Digiweb Throttling speeds a bit extreme?

jozi

Having never experienced being throttled till a few days ago i can now fully understand how crap it is to have your connection throttled :mad:

I normally get around:


And now i'm being throttled:


Thats around 2.5% of the speed i should be getting, browsing with multiple tabs is so slow i end up closing tabs and not visiting sites.

I was hoping it would be back to normal by now (throttled since monday) because they reset(ed) the cap after 30days but that doesn't seem to be the case either

It said in the email i can purchase an upgrade of 10gig for 17.97 per quarter, do many people do this? I wish they upped the cap when they upped my connection speed as well.

I'm sure im not the only one who's experiencing this.

Jozi

watty

The throttle is cancelled before 30 days I think when your traffic for the last 30 days is below a threshold.

Not many people actually use up their cap, but some of those do purchase additional traffic allowance.

jozi

I think i'm at 30 days or more now, 1st days use was 14march, thats what it looks like on the graph at least (attached).

I wish they had just increased caps as well as the speeds, i don't really fancy giving them more money something that isnt really a material item. To me, them giving me the chance to buy a bigger cap is just them wanting more money of the consumer.

I'll give them a call later to see whats going on.

kaizersoze

jozi wrote: »

II wish they had just increased caps as well as the speeds, i don't really fancy giving them more money something that isnt really a material item. To me, them giving me the chance to buy a bigger cap is just them wanting more money of the consumer.

It may not be something you can hold in your hand but data transfer costs money which Digiweb and the others have to pay for. If you need a higher limit then move to a higher package. If you continue to break your cap, you'll be throttled again.

Nehaxak

Simple enough solution, just cancel service with digiweb and move to a more reputable service provider who won't rip you off with greedy caps.

Onikage

Who is more reputable?

Throttling when you are over the limit is better than throttling when you are under the limit, charging exhorbitant excess fees, lying about unlimited caps or suspending service, all of which are common complaints about other providers.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055132322&highlight=throttling
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055183195&highlight=suspended
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055183195&highlight=unlimited

smellslikeshoes

Nehaxak wrote: »

Simple enough solution, just cancel service with digiweb and move to a more reputable service provider who won't rip you off with greedy caps.

I'm sorry WHAT?? How can Digiweb be ripping someone off who signed up for the product knowing full well what the caps were. It's not like they keep their caps secret or anything.

Iago

Onikage wrote: »

Who is more reputable?

it's a fair point, in fact I think the only provider at the moment that doesn't enforce any caps, throttling or charges for usage is eircom. Given that they are always quick to make money whereever possible it's probably only a matter of time before that changes as well.

If you're constantly going over your cap then either move to a product to that's suitable for your requirements either a more expensive package or an offering that has no caps with another provider, or change your behaviour.

actually now that I think about it, I don't think UPC have caps do they? I've heard some bad reports of their reliability and customer service though.

So your options

1. stay where you are with modified behaviour or a higher cost package
2. move to an eircom product and pay a higher price per month but have no download cap (in the short term anyway)
3. Move to UPC (if they don't have caps) and hope that the service stays up

jozi

I was previously with BT, wanted to get rid of it when we moved house. Which has happened. I just found them to expensive, i only wanted BB but i got a phone line to pay for as well along with it.

Digiweb seemed like the best alternative, i wasn't aware they enforced the cap as strict as they do. Just browsing boards is unpleasant because it's so slow. I'm only with them a month and a week or so, cancelling isn't really an option because i'm tied to them for the next 6 months.

I couldn't get NTL or i would have, i did however get a letter from them saying the where going to be upgrading the cables in my area shortly, this was about 2 weeks after i got my digiweb connection.

I appreciate the ISP has to pay for the bandwith but when you concider there are other packages with similar speeds (just ntl really) that can offer a larger cap and in the case of ntl it's also cheaper.

