Thanks to Justin, not only for the excellent article, but for giving his permission for me to use it in entirety.
He has captured the essence of what NextGenus means to me and many customers.
Sound familiar?
NextGenUs has always been about providing an outstanding service to the community, supported by the community. It’s been about us helping each other, supporting our community and seeing that there are better options than a monopoly in this area.
As one of the first NextGenUs customers I have always been fiercely loyal to the brand, knowing that there are those working within the ‘company’ (Simon, Mark) who have invested far more of their time, effort and energy than could ever normally be expected of any other established business. Try getting Karoo to spend 40 minutes sorting out your connection difficulties at 10.30 on a Saturday night and still having time to chat and share a joke.
So is it all over then? No. Well, it needn’t be, because frankly, that’s up to you. And me.
NextGenUs has been a success. It has gathered a significant customer base, has earned a high level of customer loyalty and respect, and has delivered broadband of a speed and quality rarely seen across the country, let alone Humberside.
Yes, NGU Has been a success. But it hasn’t been easy. Setting up a high speed broadband supply of this quality in this area on minimal funding could never be easy, but it’s been done. And it’s growing, and has a very positive future ahead of it. If you want.
You see the problems at the moment aren’t caused by customer dissatisfaction. They’re not caused by a lack of finance, or a lack of decent infrastructure.
The company has been crashed thanks to someone supposed to be at the helm taking his eye off the map, forgetting what a community project is really for, and selling us all cheap.
Are you happy for that to happen? Because whilst we may have all felt the shudder as we hit the rocks today, we are very far from being sunk.
Because what we need right now is stability, commitment, loyalty and strength. What we need right now is to pull together and not to rock the boat.
Leave if you have to. Sign up with another broadband company if you feel your needs will be better served. But that will only help to broaden the damage which has already been caused.
Right now the one guaranteed way to end NGU in Hull is for us, the customers, the community, to abandon ship. Because by leaving, we basically pull the plug on the finances NGU needs to ride through this storm and come out the other side with a stronger crew and a community which has made its voice heard more than ever before, ensuring that it is the community which is placed first, and not short term financial deals which achieve no long term benefits.
Having spoken at length with both Mark and Simon it is clear what we need to do. Yes, my first reaction was to phone four other broadband companies to arrange quotes and installation timeframes. But by following through on any one of those I will be leaving a hole in the NGU customer base, and right now there’s going to be no one coming in to fill that hole.
For every NGU customer who leaves right now, the greater the chance that the rest of us will have no choice, and that the astonishing success of the NGU project in Hull will have been wasted. The extraordinary efforts and commitments of people we all respect such as Simon and Mark will have been for nothing.
Leave if you must. But stay if you can see further than a short-sighted captain who has forgotten the ‘Us’ in NextGenUs.
Justin Arnold