Getting out of contract early ?

LoLth

I'm signed up to BT broadband since last October and I have to say that so far it has been a complete joke.

They started charging me from October even thought the service didnt start until November.

They sent me out a modem even though I told them I didnt need one (this comes in later).

The speed was 1mb for the first month even though I had signe dup for the 3mb + talk package

Money is taken out of th eaccount weeks before they put the bill online making it impossible to query anything until after the fact.

Customer service is diabolical.

Tech supprot is almost non-existant.

My BB drops constantly. BT had me do a series of "tests" and after a month they concluded it was a faulty modem - one of the tests involved me using the voyager 210 they sent out to me. They promised to replace teh modem but only with another voyager 210 and not with a zyxel.

One month later and they have charged me for the original modem - though I could swear there wasnt a fee for that in the original agreement - and I still havent received my replacement.

Only 1 fault report has been logged on their helpdesk despite numerous calls.

I've had enough and I want to change to a different provider. I'm limited to Broadworks or eircom as an alternative so I thought I would go with broadworks (2mb bb + tv for 39 a month , no contention seemingly and no cap except "acceptable use") however, BT have said that I cannot cancel my contract with them as there is a record of trafic on their bb line ?

Can I really be stuck paying for a service that has not lived up to any of the promises made on sign up? It is not "always on" connection, it is not 3mb due to contention , tech support issues have been outstanding since the 1st of March.

Any advice?

sorento

I have Broadworks and after this experience I must say never more.
I have only broadband without cable TV.
It should be 2 Mb for 30 eur/month, 50 eur for instalation, unlimited, looks nice but:
-average speed if all is ok was never more that 120-130 kB/sec ( max 10 days in a month)
- ping was never lower that 60, if all is ok
-from time to time, e.g. 3 days in a row is speed 0-5 kB/sec, ping 2500-3000, that is for 10-15 days in a month
-in some days speed is between 0 and 100 kB/sec
-generally connection speed is very unreliable
-broadworks company doesn't have any contact email address
-broadworks doesn't have smtp server
-broadworks doesn't have any support or information on their home page (broadworks.ie or broadworks.tv)
-you can only call hot-line, and they will tell you somebody will call you ( they will, but in 1 month)

sorento

Sponge Bob

Broadworks should have a complaints procedure, if they do not you may complain to comreg about that ( and everything else) but starting with No complaints procedure which is against their licence conditions.

maybe an email to complaints@broadworks.ie , see if it bounces ???

had they a complaints procedure Comreg would make you follow it .

sorento

Thanks for tip, I will try it.

matt-dublin

sorento wrote:

-average speed if all is ok was never more that 120-130 kB/sec ( max 10 days in a month)
- ping was never lower that 60, if all is ok
-from time to time, e.g. 3 days in a row is speed 0-5 kB/sec, ping 2500-3000, that is for 10-15 days in a month
-in some days speed is between 0 and 100 kB/sec
-generally connection speed is very unreliable

Your ping times would be delayed due to routing issues and dns issues,

where are you pinging to?

120-130kB is completly acceptable for 2mb broadband

remember 1 byte = 8 bits

1024 bytes = 8192 bits

1 megabyte = 8 megabits

so your broadband line is 2 megabits should entitle you to download speeds of around the 163 kB (kilobyte, not bit)

Sponge Bob

tell us how it goes please sorento, one would not want Comreg to go all weak willied on their own rules.

sorento

Email address complaints@broadworks.ie doesn't exist, mail is undeliverable.

I now that 1 byte = 8 bits.

b=bite B=byte
Very simple it should by b/8=B/sec , isn't it?

For 2 Mb 2048 kb / 8 = 256 kB/s

That means for 2 MB theoretically max is 256 kB/sec.
I don't want 256 kB/sec but at least 200 it should by for 2 Mb.

What other type of connection should by more reliable that cable?

I had cable broadband for 3 years, ping for EU was always 20-30, download or upload speed was always x kb/9 in kB/sec and that for 24/7, failure 1-2 days pro year.
But it wasn't in Ireland.

How it's possible that internet provider doesn't have email address?

I thought that cable internet is always the best but I was wrong.
Never more broadworks.

Typical ping if it doesn't work:

matt-dublin

in theory yes, but you have to allow for contention ratios, which will probably be somewhere around 28:1

Now to be honest i've never heard of that company before, and i wouldn't even talk to a company if they didn't have a decent website/support facilities (even though i am on eircom, 2mb business package, i still only get 140KB download speeds on a good day)


it also looks like your provider are reselling irish broadband lines judging by your trace

sorento

Actually contention ratio is 48:1, but it should be applied on higher level of transmission. But isn't.
With ping 1500 I can't do anything.

Snaga

<pedantic pat>
1 Megabit = 1000 kilobits - not 1024 kilobits. (That is a Mebibit!)
1 kilobit = 1000 bits - not 1024 bits (That is a kibibit!)

Network speeds are measured in SI units - not binary units.
</pedantic pat>

Also with DSL there is a certain amount of protocol overhead meaning you generally get about 10-15% less IP throughput than the speed your dsl line syncs at. So ideally if you sync at the full 2Mb you will generally only ever get about 1.8Mb IP throughput out of it (or about 220kBps - 225kBps).

Sponge Bob

I would complain to Irish Broadband about it as well. Send that traceroute into them and tell them to fix it !

http://www.irishbroadband.ie/support.php

sorento

Irish Broadband replied this isn't they responsibity and they only provide main connection for Broadworks Communications and
don't manage all the endpoints.

But I found out email address to Broadworks Communications:
enquiries@broadworks.tv

They have not replied yet but it is a progress.

Sponge Bob

Broadworks do not do progress, they do monopoly deals with builders...as do others.

Dizz

Quickest way to get out of any BB contract is to tell them that you are moving and changing addresses. That's coming from deep within the bowels of sales and customer support of one of the larger providers. Give that a go...

.2c