Digiweb influence on the broadband forum?

Praetorian

watty wrote: »

Breeze is pretty much a fixed speed technology.

Ripwave is not fixed speed, but can't go much faster than 3G.

DSL is very limited by Distance.

Not many people can get Fibre.

Cable is mostly dense parts of main cities.

Most small WISPs struggle to achieve 3Mbps.

14.4Mbps HSDPA or HSUPA basically just adds capacity to 3.6Mbps HSDPA, not generally much more per user speed.

EDGE can now do nearly 600Kbps rather than 240Kbps, but that probably needs new Modems and SW upgrade from Nokia Siemens Networks.

Watty,

With all due respect. I don't know why you came out with this post. The OP didn't ask for a biased Digiweb view on technology. Could you please put a message in your signature stating who you work for so people are clear? Does boards.ie need someone to follow you around to respond to all your posts that have that have a percieved negativity towards any of your competitors?

bigpaddy2004

Praetorian wrote: »

Watty,

With all due respect. I don't know why you came out with this post. The OP didn't ask for a biased Digiweb view on technology. Could you please put a message in your signature stating who you work for so people are clear? Does boards.ie need someone to follow you around to respond to all your posts that have that have a percieved negativity towards any of your competitors?

I will have to stand up for Watty on this one.

The man is only telling the truth based on each technology. The op asked will Irish Broadband up their speeds. Myself and Watty have tried to explain that the technology they use will not allow an increase as the equipment they use does not allow so. Watty might of had gone into other technologies and tried to explain them, I did'nt see any harm in that.

paulm17781

bigpaddy2004 wrote: »

The man is only telling the truth based on each technology. The op asked will Irish Broadband up their speeds. Myself and Watty have tried to explain that the technology they use will not allow an increase as the equipment they use does not allow so. Watty might of had gone into other technologies and tried to explain them, I did'nt see any harm in that.

I disagree, Watty and yourself said it was not possible. Watty however went on to say how every other technology probably won't suit them, not one mention of Digiweb though. I have previously said to Watty that as a mod he should not make assertions about other companies (Which he has done in relation to VOIP etc.) with no proof. If Watty had said the limit of IBB, fair enough however he said every type of provider and may as well have said "Digiweb is yer only man". I don't see the OP asking about the availability of fibre, cable or limits of DSL or EDGE. It stinks to me of snide Digiweb marketing.*

*I am not saying this is authorised by Digiweb and my experiences of them are good. None the less, it is bad cheap advertising by an employee who should clarify his position on his bias posts.

Just to add http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055266004 See the example of other wireless providers being bashed, I think this is done everywhere possible.

paulm17781

Moriarty wrote: »

Alvarion gear is in widespread use and the limits of the technology are well known. IBB can't get around those. I think that's pretty relevant to the original poster's question, no?

That part is. The rest is nothing to do with it and is an example of how Watty always posts about non digiweb technologies for no reason. Look at the link I posted.

veris

Hi Guys just to get in on the chat Digiweb have these boards on all day in the background ,I know of two chaps who write to the boards trying to wind things up.And bad mouth the better ISP out there.So C and J just sign off as digiweb employees and lets all get on with it. :mad:

bigpaddy2004

paulm17781 wrote: »

I disagree, Watty and yourself said it was not possible. Watty however went on to say how every other technology probably won't suit them, not one mention of Digiweb though. I have previously said to Watty that as a mod he should not make assertions about other companies (Which he has done in relation to VOIP etc.) with no proof. If Watty had said the limit of IBB, fair enough however he said every type of provider and may as well have said "Digiweb is yer only man". I don't see the OP asking about the availability of fibre, cable or limits of DSL or EDGE. It stinks to me of snide Digiweb marketing.*

*I am not saying this is authorised by Digiweb and my experiences of them are good. None the less, it is bad cheap advertising by an employee who should clarify his position on his bias posts.

Just to add http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055266004 See the example of other wireless providers being bashed, I think this is done everywhere possible.

Digiweb also provide Satellite and Dsl. I have often seen Watty throw up the the negatives of these technologies also even though Digiweb supply them

Metro like Dsl has its disadvantages also. i.e. Distance.

Moriarty

veris wrote: »

Hi Guys just to get in on the chat Digiweb have these boards on all day in the background ,I know of two chaps who write to the boards trying to wind things up.And bad mouth the better ISP out there.So C and J just sign off as digiweb employees and lets all get on with it. :mad:

Digiweb receive no special treatment here. Either way this thread isn't about Digiweb, it's about IBB - let's stick on topic shall we?

