Smart CAP Options V's UPC

Gadgetman496

Smart\Digiweb have a few options available to users to help manage their bandwidth.

1. Buy extra bandwidth @ a monthly charge.

2. Request a CAP reset at any point @ a one off charge.

Are these or similar options available to UPC customers? or is your CAP your lot as far as options go?

Spear

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Smart\Digiweb have a few options available to users to help manage their bandwidth.

1. Buy extra bandwidth @ a monthly charge.

2. Request a CAP reset at any point @ a one off charge.

Are these or similar options available to UPC customers? or is your CAP your lot as far as options go?

If you go over the cap repeatedly they'll warn you, or then move you to a higher unlisted package. There's no throttling unlike Smart.

cookie1977

Well upc's caps are either 120GB on there 12mb speed plan or 250GB for the 25mb and 50mb or 500GB for the 100mb plan. I dont think there's an option to buy extra data allowances

Gadgetman496

I'm with smart at the moment and can't get anything better than 8 on a 10 meg line, it's the best my copper can handle so I'm thinking of moving to cable. I occasionally breach my CAP so find the option to reset it at a one off charge handy. Was just wondering if that was an option with UPC. Smart must be the only ones offering that option?

bk

Well Smart gives you:

10mb/512k, 170GB cap, no calls, €40
24mb/1mb, 170GB cap, no calls, €60

UPC gives you:

24mb/2.5mb, 250GB cap, calls, €42
100mb/10mb, 500GB cap, calls, €57

Smart automatically throttle your speed if you go over the cap and it takes 24 hours to reset (very inconvenient if you work from home).

Smart charge you an extra €6.50 for 100GB.

UPC use a fair usage policy, only if you continually go over the cap will they bump you to a more expensive package.

IMO UPC are far better value for money.

Hell even Eircom are better value for money then Smart now.

Eircom 24mb/1mb, Unlimited downloads *, off peak calls, €61.73

* Eircom have a 300GB fair usage policy, but don't seem to enforce it.

Gadgetman496

Cheers BK. It sure puts thing into perspective very clearly when you see it laid out like that.

I'm screwed as far as DSL goes no matter who I go with as my copper won't handle any more than 8mb down and even at that there is a fair amount of line errors.

Cable seems to be my best option all the way. I'm just a tad concerned when it comes to the equipment UPC supply and any restrictions with regard to configuring the router side of things.

cookie1977

you can buy your own cable router as the UPC ones are quite restricted and not that great anyway

Gadgetman496

cookie1977 wrote: »

you can buy your own cable router as the UPC ones are quite restricted and not that great anyway

You can? I thought anything used with UPC had to be specially provisioned by them?

I'm all ears here Have you any links to such independent equipment

lucernarian

Three things which should have been pointed out, if UPC offer a broadband package to a particular customer, they will nearly always get near the full speed unless under fault conditions. Whereas only a tiny minority of people would get over 20 mbps from the up to 24 mbps eircom (and indeed Smart) packages.

The other thing is that UPC have bumped up people to a higher package without warning. It's been documented here on boards and this is also an ongoing issue with a friend of mine when it happened to his family a few weeks ago. Assuming you do get a warning and you're then brought up to a more costly package, UPC then charge a downgrade/administration fee for going back to a cheaper package. I think the charge is €10.

UPC's customer service have also proved to be quite secretive about exactly how much of the cap someone has used, this is coming from what I've read from posters. I don't think UPC offer a usage checker facility on their website unlike most of the other providers. Though the other providers also have had complaints over how accurate their usage meters are.

dub45

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

Three things which should have been pointed out, if UPC offer a broadband package to a particular customer, they will nearly always get near the full speed unless under fault conditions. Whereas only a tiny minority of people would get over 20 mbps from the up to 24 mbps eircom (and indeed Smart) packages.

The other thing is that UPC have bumped up people to a higher package without warning. It's been documented here on boards and this is also an ongoing issue with a friend of mine when it happened to his family a few weeks ago. Assuming you do get a warning and you're then brought up to a more costly package, UPC then charge a downgrade/administration fee for going back to a cheaper package. I think the charge is €10.

UPC's customer service have also proved to be quite secretive about exactly how much of the cap someone has used, this is coming from what I've read from posters. I don't think UPC offer a usage checker facility on their website unlike most of the other providers. Though the other providers also have had complaints over how accurate their usage meters are.

There is no doubt from the consistency of postings on here that UPC's behaviour in relation to people exceeding the cap is totally unpredictable and something their CSR's appear to consistently lie over in relation to customers being notified. Several people have posted on here stating that UPC reps claimed that An Post have confirmed delivery of letters which of course is something An Post cannot do in respect of ordinary letters and particularly in respect of letters not posted!

Comreg have a stated policy on "unlimited" products:

ComReg expects each service provider to implement a clear, transparent and policy for dealing with customer usage above any set thresholds. The policy should set out the rules for contract termination, including penalties, the charges that shall apply for any use above the threshold/limit, and the policy regarding migration of the customer to other packages, if applicable.

UPC continue to drive a coach and four through this and in the process cost a lot of customers a lot of money. And contrary to what is stated above there is no evidence on here as far as i can see of people only being bumped up to the punishment product after repeated warnings. There have been many posts on here of the bill being the first indication of exceeding the cap.

cookie1977

gadgetman496 wrote: »

You can? I thought anything used with UPC had to be specially provisioned by them?

I'm all ears here Have you any links to such independent equipment

You can bridge the modem. Some advice below.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056018322

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055949127

Sorry I thought it was possible to use a single cable router of your own but you're right it cant. So the bridge might suffice.

graye

I have just come to a conclusion, i have check several estates in my area which are council estates and they are all blacked by UPC, this is discrimination and i will take this to the top, who the hell do they think they are!

roast

graye wrote: »

I have just come to a conclusion, i have check several estates in my area which are council estates and they are all blacked by UPC, this is discrimination and i will take this to the top, who the hell do they think they are!

I had a good lol at that.
We're with you all the way buddy, they can't get away with this nonsense! Hell, why in the name of god don't Verizon and T-Mobile have services here. Its a DISGRACE! :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
/sarcasm

Anyway....On the plus side, with the 50mb and 100mb service, UPC now provide a Thomson router.... which is a lot nicer than the Cisco modem they provide for the lower packages. Still nothing to write home about, but certainly an improvement.

aeonfusion

graye wrote: »

I have just come to a conclusion, i have check several estates in my area which are council estates and they are all blacked by UPC, this is discrimination and i will take this to the top, who the hell do they think they are!

They're discriminating against council estates? God damn corporate nazi's! Council estates have rights too. I'm gonna write to Mary Robinson, Chuck Norris and Nelson Mandella, that lot should be able to get it sorted right sharp.

Yakuza

cookie1977 wrote: »

You can bridge the modem. Some advice below.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056018322

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055949127

Sorry I thought it was possible to use a single cable router of your own but you're right it cant. So the bridge might suffice.

One thing to note is that bridge mode will knock out the phone service. If you want to keep it, look at the second page of the second thread listed above, Watty outlines the steps of setting up the modem as just a modem, and forwarding everything to a router which acts as a DMZ. I found it very useful.