Off and on

As most fervent and loyal blog readers will know, the Fuso Szulc is equipped with a Datastorm Satellite System.
To be able to get on the Internet.
For sending and receiving e-mails, visit websites and to use SKYPE, the VOIP telephone service.



In the past on this blog, repeatedly postings have been published with trouble that has been experienced with the Datastorm Satellite System.

To be more specific, it concerns a company called Hughes.
This company hires space on a satellite and offers this to owners of a Datastorm satellite system.
In fact, it comes as a package deal: if one purchases a Datastorm satellite, one automatically gets Hughes as the provider.
Most problems with the Datastorm do not involve the hardware.
It concerns issues for which Hughes is responsible.

Take yesterday.
When in the morning the Datastorm Satellite System was switched on, it simply didn’t work.
No contact with the satellite.
Suddenly and out of the blue.

After many hours working on this problem it was discovered how this could have happened.

A satellite has different transponders.
The satellite the Fuso Szulc is assigned to, the SatMex 5 satellite, has three transponders.
The whole system in the Fuso Szulc has been set up by the installer and Hughes to work on transponder 1 of the SatMex 5 satellite.

Now, what did Hughes do?
Without informing or anything, they switched the customer from transponder 1 to transponder 2.
Something the customer doesn’t know and is not aware of.
And who is confronted with a system that suddenly doesn’t work anymore.

A person thinking in a reasonable way and with some sense for quality of customer service, will decide beforehand to inform all the customers going to move to another transponder.
Hughes has the e-mail addresses of their customers.
A simple e-mail some days before announcing the upcoming change.
Plus a simple step by step explanation what to do to make the Datastorm work again.

But Hughes seems to live on another planet.
Which is easy when a company has a monopoly.

Hence, the customer first must somehow find out that a change of transponder is the reason for not being able to get on line anymore.
And next, the customer must know what is the procedure to get commissioned to the new transponder.

The +/- $ 8.000 Datastorm system doesn’t come with a manual explaining what to do in the different situations that may arise.
Nor does the Datastorm installer take the time to explain at length how it all works.

There is though a website of Datastorm users.
A forum where plenty of customers meet to explain the problems they are experiencing.
There are hundreds of them, often deeply frustrated.

On that particular website, solutions to the often complicated problems may be found.
But what good is that for the customer when he cannot access the Internet and therefore not get on that website?

Often the solution is to call the Datastorm installer.
And get explanations and instructions from him.
(All Datastorm installers are men…)

One time in Mexico problems with the Datastorm were experienced and therefore the Fuso Szulc was parked next to an Internet café.
With the Internet connection of the Internet café through Skype, a Datastorm installer was reached in the USA and after several calls the problems could be solved.

Over the last years using the Datastorm and dealing with Hughes, a lot has been learned.
And this is absolutely necessary and vital if one wishes to use the Datastorm system.
One needs to become an expert.
It simply is not a system that can be switched on and off like a radio or a TV.

The problem yesterday took 5 hours to resolve.
Before it was discovered it was an unannounced switch of tranponders and before it was managed to get a new commissioning.
Something that could have been avoided completely when Hughes had been not ignoring their customers.

Lesson one when the system fails again is to remain calm.
Not to panic.
Forcing the mind to believe that somehow there will be a solution.
And there is!
The trick is to find it.
So, step-by-step, all possibilities are researched and because there are so many, it takes a while.

Several months ago Datastorm installer Tod from the company Digital Satellites cleaned the whole Datastorm system of the Fuso Szulc while in San Diego, USA.
And he said something many Datastorm and Hughes customers will agree with:
as soon as a new and better system comes on the market, we’ll jump on it.



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