Ice Broadband steadily becoming even more terrible

dougie-lampkin

Well, I'm personally fed up with ICE as well...here's my story...

6 months ago, we signed up with ice, on a 3Mbps connection. It's wireless, but the mast is about 100 yards from the back door, in a perfect line of sight. For about 2 months, the speed was always at least 2.5Mbps, and there were no problems. Now, I'm into online gaming, and I found that this connection was perfect. I was getting pings in the 20s :rolleyes:

But then 2 months after signing up, the speed began to slowly drop down. After about a month, it had dropped down to being consistently below 1Mbps. The games starting randomly disconnecting. So, we rang ice, and they said they'd "boost" our speed. I pretended on the phone I didn't know what I was talking about, but I know that if they have the power to boost our connection, then conversely they have the power to slow it down. So we left it there, and for about a week, our speed was fine. But surprise surprise, a week later it was down again...

Now, I can't play online games. No sooner have I joined a game, than I timeout. Here's my speed at 2am on a 3Mbps connection...



I can understand having a slightly slowed connection during the daytime, but how many people are online at 2am??

So now I'm going to get onto them again. And this time, I'm going to get a permanent fix. But I'm not sure what's the best strategy? Do I pretend to know nothing and just ask what's wrong? Or do I hit them hard with tech talk? Or maybe a bit of both? What info do I need? And what's the best way to contact them, email or phone?

Also, I've seen discussions where it's been said that they slow down your connection if you're a heavy downloader, which I am. But there was no mention of that upon sign up, apart from a fair usage policy

Ice Fair Usage Agreement wrote:

In the case where “No Download Limits Apply”, The Company reserve the right to contact users with excessive usage and request that they adhere to reasonable limits. This will be referred to as our “Fair Usage Policy”.

I have not been contacted by ice, so I presume that I am within "limits"? Since they haven't actually warned me, is it legal for them to slow down my connection?



Any help would be brilliant! Thanks for reading

(woot first post!!)

MrVostro

Still Dial-up speeds and satellite pings here.

2 of us are early this morning to finish some work because we cant log in via remote desktop because of Ice Broadband and also couldnt finsh what we expected to finish Friday evening because og ICE. They make me sick.

Takes about 2 mins to load all the images on your average web page.

Got help me if im trying to upload any work.



Dougie,
IF you can get through, dont take any sh!it from them.
Call them out on any BS they try to give you straight away.
Tell them you want to reduce your package to the lowest one they have until they get their act together.

Im going to ring the boss and wake him up now to ring Ice about this again. He can never get through anyway but gotta try or he'll be out of business soon. I cant work with a connection lke this.

MrVostro

Went out for lunch in Ashbourne and saw something that sums up Ice.

They have an add at the side of the road and someone has put a sticker over broadband that says 'Slowband'.

I have yet to meet a happy ice customer in the flesh. I know there are some on boards, but i think they are Ice employees to be honest.

Longrangedriver

€38.99 for this sh!te.



3mb my hole!

maninaskirt

Here's mine.....ping is terrible for GAMING broadband.....please sort this ICE



Been like this since Thursday/Friday, shocking.

watty

If it was Mobile Internet that whould be a happy speed. How big is the modem?

maninaskirt

The modem is around the same size as an xbox360 PSU, but the radio on the roof is around A4 page size, not portable enough to attach to a laptop.

Longrangedriver

maninaskirt wrote: »

The modem is around the same size as an xbox360 PSU, but the radio on the roof is around A4 page size, not portable enough to attach to a laptop.

Don't be wise

watty

The box on the roof likely is the radio and the box the size of a PSU is likely the PSU
(Well maybe a bit of modem in it).

maninaskirt

Watty, that is correct the black box is a modem/PSU combo plugged into the mains, so defo not mobile and as for the radio it needs a good signal.
P.S. I can almost touch the mast!

rightman

Just for clear - black box plugged into mains isn't any kind of modem or psu - it's only kind of PoE (power over ethernet) and has nothing to do with connections quality. If something's wrong with it, You just don't have a connection at all (even a crappy one).

MrVostro

While i was waiting on the phone for 20 mins to Ice Broadband support yesterday and listening to their messages over and over i noticed a lot of breaking up and crackling on the phone. These guys can even manage their own VOIP to work properly. At least it gave me a laugh if nothing else.

Speeds are up to about half what im supposed to be getting now but pings keeps spiking to 200 or 300 every 10 seconds or so.

It makes it impossible for me to work remotely and im getting too much stress from the whole BB not working thing i've told the boss if the remote situation doesnt improve soon im giving my notice. Its all completely down to Ice Broadband not supplying the service they are paid to provide. Sad really because i like my job.

bigpaddy2004

MrVostro wrote: »

While i was waiting on the phone for 20 mins to Ice Broadband support yesterday and listening to their messages over and over i noticed a lot of breaking up and crackling on the phone. These guys can even manage their own VOIP to work properly. At least it gave me a laugh if nothing else.

Speeds are up to about half what im supposed to be getting now but pings keeps spiking to 200 or 300 every 10 seconds or so.

