Fastcom anyone ?

animha

Hi folks - I am doing some marketing consultancy with Fastcom and am running a focus group this evening in IT Sligo to get an understanding from existing Fastcom customers what their experience and perception of Fastcom's service and offerings are.

If you're an existing Fastcom customer (will be running another one in the future for non-Fastcom customers) and would like a free month's broadband plus some nice grub, please PM me or register at http://fastcomfocusgroup.eventbrite.com/.

It's from 6-7.30pm this evening. Sorry for the late notice!

Son Of A Vidic

I am an existing Fastcom broadband customer. I sent an email to Fastcom last October querying one or two things about the telephone service which I was going to sign up to. I'm still waiting for a reply!:mad:

darealtulip

I wanted to go to fastcom but a few people I know have it and they are not very happy with them at all. Very slow connection most of the time and very long waiting times to get anything done (emails answered, visits made).

I am in the lucky posistion to have a land connection to broadband and therefore had the choice to stay well away from them!

tedshredsonfire

no connection to fastcom lads but haven't had any problems with them. Connection speed is fine for what I am using which is standard stuff not much downloading etc.

dardevle

....



same as that Ted.....been with them about 2 years now,in a rural area where nobody else was offering at that time.
like you said its never going to win a race(2+2 mb) but it is reliable and on the rare occasion it does go down they are fairly prompt to advise by text message, the reasons why and for how long the outage....

if i had more notice i would have attended.


...

darealtulip

the main complaint from my friends was that when they bench marked the speed it hardly came above 1 mb but they paid for 2 mb. Now I know they are maximum speeds and not constant, but it would be nice to go over the 1mb if you pay for 2!!

And I'm spoiled with my 7mb!! benchmarks at 6.7mb.

Customer service was another complaint, 2 or 3 weeks to get back at you... I can't handle a day without my internet! (or a hour!)

But as you said the were (or are) the only option for some people. I wanted them to get rid of my landline because I hardly use it due to mobiles and skype.

animha

Folks apologies for not responding here earlier...would firstly really like to clear up any customer service issues, so if you could email aoife@buamarketing.ie with your issues, I'll get them a 24-hour response turnaround.

I would also really like to get your opinions on Fastcom vs other providers and will be running another focus group in March. Those who attended the Jan session got very nice grub from Cafe Fleur + 1 month free broadband (value €40). If you would be willing to attend another focus group, let me know.

Fastcom is a small local company and therefore is always learning how to do things better, the good intention is there but that doesn't always mean the customer sees it so appreciate your opinions here.

There is a number of internal initiatives being undertaken to ensure customer service improves dramatically, hopefully any Fastcom customer will see the benefits of this going forward.

AlmightyCushion

animha wrote: »

Folks apologies for not responding here earlier...would firstly really like to clear up any customer service issues, so if you could email aoife@buamarketing.ie with your issues, I'll get them a 24-hour response turnaround.

I would also really like to get your opinions on Fastcom vs other providers and will be running another focus group in March. Those who attended the Jan session got very nice grub from Cafe Fleur + 1 month free broadband (value €40). If you would be willing to attend another focus group, let me know.

Fastcom is a small local company and therefore is always learning how to do things better, the good intention is there but that doesn't always mean the customer sees it so appreciate your opinions here.

There is a number of internal initiatives being undertaken to ensure customer service improves dramatically, hopefully any Fastcom customer will see the benefits of this going forward.

Well, when I was with them during the summer, they had serious contention issues. At peak times the speed was poor and there was frequent disconnects. This happened on every computer in the house so it wasn't the pcs at fault. I also tried a few different routers so it couldn't be that. Outside of peak times (we're talking after 2 am here) speeds were a bit better and there was rarely any disconnects hence why I believe all that was down to contention. It seemed torrents were throttled as well. I only used torrents a few times though so maybe I had something set up wrong but they always worked fine in my parents house using eircom. I could never download something from usenet either. Speeds would stay at a fraction of a kBps. Once again, when I tried it on another connection that wasn't fastcom it worked fine.

Seeing as they are a local company I wish them well but as a customer I was never happier to have left them. You couldn't pay me to go back.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Have been a Fastcom customer for probably 3 years now i think.
Couldn't say enough good about it to be honest.
Could, probably should, be cheaper and faster.

animha

Mikey, thanks for the feedback...appreciate honesty. Fastcom will continue to try to be competitive on price but will always endeavour to provide the best service and with recent license awards by Comreg can now offer up to 10mbps speeds on the network.

bobcar61

Whats your link with Fastcom?

