ClickSilver ..just died...again !

Ripwave

Originally posted by Da Man
Definitely, the customers should draw up metrics of where the problem is and identify problem exchanges. It should most definitely not be UTV's responsibility to fix any problems, it's the customer's responsibility.

Read what I wrote, and don't be such a gob****e.

Pissing and moaning about UTV here on boards isn't going to do them, or anyone else, any good. If they want to actually help themselves out, and do something constructive, they could make some effort to properly document what's going on. At least IOL users seem to be capable of mentioning where they are based, and we can see that Limerick is affected one day, but other places are okay, or South Dublin/Wicklow is affected, but other places are okay. From other IOL posts, it's obvious that ESAT have had problems with their INEX connections. All I know about the UTV problems after reading hundreds of posts is that some people are affected much worse than others. As it is, these guys seem more interested in doing as much damage to UTVs reputation as possible, despite the fact that there are people out there who are satisfied with the service (and who get their heads bitten off if they say so).

If I were a UTV user I wouldn't give a **** about how they deal with Eircom or anyone else. The reason I'm not a UTV user is that I always expected them to be unable to deliver a consistent quality of service.

Well, you're obviously smarter than the half a dozen persistent complainers, then, aren't you? If I was a UTV user, I wouldn't want UTV wasting my monthly subscription by mollifying these guys - just cut them loose, and let them spend their money with some other provider.

GreeBo

Originally posted by Ripwave

If the engine wasn't installed properly, then you'll find that it's Mercedes that will have to fix it, not Mike. (Mercedes might get Mike to fix it for them, but it's still Mercedes fixing a problem they were responsible for).

But the point is that I dont care who Mike has to get in contact with, my contract is with Mike.
If Mikes wife is having a baby and Mike cant get to work to fix my car, thats not a good enough excuse in my book. Its up to Mike to provide the expected service to his customers, or lose them.

UTV are reselling eircoms RADSL service. If eircom doesn't tell UTV about "planned outages" until after they happen, what do you want UTV to do about it? Threaten to stop selling eircoms service if eircom doesn't get their act together?

If Utv cant get things in place with their own suppliers, then perhaps they need to examine their business models viability?

If I was to start selling merc's tomorrow, Id make bloody sure (weeks ago!) that I had the appropriate arrangements with my suppliers, and that I wasnt going to drop the ball and lose customers. Worst thing you can do in business is blame someone else, it never looks good and it usually means that you didnt plan ahead very well yourself.

Ro-76

Originally posted by Ripwave

...rest of us are listening to you piss and moan about it.

With all due respect, you are actively reading and paticicpating in this forum, so i's your decision to listen to us "piss and moan about it". What did you expect from a thread titled ClickSilver ..just died...again ! - a list of testimonials from satisfied customers?

Originally posted by Ripwave

I mean, it's not as if you're actually doing anything productive by making the same endless round of complaints, is it?

Of course it is productive to complain and put pressure on UTV to improve the service. As you said yourself:

Originally posted by Ripwave

UTV would probably be doing themselves and us a favour by letting the half a dozen noisy oysters cancel their contracts, but unfortunately, much of the damage that has been done probably can't be repaired

So complaining here may be having an effect (in your opinion!).

Originally posted by Ripwave

What do you expect UTV to do about problems that appear to be caused by eircoms actions or inactions? There are obviously problems with the service that can't be laid at eircoms door. But some can be. How do you suggest UTV deal with these eircom related problems?

Have you actually read this post? What we are annoyed about are the non-Eircom related problems, such as:
1. Outages not related to Eircom maintainence
2. Poor ping times and packet loss
3. Inaccessibility of certain sites, without the use of a proxy

I don't think that it will help if this thread descends into a slagging match between posters, and I do take your constructive points about correllating outages etc. I do feel that it is useful to put pressure on UTV, and I think that if they are trying to improve the service, they might just keep us informed, as a PR gesture if nothing else.

Of note, I did PM Malcolm to invite him to respond to the weekend's posts.

Ro

Ripwave

I said:

UTV would probably be doing themselves and us a favour by letting the half a dozen noisy oysters cancel their contracts, but unfortunately, much of the damage that has been done probably can't be repaired

Originally posted by Ro-76
So complaining here may be having an effect (in your opinion!).

If damaging UTVs reputation is the sort of effect you're looking for, then, yes, it's working. If improving the service you get is the effect you're looking for, then no, it's not having an effect.

So far, the only people benefitting from this thread are eircom.