It makes it impossible for me to work remotely and im getting too much stress from the whole BB not working thing i've told the boss if the remote situation doesnt improve soon im giving my notice. Its all completely down to Ice Broadband not supplying the service they are paid to provide. Sad really because i like my job.

It seems as though your whole day to day life revolves around this Broadband Co?

bartificer

bigpaddy2004 wrote: »

It seems as though your whole day to day life revolves around this Broadband Co?

That's not unusual though. The regular problems with ICE have a really negative impact on my day-to-day life too. Even simple things like OS and software updates are a big deal at the moment. I'm having to cut down on the podcasts I listen to because I can't get them downloaded anymore. I had to cancel a regular spot I have on a Podcast this week because I couldn't use skype. I run a small web services company form home, even small updates to sites are a complete and utter pain let alone major updates like the upgrading WordPress or PhpBB (like I had to do over the weekend). Being without working broadband is just not an option for me and it just feels like I'm constatly battling with ICE. The fact that they don't even have a call-tracking system makes it even worse.

These cowboys are upping my stress-level to the point htat the 99 Euro to break the contract early is looking more and more appealing. I'm really not sure how much more of their incompetence I can take.

Bart.

TouchingVirus

I'd not give them a cent Bart as I've told ya before

PWEI

I've been with ICE now for about nine months.I put up with their slow speeds because I don't use the internet that much at home and use it mostly at work.I rang them a few months ago because I noticed the speed had got much slower than normal.They assured me that they had strengthened the signal so I put up with again for another few months.The final straw came in the last week I couldn't even get in to some of my usual websites.And when I did get in it was taking up to a minute.So I rang them today and told them I wanted to cancel.They asked me to hang on for two weeks because they were upgrading their mast in Ashbourne.I said no thanks and they put me on hold for a few minutes.Then they told me that I was under contract and If I cancelled I'd have to pay them €100.I argued that yes I'm under contract but under contract for broadband not dial up.I told the guy on the phone that I've stopped using the internet at home cause its so painful.Anyway I don't know if they're going to send me a bill for a €100 or not but if they do I certainly won't be paying it.

Longrangedriver

PWEI wrote: »

Anyway I don't know if they're going to send me a bill for a €100 or not but if they do I certainly won't be paying it.

Here here, I'm cancelling with Ice and they're not getting a penny from me, either. No service no payment.

TouchingVirus

You pay for a service they fail to provide.

7.2 of the T&C states you pay the cancellation charge if you end the contract within the minimum contract period (except if it's for 7.1 - the 14 day cooling off period). However 7.4 states that they must give you notice if they intend to change the service or the price, after which you have the option of cancelling by giving notice.

They changed your service to a crap one and waived their obligation of giving notice about doing so. I'd like to think you're well within your rights to waive your obligation to give them notice and skip straight to the cancellation. Their terms also state they are not responsible for outages due to accidental reasons or forces beyond their control. So I assume they are responsible for all other outages (and we all know there are many).

MrVostro

bigpaddy2004 wrote: »

It seems as though your whole day to day life revolves around this Broadband Co?

It does.
I lead a team of people and we have to visit customer sites. When we are out we also need to get at data and applications that is on our servers back at home base (where ICE Broadband is our ISP), and to upload test result etc for analysis back at home base. Therefore we will be remotieng to home base all day every day as well as weekends and night time to service overseas customers.

I'm sure you can imagine that a solid BB connection is vital here. In fact work is impossible without it. Only problem is that there is no choice in the area of another ISP.

Im spending more and more of my days sparing with Ice and trying to keep the other guys from quitting due to not being able to do their jobs. Its just not worth it.

PWEI : Just tell them you'll take them to the small claims court for the money they've previously charged you if they try to bill you for cancelling

thebman

That sucks MrVostro. Do Ice not have some sort of guaranteed minimum service offer?

In our workplace, we have 1Mbps guaranteed to be uncontended so that we have 1Mbps at all time and then another 1Mbps on that line most of the time.

Might be worth discussing the possability of this with Ice although I'm not sure they are competent enough to provide judging from posts here but business service is very (or should be) different to residential service and they should be able to guarantee a business a certain level of service if they expect to retain them as a customer.

bigpaddy2004

Are you sure? Where is it the location you work?

MrVostro

brim4brim wrote: »

That sucks MrVostro. Do Ice not have some sort of guaranteed minimum service offer?

In our workplace, we have 1Mbps guaranteed to be uncontended so that we have 1Mbps at all time and then another 1Mbps on that line most of the time.

Might be worth discussing the possability of this with Ice although I'm not sure they are competent enough to provide judging from posts here but business service is very (or should be) different to residential service and they should be able to guarantee a business a certain level of service if they expect to retain them as a customer.

ICE are the kings of the empty promise.

They lie so much i dont think they know what they really offer anymore.

We got rid of their business package with the so called guaranteed speed because it was just the same as their usual unreliable offering. In fact we noticed no change at all when we switched.

mrplop

I didn't pay a penny to Ice when I canceled.