Praetorian

Moriarty wrote: »

Digiweb receive no special treatment here. Either way this thread isn't about Digiweb, it's about IBB - let's stick on topic shall we?

I think a lot of people disagree on the topic of Digiweb's special treatment; several people have already pm'd me about it. Watty gives biased opinions on other companies products to people looking for help. It really does smell like he has fellow employees with accounts shamelessly backing him up. Is this all all being done to impress Colm Piercy (big boss of Digiweb) who overlooks this forum on a daily basis?

I think the broadband forum isn't being moderated strongly enough. Please tell me honestly Moriarty, which ISP do you work for?

As regards the topic, I don't think Watty knows what IBB's plans are. Sure Eircom are definitely migrating to ADSL2+ (ie new equipment or upgrades). Isn't it just as possible that IBB are going to move to new equipment?

Moriarty

These posts are all split out of this thread on the broadband forum.

damien

Originally Posted by Moriarty
Digiweb receive no special treatment here.

Probably not but Watty is left to be quite free for the employee of an ISP when he discusses ISPs and broadband. This is more than likely because he was giving the same advice before he started with them and would give the same if he left.

However things change when the advice you give will profit your employer or harm their competition.

Despite all the fuss that crops up now and then Watty still goes about slagging off the competition without disclosing his employer. Apparently a promotional link in his signature explains everything when in fact it discloses nothing.

Still, I think there is a severe lack of judgement by Watty, his employer and the mods here that his commentary on his employer and their competition is left through without a big bloody warning to the people who are genuinely seeking help and don't hang out on this forum on a regular basis to be aware of his employment.

And yeah this is off-topic when it was meant to be about IBB but would this have happened if some people were not sick of Watty either directly or indirectly marketing for Digiweb while innocent people don't know his bias?

sergiotheonly

greetings
it does seem only fair that if you work for a competing ISP you should declare it. i dont think anyone has an issue with the information bias (its natural youd know more about a company you work for) but the level of transparency is a problem. surely thats a fair point to make?
and is it really off-topic?

Phlann

Well I'm new here and have never encountered this Watty character, but it does seem a little dishonest to me for somebody to be offering advice on ISPs without openly declaring their 'allegiance', so to speak.

I think any employees of ISPs who are offering broadband advice on this board should be obliged to state their employer in their sig.

edit: I'd consider this to be very much on-topic.

Moriarty

Praetorian wrote: »

I think a lot of people disagree on the topic of Digiweb's special treatment; several people have already pm'd me about it.

Oh damn. You've obviously discovered our (oh! oh! does he mean boards or digiweb?!) grand conspiracy to ask just about every employee in every other ISP in the country not to post on the broadband board. I thought we had it all locked up. If it wasn't for those pesky kids and that darned dog.

Seriously, I'll say it again - everyone is more than welcome to post on the broadband board as long as they obey the rules.

Praetorian wrote: »

Watty gives biased opinions on other companies products to people looking for help. It really does smell like he has fellow employees with accounts shamelessly backing him up. Is this all all being done to impress Colm Piercy (big boss of Digiweb) who overlooks this forum on a daily basis?

Was there anything incorrect in what he posted? Digiweb uses tech he mentioned too. Watty != Digiweb.

Praetorian wrote: »

I think the broadband forum isn't being moderated strongly enough.

Example?

Praetorian wrote: »

Please tell me honestly Moriarty, which ISP do you work for?

I work for Digiweb. I have the ability to seperate my work and non-work life. Since you're insinuating that I'm biased in my approach to moderation I expect you have examples?

Praetorian wrote: »

As regards the topic, I don't think Watty knows what IBB's plans are. Sure Eircom are definitely migrating to ADSL2+ (ie new equipment or upgrades). Isn't it just as possible that IBB are going to move to new equipment?

I have no idea what Watty does or does not know for sure. I'm not here to defend him either. You'll notice that he only commented on the technology used by IBB currently in the thread we're discussing - that's perfectly fair comment as far as I'm concerned.

leninbenjamin

can anyone else smell fish?

admol

Moriarty you work for Digiweb and mod a broadband forum :rolleyes:

Doesn't Digiweb host boards.ie as well?

aidan_walsh

admol wrote: »

Moriarty you work for Digiweb and mod a broadband forum :rolleyes:

Doesn't Digiweb host boards.ie as well?

Whats your point?

damien

Uhm, there's a curious amount of low-posting or new enough posters around tonight isn't there?