Have you actually read this post? What we are annoyed about are the non-Eircom related problems, such as:
1. Outages not related to Eircom maintainence
2. Poor ping times and packet loss
3. Inaccessibility of certain sites, without the use of a proxy

Have you actually read any of my posts? The proxy issue is a prime example where people could be far more productive if they'd actually describe the problem. So far nobody has indicated whether the proxy server identifies itself in the headers (go to www.privacy.net and click on the Full Analysis link, look for the Via: header), nobody has made any effort to identify whether there are more than one transparent proxy servers, which might explain why some people are having problems, and other aren't. As for poor ping times? 50ms pings are not "poor ping times". It's RADSL. Some people will get worse pings than other people on the same exchange. Deal with it!

Ripwave

Originally posted by redoxan
[BIf Utv cant get things in place with their own suppliers, then perhaps they need to examine their business models viability?[/B]

Answer the question - if Eircom are screwing UTV around, what do you expect UTV to do? Threaten to stop doing business with Eircom, and get their RADSL service from someone else?

Ro-76

Originally posted by Ripwave
Answer the question - if Eircom are screwing UTV around, what do you expect UTV to do? Threaten to stop doing business with Eircom, and get their RADSL service from someone else?

We appreciate that Eircom is difficult to deal with, but the majority of problems discussed in this thread are not eircom related.

What we expect from UTV is the service for which we've paid. I really don't think that's unreasonable.

Ro

jonski

Ripwave ,
I understand what you are saying about being constructive , but what you can't see , through no fault of your own , is that I and others have been posting the very information you talk about on the newsgroup and also by e-mail to no avail . In here we are only gereralising because you really don't want to read the lenght of my posts with the extra details in here .

I am not here for a slagging match , I am here to participate in a discussion , if I sometimes sound too harsh on UTV it's due to frustration , nothing more . I have no vendettas and have done my utmost to help UTV sort out some of the problems including making myself available to take phone calls and run different tests at different times over the past few months .

John.

Big Chief

Originally posted by Gonzo
If I were you I would get out while you still can without costing you any real money and try IOL or Eircom. Im on Eircom and as much as we all hate them i have to admit that their broadband product is the only thing they have ever gotten right. It would be flawless except for the still very low caps of 8gb for plus and 4gb for the cheaper one. IOL is meant to be very good after a bit of trouble getting setup with its 16gig cap, they are acting up a bit at tlhe moment but unlike UTV I think IOL are only having slight problems and hopefully be fully sorted very soon. Good luck in your efforts to ditch utv before its too late.

i would agree with this, as much as ive had problems with eircom in the past, there broadband service has been great for me.. not one bit of downtime EVER!

always on and im always getting reliable d/l speeds no matter the time of day.. (i signed up for the plus package with less contention ratio and 8gig cap)

people asked me why i never went for the cheaper utv package, and are you really surprised after seeing threads like this? Im happy i went with eircon... shoot me down if you will

and im on the beggars bush exchange just incase anyone is wondering

andrew163

Im on clicksilver and don't have the proxy problem (Thank God)

But, a friend of mine had the problem and fixed it by setting the MTU for the modem to 1426. This can be done using the Dr. TCP utility found on the UTV cd.

If this is a fix (I don't know that it is, but it fixed it for my friend), then I know it's UTV who should be posting it and not me, but since they don't seem to be posting it, bleh

This also fixed a very similar problem that was happening to computers on my LAN accessing the internet through windows internet connection sharing (The gateway computer didnt have the problem, but all the others did.). I set the MTU of the LAN cards on the other computers to 1426 and the problem disappeared.

Hope that helps,
-andrew

ps i think this has been posted somewhere else on the broadband forum before with a slightly more complete description....try a search for "MTU"

<edit>If 1426 doesnt work, try lowering it... the number might be different for other people but 1426 worked in both cases for me

Aepos

Thanks Andrew,

that works a treat with me. Was 1492 switched to 1426 tuned off Proxy and away no problem....Nice one.

UTV Please note, and give the man some praise!!! or at least comment on same.

Ae

dub45

You eat the head off anyone who doesn't heap abuse on UTV, so it's not as if there's any balance in the thread.

I dont eat the head off anyone who does not heap abuse on UTV. I make points about UTV's poor service. I find it very strange that someone who does not use a service continually defends it and attacks us customers who do criticise it. As I said I am fed up with people who are prepared to defend UTV simply because they are not Eircom. I dont regard who I pay my broadband fees to as some sort of political statement.

There is absolutely no evidence that Eircom are screwing UTV apart from a one quoted failure to inform them about maintenace. Your posts are full of maybes etc but not one hard fact about Eircom screwing UTV in any way.

