[UPC] Cap and Fair Usage Policy

vibe666

pfsense would be another one to look at too, it's a fork of m0n0wall with a few extra knobs and whistles that might work better on a full pc installation.

McDermotX

the_law wrote: »

By the way, UPC measure traffic on a calendar month basis despite billing cycles starting in the middle of a month.

Can anyone confirm that this is still the case ?
Usage policy is a little vague in that regard.......but it does seem to be the easiest way for them to track usage.

vibe666

McDermotX wrote: »

Can anyone confirm that this is still the case ?
Usage policy is a little vague in that regard.......but it does seem to be the easiest way for them to track usage.

they monitor both the calendar month usage and a rolling 30 day usage.

SimonDublin

Two of my friends got done aswell, thats only reason i found this thread.
Can't believe it, disgrace on upcs parts. i wish everybody logs a complaint for not giving any prior notice before exceeding and to re word there "unlimited" usage advertisment.

billyboy01

SimonDublin wrote: »

Two of my friends got done aswell, thats only reason i found this thread.
Can't believe it, disgrace on upcs parts. i wish everybody logs a complaint for not giving any prior notice before exceeding and to re word there "unlimited" usage advertisment.

ComReg and the Ombudsman! They sting you for an extra 70-80 quid!:mad:

SimonDublin

just seen your other thread.
exact amount both my friend got stung roughly 80euros,
i hope im not next for speaking out...
sorry do you mean the ombuds and comreg charge?

billyboy01

SimonDublin wrote: »

just seen your other thread.
exact amount both my friend got stung roughly 80euros,
i hope im not next for speaking out...
sorry do you mean the ombuds and comreg charge?

If your mates and me, and enough others drop them! We'll see how fast they change there attitude!

30meg Unlimited broadband with a 250GB limit, blatant lies and deception!:mad:

dub45

billyboy01 wrote: »

ComReg and the Ombudsman! They sting you for an extra 70-80 quid!:mad:

Comreg don't charge you.

billyboy01

dub45 wrote: »

Comreg don't charge you.

No, I phased that wrong, I ment UPC!:)

SimonDublin

billyboy01 wrote: »

If your mates and me, and enough others drop them! We'll see how fast they change there attitude!

30meg Unlimited broadband with a 250GB limit, blatant lies and deception!:mad:

but they will still have enough people to cheat, what i would like to see is more transparency, no hiding behind the bush ready to mug ya and leave you for dead......there is no come back if you dont have anything to show that you have not passed the limit on the unlimited download. their control of things are very unfair, and them saying fair usage and charging people, they should give notice or by other means. bad form bad form.....

billyboy01

SimonDublin wrote: »

but they will still have enough people to cheat, what i would like to see is more transparency, no hiding behind the bush ready to mug ya and leave you for dead......there is no come back if you dont have anything to show that you have not passed the limit on the unlimited download. their control of things are very unfair, and them saying fair usage and charging people, they should give notice or by other means. bad form bad form.....

I agree, send a email complaint to there complaints department. So you have a written complaint registered with them. Then you can make a formal dispute with ComReg! I believe ComReg charge them a fee for there time and work of investigating such complaints!:)

Capt'n Midnight

vibe666 wrote: »

they monitor both the calendar month usage and a rolling 30 day usage.

there are 5 days missing

Charisteas

vibe666 wrote: »

they monitor both the calendar month usage and a rolling 30 day usage.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

there are 5 days missing

I guess there are three ways they can measure it;

1. Calendar month (1st-30th)

2. 30 days from the date when you signed your contract (For me it would be the 16th-16th

3. Counting the previous 29 days with today as the 30th day (For example today, thursday, it would be counted as 2nd November - 2nd December,

Does it actually state in our contracts how they define a month?

billyboy01

I think its time to change ISP. As UPC are starting to get a bit to greedy and sneakily ripping people off to the tune of 70quid. This is typically Irish penalise and target there top tariff "30Meg Unlimited" customers! Complete morons!:rolleyes: Oh NTL where has thou gone!:D

dub45

It is quite absurd that customers should have to speculate how any isp monitors usage - it should be made very clear up front as part of the product information.

