ComplaintsforAmericable International Japan, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/08/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Americable advertises 1Gbps internet speeds for $158 a month. Not once has their advertised speeds been reached by any customer living in ****** **********************. Multiple customers including myself have complained to them and to the military base with zero resolution.

  

  Business response

  04/03/2024

  Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your service issue. We see that a technician was recently out at your home replaced your modem and tested the modem speed, which exceeded the 1GBPS advertised for your package.
  

  We look forward to assisting you as Americable is dedicated to providing unbeatable customer service and the best programming available.
  You can read more about Wi-Fi interference in this article:
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• Initial Complaint

  09/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  As stated by other complaints and reviews left on the "companies" website Americable is truly deceiving customers by alleging that they provide a high-quality product. Americable is the ONLY choice on many military bases here in Japan, contrary to what they say, and they are very well aware of this therefore they can charge really high prices for their appalling products. My cellphone won't connect to our home Wi-Fi while I'm in the bedroom, we stream several programs and use different providers to watch tv like Netflix,Prime and such and there hasn't been a complete week when we don't have to reboot the system. Up to recently we had 2 high school students in the house as well as an online college student and the latter had to visit an internet cafe which thankfully are still common here in Japan to take her finals for 2 classes because the wi-fi kept disconnecting, I don't understand how they keep winning the bids for being the company on base, their services to the military community here is horrible and their permit, license or whatever they have to be able to do business here and anywhere else should and needs to be revoked, cancelled and terminated. This has been an ongoing situation and an OPEN discussion throughout the entire base,

  

  Business response

  10/06/2023

  Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your service issue. We do not have any service tickets on file for your account. We have attempted to contact you via phone and email to address your service concerns with no success. We believe the inconsistent service throughout your home is due to thick walls or other interference, there is article below for you to read that can explain this further. We have solutions that can be implemented to improve your service, but we need you to respond to our communication attempts so that we can dispatch a technician. Please contact us and reference ticket number #*****.
  
  Regarding your other concerns, to become the internet and cable provider on military bases companies must undergo an extensive bidding process to gain the contract and of these companies Americable was selected as the best available provider. With a potential pool of **** subscribers there is not enough demand for multiple contracts. 
  
  When you compare Americable pricing to what is locally available in Japan our pricing may appear to be high however the local companies have access to a wider customer pool and larger number of subscribers than the **** potential base customers that Americable has. Local Japanese telecommunication companies also receive government subsidies from Japan where Americable does not. Due to the spread-out nature of the bases, whenever we upgrade equipment (routers, etc.), we must do it four times over as well as staff four offices, which adds cost to the delivery of our services. A normal business does not carry similar overhead. A more accurate comparison of our services would be to compare them with those offered in the US which can be quite high in comparison to Americable pricing.
  
  Please contact us so that we can schedule a time to access your home and resolve the interference or other issues that you may be experiencing. We look forward to assisting you as Americable is dedicated to providing unbeatable customer service and the best programming available.
  You can read more about Wi-Fi interference in this article:
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• Initial Complaint

  05/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Americable is extorting military service members in Japan! Ever since I signed up for the ONLY internet service available on ******** Naval Base, the internet has been terrible. They overcharge you for services they do not provide. They are nowhere close to any of the advertised speeds that they charge you for. I pay for the Diamond Tier which is supposed to be the fastest internet speed available at up to 1 GBPS. Many times, including now, my internet speeds are less the 10 MBPS. I am being charged $160/month to have terrible internet service. They are the ONLY internet service provider on base so I cannot take my business elsewhere. Sometimes my children cannot even access the internet to complete their schoolwork. At the moment I am trying to stream ONE movie on ONE device and it has stopped to buffer already 23 times in the past 20 minutes. This company is ridiculous and should be held accountable for not providing a service and just taking service members' money. I don't see how they are still in business and there has to be some type of legal ramification associated to this business.

  

  Business response

  05/15/2023

  Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your service issue. We sent out a technician on Monday as soon as we received your message. It is my understanding that this service and the replacement of your modem returned the speed to the expected levels. The Technical Support manager that followed up with you on May 15th, states that you seemed satisfied with the service that you saw an improvement since the service call. If that is not the case, please contact ** and reference this BBB # ********.
  
  Americable is dedicated to providing unbeatable customer service and the best programming available. We take that goal seriously and should you have any future issues please contact ** immediately so that we can assist you further.

• Initial Complaint

  12/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company has been completely ripping off service members for years. They are the only company that provides internet to military families living on base. They currently charge $153 for 1GB of wifi an as you can see by my attachments that has not been the case. Every time I contact tech support they always say we are working on a solution to increase the speeds they are providing which apparently they have been working on for years (supposedly). In the conversation with the company you can see that at first they stated they were unaware of the situation and then later changed what they said and said they were aware of the situation the minute I mentioned reporting the company. We as military members would like for the company to uphold what they are putting out. We are gone 6 months out the year the least they can do is provide us quality internet.

