Fastcom anyone ?

chris254

Hi Cranog i live in rural area 4 miles from kilnlough
I have lost count a long time ago of how many email's and phone calls
i have made to fastcom support i have explained to them in fine detail and showed them the pingplotter tests and proved to them that the issue
is with there network c1-v7-so.fastcom.ie s1-v9-
so.fastcom.ie ect ect ... one guy did fix it for about 2-3 week's after i rang
but after that it just went back to the way it was i rang n rang emailing them all the time with no joy they also tried puting me on a dedicated server with no joy. Don't get me wrong fastcom support seem nice enough and do appear to be trying to help with the issue but whenever an issue has been ongoing for 2 years i cant see me contacting them now will help any as BulliteShot put it to many people have fastcom now for fastcom to
have a good clean quality network it just turns into kios after 5 and fastcom haven't even hinted that they want to sort the mess out
its not a individual problem well it is if you look at ur antenna and think
why is my internet so slow but its the whole network cant handle the traffic running through it i wish my email or phonecall could help that
but fastcom's a business there interest's undoubtedly come before the consumer's.

daithijjj

My speed is a disgrace all weekend and i was in your office on friday, il be in on monday aswel, saying im unhappy with this is an understatement. This is getting too much of a regular occurence.

Tar.Aldarion

It went from terrible to ok when I was using it, it was diabolical-> okish for gaming mostly (I would have been known as the guy with the bad net), just had to put up with it as there was no competition. Good luck if 2 people wanted to use the net. Companies really need competition for us to get better deals and service, I couldn't see me going back to them after moving and getting 20-100 meg ntl! It's just too expensive for the speeds, which is bound to happen with smaller companies.

bennyc

I have done a lot of testing on my mates fastcom since I started this thread and his was consistantly 3 up and down until last few weeks , his upload seems to have gone to 0 and barely able to use the net now. getting a very poor .6 down from speedtest which hangs during the upload test. Needless to say I am interested to see what kind of support he gets.

magnumlady

I'm finding it so slow at the moment.
Can't watch anything on youtube at all.

Tar.Aldarion

that's a joke in 2011 in ireland, I don't appreciate my net enough!

daithijjj

The last 2 posts have shown the typical speed since friday (thats actually when i do have connection, alot of the time i have nothing and cant get online).

This happened the whole weekend of the last weekend in january aswel, and 4 or 5 days just before xmas. Im not surprised this happens occassionally but when i have to ring up and complain every single month for 3 or 4 months its beyond a joke.

chris254

= = = A LEGAL MUGGING = = =

BulliteShot

Chris, i suggest sending "fastcombb" user on this forum a PM. The person with that account seems helpful.

Thanks

chris254

Tbh BulliteShot i have place an order with Eircom and i rang them today and they said i will have it on the 3rd so ill just wait on that ive tried everything with fastcom

BulliteShot

Have you tried calling them out everytime it goes bad? Even if they have to keep fixing it for you, it would help them find the problem.

daithijjj

Well i called up yesterday morning and got it sorted in a few mins over the phone. Will see how long this lasts but consistant speeds since then.

Tar.Aldarion

they shouldnt have to keep needing you to call for them to fix it, if it's that easy?
My 20meg NTL arrives 9am tomorrow

AlmightyCushion

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

they shouldnt have to keep needing you to call for them to fix it, if it's that easy?
My 20meg NTL arrives 9am tomorrow

20Mb? 30Mb is where it's at baby.

Tar.Aldarion

We have two 20 meg connections now, but I might upgrade hmmm

daithijjj

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

they shouldnt have to keep needing you to call for them to fix it, if it's that easy?
My 20meg NTL arrives 9am tomorrow

Exactly.

Thats kinda why i am getting annoyed with it. Thats the second time in a month that the connection dropped on saturday afternoon (just when the office closes until monday) and i can get nothing done about it for 2 days.

I dont need superfast connection, i just need what i pay for to work.

