Vodafone - Cap and Support

DECEiFER

Hi folks,

I am a UTV Internet customer (8Mbps/800Kbps - with 'Unlimited' usage) and our phone line is with Imagine (my landlady has previously paid the rental) - however that's about to change and all of us in the house I'm living in are looking to switch to the most affordable package inclusive of line rental. WiMAX is utter crap and forwarding ports needs a call-in to their support team; it's nonsense.

'Vodafone at Home - Talk Offpeak & Value Broadband' is looking like it ticks the boxes, but before I migrate from UTV to Vodafone, how are they for enforcing their caps? UTV is very strict, which is why I purchased the 'Unlimited' add-on. But if I went for the €40 per month package with the 40GB cap, and say I was looking to go over at the half-way point in the month, what would be my best option? With BT it was do nothing and they'd leave you go, they admitted to me that they never charged someone for overuse. With not being able to afford to pay overuse charges and not being able to afford being cut-off from the Internet, I'm asking if Vodafone are like BT in that regard?

My second question is to do with their support team. They have a free number apparently (1907) but what are they like with email support and response times? On the phone, are they like most other ISP's, a bunch of script-monkeys who had two weeks training or do they know their stuff, so talking technical with them won't be like foreign language?

I don't have the option of going with UPC or Next Generation Broadband in my area or exchange. Sticking with regular bitstream is the only hope. My only problem with changing is losing nearly 300Kbps on my upload (down to 512Mbps with Vodafone), and my apparent 12:1 contention ratio. Well, I'm not sure what Vodafone's contention ratios are. Can anyone answer that one as-well?


Thanks for reading. Any help with my questions is appreciated.

jor el

Vodafone enforce their caps strictly. If UTV is working for you, you shouldn't try to move.

DECEiFER

jor el wrote: »

Vodafone enforce their caps strictly. If UTV is working for you, you shouldn't try to move.

Thanks, jor el.

For €48 per month on Vodafone, you can get the 120GB 8Mbps bundle. For €48 + €5.99 per month on UTV, you can get 'Unlimited' on a similar bundle (apart from the upload speed being slower on Vodafone and the possibility of the contention ratio being different). Vodafone is a saving for sure, and we're all very strapped for cash.

As you can see from the attachment, we have already gone over 40GB, and this might be a slow month!

What about the support side of things and the contention ratios (if known)?

Cabaal

On UTV since I moved house two years ago, I did consider moving to Vodafone last March but decided against it due to reports of speed issues on Vodafone's network at the time.

I've never once had to call UTV for ANY support luckily but I may review Vodafone's offering next year, I'd certainly go for them over Eircom.

LoveGreen

I don't understand why you are worried about the download cap if you are on unlimited?
We are using Pure Telecom for phone and broadband at the minute. We took the unlimited broadband for an extra 4 euros p/m (well 'unlimited' in this case is no cap:D). It is definitely "no limit" to downloads as I went nuts the first few months and our phone bill has never been cheaper.

Onikage

Unlimited on UTV has a FUP of 70GB up & down.

jor el

DECEiFER wrote: »

What about the support side of things and the contention ratios (if known)?

Contention ratio and line speed is controlled by eircom, and is identical for all resellers. There will be no difference between Vodafone and UTV. The actual differences experienced by people are due to to different DNS servers on each ISP, different back haul and the routing. Customer support can also vary.

DECEiFER

Thanks everyone for the replies, it's all very much giving me something to think about.

The only worry I have about the cap is if I change to Vodafone and am suddenly on 40GB per month with the cheapest package. Right now even if UTV's FUP is a mere 70GB, it's cool, I wouldn't really download much near that.

Again, thank you all for the replies.

jay93

vodafones 8mb internet is only possbile if you are on an enchanced exchange other than that they will just throw you onto 3mb witout even telling you before you signed up that the upto 8mb speed isnt possible on standard exchanges very misleading i must say

DECEiFER

jay93 wrote: »

vodafones 8mb internet is only possbile if you are on an enchanced exchange other than that they will just throw you onto 3mb witout even telling you before you signed up that the upto 8mb speed isnt possible on standard exchanges very misleading i must say

Oh it is possible for sure. 24Mb might not be on my exchange yet. I'm on 8Mb with UTV, previously on 7.6Mb with UTV before January 2010. It's down to Eircom, not Vodafone, what your exchange is capable of.

I'm 100m away from my exchange and get excellent line stats (pity that doesn't compensate for over-subscription and God-awful speeds between 6/7pm - 12/1am).



ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 8160 kbps 800 kbps
Line Attenuation 2.0 db 2.0 db
Noise Margin 21.3 db 17.0 db

jay93

but vodafone sell it as upto 8mb witout even telling anyone that there exchange must be a NGB one to even get 8mb which is wrong and very misleading for such a big company ive read of alot of people that they done this to over on the vodafone forum.as for my own exchange im on 3mb line can take well over 15mb just have to wait for the exchange to go to ADSL2 to get over 8mb

Downstream Upstream Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 3072 384 SN Margin (dB) 22.00 20.00 Line Attenuation (dB) 10.50 5.50 CRC Errors 0 1
as you can see ive got a fairly good line but when with vodafone i could only get 0.36mb/s max all day and night now with utv and its always been great

DECEiFER

jay93 wrote: »

but vodafone sell it as upto 8mb witout even telling anyone that there exchange must be a NGB one to even get 8mb which is wrong and very misleading for such a big company ive read of alot of people that they done this to over on the vodafone forum.as for my own exchange im on 3mb line can take well over 15mb just have to wait for the exchange to go to ADSL2 to get over 8mb

Downstream Upstream Max Allowed Speed (kbps) 3072 384 SN Margin (dB) 22.00 20.00 Line Attenuation (dB) 10.50 5.50 CRC Errors 0 1
as you can see ive got a fairly good line but when with vodafone i could only get 0.36mb/s max all day and night now with utv and its always been great

If that's the case, then they are not doing their job as you say. The package is up to 8Mb regardless of it being a NGB package or not. I will definitely be checking into it and asking for confirmation before I put pen to paper to seal the deal.

Thanks for the advice.

jay93

DECEiFER wrote: »

If that's the case, then they are not doing their job as you say. The package is up to 8Mb regardless of it being a NGB package or not. I will definitely be checking into it and asking for confirmation before I put pen to paper to seal the deal.

Thanks for the advice.

No bother just want to make sure that vodafone doesnt try rip more people off just make sure with them that they will actually give you the full 8mb

DECEiFER

jay93 wrote: »

No bother just want to make sure that vodafone doesnt try rip more people off just make sure with them that they will actually give you the full 8mb

I'd never order something this important without checking into it first at least a little, but it looks like I'm going to have to give it nothing less than 100% of my attention. Thanks again!

smellslikeshoes

Vodafone let you add on extra usage allowance if you think you're going to go over the limit. On the lowest package you can buy an extra 30 gigs and on the higher ones an extra 150.

jay93 wrote: »

vodafones 8mb internet is only possbile if you are on an enchanced exchange other than that they will just throw you onto 3mb witout even telling you before you signed up that the upto 8mb speed isnt possible on standard exchanges very misleading i must say

That's true for the lower package but the middle one they give you 7mbit if you're not on a NGB exchange, not sure what they give you on the top package.

Cabaal

Onikage wrote: »

Unlimited on UTV has a FUP of 70GB up & down.

You sure?
What do UTV do when you cover over this as I've gone over it loads of times if thats the case

Onikage

Cabaal wrote: »

You sure?
What do UTV do when you cover over this as I've gone over it loads of times if thats the case

This was in the small print a few months ago when I checked, can't seem to find it now.