Reliability of UPC broadband in Limerick?

pfxh

I've used Eircom in the Castletroy area of Limerick for many years and have never had any unreliability or disconnections problem.
However, I'm very tempted to try UPC's 30 Mbps service which is so much faster than Eircom's max of 8 Mbps in this region.
I see from other threads on UPC that there are issues with UPC's Cisco router and it seems also that download rates are excessively variable.
Should I move to UPC or stick with Eircoms slower but very reliable service?
Thanks

DemoniK

pfxh wrote: »

I've used Eircom in the Castletroy area of Limerick for many years and have never had any unreliability or disconnections problem.
However, I'm very tempted to try UPC's 30 Mbps service which is so much faster than Eircom's max of 8 Mbps in this region.
I see from other threads on UPC that there are issues with UPC's Cisco router and it seems also that download rates are excessively variable.
Should I move to UPC or stick with Eircoms slower but very reliable service?
Thanks

i find UPC excellent in Limerick (am in Raheen).

pfxh

DemoniK wrote: »

i find UPC excellent in Limerick (am in Raheen).

Thanks for your reply.
However, I'm puzzled that there is a web site logging UPC down time which lead me to believe it was not a reliable service.
Can I ask do you use the Cisco router which (from this forum) seems to have a very bad reputation?
Also, how close is the measured D/L rate to the advertised 30 Mbps? With Eircom, I pay for 8 Mbps and get a very consistent measured 6.9 Mbps, which I would consider pretty good.
Thanks

jor el

pfxh wrote: »

However, I'm puzzled that there is a web site logging UPC down time which lead me to believe it was not a reliable service.

One person with a personal grudge doesn't make it a bad service. Overall, it's probably the best value you can get. Though, if there's nothing wrong with what you have now, and you're happy with it, you might not want to change too quickly.

DemoniK

pfxh wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.
However, I'm puzzled that there is a web site logging UPC down time which lead me to believe it was not a reliable service.

As stated above - someone with a grudge. Have a look at the site anyway - not one mention of limerick in the 5 entries it does have since it was set up 3 days ago by said disgruntled customer...

Can I ask do you use the Cisco router which (from this forum) seems to have a very bad reputation?

You can ask
And I don't. I needed the phone, and had a lot of issues with the router, so managed to get my hands on the SA EPC2203 modem and used my own router. Works a charm. If you're ordering new insist on just getting the modem and that you have your own router. When I ordered I was told I'd get the modem and netgear router only to get the hunk-a-junk.

Also, how close is the measured D/L rate to the advertised 30 Mbps? With Eircom, I pay for 8 Mbps and get a very consistent measured 6.9 Mbps, which I would consider pretty good.

I get 100% down and up... am sure I had a pic somewhere before, but was actually getting 31Mbps down and 3.2Mbps up one day (will see if I can dig it out)

Thanks

you're welcome.

pfxh

jor el wrote: »

Though, if there's nothing wrong with what you have now, and you're happy with it, you might not want to change too quickly.

@jor el
Thanks for your reply.
Well, yes, there's nothing wrong with Eircom as regards its reliability. But, UPC is more than FOUR times faster and a little cheaper.
What I'm confused about is whether or not UPC has the same level of RELIABILITY as Eircom, is the HARDWARE as good (e.g the router) and how close to the advertised DOWNLOAD rate (30 Mbps) is the measured value?

pfxh

DemoniK wrote: »

had a lot of issues with the router, so managed to get my hands on the SA EPC2203 modem and used my own router. Works a charm. If you're ordering new insist on just getting the modem and that you have your own router. When I ordered I was told I'd get the modem and netgear router only to get the hunk-a-junk.
I get 100% down and up... am sure I had a pic somewhere before, but was actually getting 31Mbps down and 3.2Mbps up one day (will see if I can dig it out)

@DemoniK
Thanks for your comprehensive and very useful reply.
So, UPC seems great as long as I use another router.
That's amazing that the DL and UL rates can be even HIGHER than advertised.
Best wishes

DemoniK

pfxh wrote: »

That's amazing that the DL and UL rates can be even HIGHER than advertised.

Am sure it's a bug in the router software I had..

Don't get me wrong though - I would prefer the EPC2425 over a Netopia router anyday.. It has issues though just like any cheap-ass router, but at least most of it works as advertised....
I had my own router and thus didn't want to deal with the issues.

Sold my Dlink DGL-4500 (now with a netgear WNDR-3700) to a friend who is also on UPC and he's had much better gaming since. He uses the EPC as a modem which is ok as he doesn't require the phone lines.