"Imagine Breeze has been discontinued" - got no warning

mfield

This is just hilarious!

We've had Imagine (Irish Broadband) Breeze product for five years and it has been great.

Today the broadband was down so I ring them up and after about 40 minutes waiting they tell me it has been discontinued :eek:

I never recieved any documentation from them to inform me that the service would be discontinued and then when I ring them to see what we can do to sort it out, they start telling me lies that I would of recieved a letter and email about the matter!!!!

My neighbour is in the same boat and he has a business line with them and they need it working badly.

I was hoping to steer clear of Wimax but it looks like this is our only option.

I'm still gobsmaked at the way they carry on. They better not start trying to charge us the 100 euro install charge.

Any advice on the matter would be great.

-=al=-

Think it just happened to me, I've been on the breeze fixed wireless 3mb upload/download for years, suited me perfect for my location, now ill have to get that wimax sh*t or sh*tty eircom or something else sh*t probably

i loved the broadband i had here, its been reliable and decent for years, never any issues straight up great and great contention with decent enough ping... then they just stopped it


I did get a letter at the end of October sayign it would be discontinued in November.... but the letter did saiy they'd be in touch to sort out the move to wimax, it's now Dec 10!

I dont want to get wimax and the service continued to work till now it seems, just want something bloody reliable with no pissing about >:(


Edit, just remebered I got an email receipt for the bill 2 days ago which I put in the email bin, (as i usually do since its just direct debit) thought I'd re read it to see if it was an email about the turn off or anything.. and nope it was a paid receipt for the service for the 7-12-10 - 6-01-11!!


That's just taking the piss right there


...I'm only online now at the minute, since ive the meteor free internet service on my phone, so im using that to connect to the laptop, it works but got to get this sorted

Victor

I have Clearwire and Imagine are discontinuing that also. For the same product, I'll have to pay 25 euro instead of 15 euro, albeit with better contention. That sais, the existing contention is fine for 99% of the time.

-=al=-

im sure its been asked a million times, and totally based on location and other factors but how reliable is the wimax stuff and whats the ping like on them!?

jor el

-=al=- wrote: »

how reliable is the wimax stuff and whats the ping like on them!?

Overall poor, and usually pretty bad. Mobile WiMax, that Imagine are selling, is not a Breeze replacement.

There's nothing you can do about it though, as you cannot force a company to continue a product they no longer want to sell.

mfield

Ok, so I was waiting on a call back from them and they never called me back. Thanks very much there lads!

A fellow boardsie from my neck of the woods tells me he has Wimax installed the past two weeks and he is happy so far.

At least they had the decency to send him a letter and let him know that they were going to cut it off so that he would have little or no disruption to his service.

watty

Try get UPC cable, Magnet, Smart/Digiweb, anyones DSL

If Imagine Wimax is new to an area it may be OK till customers are added.

Fixed Wimax has a future. The Imagine Wimax (Mobile Wimax on a bad frequency for it) is a dead end technology. If the next Government does fibre, that's Imagine dead.

-=al=-

I know yeah, sucsks

If the antenna is already on the roof from the fixed breeze broadband service, I wonder if that can be used for wimax?

Also can you use an alternative router with the wimax motorolla modem/router they give you? I have a nice N router i got recently that I use(d) here =/

Gona have to go and check around... I just want a reliable connection thats good for gaming and having 1-2 computers on the network, probably slightly more usage than the average Joe I guess... Slightly reluctant to get this wimax jazz


sorry for slightly stealing this thread, but it saved me making one!

mfield

watty wrote: »

Try get UPC cable, Magnet, Smart/Digiweb, anyones DSL

If Imagine Wimax is new to an area it may be OK till customers are added.

Fixed Wimax has a future. The Imagine Wimax (Mobile Wimax on a bad frequency for it) is a dead end technology. If the next Government does fibre, that's Imagine dead.

Thanks for that Watty, so the way to go is to firstly steer clear of Wimax.
What about getting the Wimax outdoor install, is that fixed Wimax?

I had Vodafone DSL but it was very slow as we are a fair distance from the exchange.

