, but also a router, a switch, has 2 analog phone connections, wi-fi capability, usb for printer or file sharing and a QoS implementation.

So now users are going to use KPN equipment for everything that considers their network/internet connection, they can phone KPN as soon as there is a problem with their network/internet connection. And they will. I tried to call a couple of times and every time the helpdesk was flooded.

In the old days, when you had (for example) a wi-fi problem, you couldn't call you ISP. Because they don't have anything to do with your indoor network. Now KPN has, because it is their equipment.

By making the indoor network their responsibility KPN has created something you shouldn't want as a ISP. Handling the internet is enough trouble, leave the indoor network aside.

2) Use bad equipment. So KPN gives you this box. It's pretty neat actually. All those things it can do. And on the KPN side it's even neater. They can control your box from some management system. Doesn't matter what password you take, or what you setup, they have the all-over rights, so always they can repair/reset. Well that is pretty nice.

But is the box so modern? It does have some modern equipment on-board. Like I said: Wi-fi (54G), voip, qos. But does it work "modern"? No. The first and directly biggest problem is the connection table, it's 8-bit. That means I can only have 256 connections to the outside. That was fine 10 years ago, but now dad, mom, son and daughter have a computer. And they found out how eDonkey, BearShare and Torrent work. Any idea how many connections those programs need? Shouldn't really be a problem, with modern equipment that is. You can take it from me that 256 connections for a whole network, isn't really 2006 anymore.

So now you want to make a phone call, while son is downloading from torrent. Not possible. No matter what his download or upload speed is, there are simply no connections left to make a phone call.

Further is the ExperiaBox really slow when trying to setup. You have to wait ages before you get a response. Even better: the menu structure is build in a way you have to wait ages multiple times, before you even reach what you want to edit. That sucks pretty much for some "modern" equipment.

3) Spend money on things that don't make money. The above reasons results in the need for a bigger helpdesk. No problem if that service makes big time money. But like I said, involving the inside network of home users with your service, creates a massive amount of problems you need to resolve. And what extra does KPN get by giving this service? Nothing as far as I know. I think their best call should have been, just installing a modem, and some analog-to-voip box for the phone part of the network. Leaving the home network the way it was, and don't get yourself into trouble like KPN did.

4) Take power users their power. When I have a router, I want to setup many things. If it has QoS that is used for VOIP, I like to use it for other things too. For example set browsing as more priority over a download. That ExperiaBox does really have some power under the hood, but I can't use it!

Because of them limiting my use of their/my equipment I can't do what I can do with other ISPs. They limit the power user, and that is, for the power user, a bad thing.

5) They blew a good change. When we called for "internetplusbellen" we heard it was delayed by 2 weeks because of the extreme amount of subscriptions. So many people that wanted this service, it really was a hole in the market. And with all the bad publicity they probably don't have so many subscriptions as they could have been.

What they should have done, is testing, testing and testing. Reviewing their product, maybe delay it a couple of weeks, and then deliver a decent service which made KPN again richer then rich.