TDS Telecommunications review: Poor service! 72

tds "customer NO service" - each and every time called.

This is one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. I have been held hostage to TDS for over 6 years….but no more. The rude customer service, the sloppy techs (who have broken more than they fixed – one guy actually broke and then duct taped the connection box back together after he couldn’t open it with a simple screw driver…naturally, it leaked water and shorted the box…that took a week to get fixed; I could go on, but what’s the point). Finally another carrier is in our area and I am running, chasing their van down the street to, not so much get service, but to get as far away from TDS telecom as possible. My problem started 6 years ago when I moved here and they sold a service that would not work...that took months to get removed from my bill and several phone calls to customer service (none of them really gave a crap, anyway…another waste of time). Long and short of it is…I’m free at last!
BTW Mr. Johnson...they don't care how long you've been a customer. They always think they've got you by the short hairs...if you read other complaints, some people have been with TDS for decades and still get crappy service. TDS just doesn't care...their attitude is "if you don't like it...leave", knowing full well they own the market, cheeky ###.

TDS has undoubtedly the WORST internet speed conceivable. Currently download speed is running at 1.12 mb--that's blazing fast for them. They promise that they will deliver 5 mb which is total BS. I live outside Mounds, OK. Do NOT use this company!

We have been paying for HIGH SPEED Internet from TDS Telecom for over three years. We have yet to receive High Speed internet speeds. We email and we call and we complain. We are rural and they tell us "well, you don't have many other options, do you" They tell us "Well, you have a bundle price so you aren't really paying for "real" high speed internet" They tell us that it is a 'capacity' issue (meaning they have more subscribers than they can handle on one capacitor. We ask them to fix it. We ask them to increase capacity. They say "we are not sure when we will be able to do that"

We need high speed because of education purposes. We need high speed and we are paying, and have been paying, and are receiving slower than dial up speeds at times. Others in our surrounding area have complained about the same issue with TDS with no resolve but continued billing.

I AM CONTACTING Lawyers with the hope of filing a class action suit.

I agree to almost all of the above comments. I pay $63 /month for a very slow 1.5 DSL and (local only) telco service.
I'm very frustrated as I just tried to chat with a CSR at TDS who said her name was Megan. On the TDS chat, I gave her my (short) first name, full last name, service address, city, state, zip code, & E-Mail address. She insisted she must have my complete and full name. I told her I really don't want to chat, I only have a quick question about the cost to upgrade to a faster DSL speed because I cannot watch a YouTube video without buffering half a dozen times.I gave up.
TDS Tech Support has repeatedly said it is my wireless modem. I have changed it out several times with no change. (PS) I do this techie stuff as a hobby when I'm back home in Indiana (on weekends). I used to support computers, etc. I'm even considering AT&T wireless (pretty desperate).

I remember when the Gov't was going to bust up the Bell Systems. We were told the Telco's would have to share their telco lines and you would be able to choose any provider.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 introduces the Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) concept, allowing new CLECs to compete against Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs), using certain network elements of the local incumbent provider. Rural ILECs such as TDS Telecom are excluded from having to provide CLEC access to their network elements. - See more at: http://www.tdsinc.com/history.html#sthash.VNf9moBM.dpuf

The number portability clause does not apply to TDS telephone numbers. They purchased the TCTC (local telco) a few years back and our quality of service (QOS) went South. They paid a lot of money for our locally owned telco. I knew the former owner and I had a lot of respect for him. He retired a very rich man.
Tidbit: In 1983: U.S. Cellular is founded as a cellular service subsidiary of TDS. - See more at: http://www.tdsinc.com/history.html#sthash.VNf9moBM.dpuf

Anyway, this is from Bloomberg Business.
CEO: David A. Wittwer
Age 52
Director, Chief Executive Officer of TDS Telecom and President of TDS Telecom, Telephone & Data Systems Inc.
Total Calculated Compensation $2, 616, 877