With caps becoming more and more important as people use the net in new ways the following categories should be a basic part of product information and customers and prospective customers should not be expected to go all over the place on a web site or ask on boards (or elsewhere!) about basic information.

1. Price

2. Speed

3. Specified Cap (No more unlimited nonsense)

5. Specific details on how the usage is monitored eg rolling month, calendar month.

4. Specified charges involved in exceeding the cap. Specifed consequences of exceeding the cap (e.g. throttling)

5. Any other charges which may face the customer (for example UPC charge a customer €11.50 if the direct debit is not paid - this is not mentioned anywhere on the web site).

And none of the above should be pushed into page x paragraph y of the third part of the "Terms and Conditions" or handed to you on a piece of paper on the day the installer arrives.

Make them available upfront in plain English before a customer signs up for a product.

When will isps learn that honesty and clarity are the best policies?

Customers don't appreciate being deceived.

dub45

Charisteas wrote: »

I guess there are three ways they can measure it;

1. Calendar month (1st-30th)

2. 30 days from the date when you signed your contract (For me it would be the 16th-16th

3. Counting the previous 29 days with today as the 30th day (For example today, thursday, it would be counted as 2nd November - 2nd December,

Does it actually state in our contracts how they define a month?

Is it not bad enough that they try to redefine the English language as in their abuse of the word "unlimited" without inviting them to start "defining" the calendar?

slave1

vibe666 wrote: »

they monitor both the calendar month usage and a rolling 30 day usage.

Jazuz, I'm well aware of the 250gig AUP and have been since I signed up but first I've heard mention of two systems in use by UPC, I'm arsed if I can keep two separate measurements going, where pray tell is your reference to this my fine friend?
If you have no substance then we could do without adding to speculation.

Charisteas

dub45 wrote: »

Is it not bad enough that they try to redefine the English language as in their abuse of the word "unlimited" without inviting them to start "defining" the calendar?

I'm not inviting anything, I would just like to know when to set the "Start day of month" setting on my Bandwidth Monitor program.

vibe666

slave1 wrote: »

Jazuz, I'm well aware of the 250gig AUP and have been since I signed up but first I've heard mention of two systems in use by UPC, I'm arsed if I can keep two separate measurements going, where pray tell is your reference to this my fine friend?
If you have no substance then we could do without adding to speculation.

no speculation at all i'm afraid.

i had assumed it was per calendar month since the letter i got a the start of feb 09 for january (first month they implemented it) my letter just said "over the FUP for the month of january" so i'd been keeping track on a per calendar month basis and assumed that was grand, but the last time i mentioned it in a thread (possibly even this one) karmafaerie said he'd been told on the phone by UPC that they measure both calendar month and rolling 30 days and someone else confirmed they had been told the same thing. when i questioned them about it on the phone they confirmed they measured both although they said that as long as i was still within the calendar month AUP limits they wouldn't do anything about going over the rolling limit.

slave1

grand, well I reset my utorrnet at the beginning of each month as use that as a guide allowing for various surfing etc activities.
Keeping track of one measurement system seems to be working for me so gonna keep it up, no way I'm getting involved in a moving calculation basis.
Hope we get increased limits when they kick in with their higher speeds next year

vibe666

slave1 wrote: »

grand, well I reset my utorrnet at the beginning of each month as use that as a guide allowing for various surfing etc activities.
Keeping track of one measurement system seems to be working for me so gonna keep it up, no way I'm getting involved in a moving calculation basis.
Hope we get increased limits when they kick in with their higher speeds next year

the rumours are it'll go up to 500gb, but those ARE just rumours for now.

i actually use the tomato firmware on my linksys wrt54gs and it tells me both the calendar month usage and rolling 30 days so i'm happy either way, but its not really fair on anyone who isn't that techy to expect them to do the same thing.

iknorr

I ordered over the phone...i specifically asked about limits, fair usage policy, monthly caps and i was told theres nothing like that. I asked so if i download 1TB i wont be charged anything...she said its completely unlimited , you can download as much as you like.

Where would i stand with something like this if they tried to charge me for going over 250gb?


Also instead of just posting here, everyone should ring UPC and complain about it.

Its just like the media problem with the router. I rang up UPC and the guy said he has the same problem. UPC know about it but hardly anyone is complaining so its not a bit priority to get it fixed.