  

  Business response

  01/05/2023

  In response to the BBB complaint from *************************** we would like to address each issue specifically.

  This company has been completely ripping off service members for years
  Americable has been *************** the ****************** overseas for over 25 years. Most recently after competing against several other vendors we received an award to continue providing ******** and ********** services on the Naval Facilities in Japan. The award was based on best value to the service members and past performance.

  They are the only company that provides internet to military families living on base
  Americable is the largest provider of ******** services on the Naval Facilities, but not the only one. Customers have the option to choose such vendors as Softbank or *******. Most will not choose these options because of pricing, support and limited options. There will naturally be a price difference from CONUS due to the complexity of what it takes for an **************** to provide services overseas. One of the biggest factors is that the bases are small and have a limited number of subscribers whereas in the U.S. it is nearly unlimited. Along with the limitations of subscribers we are required to build a Headend at 3 different locations to distribute the services which are connected by leased fiber circuits. In the States they would have 1 Headend that would feed an entire city that would be larger than the 3 bases combined and have a onetime cost for fiber infrastructure. Americable is also required to provide and maintain a ************* HD ********** Service that no other provider is required to do.

  When **************** first contacted us, the Technical Support agent replied that he was unaware of any situation in ****** based on the comment When will Atsugis internet be fixed. This could mean many different things and after **************** elaborated further the Technical Support agent understood that it meant he was having issues during peak times due to the increased amount of usage that occurs when the ship returns. Technical Support set up a Service Call for **************** to verify our system was operational at his house and verify the speeds of his ********. ************** had found that there were some Pre Bit Error Rate errors occurring and proceeded to resolve the issue by changing a broken wallplate and replacing the cable fitting connected to it. ************** was not able to test on the customers laptop as it was having issues with the Ethernet connection but was able to test with his laptop which produced speeds of ***** Mbps download and 87 Mbps upload. We only tested our cable modem since the customer was using a personal router for his Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections.

  All Americables ******** packages are listed as Best Effort. We strive to provide as close as we can to the advertised ******** speeds, but there are times that it may be slowed down such as times when the ship returns to port. Currently we are looking to increase the size of our circuits to overcome this extra usage that occurs only twice a year.
  Once the problem has been resolved, we will complete an analysis of how many customers were affected, to what extent, the duration of time, and on what days. That being said, we will be issuing a mass email to the affected customers to explain the situation and provide a credit for any degraded service you may have experienced. We sincerely appreciate your patience and value your patronage.

  Respectfully,
  Americable Management

  Customer response

  01/08/2023

   
  Complaint: 18638232
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Customer response

  01/19/2023

   
  Complaint: 18638232
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   

  Yes, YOU proudly have been serving the military of 25 years. Reason being you are charging us $159 a month for 1GB of internet that were not recieving. While the rest of Japan is providing better service for about $50-60. Also you ARE the only internet provider on base. A WIFI puck/Hotspot does not count as feasible wifi when it only provides *****mb of output. You can not even play online games with that. The headend is not our problem as customers. That is your companies problem on how to make a better solution to provide us with atleast 400mb of internet on peak times. The fact that my $3000 laptop supposedly could not direct link to your modem but a $300 hp ******* laptop could is very sketchy. The excuse of "as times when the ship returns to port." Is no longer a good excuse to have. The ship is here the same 6 months every single year for atleast the past 20 years. 

  
  
  

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  09/01/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am stationed at US naval base sasebo japan. My issue with americable is the internet speed advertised for the package i have(diamond) is up to 600mbps. I am not even getting 100mbps. I called tech support and was told the best speed i could get was 100mbps. I ran a speed test through the americable website which showed a speed of 70mbps. When i told the rep this he asked for my number and said he would look into my modem and call back. As i was giving him my number he said "gotta go" and hung up on me. I am paying $155 per month for a service i am not even getting close to what is advertised or what i was just told is even capable. I am not even getting the speed of the gold package which is advertised up to 100mbps. Americable is the only internet provider on base so they know they have everyone handcuffed with their ridiculous prices and horrible service. Complaints to americable are virtually useless because nothing changes. We are told we are getting what we pay for. Help!

  

  Business response

  11/05/2021

  Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2021/10/05) */ This was handled and replied to BBB, Sept 2021. Americable actually repaired the whole bldg. and gave this cust a Three Day Credit. Thank you, **** ** ****** Accounts Payable Manager

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