Here in St. George Utah. TDS bought out our cable company about 1 to 2 months ago and the only thing is I can say Is there customer service is a lot to be desired. The first time I called the lady disconnected me. I call for the second time and this guy came on and made me go through the ropes of resetting both the modem and my wireless and when I took out the battery and the either net plug the phone disconnected, the dude never called me back! For the third time I was pissed and the guy went thru the same thing the previous techs have done I told him I already done all that, so he redirects me to a tier 2 support tech. He did what he did and came back and told me I would have to wait till Tuesday for in house tech comes, I went ballistic on the guy. I told him to cancel the in home tech and I will go to the main office and get a new modem and give them a piece of my mind in the process of it all. I only have had TDS for a short time and already not liking the company! I seen all the reviews and there all the same problems with slow internet.

I just got off phone with Tds . was promised 15 credit after twelve months called to get it back. And they said no. After I have been told I could by other reps. They are willing to lose a customer than help. There billing stinks and so does there internet service. Works when it wants.

Is there anyone out there attempting a class action. Our whole town of Inola Oklahoma is in the same situation.

TDS has very slow service and very bad customer service. Thinking about changing providers. It is especially slow on weekends and holidays and high tourist months in N. GA.

How to get great service listed 12/16/15

Got to a participating cell phone company who will have the ability for a rate usually less than TDS to give you HOME service. Instead of plugging in your corded or cordless phones (NOT CELL PHONES) into the wall jack, they just send you a device to plug YOUR PHONES INTO. However, if you want a landline and cell phone capability they have that as well, though you'll have to get a cell phone through them!

I have had the nasty consumer people who think they are doing you a favor by answering questions. Very unprofessional and place the fact that they OUTSOURCE THE PHONE COMPANY.

I just contacted US Cellular (haven't dealt with them ever so I don't know how their service is) but IF THEY HAVE THIS CAPABILITY, I'M SURE OTHER CELL PHONES COMPANIES DO THAT, AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY A CELL PHONE OR USE THIS SERVICE JUST FOR YOUR LAND LINE PHONE.

i can add my comments to this list of dispare about TDS. I first paid for 15 mb speed for 4 months with many complaints about not getting service above 2. I quit them and only returned when promised the area was to be upgraded. Took the bait for the 15mb and after 2 more months of failures, was finally told that a signal beyond 5 mb was not possible on my line in my area. So I down graded... saved $5 and now the line averages 0.8 mb.

I read ur complaint about tds and we have the same exact ssue. They told us they dropped everyone in our surrounding areas to 1 while we still paying for the 5 package, have u contacted a lawyer by any chance cuz were thinking of pursing the same . Thank you jean
We live in Wisconsin. They r not providing the service they r selling us, that is fraud, they cut us all down but the price stayed the same . TDS is a rip off

In this area of central Minnesota TDS is the only choice for landline and DSL. The service provided under the 10Mbps to 15Mbps plan averages from nonexistent to maybe (on a very good day) 8.0. They “upgraded” a few years ago with the promise of higher speeds and honestly that happened with speeds of up to 13 Mbps. But the reality was that this ‘burst of speed’ lasted for approximately a month then service dropped again. The average overall delivery is around 4.5Mbps but with the drop outs it is essentially worthless for music listening of streaming on Netflix or Amazon. One minute the service might be 5.0 and the next .68Mbps (according to both Speedtest.net and speedtest.tds.net). Contact with TDS is futile and frustrating as all of the local employees (the ones they were supposed to help with their acquisition of the very good local company) and been laid off and service sent “off shore”. A large building remains with about 14 people locally. We live in the woods (literally) so we don’t expect a gig for delivery but we do appreciate honesty, courtesy and competence. Unfortunately none of these attributes can be attributed to TDS. Selling more bandwidth than can be provided should be illegal, but it’s not. And according to some long time employees (old company to TDS) the employees are treated worse than the customers. The point is, if you can’t, or don’t want to provide the bandwidth and service don’t charge for it. To do otherwise is unethical and THAT in a nut shell sums up what TDS is all about. Will anyone do anything about it; no, because no one here is rich enough to carry that much influence with the politicians that have been bought with the TDS money.