FreudianSlippers

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

20Mb? 30Mb is where it's at baby.

I want my 100mb :eek:

bennyc

Mods sorry for dragging up the past but I am kinda following up on this thread a year plus on.

---

I didn’t change my bb from vodafone dsl and my only reasonable option is still fastcom. I see they are offering up to 10MB, has anyone got anything close to that outside of town and if so how good is it. My current bb is still 1.5 -1.7 at best but can lag in the evenings. Now with the introduction of netflix sky player etc, I have over shot my cap for the last three months.
I called fastcom and was told I have to go through with the order and basically they will install and I will then know for sure what speed I can get.

From what I can see fastcom seems very stable , my mate is living in Bunninadden and has a stable 2MB -3MB connection. I am a few miles the Ballymote side of Ballinacarrow so I would hope I am closer than my mate.

Basically if I can get a guarentee of at least 3MB I thing I will change to Fastcom as they have no caps for downloading and I might be waiting a long time to get a better connection from my DSL line.

Tar.Aldarion

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

I want my 100mb :eek:

I upgraded to that, living the dream

daithijjj

bennyc wrote: »

Mods sorry for dragging up the past but I am kinda following up on this thread a year plus on.

---

I didn’t change my bb from vodafone dsl and my only reasonable option is still fastcom. I see they are offering up to 10MB, has anyone got anything close to that outside of town and if so how good is it. My current bb is still 1.5 -1.7 at best but can lag in the evenings. Now with the introduction of netflix sky player etc, I have over shot my cap for the last three months.
I called fastcom and was told I have to go through with the order and basically they will install and I will then know for sure what speed I can get.

From what I can see fastcom seems very stable , my mate is living in Bunninadden and has a stable 2MB -3MB connection. I am a few miles the Ballymote side of Ballinacarrow so I would hope I am closer than my mate.

Basically if I can get a guarentee of at least 3MB I thing I will change to Fastcom as they have no caps for downloading and I might be waiting a long time to get a better connection from my DSL line.

Im on that tariff, 4 miles from Sligo Town. Its usually between 2 and 2.8 when i do a Speedtest. Its been good for the last while, occasionally have to call up tech support due to the signal trying to contact the wrong base station so the speed is crap, he resets the antennae (or so im told) and its only a 2 minute job on the phone. My only issue with fastcom really is that if i lose connection at 2pm Saturday i have no option but to wait it out until Monday morning for support.

Hobbitfeet

I am moving to drumfin next week and thinking of getting fastcom anyone have experience of using it in that area

The Haven

anyone having trouble with dns ?

acer1973

Fast-CON would be a better name. Slow speeds <100K, non existent customer support. 8:1 contention on a business package, don't make me laugh. More like 50:1 and try and say you cant cancel even tho they fail to deliver the service signed up for. An absolute joke and to be avoided

bonzos

The high turn over of staff also says a lot....

BulliteShot

Guys, if it's not fit for purpose they can't hold you into the contract. It's the law.

BulliteShot

10 Mbps Symmetrical costs €25 in Dublin when you're buying 200 Mbps or above from a Tier 1 ISP such as Cogent. So for €500 excl VAT you could easily get 200 Mbps Download and 200 Mbps Upload. Fastcom have over 2 Gbps if i'm not mistaken so you can imagine what kind of cheap pricing they're obtaining.

You have exactly the same problem as my father who's on their residential packages. His "broadband" becomes unusable after 5PM.

They claim they don't oversell, but their wireless frequencies are congested to the point where it's completly overloaded. Bandwidth requirements are doubling every year for residential customers due to video streaming. Fastcom have been using the same hardware for 6 or more years - hardware which was designed for 3 Mbps Download among 30 customers or so is now being used to provide 12 Mbps Download among even more customers.

I asked an installer how many customers they put on each antenna. He had no idea what I was talking about. Oh dear.