The whole thing is a disaster, I only recently got Blueface installed and it was working great. Sure Imagine even sent an engineer out to fix the breeze panel, that was about 6 weeks ago.

When I called them today, they just played musical phone representatives with me and passed me from one to another for about 50 minutes then told me they'd call me back but never did. Very disheartening stuff.

mfield

-=al=- wrote: »

sorry for slightly stealing this thread, but it saved me making one!

No problem there dude, that's what it's all about sure I'd be royally fooked without all the great heads on here!

-=al=-

Didn't even bother ringning them today only realised it was gone about 4pm

I'll give it a go tomorrow, last time I rang was rather useless

Here's the letter btw...



don't know why I blanked out my address, it was spelled disastrously wrong


Wonder if its possible to get UPC, the lines we have his is prob crap and old and not capable of handling decent speeds, i remember we couldn't get broadband for years and were stuck on dialup... we do have Digital UPC tv, wonder if they can sort something out

Wouldn't mind but I don't really live in a rural place, 5 mins drive from an big fibre optic suburb, it's jsut really annoying

watty

mfield wrote: »

What about getting the Wimax outdoor install, is that fixed Wimax?
.

Not if it's Imagine WiMax. It's just like an outdoor aerial on 3G Mobile because you are too far from mast.

Imagine Breezemax is Fixed
Many other people install Fixed WiMax.

mfield

watty wrote: »

Not if it's Imagine WiMax. It's just like an outdoor aerial on 3G Mobile because you are too far from mast.

Imagine Breezemax is Fixed
Many other people install Fixed WiMax.

I get ya Watty.

So, who else installs Fixed WiMax?

bealtine

mfield wrote: »

I get ya Watty.

So, who else installs Fixed WiMax?

I think (if that's Newcastle in Wicklow) that Regional Broadband and Wicklow Broadband maybe available to you.

vibe666

-=al=- wrote: »

Wonder if its possible to get UPC, the lines we have his is prob crap and old and not capable of handling decent speeds, i remember we couldn't get broadband for years and were stuck on dialup... we do have Digital UPC tv, wonder if they can sort something out

UPC should be your first port of call, they've spent millions of euro's in the last couple of years upgrading their infrastructure.

less than 50 quid a month for 30mbps isn't too shabby.

Redisle

Oh ****.

Don't like the look of this one bit. Been on breeze for years and it's really my only option. Too far from dsl exchange so be lucky to get a stable 1mb.. neighbours have 2mb and have serious latency issues.. and not covered by digiweb metro either.. sort of out the country so no upc etc..

Mine is still working now and I don't think I got any letter about it being discountinued so hopefully this only applies to certain areas??

-=al=-

Redisle wrote: »

Oh ****.

Don't like the look of this one bit. Been on breeze for years and it's really my only option. Too far from dsl exchange so be lucky to get a stable 1mb.. neighbours have 2mb and have serious latency issues.. and not covered by digiweb metro either.. sort of out the country so no upc etc..

Mine is still working now and I don't think I got any letter about it being discountinued so hopefully this only applies to certain areas??

Keep riding that wave!!!

I tried and now here I am :rolleyes:

I have now just registered and logged onto the UPC account online (since we have their tv package) turns out we have analog tv package on UPC!

We have eircom/upc/sky/irish broadband, in this day and age i know its ridiculous and a travesty, but i live with people who called the tv connection "cablelink" earlier... gota get that stuff narrowed down

I'm almost certain UPC won't have 15mb, but should have something for the lines... the 15mb connection was something i was looking into, ill give it a ring tomorrow, eircom supports 8mb NGB on this line according to their phone line checker earlier, but i don't trust that.

Is breeze still operating its 4mb package? they offer it now for €55 i think, as aposed to the 2mb for €35... but you're right UPC should be the first people to ask :pac:

vibe666

afaik, breeze is being totally discontinued everywhere as it is incompatible with the new wimax offering so its either one or the other and imagine chose 'the other'.

JayMul

Yep same thing happened to me, but they had earlier suspended my account without telling me and didn't do it properly, so I was getting free broadband for a good five months without knowing. Serves them right though.

soupdrinker

Just came across this thread.....