Praetorian

Moriarty,

Sarcasm aside, I don't remember any trouble or any other similar behaviour by a big ISP on broadband at any time. I do remember Smart approaching the broadband forum in a very professional manner until they created their own forums. This is a suggestion I've made on numerous occasions to Digiweb staff.

Watty is very selective with his facts. He runs other providers and their technology down. I don't have the time or the inclination to trawl through his posts to list examples.

I work for Digiweb. I have the ability to seperate my work and non-work life. Since you're insinuating that I'm biased in my approach to moderation I expect you have examples?

Your dragging me into a childish debate here but the very fact that somehow my post and posts with similar opinions were caught by the off topic rule this time is good enough for now. I don't remember the off topic rule being enforced so diligantly before. Perhaps you have examples?

Until tonight I didn't know you worked for Digiweb, I don't think your a bad mod at all, far from it really but I don't think an employee of an ISP should be a mod of Broadband. There is a conflict of interest.

NN all!

Nehaxak

All of these revelations as to some of the mods/admins associations with Digiweb are news to me and to be perfectly honest, hold these forums in a whole new light now.
How can people now be assured that these boards are not being intentionally influenced by digiweb, it's employee's and indeed the boards admins'/mods ?

I had thought these broadband forums in particular as a method of independently voicing ones views but this now does not seem to be the case as it is clearly evident that they are influenced by Digiweb and it would seem to the detriment of both digiweb's competition in the market and more importantly, the Irish consumer.

At this stage, the only thing that would put back confidence would be if some of the other Admins/mods on these whole forums who are not associated with Digiweb, took it upon themselves to set-up a broadband forum hosted by a commercial entity not associated in any way with digiweb or any other broadband provider in Ireland. I see no other way, these broadband forums in particular are now tainted and I for one cannot trust what is being posted as not being influenced in some way by Digiweb, it's employee's or indeed some of the mods/admins who work here and also for Digiweb.

To think, I actually enjoyed reading these forums at one stage. I'm only glad this debacle has come out in such a public fashion as at least I know now for one to take anything posted here with a pinch of salt when relating to praise of digiweb or scorn for any of it's competition.

Still, guess it shows how desperate Digiweb are these days for custom if they have to revert to dirty marketing tricks such as these.

I know, you're saying I'm all wrong with that but the thing is, the damage is done and how can I be assured otherwise ? Hmm ?

bushy...

veris wrote: »

Hi Guys just to get in on the chat Digiweb have these boards on all day in the background ,I know of two chaps who write to the boards trying to wind things up.And bad mouth the better ISP out there.So C and J just sign off as digiweb employees and lets all get on with it. :mad:

So , who is this "better ISP" anyway ?

togster

It all seems really shady tbh. A bit like bertie and his "accounts". Its the assertion that something untoward happened that cast aspirations as to his ability to do his job. I don't think mods affiliated with a certain provider can mod a forum effectively. Not because they can't but because the notion of bias will always be there.

thebman

I will stick up for the Digiweb employees to a certain extent on this topic as they have not been incredibly biased toward their employer from my experience.

I was not aware Moriarty was an employee before today though. I think that is a slight conflict of interest but I've never seen him or at least I don't remember him being biased in posts or in his moderation of the forum. Makes me feel kind of uneasy, knowing it could occur though.

I do read Watty's posts and expect some bias in most cases he is not. He gives the facts and leaves. Every now and again, he can loose the run of himself but most of the time there is nothing wrong with his posts.

I wouldn't mind having something labelling them as digiweb employees or at least asking them to sign off as such on their posts in the broadband forum.

There are plenty of other ISP's with employees posting in the BB section. Are we going to go on a witch hunt to find all of them because realistically we have no way of knowing if they are working for an ISP. At least these two people have made it known to the moderators and others that they work for the ISP so there are people checking their posts.

There are plenty of other boards users who work for ISP's who don't do this.

mike65

Maybe its time for all employees of companies which have clinet bases on boards or direct links to www.boards.ie ltd to have to make a declaration of interests and that to be noted in thier user profiles and the sig.

Mike.

I never understand why people get so uppity about their work place. Currently I work in a cinema based in Galway. There is a rival cinema also in this city that is our main competitors. I am not going to talk down that rival cinema (and if I ever do, its from my own personal opinions based before my job) or talk up my own one. I'll let people's experiences, our awards and whatnot do the talking for me.

watty

damien.m wrote: »

Probably not but Watty is left to be quite free for the employee of an ISP when he discusses ISPs and broadband. This is more than likely because he was giving the same advice before he started with them and would give the same if he left.