I have great TDS internet service and good phone service. My problem is pixelation of the video and dropout of audio on tv. I have escalated it twice and no help. Gonna keep the internet and phone and get DirectTV. My daughter and my son both have DTV and are very happy. I am nobody's slave customer.

I live in rural area. Last summer I didnt pay a bill for 3 months_ completely unreliable service on computer, Iphone dropping calls constantly, had to wander around outside to find a spot. Was told it was the leaves from trees around house, that a garage in Indiana with cables burned down, sent two new modems, etc.
This summer all 4 of households on our road are experiencing poor wi-fi reception. People I call cannot hear me, or the call just drops. Computer very slow. Don't have another internet provider choice. I spent so much time on phone last year, people who had little tech knowledge advising repeatedly to shutdown computer and modem and start over. had to keep complaining to get someone who had some technical knowledge. Right now my two neighbors, an IBM guy who oversees big computer installations, the other a district IT guy for school systems in our county, bith trying to figure out/ get help. I loathe to start the phone monotonous unhelpful calls again. But I will, and again, insist that I not be charged monthly until this is resolved.

Lying terrible tech support and ### billing department. They have mailed our bill to the wrong persons address countless times, then shut off our crappy internet they provide us, that only works half of the month. We call them again, giving them the correct address to bill us and put it AGAiN in our notes on file so it wont happen again, but that doesnt even help. They make the mistake every other month. Then when we pay it, they dont turn out internet on for a few days. They take our money yet provide us NOTHING!
You call tech support, they dont help. They put you on hold for 15 mins then disconnect you. They lie to you about things then get caught. They are all just a bunch of teenagers sitting in a call center. One guy thought his phone was on mute and it wasnt, i heard his entire conversation about my account and personal info. Unprofessional doesnt describe this company accurately enough. They are crap. Not even sure how the owners of the company are not sorely embarrassed by their employees and and snail service. Ive never been loed to so much by customer service in my life. They are such a joke.

I just off the phone with a TDS supervisor who hung up on me because I threatened them with a class action lawsuit. He said "Since you are now threatening legal action, I have to hang up". Screw TDS. I pay for 5 mb service (fastest available in my area, just outside Monroe WI) with a guarantee of 3 mb and I am getting 1 to 1.5 mb. Same crap about "bandwidth issue" and no project planned to upgrade service at this time. They don't care. That's the bottom line with them and a lot of internet providers. Fraudulent advertising and rotten service, and unless legal action is brought against them there isn't a prayer that they;ll ever deliever what they advertise. I wish there was someone out there getting a suit going against them. I'd love to pitch in... something worth paying the lawyers for.

I wish there was a class action lawsuit against TDS, I would gladly join it! Rural Oklahoma inter net is horrible. If they cant provide what we want why cant we be allowed another provider!

I cancelled my previous service and was going to try another one. Changed my mind and went back to tds because satellite would have been worse. Amazingly, I can only get half the speed I was getting just one week prior. It's not offered in my area-except directly across the road from me. I am charged a lessor price, but in order to get it, I had to bundle and get phone service with call waiting etc. for $30. Of course, it brought my price to the same I was paying with a higher speed. With the higher speed, I was able to get a simple phone for only $17. It's their way of making sure everybody spends a minimum per month instead of having a lessor bill. The service is slow and outdated but there is nothing a consumer in this area can do. they monopolize the area.

We live in Rural maine...TDS is the only option for us...Cable does not come down our road...We have countless problems and have addressed TDS multiple times...We pay for a internet speed that we can never get...On week night and weekends...When there is a lot of usage the odds of connecting to the internet are Slim...TDS is the worst...Would not recommend this company to any...I think our next option may be to go satellite internet...