EDIT: not sure if my memory serves me right but i think i had a 30gig cap wayback when a 512k connection was fast! All that seems to have changed since is the speeds have increased and the caps have come down, 1mb with BT comes with a miserable 10gig cap

admol

jozi wrote: »

I was previously with BT, wanted to get rid of it when we moved house. Which has happened. I just found them to expensive, i only wanted BB but i got a phone line to pay for as well along with it.

Digiweb seemed like the best alternative, i wasn't aware they enforced the cap as strict as they do. Just browsing boards is unpleasant because it's so slow. I'm only with them a month and a week or so, cancelling isn't really an option because i'm tied to them for the next 6 months.

I couldn't get NTL or i would have, i did however get a letter from them saying the where going to be upgrading the cables in my area shortly, this was about 2 weeks after i got my digiweb connection.

I appreciate the ISP has to pay for the bandwith but when you concider there are other packages with similar speeds (just ntl really) that can offer a larger cap and in the case of ntl it's also cheaper.

EDIT: not sure if my memory serves me right but i think i had a 30gig cap wayback when a 512k connection was fast! All that seems to have changed since is the speeds have increased and the caps have come down, 1mb with BT comes with a miserable 10gig cap

Just leave Digiweb in 5 months when your contract is up. Eircom don't enforce caps either and smart have unlimited plans if you can get it. I haven't used NTL myself but i've read very bad things on here. They do have big caps tho.

Work out what's the max amount you can download with Digiweb each day and try to stay within your limits.

Praetorian

jozi wrote: »

Having never experienced being throttled till a few days ago i can now fully understand how crap it is to have your connection throttled :mad:

I normally get around:


And now i'm being throttled:


Thats around 2.5% of the speed i should be getting, browsing with multiple tabs is so slow i end up closing tabs and not visiting sites.

I was hoping it would be back to normal by now (throttled since monday) because they reset(ed) the cap after 30days but that doesn't seem to be the case either

It said in the email i can purchase an upgrade of 10gig for 17.97 per quarter, do many people do this? I wish they upped the cap when they upped my connection speed as well.

I'm sure im not the only one who's experiencing this.

Jozi

It's definitely on the extreme side. I'm sure you find the connection borderline useless now. You could consider changing ISP to one that doesn't impose such harsh throttling.

Zoney

Great for all the folks on the network who don't go over cap. There isn't contention from all the leechers.

It's not at all bad to have always-on over twice dial-up speed service for exceeding what you've paid for. It's only cause BT, eircom etc. aren't organised enough to charge people for excess usage that it seems draconian. They'll surely start doing so at some stage.

kaimera

It's a rolling cap. Digiweb have done it the whole time iirc and throttled until you drop below the 30gigs.

Auvers

Zoney wrote: »

Great for all the folks on the network who don't go over cap. There isn't contention from all the leechers

This sort of comment is beginning to piss me off.

Have you ever suffered contention? what speed is your line? do you pay for the highest speed line? Do you think its fair to have a 30gig cap on an 8mb Connection?

Before you ask I have schedule uTorrent to download between 12-8AM so I don't cause contention, so why oh why cant we have a decent cap in this Broadband backwater.

can they not implement a fair usage allowance like this

http://adsl24.co.uk/broadband_home.php

jozi

30gig a month is not a lot when you have a 6mb connection at your disposal.

I'm quite sure it's not just leachers causing contention, what about all the people buying music/vids from itunes, youtube and that sort site's?

I've seen BT advertising that you'll be able to watch tv on your pc with their 8mb line, how long would it take to go over the cap by doing that? Not to long i imagine.

Just of the phone to Tech Support.
I didn't now your traffic quota was up and download combine
The trottling is to 128, which i am told is adequate just like it's possible to browse the net with dial up.

I'm just gonna have to work my way to under 30gig and keep it at less than a gig per day.

The guy told me they where "investigating" if they should up caps or not.

