Is all broadband slow ?

2qk4u

Is all broadband slow ? I notice lots of threads about different bb suppliers, are they all slow ? What causes the problem ? is it just over use or just bad service ?

derek_c

I am no expert and can only speak for the service I have and had.
When I was on BT 3mb package I never had any issues with speeds be it day or night their service was excellent. Their customer service was terrible.

Currently on Vodafone 7mb package and its a disgrace. Every evening I get speeds of about 0.4 to 0.5mb, high pings and it becomes unusable. Customer service is heading in the direction of BT's I think because they are all pissed off with the amount of calls over the crappy service.

Can anyone comment be it good or bad on their service with another provider? Eircom - UTV - Smart (48:1 contention package) Digiweb or if there is any I missed.

the_law

From my experience:

Eircom 3Mb - no contention, but too many DNS failures and DSL dropouts.

Smart 12Mb - no contention, good speeds 24/7. Now less good with their 170GB cap.

UPC 20Mb/30Mb - good service on 20Mb, no improvement with 30Mb however. I'm still undecided on their customer service... if they sort the speed issue with the 30Mb, I'll be happy.

L31mr0d

2qk4u wrote: »

Is all broadband slow ?

The problem is the loud minority. You won't find the contented majority coming into this forum frequently to extol their lack of issues with their bb provider.

I have the UPC 20Mb package and have had very little problems with it since getting it (none in the last 8 months). I consistently get around 2.3MB/s down now, any time of the day.

MrGarak

the_law wrote: »

UPC 20Mb/30Mb - good service on 20Mb, no improvement with 30Mb however. I'm still undecided on their customer service... if they sort the speed issue with the 30Mb, I'll be happy.

Thinking of getting UPC actually but have only had Eircom in the house previously, any other comments on them? Whats the installation of the fiber cable process like? I don't want to have them arriving and wanting to dig up the whole garden to get it in or anything :P

The one I'm looking at is the 30Mb, I'd be happy enough to get 20Mb out of it even as Eircom is a joke here.

Ranicand

MrGarak wrote: »

Thinking of getting UPC actually but have only had Eircom in the house previously, any other comments on them? Whats the installation of the fiber cable process like? I don't want to have them arriving and wanting to dig up the whole garden to get it in or anything :P

The one I'm looking at is the 30Mb, I'd be happy enough to get 20Mb out of it even as Eircom is a joke here.

UPC are very good 99% of the time it is just the upgrade that went pair shaped.

Things for me seem to be fixed now.

I am one of the vocal minority:rolleyes:.

Ok the upgrade ran into a hitch which seems to be fixed but it would have been nice to be kept updated.

the_law

It's a little misleading... there's no fiber cable to your house. If you're wired for cable TV, it's the same cable, or a replacement coax in the same place.

Assuming UPC have your area upgraded, it's as simple as the guy comes to your house and plugs a modem into your cable TV feed.

I'd be very surprised if there was digging involved!!!

MrGarak

Ah cheers, makes more sense now haha. I'm not sure if we can get it then because the digital we have is Sky, we're like the anti-UPC household right now :rolleyes:

Edit:

Just noticed their site says "Price shown is when added to an existing TV connection. Otherwise a Fibre Power Broadband Standalone Charge of €8 a month applies." So maybe there's another way around it.

the_law

Sure call them and find out... if they say no make absolutely sure there's nobody on your street with it, because they can be vague on that. If there is someone on your street, it's probably only a matter of months before they get it going to you.

I don't know if you live in an old or new house... in older terraced houses the UPC cable runs along the front or roof of the terrace with tap boxes every house or two with little drop cables coming out down the front of house to every flat/house. In newer (1995-ish plus) houses, it's all underground and you'll have a coax cable coming into your house somewhere....

rsynnott

2qk4u wrote: »

Is all broadband slow ? I notice lots of threads about different bb suppliers, are they all slow ? What causes the problem ? is it just over use or just bad service ?

People who are happy with a service which is working well rarely complain, so forums will naturally have a strong skew towards the negative. Why, some of these ISPs might have as many as three or four customers who've never had any serious ground for irritation!

Cabaal

2qk4u wrote: »

Is all broadband slow ? I notice lots of threads about different bb suppliers, are they all slow ?

As somebody has already noted
- People who are unhappy will post and complain
- People who are happy are not going to really, in fairness who's going to post saying "everything ok for the past year"?

Broadband like any service can have problems and when people have problems they'll post here for assistance.

derek_c

Still a bit confused over the contention issue, so if anyone can explain it better I would appreciate it. I will give an example of how I see it and if I miss anything or go wrong please point it out.

Meath - 100 people on BT (using eircoms lines/exchange or whatever)
100 people on Vodafone (again eircoms lines exchanges)
100 people on Smart telecom ( eircoms again)


ok so you have 300 people basically using eircoms lines/exchanges. Now if Bt dumps its customers onto eircoms lines/exchanges in the hands of Vodafone by right the contention should still be the same??? or am I missing something. If i am not missing something then the current VF problems are in VF itself??

So if I were to leave VF tomorrow and switch to Smart telecom for instance what could I expect in relation to service? The current unusable in the evenings one or should it be better?

Sorry OP dont mean to hijack your thread but it might be of interest to you too.

Honda08

2qk4u wrote: »

Is all broadband slow ? I notice lots of threads about different bb suppliers, are they all slow ? What causes the problem ? is it just over use or just bad service ?

from my experience

tried eircom 3mb and 7.6mb home packages. slow during peak hours, not getting the full speed.

changed to business broadband, 8mb, but line only capable of 5mb /512kb
since changing, it has been rock solid 24/7 with no slowness or lag, 10-12ms pings, i am really happy with it. it has 12:1 contention.

however the downside is cost, i am paying 20.49 line rental and 40 for broadband, incl VAT this costs €74 per month with no calls included. however i do get unlimited download.

its expensive, but a huge difference , before i upgraded it was pretty crap!

Vadrefjorde

I used to have the UPC 20Mb when i was there and never once had a bother with it.

IrishTonyO

Have UPC , was very good before the upgrade, and am sure it will be good again when they sort the problems out. Reckon it is still the best value for money.

TinTin293

Been with Eircom since 2005 without any problems up to 6 months ago. Their tech support (who are mostly nice people tbf) took 1 month to admit it was their issue and that the exchange was oversubscribed.

After numerous (about 10) calls to their broadband support and customer services depts I couldn't get a committed fix date.

So rang one last time to tell them to cancel the subscription. Then got a "hang on - don't be hasty - lets see what I can do for you". Long and short of it is I've got the next 2 months service complimentary to see if they can fix it before then. I'm not holding my breath and may just go wireless at this stage, broadband is useless in evening and weekends. 3 Meg package is giving me 10% of that pretty much most of the time.

If you've got the patience keep ringing, in another couple of weeks I'll know if the calls made any difference and will post back details.

angel01

Bit slow tonight but usually perfect