We live in Monroe, WI. Once again, TDS high speed internet service went down. I say high speed, but here just outside of Monroe, the best service you can get is 5 Mbps, in which you are lucky during good times to get 4 Mbps. Trying to get a hold of TDS technical services, or customer services for that matter is impossible. You never get a human, just prerecorded options that eventually lead you to one of two possibilities: A message that says they are getting an extreme amount of calls whereby they tell you to hang up and call back later, or if you are lucky you get put on hold for 45 min to 1-1/2 hours. Today, all I could get was a hang up. And that just wasn't the Technical Services number. That was ll TDS published numbers. So, I went to the online chat through my phone. When I got on, I was number 81 in the cue. After 45 minutes, I finally got down to number 1 in the cue and up popped the message - that they weren't thaking chats and to leave an email message, and that they would get back to you. Well, its been 8 hours since then and I don't expect a return email. TDS is THE WORST internet provider on the planet. They are over-capacity on their DSLlines, and when you ask them when they are planning to upgrade the service, they tell you "there are no plans currently to upgrade service". Unfortunately, we do not get cable here, and satellite is too expensive. So, they know you are stuck with them and their lousy service.

I live in Blue Ridge Georgia in the mountains and we are tethered to TDS with no other source for a internet provider. The service is not what I pay for and has never been good since we moved her from New York. Every single day there is an issue. It is so slow now that it reminds me of the old dial up days. I have invested in all kinds of modems to help speed it up but nothing works. The server ALWAYS goes out. We cannot even watch our subscription apps because of buffering issues. FED up like everyone else is.
LASeber

I have a rental cabin in Blue Ridge. When I signed up I was told approx 5Mbps download and 1Mbps upload. I need 1 Mbps upload speed to run a wireless security camera. However, on speed test, the absolute BEST I have ever gotten is 3/10 Mbps (.3) and I've never gotten over 3mbps download speed. This service is almost as slow as dial up used to be in the late 90's...ridiculous! I'm not sure why I am expected to pay the ridiculous amount when I'm not getting what I was told. At my permanent home in Atlanta, I pay the same amount and get 40 download and up to 10 upload speeds. TDS has been telling me ever since I signed up they are working on upgrading their system, but the techs that have come out tell me they have had a bunch of equipment for years and have been told for years they were going to be upgrading, but the new equipment has not been touched. Swindlers!

I was lied to by a customer service rep on 3 differents times my account would be connected and I still dont have service and have been on hold for the past few minutes

TDS is ripping off there customers, charging for connection speeds they have no way of providing. My connection speed is suppose to be 1Mbps and I am lucky to run a at capacity of .58 Mbps. I cannot even stream a video let alone a movie. The Wi-Fi continually cuts in and out this company is screwing all of their customers. TDS Sucks!

My Internet sucks everyday it starts and stops locks up, I call my local TDS and they tell me they cant do anything about it its an overcapacity issue.I pay for 15 mega bites per second most of the time I get less than 1. We home school our children and need a dependable service.We are not getting what we have been paying for years.Total ripoff.

I agreed with TDS with below price but they charged more because of other fees that I did not know before agreement TDS.
Introductory Rate ( for the first 24 months) $77.95/mo

but they charged me more $16.5/mo ( total nearly $94.45 before tax)

Please take care for TDS.

Cable always loses signal every day and does it for hours. Internet loses wifi all the time . Worse service ever and high priced.

Why are there are so many errors lately in the listings on screen?

Whoever is in charge of the guide needs to quit and let someone take over who can read! And communicate.

I tried to cancel service but could not get through or my call was dropped. DSL service is pathetic at best. Customer service, is a catch 22. They pretend to listen, then drop the bomb. Pay or go to collections. I opted for collections. I refuse to pay them another nickel.