You and others are constantly making wild statements about Eircoms behaviour but where is the evidence? If you or UTV have any evidence of Eircom screwing them then its up to them to take that to the regulator or in the mean time if Eircom are that obstructive to withdraw from the market and publicly blame Eirocm quoting chapter and verse.

And I hasten to add that I am no defender of Eircom and if I had my way I would not give them a cent for the rest of my life.

All of the non wireless isps resell the eircom product so why are they not experiencing the same interference that you claim UTV are receiving from Eircom.

If damaging UTVs reputation is the sort of effect you're looking for, then, yes, it's working. If improving the service you get is the effect you're looking for, then no, it's not having an effect.

The only one's damaging UTV are UTV themselves. If they were providing the service they are being paid for the thread would not exist. If people dont complain how will the service improve? Again you appear to be more concerned about preserving UTV's reputation than you do about the service they are providing to their customers.

As regards constructive suggestions. I posted here recently on a suggested process for all isps to use when there are breakdowns. I long ago in the UTV support group suggested that a proper liason system appeared to be necessary between the isps as there appeared to be very poor coordination between them.
I also suggested again a while ago an automated answering system with updated detaiils for customers with complaints.

And as jonski has pointed out a lot of the stuff you mention has been posted on the UTV support group. You also seem to think that in a lot of cases we should be doing UTV supports work for them and you also forget that a lot of us simply do not have the technical knowledge to come up with the sort of information you are saying that we should provide UTV with.

Big Chief

Originally posted by Malcolm
Please see below the information received:

Schedule of work outlined below:

Sites Proposed date
Limerick 24/03/04 07.00am
Beggars Bush 25/03/04 Before 8.45am
Blanchardstown 25/03/04 Before 8.45am
Cork Central 25/03/04 07.00am
Foxrock 26/03/04 Before 8.45am
GALWAY 26/03/04 07.00am
Shantalla 29/03/04 07.00am
Merrion 30/03/04 Before 8.45am
North Main 30/03/04 Before 8.45am
Nutley 31/03/04 Before 8.45am
Priory Park 31/03/04 Before 8.45am
Rochestown 01/04/04 Before 8.45am
Ballyboden 01/04/04 Before 8.45am

It is planned work by eircom on DSL cards and will affect all the customers on that card.

UTV Internet do everything possible to liaise with other providers but we do rely on their information and communication methods which can be frustrating.

Malcolm

my eircom one hasnt went down once and im on the beggars bush exchange..

what are you talking about exactly? or do you even know anymore

RuggieBear

Originally posted by Big Chief
my eircom one hasnt went down once and im on the beggars bush exchange..

what are you talking about exactly? or do you even know anymore

well.....i'm a clicksilver customer on the Beggarsbush exchange and i was down during the announced time.


Just got an email now saying that there will be work carried out early tommorrow morning:

Planned start: Tuesday 30/03/2004 04:00
Planned finish: Tuesday 30/03/2004 07:00


p

dahamsta

Still no problems in Ballinlough in Cork! Looks like I got the good exchange.

I wonder do the people having trouble here get UTV's maintenance notices? Do your outages tie in with them?

Here's one I got a minute ago, for reference:

Dear Adam,

This is to advise you that, in order to resolve the recent service problems, we have been notified of planned engineering work which will affect all ClickSilver customers.

Schedule As follows:

Planned start: Tuesday 30/03/2004 04:00
Planned finish: Tuesday 30/03/2004 07:00

During this timeframe you may notice a loss of connection or be unable to connect to the service. The outage should be for approximately 30 minutes within the allocated timeframe and will not last for the full duration.

If however, you continue to have connection problems after the time
stated then please follow the instructions below:

USB modem:
Power down your modem.
Disconnect your modem from the PC.
Shut down your PC (leave off for at least 15 seconds).
Power up your PC.
Reconnect the modem.
Turn your modem on.
Reconnect.

Ethernet router:
Power down your router.
Leave your router powered down for at least three (3) minutes.
Power up your router.
Reconnect.

If this does not resolve your connectivity problems please contact
your support team on 1890 926 111 from 9am onwards.

Regards,
UTV Internet

adam

dub45

Originally posted by Aepos
Thanks Andrew,

that works a treat with me. Was 1492 switched to 1426 tuned off Proxy and away no problem....Nice one.

UTV Please note, and give the man some praise!!! or at least comment on same.

Ae

For anyone who has not seen it as its in a long thread Martin suggested the following today;

A temporary fix is to use our cache server ie-cache.utvinternet.com port 3128

Gonzo

altho my exchange is not listed above (Dunshaughlin exchange) my broadband hasnt had any downtime since i got it installed on 13th February last, im with eircom.

dub45

Originally posted by dahamsta
Still no problems in Ballinlough in Cork! Looks like I got the good exchange.