I currently have the Breeze internet connection and have paid my most recent invoice up to 24th Dec. Its still working at the moment.

This is the first I heard that they are discontinuing the product - never received any letters or emails......Just checked their website and they seem to still be selling a 4mb breeze (we have the 2mb breeze as per our invoices)

Are they discontinuing the entire breeze or can I just upgrade to 4mb?

Redisle

I thought everyone with Breeze was on 4mb now? We were upgraded to 4mb and our bill was increased when Imagine took over..

Just checking there anyway "Wimax" is not yet available in my area, so hopefully it stays that way and I get to keep this far superior service. I don't want a pathetic midband service like Wimax.

On another note, anyone know if Digiweb have put any metro antenna's on Spur Hill mast in the last few years? Last time I checked I wasn't covered but you'd never know..

daffy_duc

That letter said they were discontinuing their Breeze Max service. (The Max part is important)
Imagine/Irish Broadband used two different technologies to provide their Breeze service, Breeze VL and Breeze Max.
People on Breeze VL aren't affected.

watty

Breeze VL is ironically the older not-quite-Wimax I think. Better than "Imagine WiMax" product.

BreezeMax is proper Fixed WiMax and x8 to x10 better system than the "mobile-ish" "Imagine WiMax" will ever be.

-=al=-

I've been on the 2mb breeze for years and they upgraded it a few years ago but it was to 3mb as far as i remember, they dicontinued the 2mb(upgraded to 3mb) service soon after and just had the 4mb i think

the 4mb is still advertised, im contemplating getting it even though it is slightly more expensive, its reliable, no hassle and will get it back and running quickly this side of christmas, its hassle upgrading systems just before christmas


and i also just paid for the Breeze service on the 7th of Dec for internet services till the 6th of Jan! I have to get reinburst or something for that? ...thats not on charging for a service then shutting it off 2 days later :S

mfield

I rang Digiweb and I just might be able to get their wireless offering, there gonna send an engineer out and test the signal. If it works great, but if it doesn't they want 100 lids, which is a whore but beggars can't be choosers.

Anyone have any dealings with Digiweb - service wise etc? They we're very helpful on the phone and it was a freephone number, not like Imagine who's customer service number is an 1890 job - thanks for that lads!

I rang Imagine again yesterday and got a really sound dude in there and he is gonna see what can be done with the shambles. He told me that they are removing the Breeze service in some locations and not in others. So some of ye might be lucky enough to keep it!

-=al=-

anyone get any further in this issue about which areas/services are going to have breeze or any service continued!?

or any decent alternative boradband connections!?

mfield

-=al=- wrote: »

anyone get any further in this issue about which areas/services are going to have breeze or any service continued!?

or any decent alternative boradband connections!?

At the moment I've kept my options open. I have booked in with Digiweb but it may not be a runner as we're just on the periphery of the coverage map.

I am still waiting on Imagine to come back to me, we've paid for their service up to the end of the month!

I'm thinking of getting a meteor stick to tie us over. Does anyone know if I can put a meteor stick into one of those Vodafone Home Gateway routers?

-=al=-

Yeah didn't hear from imagine yet, digiweb i looked into also, after i put in the town address these are the options

http://www.digiweb.ie/home/broadband/index.aspx

no phone package is viable aparently though, but might try digiweb, its much the same of what we had (fixed wireless) for €40 a month for 8mb down 1mb up


is the digiweb metro pretty much the same as the IBB breeze products? not liking the 70GB cap though! ...also says theres a DSL, wonder if thats viable or better... deciding BB is gayballs!

mfield

Just to let ye all know what the deal is now.

I can't get Digiweb Metro, so it was back to Imagine as there's no one else to go to

They called out this morning to install Wimax and guess what, the signal is too weak to install! Lovely!

Were after putting 80 euro into Vodafone Mobile Broadband since December.

I am now thinking of setting up my own access point in the town as I have a mate who has a rather large mast in his back garden and he can get all available broadband packages.
Would it be possible to subscribe to say 100mb broadband and use an antenna to send the signal out to our house in the sticks?