I reported Ice to Comreg, it really helped when I wanted out.
I cited my complaint to Comreg and asked them to check their logs to see how many calls I made to tech support, I mentioned I'd take them to court if they tried to charge me the €99 cancellation fee.
I also complained about Christmas and the lack of service.

In the end I didn't pay the €99 charge or my last months bill.

My stress levels have dropped noticeably since I left Ice - I'm sure the Tech guys are pretty happy I'm out too.

bartificer wrote: »

That's not unusual though. The regular problems with ICE have a really negative impact on my day-to-day life too. Even simple things like OS and software updates are a big deal at the moment. I'm having to cut down on the podcasts I listen to because I can't get them downloaded anymore. I had to cancel a regular spot I have on a Podcast this week because I couldn't use skype. I run a small web services company form home, even small updates to sites are a complete and utter pain let alone major updates like the upgrading WordPress or PhpBB (like I had to do over the weekend). Being without working broadband is just not an option for me and it just feels like I'm constatly battling with ICE. The fact that they don't even have a call-tracking system makes it even worse.

These cowboys are upping my stress-level to the point htat the 99 Euro to break the contract early is looking more and more appealing. I'm really not sure how much more of their incompetence I can take.

Bart.

mrplop

They used the line with me about upgrading the mast in Maynooth - it's obviously something they're told to say to customers to calm them down and keep them subscribed.

PWEI wrote: »

I've been with ICE now for about nine months.I put up with their slow speeds because I don't use the internet that much at home and use it mostly at work.I rang them a few months ago because I noticed the speed had got much slower than normal.They assured me that they had strengthened the signal so I put up with again for another few months.The final straw came in the last week I couldn't even get in to some of my usual websites.And when I did get in it was taking up to a minute.So I rang them today and told them I wanted to cancel.They asked me to hang on for two weeks because they were upgrading their mast in Ashbourne.I said no thanks and they put me on hold for a few minutes.Then they told me that I was under contract and If I cancelled I'd have to pay them €100.I argued that yes I'm under contract but under contract for broadband not dial up.I told the guy on the phone that I've stopped using the internet at home cause its so painful.Anyway I don't know if they're going to send me a bill for a €100 or not but if they do I certainly won't be paying it.

PWEI

mrplop wrote: »

They used the line with me about upgrading the mast in Maynooth - it's obviously something they're told to say to customers to calm them down and keep them subscribed.

And they used that old chestnut the last time I tried to cancel and more fool me,I fell for it.

wasim21k

where on the GOD's green earth internet speed is so cold dead as ice,
today in 1 hour and 30 mints i only can open boards web site and typing this post and trying to check my speed at speedtes.net and even after 45 mints that site is not open yet. :mad::mad::mad:
this is disgracefull, i really would like to take legal action against them. can any one please tell me what is procuder to do so?
there has to be a minimum limit.
and i m from portlaoise

bigpaddy2004

wasim21k wrote: »

where on the GOD's green earth internet speed is so cold dead as ice,
today in 1 hour and 30 mints i only can open boards web site and typing this post and trying to check my speed at speedtes.net and even after 45 mints that site is not open yet. :mad::mad::mad:
this is disgracefull, i really would like to take legal action against them. can any one please tell me what is procuder to do so?
there has to be a minimum limit.
and i m from portlaoise

They are not that long set up in Portlaoise and not that many customers on the base station either, over subscription could not be a problem. Man they have problems!

Longrangedriver

ICE, this is what I want from a BB provider in Derrinturn.

wasim21k

if they are not long in portlaoise and not many customer then i dont what will be if they put more customer on their crapy bb, its not bb its not eve dialup they should say 14.4kbs dialup.
can any please through some light on this my broadband with ice is not long ago (less then 14 working days) can i cancel this? do i have to pay them for whole year?
and i m already charged two time in one month first on 13th Feb 136.99. and now 28Feb 37.99,

7.1 If the Customer is a Consumer, the Customer will have a "cooling off period" of 14 (fourteen) working days from the date the order is placed by the Customer to cancel this Agreement. The Customer must send such cancellation notice in writing to Ice Broadband requesting cancellation of the Services within the cooling off period.

then here is another part

7.3 If the Subscriber terminates this Agreement before the end of the Minimum Subscription Period other than in the circumstances outlined in paragraph 7.1, the Subscriber must pay immediately the balance of the Subscription due for the rest of the Minimum Subscription Period. There is a cancellation fee of €99.00 incl VAT.

BigglesMcGee

A good test to see if you have latency or packet loss problems with Ice is to use ping plotter.

Just google pingplotter and download the free version.

set it to take about 150 pings at intervals of 1 second.


You can then see the whole path to the address that you ping and can see that with ice there are frequent soikes up in the sveral hundreds. this mean that your connection is no good for remote apps, voip or games.

A real BB provider will give constant low pings with hardly any deviation from the average.

Ice will spike every few seconds with a lot of packet loss.

You can then send the results to them for them to just ignore.