UTVip XL - Atrocious!

elsoldemayo

Not sure if it is relevant, but I don't use the dialer when I connect to XL. Every fourth or fifth login (I use autologin) it rejects the password and I have to type it into the settings again. Other than that no probs at all.

flamegrill

I don't use the dialer and I've had no problems what so ever. Connects first time anytime and the performance has increased for me, re-trains seem to have stopped aswell.


Paul

_Kaiser_

No real problems here either - if anything things are better (now get 46.6 - 50.2!! kbps connection rates on my LT v92 Hardware modem whereas I previously got no more than 45.2 usually - tho thats probably more to do with the fact that I've moved house recently)... still, very satisfied with the service and for me its 15 quid cheaper (I had the peak saver option on UTVip) and 30 hours extra so I'm happy

oscarBravo

Another happy customer here, also on ISDN. I got ISDN before I got XL, but using 56k on UTVip before that I was happy pretty much all the time.

I'm not using the dialler 'cos I'm dialling from Linux. Almost every connection attempt is successful, I almost never get disconnected, and speeds are almost invariably consistently high.

I don't play games, so I'm not that worried about latency.

mike65

Just to make DirksDiggler feel a little worse I'm on dial up
and apart from the occassional multi dial up attempt I've had no particular problems beyond a couple of occassions where UTV had
brief systems failure thier end. Its cetainly no worse than any other service regarding data through put (I dont game either).

Mike.

DirksDiggler

I stand by my original statement.

It's utterly,utterly ****e.

Despite good log-on times (45 - 49kbps) download speed is poor (3.5kb per sec at the most) and browsing a pitiful two pages simultaneously is simply not possible without some kind of freeze up.

And as I mentioned earlier,the IOL Free and E*rcom dial up accounts I also have leave XL sucking their dust.

Whatever that means.

Thank you and Goodnight.

Or afternoon.

Mark

Originally posted by DirksDiggler

Despite good log-on times (45 - 49kbps)

/me nods

download speed is poor (3.5kb per sec at the most)

Tbh I find that good on a 56k.

and browsing a pitiful two pages simultaneously is simply not possible without some kind of freeze up.

I have none of those sort of problems. However:

I AM SICK OF THE FIGGING DISCONNECTS

SORT IT OUT LIKE. It's preventing me from effectively getting my Tetris On.

Chowley

3.5 k Dl is bad on 56k I usually get 5k dl speeds.Although the line in my house seems to be excellent for some strange reason.

Eurorunner

Another happy customer here, also on ISDN. I got ISDN before I got XL, but using 56k on UTVip before that I was happy pretty much all the time.

Ditto

Martin-UTVi

My 56K modem pinged as well on Eircom as my ISDN does now on UTV.

Regarding the ping issues. The games server pinged below is currently sitting on Esat's network. So pings when logged onto IOL or Eircom (who directly peer with Esat) are going to be better. We are continually pushing Energis to improve their peering (from our servers games2.iol.ie is only 50ms away...) and we have new modem/terminal server firmware that we have happily tested and should go live with in a few weeks......but it won't drastically improve pings to servers that physically live on separate networks. Don't forget we also run some gameservers at www.dnagames.net.

Regarding the consistant disconnections and issues with downloads. The firmware upgrade mentioned may help those epxerincing this issue. One other thing to check is that regardless of the type of modem you are using, ensure you are running with both the latest firmware and drivers. Because of the many different types of modems and terminating equipment as well as the varying quality of analogue lines in service, there can be differences between providers. For instance I regularly check our services from Belfast. Now this involves an international analogue call, yet my modem always connects at minimum 36kbps and seems to remain connected at a fairly constant rate (no retrains). Downloads during these tests all seem fine (for an analogue connection anyway )

But if you are having consistent problems, give our support desk a call (1890 926111), post to our support group utv.support or email us at support@u.tv. Please make sure that you have all the pertinent info to hand including the output from an ipconfig /all command to help us track down any problems.

John R

Originally posted by DirksDiggler
I stand by my original statement.

It's utterly,utterly ****e.

No it simply isn't. If that were true this board would be full of people complaining, it isn't. Your connection might be bad, but that is not necessarily a failing of UTV. Check your own system out first, as Martin said update your drivers or try a different modem or re-install your os.

I have been with UTV IP since it started and have only had one serious problem, when they updated their system my modem stopped working properly (a software upgrade fixed that).

