Service FAQS & Troubleshooting

There are a variety of reasons that your Internet service seems slow. When you advise us that you feel your service is slow, we perform a number of checks on your connection, as well as a comparison of your connection to other Rock Solid customers on the same tower. If we find something wrong with your equipment, we WILL send a technician out to your location to fix it. You do not have to be home unless we advise you by phone of this. Most on-site repairs are done on the antenna outside your home or business. If we tell you that the problem is on your side (not a Rock Solid issue), we have verified a number of things that “prove” to us that it is not our issue. We will never tell you this just to get out of solving the problem. Remember, we have hundreds of customers aimed at each tower. If we have a problem with the tower, it will literally affect lots of people and we will correct that problem quickly. If we tell you that the problem is with your router or your computers and you still want us to come out to fix the problem, there MAY be a service charge for this. If we come out and the problem is our equipment, there will be NO charge, but if we plug our laptop into the Internet connection and show you that there is no problem, then a $99.00 service charge may apply.

PROBLEMS WITH YOUR EQUIPMENT OR USAGE THAT COULD CAUSE YOUR INTERNET TO BE SLOW:

1. 1. Too many connections to the Internet. If you (or your kids, spouse, or others) are using software that allows you to download movies, videos, or music FREE, it is likely to be using what is called “peer-to-peer” software and can choke your Internet connection if not configured properly. Rock Solid Internet does not support this software and the use of it can not only slow down your Internet connection but may also allow you to knowingly or unknowingly illegally download copyrighted material. Illegal uploading or downloading of copyrighted material is a violation of our Terms of Service. If you turn off all of the computers and Internet video or game devices in your house EXCEPT ONE and that one works great, then you probably have one or more computers that have too many connections as described above or you may have a virus.
   2. One person in your home or business watching Netflix or other video services while you are trying to use the Internet for something else. When you use Netflix it checks your connection to see how fast it is. It will take whatever speed you have and try to use all of it to download the movie. Anything else may seem slow when running Netflix or Hulu or other video services. You should never try to watch more than one Netflix movie in your house at the same time.
   3. There is a problem with your router. All routers will eventually break or act poorly. If our staff has advised you that there may be a problem with your router, you should try to use the Internet with our cable connected directly to your computer (bypassing the router) if you can. If it works great, then there is definitely something wrong with your router. If you cannot directly connect to our cable, then you may need to obtain another router to test the problem. We are not responsible for any issues with your router or if obtaining a router does not solve your problem if the problem is not with our service. Some Apple routers do not work properly in houses larger than 2000 square feet due to their weak radio signal and where they plug in to the electric outlet. Just because you have an Apple computer or iPhone DOES NOT mean that you need an Apple router. We recommend the use of non-Apple routers, due to what we consider limitations of the router, but it is always your decision.
   4. You are trying to access an Internet site that is slow. Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube are great services, however they sometimes have high demands which affect their performance. At the time we wrote this webpage, Netflix accounts for over 30 percent of all Internet traffic at night and on Sundays. Even the fastest Internet providers report that Netflix has problems at these times which show up as “jerky” motion or “freezing”. Netflix will ALWAYS blame it on your connection, no matter what the problem actually is. YouTube videos are free, and sometimes you get what you pay for. They are on shared server sites that are sometimes overwhelmed.

We WANT to sell you faster service but if we tell you that we cannot, it is likely to be for one of the following reasons:

1. Your antenna connection to us does not have good line-of-sight to our tower and it cannot be raised any higher due to physical limitations at your location.
2. The tower your antenna is aimed at does not have sufficient equipment to deliver faster speeds at this time. We are constantly upgrading towers, and at some point your tower will receive these upgrades.
3. In rare cases, we will not upgrade your service if we believe that you will abuse the privilege. Sometimes people buy a faster service in order to use it for illegally downloading copyrighted materials in large quantities, to host online games, or other activities that may affect not only the performance of their own service, but also harm the service of other customers aimed at the same tower. We will not allow one customer to affect the Internet experience of other Rock Solid Internet subscribers.

In addition to the reasons discussed above, sometimes science gets in the way. Our service is delivered to you via microwave radio signals, which work best when your antenna can “see” one of our towers without anything “blocking” or obstructing the view. If we installed your antenna and later a tree or trees grew into the path of the signal, or if a neighbor built a house that blocks the path, or if the antenna has turned or has tipped upward or downward, some changes need to be made, if possible. If you can trim the tree, we strongly recommend that you do. Our installers try to find the best place to mount the antenna, but if you think there is a better place to “see” the tower, let us know. Also, let us know if your antenna has turned or seems to be aimed too far up or down. From our perspective, an antenna can never be “too high” but sometimes our customers want to keep it low, and the installer should tell you if this will cause a problem. If he does, please remember that our goal is to give you the best Internet service possible.

First, we want to remind you that our speeds are advertised as “up to” the speed that you purchased. There are a lot of reasons for this. Remember, we want you to get the speeds that we advertise, but sometimes you will see slower speeds. The reasons for this include:

1. You have more than one computer at your location and your speeds are affected by this. Your connection speeds will be divided by all of the computers in your home or business that are using it at the same time.
2. Our towers are capable of delivering a maximum amount of speed at once. If we think that this speed is in danger of being filled, we will slow down all of the customers on that tower equally until the danger is gone. This normally happens just a few seconds or minutes at a time. Netflix usage is the single largest cause of this.
3. If you are downloading a large file, we may slow down your speed somewhat if the download occurs for more than a few minutes. We do this so that you do not accidentally cause your connection to bog down. Once the download is complete, your total speed will increase again. We also do this to keep one customer from harming the service of other customers on the same tower.
4. While your ability to download is unlimited, this does not mean that you can download nonstop, 24 hours a day without consequence. If we find that you are in the top 10 percent of downloads of all of our customers, we are likely to (1) slow down your service and (2) check to see if you are illegally downloading movies, music, or other copyrighted material. Violation of our Terms of Service may cause cancellation of your Internet services with us. You do not want to come into our “Radar” for excessive Internet downloading or uploading. If you complain about Internet speeds and you are doing something illegal, we will cancel your service.
5. Microwave radio signals sometimes encounter interference due to other companies’ use of the same frequency, sunspots causing interference, even rapid changes in temperature or humidity. Rain does not affect it, but these other things can make your service run at different speeds, even if it does not affect your neighbor. Again, science sometimes gets in the way.

Most speed tests can be helpful, however, they are not as accurate as they sometimes suggest. We have a speed test server which will give you the most accurate speed evaluation of your connection.

NOTE: We recommend that you run the speed test with only ONE computer connected to the Internet. Turn off ALL other laptops, computers, game stations, smartphones and iPhones. Having any of these connected while running a speed test will give an inaccurate speed. Also, to get an accurate speed test reading, wait at least sixty (60) seconds before running another test.

REMEMBER, we will do everything we can do to make your Internet experience a good one. If we cannot, we will tell you that we have done all we can. We may even recommend that you change to another Internet Provider if we think it is in your best interest. We appreciate your business, but we also will treat you the way we would want to be treated if we were the customer, so we will tell you if we cannot perform to your expectations.