I moved away from Fastcom, lost count of how long it took for someone to come out and install the dish, had countless number of problems during the first 6 months, if there was any sort of wind or rain the internet wouldn't work. I also experienced the same problems as AlmightyCushion for the next 6 months. I then got so fed up I moved to a different company who were offering me better speeds at a cheaper price

magnumlady

I'm laughing at the up to 10mbps. Sometimes we can't even get 1mbps.
We sent them an email over the weekend of a speedtest we did. I will attach it here. They never replied to the email.
If we had a choice we would use someone else. At times it is so slow we have gone on dial up and it was a lot more reliable.
SPEEDTST.jpg

bobcar61

Whoa ML I feel your pain

I did the speed test and here are my results...
My Speedtest

darealtulip

:D

6.1 mb with....... vodafone and we live in Dromahair.

Radharc na Sleibhte

http://www.speedtest.net/result/730804186.png

Like I say, I can't fault it, at the moment anyway.
Above results are consistently at the 2mb as advertised, here anyway.

I thought about going for the 3MB but E60?

Whats this about 10mb? I'd say they'll be charging handsomely for that...?

Once Eircom get their act together out my way and other areas and provide a decent speed and a decent price, Fastcom will be gone unless they reduce their prices also, but where I am at the moment, they basically are my sole option really.

magnumlady

You are doing well Mikey, strange that the same company has such different results.....and we are almost next to the mast.

Laducar

I get hugely different results depending on the time of day and the weather! Evening from 4pm until about 10 is barely quicker than dial up.

dardevle

magnumlady wrote: »

I'm laughing at the up to 10mbps. Sometimes we can't even get 1mbps.
We sent them an email over the weekend of a speedtest we did. I will attach it here. They never replied to the email.
If we had a choice we would use someone else. At times it is so slow we have gone on dial up and it was a lot more reliable.
SPEEDTST.jpg

in fairness that is chronically bad performance...i would feel hard done by if i had to pay out for that kind of service each month.






^^^^^
my experience is much the same as Mikey.

animha

I work as a marketing consultant and am doing some work with Fastcom. Not trying to plug them, just keen to hear opinions here. Will take the feedback and revert on Monday folks, appreciate you taking the time to respond.

magnumlady

Here's todays test.
SAT27.jpg
It's a week since we sent an email to Fastcom. Still no reply.
We also have cut outs frequently where the internet just goes off. We've told them about that too.

Shadow78

Fastcom's service has improved a hell of alot over the 3 and 1/2 years I've been with them. They used to have major latency issues and running blueface VOIP telephone over the connection was a pain. Ventrillo used to be a problem with them as well donno if they got that sorted.

They are pretty poor at communicating though, both when they have a problem or change some settings. e.g. everyone should be on 3mb/3mb broadband now but they havent actually told their customers they have gotten a free upgrade. The IP address for the mail server changed recently and they didnt bother informing their customers of this either. Gave business my way for sorting out my customers email problems so it was advantagous for me but reflects badly on Fastcom.

Latest speedtest

magnumlady

Looking at all your speedtests. I'm wondering why we are paying as much as you guys for such a poor service.
I've given up putting things on youtube because it's so slow.

JPMONKS

Cant get Fastcom cos a tree is in the way!! (which is located bout 300 meters away!) Came up from Dublin where I was gettin 7mb..now I cant cant even get broadband..is this how far technology has come?!..that an internet provider such as Fastcom arent able to offer broadband and no other alternative because of a Tree!! Its like something out of Father Ted! What were yis expecting in rural Sligo??!..flat treeless landscapes!..its a Joke!!

Shadow78

If it is one tree in the way then get rid of it.

JPMONKS

Shadow78 wrote: »

If it is one tree in the way then get rid of it.

Trust me I would but its not on my land and if I did go near it id be breaking the law! I am in the process of trying to ascertain who owns land..not holding my breath though as there are other people behind me who cant get it either!

darealtulip

Can you not ask the owner if you can put the reciever in the tree?

JPMONKS

darealtulip wrote: »

Can you not ask the owner if you can put the reciever in the tree?

The tree is located across an estate type road..and its a good 300 meters away the install engineer didnt recommend it..would it be possible?

darealtulip

I don't know your situation but I know people who have their reciever a long way from their home. I know e fellow who had it on a pole in the neigbours field to get reception.

You need their consent ofcourse.

JPMONKS

darealtulip wrote: »

I don't know your situation but I know people who have their reciever a long way from their home. I know e fellow who had it on a pole in the neigbours field to get reception.

You need their consent ofcourse.

Cheers for that..I will ring them on Monday and put this forward as a proposal see what they say. Cheers :-)

Radharc na Sleibhte

Shadow78 wrote: »

e.g. everyone should be on 3mb/3mb broadband now but they havent actually told their customers they have gotten a free upgrade.

Is this true?
Do I need a new receiver because like I said above I'm consistenly 2mb.

El Weirdo

MikeySligo wrote: »

Is this true?
Do I need a new receiver because like I said above I'm consistenly 2mb.

I just rang fired off an email and they rang me the next day and told me that I'd been upgraded. No new equipment or anything.

I have no problems with torrents but as was mentioned by someone before, I cannot download anything from newsgroups with fastcom.