MAKE A COMPLAINT!!!!!

dub45

iknorr wrote: »

I ordered over the phone...i specifically asked about limits, fair usage policy, monthly caps and i was told theres nothing like that. I asked so if i download 1TB i wont be charged anything...she said its completely unlimited , you can download as much as you like.

Where would i stand with something like this if they tried to charge me for going over 250gb?


Also instead of just posting here, everyone should ring UPC and complain about it.

Its just like the media problem with the router. I rang up UPC and the guy said he has the same problem. UPC know about it but hardly anyone is complaining so its not a bit priority to get it fixed.

MAKE A COMPLAINT!!!!!

You could always ask UPC for a copy of the recording of the phone call.

But generally phone "assurances" are not worth the paper they are not written on as a wise man once said!.

vibe666

dub45 wrote: »

You could always ask UPC for a copy of the recording of the phone call.

But generally phone "assurances" are not worth the paper they are not written on as a wise man once said!.

i got into a monster of a row with o2 a few months ago because they conveniently *lost* a phone call in which i'd asked for a data package to be added to my wife's phone and were trying to charge me 250 quid instead of the 7.50 it should have been.

i've managed a lot of corporate backups over the years and trust me, you don't just *lose* backups like that, particularly since it was so soon after it happened that i made the complaint.

mind you, i bet anglo irish wish they could lose a few about now.

slave1

I ordered over the phone...i specifically asked about limits, fair usage policy, monthly caps and i was told theres nothing like that. I asked so if i download 1TB i wont be charged anything...she said its completely unlimited , you can download as much as you like.

Where would i stand with something like this if they tried to charge me for going over 250gb?

The AUP is now clearly on the UPC website so you have nothing to stand on, I'd take anything a sales person says with a pinch of salt, not saying I agree with the situation regarding unlimited&250gig limit, it's just the way it is man

iknorr

slave1 wrote: »

The AUP is now clearly on the UPC website so you have nothing to stand on, I'd take anything a sales person says with a pinch of salt, not saying I agree with the situation regarding unlimited&250gig limit, it's just the way it is man

I wouldnt agree with that at all. Just because its on their website doesnt mean a thing.

Point of sale was over the phone. Contract was made over the phone.
Wasnt told anything about a limit after specifically asking.



Also do UPC have a download meter on there website or software or app?

If it went as far as court over non payment (not just my case)

It would be argued that customers dont have a reliable method to check their monthly usage.

Nollog

iknorr wrote: »

I wouldnt agree with that at all. Just because its on their website doesnt mean a thing.

Point of sale was over the phone. Contract was made over the phone.
Wasnt told anything about a limit after specifically asking.



Also do UPC have a download meter on there website or software or app?

If it went as far as court over non payment (not just my case)

It would be argued that customers dont have a reliable method to check their monthly usage.

They've been "working on it" for months, maybe years.

vibe666

/\/ollog wrote: »

They've been "working on it" for months, maybe years.

the funny thing is, they've confirmed that THEY are able to accurately track usage on a calendar month and rolling 30 days basis so they DO have the data, they just don't seem to be able to figure out how to make tha data available to their users like every other ISP in the country does. or they just don't want to.

dub45

slave1 wrote: »

The AUP is now clearly on the UPC website so you have nothing to stand on, I'd take anything a sales person says with a pinch of salt, not saying I agree with the situation regarding unlimited&250gig limit, it's just the way it is man

Where exactly is it "clearly on the UPC website"? It certainly isn't here:

http://www.upc.ie/broadband/

Where I think any reasonable person would expect it to be. And "unlimited" is listed without any asterisk or note referring the potential purchaser to information elsewhere.

It is also totally unrealistic to expect a new customer to check a website after talking to a salesperson. Where does the checking end?:rolleyes:

dub45

vibe666 wrote: »

the funny thing is, they've confirmed that THEY are able to accurately track usage on a calendar month and rolling 30 days basis so they DO have the data, they just don't seem to be able to figure out how to make tha data available to their users like every other ISP in the country does. or they just don't want to.

The more you think about it the more absurd it is that any isp can be allowed operate a service which might involve charging for usage without providing a proper monitoring facility for the customer.

But if the products are "unlimited" who needs to monitor them at all:)