I wonder do the people having trouble here get UTV's maintenance notices? Do your outages tie in with them?

Here's one I got a minute ago, for reference:

adam

I really dont think that maintenance outages are the issue - they usually seem to occur at night or in the very early hours of the morning and they are pretty brief.

Most of the faults referred to on here seem to be during the day or in the evening.

GreeBo

Originally posted by Ripwave
Answer the question - if Eircom are screwing UTV around, what do you expect UTV to do? Threaten to stop doing business with Eircom, and get their RADSL service from someone else?

The point is we should not even be mentioning Eircom in this thread, Its a thread about Clicksilver bring crap.

Shure, Utv should go somewhere else, if there was somewhere else to go.
Since there isnt, obviously (at least to me) the infrastructure is not there in Ireland to allow other companies to resell from Eircom and so Utv should not be offering the service.

Im not going to get into the debate about Eircom and their faults, Clicksilver being crap is Utvs fault, its THEIR product!

Stephen

The only unscheduled downtime I've experienced on Clicksilver in the 3 or so weeks I've been using it was for about 20 seconds this afternoon! Its been motoring along nicely besides that.

my exchange is in Kilkenny, no idea what its called.

colin300

maybe someone can answer me this how come when i go on to sites that on 56k say cannot find server for example if the website wasn't used or registered. But on UTV Clicksilver it goes to some sh*t search engine called incredifind is this another piece of crap from UTV?

Aepos

If anyone is interested in MTU settings this may interest them:-

I've set mine to 1454 and turned off proxy settings.

http://www.mynetwatchman.com/kb/ADSL/pppoemtu.htm

Cheers

Ae

andrew163

maybe someone can answer me this how come when i go on to sites that on 56k say cannot find server for example if the website wasn't used or registered. But on UTV Clicksilver it goes to some sh*t search engine called incredifind is this another piece of crap from UTV?

That be adware.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ or http://www.safer-networking.org both have software that should clean that up for you.

-andrew

(and no, it probably isn't UTV )

colin300

Who wants to know how early we are told of works here u go!!!!!!!
Come on give us more time to get ready for this sort of stuff.
Got this at 17:26 today. They might aswell knock the whole service off for a few more days and fix it.


This is to advise you that, in order to resolve the recent service problems, we have been notified of planned engineering work which will affect all ClickSilver customers.

Schedule As follows:

Planned start: Tuesday 30/03/2004 04:00
Planned finish: Tuesday 30/03/2004 07:00

colin300

well i have tried spybot but no luck any other ideas i will try that other link.

GreeBo

adaware is pretty damn good, use it alot!
then I had some crap that I couldnt get rid up, followed the "update" link on the app and whammo, spyware gone.

Ripwave

Originally posted by colin300
maybe someone can answer me this how come when i go on to sites that on 56k say cannot find server for example if the website wasn't used or registered. But on UTV Clicksilver it goes to some sh*t search engine called incredifind is this another piece of crap from UTV?

According to google, you might be able to uninstall incredifind in Add/Remove programs.

If not, try this page:
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/library/incredifind/index.phtml

(So no, it's not another piece of crap from UTV).

solaris

Originally posted by Aepos
If anyone is interested in MTU settings this may interest them:-

I've set mine to 1454 and turned off proxy settings.

http://www.mynetwatchman.com/kb/ADSL/pppoemtu.htm

Cheers

Ae

I couldn't get to that site before changing the MTU. I followed the instructions here but changed the value to 1454 as you suggested. Now I can get to the sites I couldn't get to before, and I can retrieve my pop mail (without deleting accounts etc.). Thanks Aepos!

sceptre

Originally posted by dahamsta
Still no problems in Ballinlough in Cork! Looks like I got the good exchange.

I've had few or no problems so far (main Limerick exchange). The downtimes appear to have coincided with the notices I've received. Knocked off for about half a minute earlier while I was using it but reconnected immediately.

I'd much rather that (if there are network problems) they fix them at 4am like they've been announcing. It won't suit everyone and sometimes it won't suit me but it will affect the fewest number of people.

Aepos

Thanks Alaris but it was andrew163 who started the ball rolling with MTU settings.

Glad it worked though.

Ripwave

Originally posted by Aepos
Thanks Alaris but it was andrew163 who started the ball rolling with MTU settings.

It'd be interesting to know what Operating systems people are using, and whether they are using XPs built in PPPoE support, or the client provided by Clicksilver.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/24376.html