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Business Profile

Telephones

Solarus

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Telephones.

Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Solarus's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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Solarus has 3 locations, listed below.

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    • Solarus

      440 E Grand Ave Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494-4852

    • Solarus

      131 2nd St Manawa, WI 54949-9278

    • Solarus

      PO Box 8045 Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495-8045

    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 2 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 1 complaint closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:08/09/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Answered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I have been a costumer with this business for about 35 years-In the past 3 years alone I have complained about my internet service with poor results They send a technician here with limited results. I tried to be patient but still always am having problems with a decent outcome. I am paying monthly about $65 for landline /with internet and receive substandard service

      Business Response

      Date: 09/05/2024

      This is a response to Complaint ID# ********. ********************** acquired Manawa Telephone in the fall of 2016. Solarus has been working since its acquisition to build out the network to connect Manawa facilities to Solarus facilities. This includes the construction of a fiber network that would allow Internet speeds up to 2 Gig per household. This construction has been occurring each year, cabinet by cabinet since 2020. We currently service around 2700 addresses and 908 have fiber available currently with another 677 addresses being constructed this year. Being in Wisconsin we have a short construction season and are limited to only being able to bury fiber for 6 months of the year.

      Currently Manawa Telephone Company is required to provide 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload service to our customers per A-CAM requirements. *** is currently subscribed to a 6Mbps download and 768kbps upload plan. After investigating further with our Technical Support Team and ********************** it sounds as though the customer is exceeding the capabilities of his bandwidth of the plan he is subscribed to. Below is the documentation we have related to trouble tickets called in this year. There was no trouble tickets called in during 2023.


      July 15, 2024: Customer called in with ********************** issues. It appears the customer was trying to use more upload bandwidth than what was available to him. The installer replaced his modem though to get him on the newest model available for the service he is subscribed to.

      July 27, 2024: Customer called in with no **********************. The customer then called in to cancel the ticket because it came back up on its own and no one was dispatched to the home.

      August 12, 2024: Customer called in because phone went out. Our Installer found that there was a bad pair in a pedestal. The pair was replaced, and phone service came back up for the customer.


      Our ********************** has confirmed that the cabinet *** feeds out of is slated to be constructed to fiber before the end of the year. That cabinet will then need to be spliced, and a service wire buried to the home. His location will be available for ************* with Solarus Facilities in 2025.

      Until that point, it is only the Legacy Manawa facilities that the customer is connected to and that maximum speed available is 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload.

      If *** is interested in upgrading from his current 6Mbps/768kbps plan to the 10Mbps/1Mbps, that increased plan would be an additional $24.00 per month. If the customer would like to increase the bandwidth, he is subscribed to he would need to reach out to **************** to change his plan and increase his Internet speed. Customer still needs to be aware of bandwidth limitations on this increased plan as well. Once Fiber is constructed to this customers address, we will be able to provide up to 2 Gig/2 Gig service. 

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:03/25/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Resolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I contracted Solarus to install internet into my home early 2024. They can and installed their system. And immediately I wasnt getting the speed I was promised. I was supposed to get 400 gb. I ran a speed test and got 153 up and download. I called and informed them of the issue. No resolve. I called again and left my name/ number in there call back. Never got called back. Eventually they came and re ran their system. Same techs The internet was still glitching. With interruptions. I was only getting 200up/downs. Still not what i was supposed to get. And I was told it was my problem to fix. Not theirs. I ask that I not be billed anything as nothing was done right in the 1st place. It was more hassle for me!!!

      Business Response

      Date: 04/03/2024

      This is a response to Complaint ID# ********. **** became a Solarus Internet customer on 12/4/23. At the time of installation, he decided to continue to use his own Eero router for his wireless connectivity as opposed to taking our managed Wi-Fi system which would be utilizing our wireless routers. We highly advise customers to use our wireless equipment because it makes troubleshooting much easier. Our ONT (the piece of equipment we install in the home) was installed in the basement where all lines from outside come into the home and then his Eero router was then plugged into our ONT in the basement.  Therefore, depending on the layout of the house, a signal may not reach from that piece of equipment to the whole home without additional access points. When a customer takes our managed Wi-Fi system, we install access points throughout the whole home to ensure connectivity throughout. While there on the initial installation, the installers did advise the customer that their one Eero router would not provide sufficient wireless coverage and the customer stated that he would purchase an additional puck for coverage.

      On 1/2/24 the customer called in saying that his ******************** speed was slow, and he was not getting what he was paying for. Our technical support team explained how 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz work and that he may potentially need additional access points to get the signal to reach throughout his house. Our technical support team found that all his devices were connecting to the 2.4 Ghz and not the 5Ghz on his customer owned Eero router. The customer stated that he wasnt happy that his router was installed in the basement,and he requested someone to come out and move his router upstairs. The same day an installer went on site and ran a CAT5 upstairs to the center of the house for the customer and moved their router upstairs for better coverage. At this time the customer still had not purchased the additional puck for the Eero router and asked the installer what he needed to buy.

      On 1/19/24, the customer called in to discuss some payment and bill questions and during that call he stated to a **************** Representative that he was having a lot of issues with his service. That CSR then sent the call to the Technical Support Supervisor to talk with the customer and do some troubleshooting. Again, troubleshooting is limited because the customer is using their own wireless system, but the supervisor tried to help as best he could without full visibility into the customers equipment. On this call the customer stated that he was only having an issue with one **** stick. The supervisor suggested that he try and delete some apps on the **** to free up space and possibly swap to a different **** and try that on the main TV. This would help to figure out whether it is a wireless issue or a **** issue. The supervisor did have him check the logs on the Eero router and the customer said no issues were showing up. In our system the ONT was up with no errors on our end either. The one **** was connected to the 5Ghz radio, and the customer said the stick was roughly 4 years old. At this point we did not roll a truck since the only issue customer stated he was having was with his own customer owned **** stick that was 4 years old.

      On 1/23/24, the customer called in due to his ******************** not working. This was because he had been suspended for nonpayment. At this time,he had not paid anything to us for the service since being installed on 12/4/23. He was sent a final notice on 1/16/24 stating past due amount was due by 2:00 on 1/23 or services would be suspended. He did not make a payment that day or any day after and was permanently disconnected two weeks later. The balance that is owed on his account is now $124.02 and that is for service from 12/4-23-1/23/24.

      We did not hear from the customer again until 3/25/24 when he called in upset that he still has a bill from us and stating that he never got good service and that he would not be paying the bill and would be reporting us to the Better Business Bureau.

      After reviewing all the activity on our end, we feel as though we did everything we could to troubleshoot with the customer and inform him of his options related to the wireless coverage (which does affect the speed the customer is receiving). When the customer first contacted us stating he was experiencing issues we rolled a truck and moved his customer owned equipment at no charge to him. The second communication was related to issues with a customer owned **** stick. Based on the ********************** we had with the customer I am not sure what more we could have done. We are sorry to hear that he feels as though he did not have a good experience with our service. Although we feel his issues were beyond our control, we are willing to remove the existing charge of $124.02. Please let us know if further assistance is needed. 

      Customer Answer

      Date: 04/04/2024

      [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

      Better Business Bureau:

      I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 

      Regards,

      *********************

    Solarus is NOT a BBB Accredited Business.

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