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Cogeco to refund $440,OOO after Internet service crashes By IRENE GENTLE The Champion A $440,000 payout is expected, but it's too soon to know the real cost of a recent Internet service crash at Cogeco Cable Inc. Thbe shut down left up to one haif of the company's 45,000 cu- tomers in the Golden Horseshoe area seithout Internet use between Il p.m. February 29 and up 10 3 a.m. March 2. As a result, eacb affected cus- tomer will receive a $10 credit fmom Cogeco, adding top to somne- thing in tbe neigbbourhood of $440,000. But it's too soon t0 know if the crash has turned customers off the vaunted higb-speed cable hook-up service for gond. "That's a good question," said Cogeco's director of sales and marketing Ken Smithard. "t haven't seen the numbers yet, given that itjust happened." The downed server is the most dramatie of Cogeco's recent prob- lems. But a surge of user growth bas led 10 a slew of nagging tra- vails for the company over the lasi yetir. "We weent from 15,000 cus- tomers lasi January 10 about 45,000 nose," Mr. Smithard said. "We've been growing very quickly and-we've had somne growing "There was a hardtware faliure. Tihe server actwRly pains over the last few months." Long waits at the technical sup- port eall centre, often inspired by weaknesses in the system itself, is one of the troubles. But measures are being taken to shore that up, assured Mr. Smitbard. "There's a lot more being done in the actual planning and design," he said. "We're increasing the robustness of the system." A stronger systemn should eut down the number of calte coming in to the support centre, wbere waits of an hour or more have been reported. And a host of staff bas been hired to beef up the centre, wbich runs 24 bours a day, seven days a week. About 80 new employees have been bired to bandle the call load. Also, cable customer service repre- sentatives have been trained 10 field tier one, or basic, Internet questions. For improved accessibility, the cable caîl centre bours are none 24- seven as well. But the recent troubles haven't led 10 an abandon-ship mentality in custotners so fair, tbough growtb has statîrd slightly, said Mr. Smitbard. "The growth has slowed, is more of sehat we're seeing," he said. 'But t thinik we'll see our growtb rate pick right bsck Up." Lasi week's specific trouble stemmed from a crashed server. "The trsffic is carried 10 the regional data server," Mr. Smithard said. There was a hard- ware failure. The server actually crashed." Cogeco's Intemet service is pro- vided by Excite@Home, which is based in the United States. The service is contracted through cable companies. Currently there are three servers in soutbemn Ontario for Cogeco, and s fourth is being added to pre- vent another debilitating crash in the future, Mr. Smitbard aaid. Cable Internet bas bren wooing customers away from the tradition- ai dial-up services by promising t0 be top 10 100 limes faster. Plus tbere's no waiting, and no busy signaIs. "There's vast performance improvement over traditional dial- upe," Mr. Smitbard said. "People are tooking for more than sperd, tbey're looking for easy use. Il provides the whole package." The Canadien Champion, Tuesday, Math 14,2000 -5 only per month! *Resiclentia sciy AllDay EvryDay! 24hrs., 7 days per week //3>~ olohoTM 225 Main St. E., Suite #3, Milton (905) 876-3918 e-mail mitno@n erhp.e RiHCHARDSCHEVRE -DSMDILE1 REMOTE KEYLESS ENT1IY - PLUS DUL. TIIEFT*DETBRENT SYSTEM e POWER 00011 LOCKS e AIR CONOITIONINO *4-Speed Astematic nef h Traction Centrel - Anti-Locir Brake Systeru *Creise Central * AM/FM Cassette - 2.2 UL 15 HP Ecgine coPtie V i Mlt UMFrot, FuN Dlseloum e. NoNtswrslooc SARTLEASE PURCHASE PRICE 36 MONTHS WITM ES AEU 6MNH RPRHS DOWNPAYMENT FINANCINIS UP TO 48 MONTHS (INCLUSES FREIGHT 0F $710 AND AIR TAS 0F $2,250 $10. LICENCE, INSIJRANCE AND TAXES EXTRA.) 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