Onikage

True, 30GB U/D is not a lot for a 6MB/512KB line. In theory (NOT in practise) you could use an entire months allowance in just over an hour and a quarter. But they don't hide this fact. It is a 30GB allowance, take it or leave it. If it doesn't suit you and you want more cap, you should move to a plan that does suit you. It suits most people.

On the good side, they don't cut you off or charge the bejeezus out of you for excess.

Praetorian

This is just another way for Digiweb to make a few extra euro bucks off their customers, unless they are really short on backhaul bandwidth...

Nehaxak

Could also always do a chargeback on your credit card or cancel the Direct Debit as they're not providing the service you're paying for. Regardless of what they blabber on about CAPs and what you signed up too, it holds no basis in law and they wouldn't have a chance in hell in the courts if they decided to go down that route when you stopped paying.

Simple as this, you payed for a service, they're not providing it, you are within you rights to cancel service.

In fact, if I were you I'd also firstly complain to the Ombudsman about it and then cancel service with them.

Onikage

The OP has already identified the problem, the cap was for U/D combined.

Adey2002

Nehaxak wrote: »

Could also always do a chargeback on your credit card or cancel the Direct Debit as they're not providing the service you're paying for. Regardless of what they blabber on about CAPs and what you signed up too, it holds no basis in law and they wouldn't have a chance in hell in the courts if they decided to go down that route when you stopped paying.

Simple as this, you payed for a service, they're not providing it, you are within you rights to cancel service.

In fact, if I were you I'd also firstly complain to the Ombudsman about it and then cancel service with them.

Does that mean when I go to the pub and buy a beer, I'm within my rights to demand beer all night rather than having to pay extra when they cap me at 1 pint?

Nehaxak

Does that mean when I go to the pub and buy a beer, I'm within my rights to demand beer all night rather than having to pay extra when they cap me at 1 pint?

Given that you made absolutely no sense with that comment, I'd say yes, they would be well within their rights to cap you at one pint.

Moriarty

Nehaxak wrote: »

Could also always do a chargeback on your credit card or cancel the Direct Debit as they're not providing the service you're paying for. Regardless of what they blabber on about CAPs and what you signed up too, it holds no basis in law and they wouldn't have a chance in hell in the courts if they decided to go down that route when you stopped paying.

Simple as this, you payed for a service, they're not providing it, you are within you rights to cancel service.

In fact, if I were you I'd also firstly complain to the Ombudsman about it and then cancel service with them.

They're providing exactly the service he's paying for. You'll find your credit card company very unhappy with you very quickly if you start to issue chargebacks against companies when you have no legitimate reason to. As far as I remember, the service is paid monthly in advance in any case - just like every other telco. No payment = no service the next month.

Adey2002

Nehaxak wrote: »

Given that you made absolutely no sense with that comment, I'd say yes, they would be well within their rights to cap you at one pint.

So why is digiweb not within their rights to cap broadband when you've used what you've payed for?

jozi

It's like the price of a pint, it's way over priced for what you get.

Sure digiweb provide me with the service they advertise.

It's just unbelievably ****e having 2x dialup speeds on a 6meg connection.

Third Eye

Hi Jozi

my sympathy goes out to you. I have also been capped for the first time and have now got a nice 10kb average download speed. My speed is not even good enough to get on the Digiweb website. I have been with Digiweb for a long time and recently 'upgraded' to their phone bundle. I asked for the wireless router only to be told that it's only for NEW customers. Is it my imagination or is Digiweb customer service going downhill fast... I am very sorry that I am stuck with them for another 11 months!

smellslikeshoes

Nehaxak wrote: »

Could also always do a chargeback on your credit card or cancel the Direct Debit as they're not providing the service you're paying for. Regardless of what they blabber on about CAPs and what you signed up too, it holds no basis in law and they wouldn't have a chance in hell in the courts if they decided to go down that route when you stopped paying.

Simple as this, you payed for a service, they're not providing it, you are within you rights to cancel service.

In fact, if I were you I'd also firstly complain to the Ombudsman about it and then cancel service with them.