BulliteShot

Well that made me laugh. From the way they declared the situation they clearly think they're gods. Out of curiosity what were you doing? :rolleyes:

It sounds like they might violating their contract by disabling your service. Check their terms and conditions with a solicitor - it will only cost you a few bob if you ask for a quote in advance. The one references I can find to them suspending your service are;

2.3.5 Subscriber acknowledges and agrees that from time to time Fastcom may be required to temporarily suspend the Service to subscriber to verify compliance with applicable licenses, authorizations, and compliance with the technical and operating parameters of the network. Under such circumstances Fastcom will use all reasonable efforts to minimize disruption to the Service including making reasonable efforts that any such suspension take place out of normal business hours..

5.13.3 We may suspend your service if your Credit Limit is exceeded.

7.21 A fair use policy applies to any unlimited voice or data plan offered by Fastcom Telecom. A limit of 650 minutes of landline calls applies to all voice services offered by Fastcom. Fastcom Telecom may rely on this Fair Use Policy where your usage of the service is excessive or unreasonable as detailed in this paragraph. If the excessive usage continues after reception of a request to desist from or alter the nature of such usage, Fastcom reserves the right to charge you the excessive element of your usage at your price plans standard rate or to suspend, at its absolute discretion, modify or restrict your use of the service or to withdraw your access to the Service.

8.1 Without prejudice to any of its rights of termination under clause 5, Fastcom reserves the right
to temporarily bar, suspend, restrict, and/or disconnect the ustomer?s use of the Service (collectively ?suspension?) at any time for non-payment of the Charges payment must be made within seven (7) days of you being reminded to pay your bill or for any other breach of this Agreement whatsoever. Fastcom shall use reasonable actions to contact the Customer, but shall not be obliged to contact the Customer, prior to any such suspension of the Service.



8.6 Fastcom may suspend the Service from time to time, without liability, for the alteration,improvement or maintenance of the Network or the Services.



Interesting their terms only says;


8.7 If we suspend the Services under clause 8.6, your Contract will still continue and you shall reimburse us our costs and expenses reasonably incurred in suspending the Services and/or recommencing them. In addition, you must pay all Charges due from you under your Contract incurred prior to the time when your Contract is properly terminated. If we suspend any Service, we will not provide it again until you confirm that you will use the Service only as agreed in this Contract.



Perhaps i'm missing something but nowhere in the terms does it say your service can be suspended for anything "illegal".


According to their terms:
5.22 Fastcom shall be entitled to terminate this Agreement and cease providing the Service forthwith without notice (giving only retrospective notice) if:

.............. [ trimmed ] .................

5.22.6 the Customer is suspected of involvement with fraud or acts which are of defamatory, offensive, abusive, obscene, menacing, unsuitable or unlawful character in connection with use of the Service;

.............. [ trimmed ] .................


So as far as I can see you're out the contract because of what they did.


According to their own terms and conditions, they've either violated the contract by suspending you without a valid reason as per their terms and conditions. Or, they have terminated the Agreement.

BulliteShot

I've dealt with Fastcom for years and that is a typical bone-headed response from them when there's clearly a problem. They'd rather screw you out of thousands than have you as a client for years to come.

Your best bet is to write them a letter with what you intend to do. I suggest getting legal advice - it really won't cost much in the greater scheme of things. Your solicitor will even be able to tell you the chance of winning a case in court. At which case they would have to pay all the fees. At the same time, if you lose you'll pay all the fees AND fastcom. If they ignore a legal action letter then there's not much you can do than pay them or take things further to get the court notice issued.

EDIT: As your solicitor would be able to tell you, telling fastcom you have been to your solicitor for legal advice and threatening legal action is usually all that needs to be done to get a resonable resolution because they won't want to go down the legal route.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Have to say, i can only say good about the service I get from fastcom, on a technical and customer level. I have them for home and business.
Maybe im just lucky but never had a problem in 5 years.

yellowpens

Just spotted this post now after writing a book on my experience with fastcom