I do seem to get a failed logon (username/password not recognised) once every 7 or 8 attempts since switching to XL (I use DUN not the supplied dialer) which is a slight irritation but it always works on the next attempt. It always connects at 48kbps or above with download speeds of around 5kB/s and in the 10 months I have had it i doubt I have had more than 5 or 6 disconnects. The pings wer noticeably slower than some isp's in the beginning for browsing but it is much better now. I don't game so I can't comment on that.

I have had business with just about all the main communication companies operating in Ireland and UTV are the only one that have not blatantly ripped me off or renaged on promises.

bk

Originally posted by DirksDiggler
I stand by my original statement.

It's utterly,utterly ****e.

Dirks, it is completely unfair on UTV for you to come in here and bad mouth them without even contacting them first and seeing if they can help.

It would be fair enough for you to say this if everybody was having the same problems and UTV where completely ignoring them. However most people seem to be finding the service excellent and UTV respond very fast to any problems on their service.

No service is ever going to be 100% perfect for 100% of the people, there will always be some people with problems. But at least UTV has the best tech support in the industry, respond very quickly to complaints and really try to run the best service possible.

BTW I have experienced the exact same problems on both Eircom and Esat Nolimits over the years. When NoLimits first came out it had very bad disconnections and slow speeds for months on end and despite repeatedly complaining about it I never heard anything back from them, unlike UTV.

BBTW More recently I had bad disconnection problems with NoLimits, at first I thought it was the service, because of all the new Netsmart customers. I was wrong, it urned out that a Euro 2 phone adapter thingy (allows you to plug two devices, phone and modem into the same line) had gotten damaged, I replaced it and now it is working perfect. My point is it just goes to show that you never know what might be to blame, don't jump to conclusions too fast.

DirksDiggler

Dirks, it is completely unfair on UTV for you to come in here and bad mouth them without even contacting them first and seeing if they can help.

First of all I did contact UTV and to be perfectly frank I think I was speaking to some kind of zombie who could barely muster a reply to a couple of simple questions.His solution was to (a) download a new dialer which I done and nothings changed (b) buy a new modem (for f*ck sake!) and (c) reformat my 80GB hard drive.

Secondly I'm paying for a service which I have (yet???) to adequately receive.I think that entitles me to bitch about it.

Thirdly if you actually bothered to read one or two of my posts I highlighted the fact on more than one occasion that supposedley inferior products (Eircom Net/IOL Free/IOL gold) are infinitley better than UTV's offering.Therefore it can't be that difficult to get a decent service up and running.

And finally I'm not the only person experiencing the aforementioned problems.

John R

DirksDiggler do you actually want to fix your problem or do you just want something to bitch about?

more than a few people have already said that their UTV IP service is good so you know that there is no complete system fault on their end. As you say that you get good connections with other isps then there must be some problem between your pc and UTV's server.

Have you tried to narrow down the problem?
Have you updated your modem's drivers?
Tried a different modem, I suggest you borrow one rather than buy one
Tried re-installing your OS, believe it or not windows doesn't always work perfectly.
You could use a different pc, again I reccomend that you borrow one rather than buy one, to check that the line is ok.

I am not saying that it is impossible that UTV are not at fault but until you rule out the most likely causes at your end you are not going to get anywhere.

spongebob

It could be a spider nesting in his PC , have you checked for that too Dirk?

It could be anything as a matter of fact.

M

ando

in regards troubleshooting the problem, I think formatting his harddrive is bad advice

Urban Weigl

Judging from all the information available here, especially with the regards to disconnects, this does sound like a modem issue (as Martin pointed out, there are dozens of different modem types, and some work better with each other than others).

The first thing I would therefore try is borrow an external mode. If you continue to experience these issues, at least you will know it isn't your modem.

Paddy20

DirksDiggler,

Listen I know how frustrating it is when you have what seems too be an insoluble problem with your computer, but in my experience UTV Internet have proved to be a Godsend.

They imho have opened up the ISP market in the Irish Republic to some real competition and they have saved me personally a small fortune now that I am out of the grip of Eircom.Net.

The advice that Martin Lyons of UTV has posted on this thread seems excellent and I can not think of another ISP who would have even bothered trying too help you openly by posting on a public forum.

The title of your thread is a bit OTT to say the least, and as for you leaving the UTVip XL service after the 3 Months. I doubt if they would hold you to the three Month contract, if it would really help your problem.

