Thinking of switching to UPC - Dublin North

TheAmateur

Hi all,
I have Eircom phone and broadband in the house at the moment, and while it's always been stable, it's too expensive. I also have Sky for two rooms, so I'm looking at switching to UPC for all three (phone, broadband and tv). It is available in my area (Glasnevin). I have a few concerns and questions before I switch though, so I was hoping someone here with experience of UPC in Dublin North might give me an insight into the quality of the service.

What I mainly want to know at the moment is; what's the quality of the wireless signal like? On our Eircom router, two laptops and a PS3 are often connected wirelessly at the same time, and we've always had good ping (usually around 40ms with speedtest, important for online gaming) and workable speed (around 3Mbps). If UPC's connection cannot guarantee at least that level of service, I won't switch.

Also, I'd like to find out what the initial costs of switching are (bear in mind I've been with Sky and Eircom long past the initial contract durations), and are there any issues with the service I should be aware of?

Thanks for reading

jor el

No ISP will guarantee anything with the wireless connection. The router supplied on their 20/30Mbps package is the EPC2425, which is a terrible router (see the sticky at the top of the forum). With the 12Mbps package you get the SA2203, which is far better, but is a modem only. You can add your own router to that, which is a better option. 50-100Mbps is a Thomson router, which is pretty decent.

kaz_corcoran

Oh God don't make that mistake!! In my experience UPC service is terrible. I'm also based in Glasnevin, directly across from a UPC mast. The broadband was dodgey at best, and the phone line was never working properly, the line was always cracking up. The tv is fine, but they've cut back on their stations. I know the subsciption etc is less than Sky but I still don't think its worth it at all.

TheAmateur

Thanks for the replies

kaz_corcoran wrote: »

Oh God don't make that mistake!! In my experience UPC service is terrible. I'm also based in Glasnevin, directly across from a UPC mast. The broadband was dodgey at best, and the phone line was never working properly, the line was always cracking up. The tv is fine, but they've cut back on their stations. I know the subsciption etc is less than Sky but I still don't think its worth it at all.

:eek: That's the kind of story I was worried about. How long ago was this? Do you mind me asking who you're now with instead?

Sponge Bob

Quality of service varies, some older estates have low quality co ax that is buried. some older estates again have overground co ax running along the houses and which was replaced in recent years....that can do 100mbits stably.

TheAmateur

Gonna give this a quick bump to see if anyone else in Dublin can tell me what their UPC service is like.

jor el

Given the lack of complaints about the service (apart from the EPC2425 modem, see sticky thread at the top of t he forum), you can take it that it's mostly adequate. They are improving and replacing large parts of the network, so the experience in the past by kaz_corcoran is perhaps less likely now.

Reg'stoy

Living in Swords and I switched from Eircom as the had a really bad service. We're currently on the 25mb with anytime phone and while the phone service is grand the broadband can be hit and miss remember it says UP TO. I always wonder who else would get away with this 'up to' clause.

We got an engineer out to the house after I repeatidly complained about my speed which was no way near what I was paying for. He admitted that they base the speed on you been connected by ethernet cable rather than wirelessly and he said the router was sh*te. He changed my channel as my neighbours were on the same one but I have never hit the speed I'm paying for, even via ethernet on my PS3.

They reduced their prices and increased their download limits so at the moment they are the best of rest in my opinion.

I can stream movies via my PS3, watch RTEplayer and 4OD so the speed is good enough. Be warned though, getting through to customer service (oxymoron) is a nightmare and five months later we have yet to get a correct bill and when they say "we will get back to you" they don't.

When you ring ask for their name and direct dial extension number and that your call is!! recorded for future reference, that is how I finally got them to listen.