Is The End To The netTALK /Iristel Nightmare In Sight? [UPDATED]
At the moment, 75,000 Canadians are hoping that this Tweet from Iristel head honcho Samer Bishay signals a end to then nightmare that they’ve been suffering by not having phone service since Friday:
@iristel @CRTCeng @netTALK customers will regain service through our new agreement with Primus before midnight eastern tonight.
— Samer Bishay (@SBishayIRIS) January 20, 2016
The only other detail that I have besides this Tweet is this:
@logitechor @netTALK no the money didn't come. I'm not mixing the 2 issues together. @iristel remains the biggest victim with a $2M loss.
— Samer Bishay (@SBishayIRIS) January 21, 2016
On the surface, it looks like Canadian netTALK customers are about to get phone service again. Though it appears the issues between netTALK and Iristel may not be over quite yet. I’m monitoring this situation and I will update this when I get additional info.
UPDATE: Here’s some early additional info. I am receiving reports that netTALK customers are having their phones come back online. This Tweet is an example of this:
https://twitter.com/LucJeanson/status/689988396681465856
I am working on getting further confirmation. Please stay tuned.
UPDATE #2:
@SBishayIRIS @iristel @CRTCeng @netTALK @The_IT_Nerd Finally the phone is back! It is the end of this saga. I'll port my # to a reliable cie
— Vincent Noël (@Vichnou80) January 21, 2016
I am currently in touch with a netTALK customer in Toronto who does not have their phone service back as yet. But I am getting e-mails from people who have had their service restored. So it looks like this is truly happening. It’s just a matter of when, not if it appears.
More as it comes.
UPDATE #3: I can confirm that the customer in Toronto now has phone service. Plus I am getting additional confirmation from others:
@nettalk @The_IT_Nerd @iristel My home phone is back. Thank you. Now considering my options…..
— Louis Vincent (@piou20100) January 21, 2016
@SBishayIRIS @iristel @CRTCeng @netTALK System back to working for me as of right now… Thank you…
— David G. Stevenson (@dgstevenson1) January 21, 2016
netTALK confirms that service has been restored:
Canadian service has resumed. We thank you for your loyalty and trust
— NT CONNECT (@ntconnect_) January 21, 2016
Though, not for everyone:
https://twitter.com/calrodg/status/689994905188487173
I suspect that this might take time to get everyone up and running.
Now let’s see if netTALK can make up for this. To that end, I asked netTALK this question:
Question for @nettalk : Now that this issue is on its way to being resolved, can you tell Canadians how you will regain their trust?
— The IT Nerd (@The_IT_Nerd) January 21, 2016
If they respond, you’ll see it here.
UPDATE #4: It looks like the troubles are not over quite yet:
@netTALK Don't works for me… It works once, but 15 minutes later… nothing.
— Vincent Noël (@Vichnou80) January 21, 2016
@netTALK when calling my number there is a fast busy signal sing the out of service message removed. Is there anything i need to do?
— Michael Bond (@themichaelbond) January 21, 2016
I have confirmed that many are getting the fast busy signal. It seems that netTALK still has work to do.
UPDATE #5: This seems to be an intermittent problem. I guess they are sorting out all their issues. I’ll continue to monitor the situation and post updates if required.
UPDATE #6: netTALK has confirmed that they are working with Primus, who just declared Chapter 15 bankruptcy today as per The Globe And Mail:
We would like to give a special thank you to our amazing & diligent carrier @PrimusTelecom! Could not have done it without you!
— NT CONNECT (@ntconnect_) January 21, 2016
What could possibly go wrong? I’ll be keeping an eye on this for sure.
UPDATE 7: netTALK has sent a statement out to their users and the same statement was sent out to me as well:
To our valued netTALK Canada customers,
We are very pleased to announce that, effective immediately, all netTALK Canada telephone numbers and services are live and fully functioning.
According to Anastasios Kyriakides, CEO of netTALK, “We cannot sufficiently express our thanks to our customers for their patience and loyalty, to the relevant Canadian regulatory authorities for their guidance and assistance, and to our telecommunications partners in Canada for their invaluable efforts to finally bring this to a conclusion. Working together, we reached the right result.”
We will be in touch with each of you to provide any necessary further details, and to compensate you for your inconvenience. And most importantly, we truly appreciate your loyalty to, and trust in, netTALK.
Sincerely,
The netTALK Team
I’ll be watching to see what steps they take to make up for this fiasco. Though, judging from the stuff that I am seeing online, it may be already too late for that as many people are moving to other VoIP providers.
UPDATE #8: Iristel just put out a press release. It’s very much worth reading as they apparently didn’t get all of the $2 million that is owed to them. Plus they drop a few interesting facts on this whole episode as well.
January 21, 2016 at 12:20 am
Quoting Samer Bishay’s Tweet: “no the money didn’t come. I’m not mixing the 2 issues together.” Oh? Then WHY did you hijack the phones of 70,000 Canadian customers on January 15th? Then he has the hell of a nerve to pre-empt the news at 6:14pm that netTALK’s customers would regain their service through a “his new agreement with Primus”? by midnight? It’s as if he wasn’t the source of this outrageous chaos and acts like the Almighty Savior?
I’m staying and sticking with netTALK. If netTALK was really at fault, do you think it would have taken only 5 days to fix this?
Now, lets see if Samer Bishay will legally claim his allegedly $2M in court in the next couple weeks. This was all say, now we want proof Bishay! Only time will tell. If I had the money, I would acquire some Iristel shares….but only to SHORT them. I hope the names of Bishay and Iristel will be but a blur in the next couple of days.