My review of Omnicity Corp (OMCY), a public WIFI ISP based in Indiana:
RUN, don't walk away - if you are in our situation and have very few or no alternative, get Hughesnet or similar - BELIEVE me, it's cheaper in the long run, and at least you will have service.
I would strongly recommend (as a trader) that investors avoid OMCY - as the prospectus simply doesn't tell the story. It sounds great - but this company is going nowhere quickly.
We are located in a rural area of N. Central Indiana and tried another WIFI company, then a 2G solution, then Omnicity WIFI.
After CAREFULLY, THOROUGHLY verifying their service claim with Debbie (new sales) by phone on 3 separate occassions, we ordered the residential package up to 1Mb download w/static IP address. Total cost $39.95 per month ($34.94 service, $5.00 ip). From call to install was 3 business days as claimed. Installer knew what he was doing and was prepared - BUT the installer was a contractor, not from Omnicity.
Ordered 12/15/09 - solid the first 28 days, and we were very satisfied. Then on 1/13/10 the outages started.
Initially tech support answered the phone - and to their credit tech support did return most calls within 24 hours. The administrative offices did not return calls. Another note here is that at NO TIME does anyone but tech support identify themselves, not on the phone, and not in letter or email. In addition, when managers from Omnicity call the phone number is withheld!
How's that for service?!
The explanation was "tower issues" "upgrades" "new equipment". They basically had "no specific information" about what the "plans" were by administration to address the issues. I also note that Omnicity got their stories confused. One tech would say equipment was being replaced, then another would say they're working on a reboot, or something similar.
Outages were NEVER announced. In addition to the outages, up time during this period when service was available it was choppy and very erratic.
Between 1/13/10 and 2/1/10 we noted these outages:
1/13/10: 19 hours
1/14/10: 15 hours
1/15/10: 7.5 hours
1/21/10: 7 hours
1/28/10: 6.5 hours
1/29/10: 24 hours
1/30/10: 24 hours
1/31/10: 24 hours
2/1/10: 19 hours
By 2/13/10 our total downtime exceeded 200 hours in one month.
I had a conversation with "Steve" who claimed to be an Omnicity Manager - he actually called their service "a turd" - again, how professional. He said "yep, you're down - and you're probably going down again".
I filed complaints with the BBB (Omnicity receives a grade of "F" from BBB and is NOT a BBB supporting business), and the FCC.
Omnicity's answer to my complaints:
They terminated my service the day they received the letter of complaint from the BBB of Indianapolis!
They did refund my $39.95 for February - and since they decided to terminate me, I insisted (on threat of doing a chargeback with my bank and taking the money) on a refund of my $149.95 installation fee.
I am currently engaged in informing as many people as possible - DO NOT make the mistake of dealing with Omnicity.
Another interesting note:
One of the Omnicity (OMCY) directors is also a current CEO of Wabash REMC - Mr. Rob Pearson. I am currently investigating a serious conflict of interest there, as I don't believe Mr. Pearson can hold both a chair at Omnicity, and the CEO position of Wabash REMC.
Omnicity's stated goal is to establish and exploit relationships with REMC's to further market share, and profit - HOW CAN A CURRENT CEO OF AN REMC ALSO HOLD A SEAT ON OMNIICITY'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS?
At the very least, it's a serious appearance of impropriety which needs to be fully disclosed to all Wabash REMC customers/shareholders.
Monday, March 15, 2010
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