Maybe, contacting 1890 926111 once again might just be worth a try?.. I had a problem when I first downloaded the new dialler, but after I gave up trying too fix the problem myself and getting nowhere, I rang UTV support and my problem which was mixed and complicated!, was solved in about five minutes.

I sincerely believe your problem can be resolved if you contact them again and keep contacting them until you are happy.

Good luck.

Paddy20,;)

NIBBS

DirksDiggler - if your problem is really so bad and you think you are getting no support from UTV (who without a shadow of a doubt have the best and some of the friendliest support people I've dealt with in Ireland), then why don't you go to you're precious Eircom.

Have you ever actually tried to get support from them - now that is a challenge.............

By the way, I'm using XL, using the dialler and have had absolutely no problems with either the dialler or the service.........and for anyone who is complaining about gaming over a 56k connection, get real - not really the scenario that games are designed to be played over in 2003........

though I agree if you were told by support that you should format you HDD, that's not right.......

gandalf

Dirk if your actually serious about sorting out your issues contact Martin directly.

Gandalf.

drjolt

Seems to me that DD has said he gets acceptable connections to other ISPs using his modem, phone line, etc., which firmly rules out an equipment problem at his end. I've always found that I get varying speeds from different ISPs using the same gear - I get 42K when using UTVip XL, testing with Eircom recently I got 46K. I've seen this kind of variation pretty consistently over the years. Get off the man's case, all of the ISPs are big enough and ugly enough to take care of themselves.

Dampsquid

I always get a connection speed of 48 - 52 kbps. I have only been disconnected twice since 1st July.
Although my girlfriend has been disconnected maybe 8 times, and she uses the service mostly around 5 - 7pm.
I use it after 8 or at weekends.

John R

Originally posted by drjolt
Seems to me that DD has said he gets acceptable connections to other ISPs using his modem, phone line, etc., which firmly rules out an equipment problem at his end.

No, it doesn't firmly rule out that at all, by that logic if lots of other users get good connections with UTV that firmly rules out a problem with UTV's equipment.

Get off the man's case, all of the ISPs are big enough and ugly enough to take care of themselves. [/B]

Giblet

Originally posted by John R
No, it doesn't firmly rule out that at all, by that logic if lots of other users get good connections with UTV that firmly rules out a problem with UTV's equipment.

Actually, alot more people are having problems that you would think.
Just that there not all here to complain.

BKtje

Could be the equipment at his exchange or however it works while at other exchanges there isnt a 'spider'running around inside it
Could be the amount of people on his exchange?

spongebob

could be Paddy Joes electric fence down the road

drjolt

Originally posted by John R
No, it doesn't firmly rule out that at all,

Yes, it does. A problem with his modem would be present no matter what ISP he called with it.

by that logic if lots of other users get good connections with UTV that firmly rules out a problem with UTV's equipment.

Yes. They should work on figuring out what factors vary for people calling from different areas instead of wasting time twiddling their terminal server settings.

rymus

just a couple of cents from me: since I migrated to XL I've had no problems, no disconnects and all that. Downloads are a little tardy however, a little less than I'm told I should be getting with ISDN (although that would be my USB TA). Pings and downloads aside, no problems at all. Connects first time, every time (so far)

moshpit77

I have to agree that the UTV XL service isn't up to scratch at the moment. Since upgrading at the start of this month I have suffered constant disconnections and bad conection speeds, most of the time when I log on it's at 45.3kbps, sometimes I've had 44kbps. Just on trying the Eircom and IOL connections I have, they both give me 48/49kbps, which I was getting with UTV most of the time before upgrading to XL. And before anybody says otherwise, there is NOTHING wrong with my modem or system, it just happens with the 1893 number.

And yes I've emailed support about it, still no reply. Considering I was left over a week with the thing rejecting my password at the start of the month before they decided to reply, I won't be expecting one fast either.

I never had trouble with UTV before the XL, and I'm delighted at their leadership in the push for flat rate, but if they don't get their act together I'm off after the 3 month contract is up too.

dub45

Just as a by the way - I am still on UTV vip (awaiting clicksliver) but I notice that in recent times I am getting a lot of disconnects and far more than I ever got previously. I have gone weeks I am sure of being connected every night for a couple of hours without one disconnect whereas now they are commonplace.