I'm sorry but that whole post is utter rubbish. The OP signed a contract with Digiweb saying that they would provide broadband service with a cap and he would pay for it. Outlined in the T&C's if the cap is exceeded he would be throttled. It really is pretty black and white, if the original poster canceled the direct debit, he wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on.

cgarvey

Normally this nonsense wouldn't be worthy of a reply, but it's so unbelievably misleading, that I make an exception.

Nehaxak wrote: »

Could also always do a chargeback on your credit card or cancel the Direct Debit as they're not providing the service you're paying for.

S/he paid for a service with certain terms & conditions. One of those is a clearly advertised cap. Digiweb don't hide those details. Digiweb are not in breach of any contract. Cancelling the Direct Debit would be in breach of the contract, and Digiweb would be well within their rights (as agreed to by the original poster), to recover early termination fees and other costs.

Nehaxak wrote: »

Regardless of what they blabber on about CAPs and what you signed up too, it holds no basis in law and they wouldn't have a chance in hell in the courts if they decided to go down that route when you stopped paying.

I disagree, and I'm sure the legal team that came up with that subscriber contract would too. Of course we won't know who is right, but my money is on the legal guys on this one, not on you!

Nehaxak wrote: »

Simple as this, you payed for a service, they're not providing it, you are within you rights to cancel service.

They did, and s/he's not.

Nehaxak wrote: »

In fact, if I were you I'd also firstly complain to the Ombudsman about it and then cancel service with them.

Complain to who now? Perhaps you mean ComReg, not the Ombudsman? Even so, they would not be able to do anything here; at all.

Think before you spout advice that is misleading, at best, as there are many readers here who might consider that advice to be authoritative, which it's clearly not.

Third Eye

Our broadband speeds are hilarious when compared with South Korea's where they are averaging between 50-100mb's /sec for 13 euro per month (quoting today's TechnologyGuardian Inside IT).

We've had dial-up for so long we think anything faster is great but in reality we're still in the dark ages.

Nehaxak

Lol, digiweb fanboys/employee's out in numbers

Anyway, ignore them, they're full of crap. Digiweb don't have a leg to stand on. Cancel service with them if they throttle you due to going over your cap. There is NOTHING they can do about it as THEY broke the contract in the first place by not providing you the full service you signed up for.

Also, please complain to consumer affairs and the ombudsman about digiweb's cap and unfair business practices.

Ignore comreg, don't even bother with them, they're a joke and always were, much like digiweb's service.

cgarvey

Nehaxak, if that fanboy comment was directed at me, you might want to do a small bit of homework (i.e. click on my previous posts to see I'm anything but).

As for the rest of your advice, I've already explained how that advice is poor advice (to put it politely), but you don't come across as the guy who A) knows what s/he is talking about or is willing to listen, so I'll leave it at that.

Kensington

Nehaxak wrote: »

Digiweb don't have a leg to stand on. Cancel service with them if they throttle you due to going over your cap. There is NOTHING they can do about it as THEY broke the contract in the first place by not providing you the full service you signed up for.

Also, please complain to consumer affairs and the ombudsman about digiweb's cap and unfair business practices.

Well, Digiweb do have a leg to stand on - as mentioned before, you signed a legally binding contract to receive service from them. A monthly usage limit is one of the terms of the contract, which they make quite clear both on their product information page, and in the contract itself - they'll either throttle your speed way below the speed of the package you're on, or they will suspend your account entirely. As this clause is part of the contract, which you signed if you go over your usage limit, then digiweb are simply acting on one of the terms of the contract which you signed. At no point are they acting outside of the terms. Consumer affairs, ombudsman, small claims court etc. would laugh at anyone trying to go after them because you suddenly don't agree on one of the terms for a contract you signed. Simply, if you don't like a contract, and the terms associated with it, then don't sign it! It's business, there are plenty of other providers out there to choose from.

Unfair business practice? Not really.
Unfair/illegal business practice in the eyes of the law? Absolutely not.