However things change when the advice you give will profit your employer or harm their competition.

brim4brim wrote:

There are plenty of other ISP's with employees posting in the BB section. Are we going to go on a witch hunt to find all of them because realistically we have no way of knowing if they are working for an ISP. At least these two people have made it known to the moderators and others that they work for the ISP so there are people checking their posts.

Let's have a witch hunt!

I think some people who complain about me are the ones with an agenda. I don't mean damien.m, who has some valid points and in many ways we have the same viewpoint.

I'm not a marketing droid / pimp / schill. I design technology and thus have a high scepticism about marketing claims. Obviously if I think a Digiweb technology is being oversold I'm not free to comment publicly, as I once would have, but you can be sure I mention it to the CEO.

I've actually defended products (including Ripwave & HSDPA) from other companies. Most communications technology works and if the Marketing did not overstate it, the users would have an expectation that met the performance/price/availability/features.

Digiweb has probably more different technologies than anyone else and some are very similar to competitors. Also I have to test technology from vendors and separate reality from Market speak. Then I make recommendations / comments.

Most of those evalutions by me and others in Digiweb can't be published. That really would make the sparks fly. Many have also additionally been evaluated on paper from Vendor and Operator information, some privileged.


We have evaluated about 5 systems in detail and drive tested two for Mobile Internet.

Probably about four techs on 3.5 Ghz physically, and 3 on paper for 3.5GHz.

About 3 or 4 techs on 10GHz.

Quite a few Satellite systems (2 in use and one on test currently).

Also in the past considerable experience with WAN versions of 2.4 & 5.8 WiFi based tech, both by Digiweb and me separately prior to me joining Digiweb.


Actually frequently I have to bite my tongue and say less than I would like.

I find it strange that people don't find my signature explicit enough, especially since the folk that complain know that I work for Digiweb.

However to appease the Witchfinder General (please burn some other hapless ISPer, actually best not burn anyone.) I'll change my sig.

Other than NBS/CrossCountry Micky Flynn, I'm not aware of any senior person of any ISP other than my own boss that has complained about ANY post I've made regarding Broadband or Internet Services.

damien

watty wrote: »

I find it strange that people don't find my signature explicit enough, especially since the folk that complain know that I work for Digiweb.

Isn't that the whole point? Only those that know you, know who your employer is. Everyone else doesn't see the bias, even if it is unintentional.

BuffyBot

I think people need to take off the tin-foil hats and de-bunch their panties frankly

(And no, I don't work for any ISP )

Dord

mike65 wrote: »

Maybe its time for all employees of companies which have clinet bases on boards or direct links to www.boards.ie ltd to have to make a declaration of interests and that to be noted in thier user profiles and the sig.

Mike.

I think this is a good idea. It's the case on another forum I frequent, users who have links to a company (be it by working for them, or having a contract with them in any way) must list it in their user title (underneath their username).

CuLT

mike65 wrote: »

Maybe its time for all employees of companies which have clinet bases on boards or direct links to www.boards.ie ltd to have to make a declaration of interests and that to be noted in thier user profiles and the sig.

Mike.

This is a bad idea because

a) only the honest users are going to admit it
b) as a result of this, they are going to be harrassed publicly and via PM, and will probably just not bother posting anymore after a while
c) the percentage of dishonest ones will proportionally increase
d) most of these people probably aren't even officially allowed to post, forcing them to identify themselves will drive away all the genuinely knowledeable, helpful employees of the various ISPs that post on the BB forum for fear of disciplinary action

Maximilian

I think having Mods who may have some potential conflicts is only an issue if they act in a biased way. To that end, I wouldn't see any problem unless there are actually examples of such biased behavior.

Conflicts of interest are common in life. As far as this goes, there are mechanisms and forums to deal with it if it occurs.

Earthhorse

CuLT wrote: »

This is a bad idea because

a) only the honest users are going to admit it
b) as a result of this, they are going to be harrassed publicly and via PM, and will probably just not bother posting anymore after a while
c) the percentage of dishonest ones will proportionally increase
d) most of these people probably aren't even officially allowed to post, forcing them to identify themselves will drive away all the genuinely knowledeable, helpful employees of the various ISPs that post on the BB forum for fear of disciplinary action

I disagree. Full disclosure is good ethical practise. It allows users make fully informed decisions about the content and possible bias present in any post.

I would suggest people who regularly contribute to the Broadband forum and are working for ISPs change their location or perhaps their sig to reflect this. They should do so as an act of good faith.

I don't deny that some of what you describe above would follow but I think you are overstating the case.