UPC Free Speed Increase (50-60Meg)

Beaver1

RVP 11 wrote: »

I think that's the whole point.
If you can afford BB in a recession, then you can afford it at an extra few quid a month too.

speak for yourself Mate, some people are struggling out there and cant sustain the extra cost

Beaver1

Beaver1 wrote: »

speak for yourself Mate, some people are struggling out there and cant sustain the extra cost

Well that's rough mate but it's still a luxury.

bonoman66

BearNecessities wrote: »

It's been said a few times already. Existing customers will not be affected by the price increase.* :rolleyes:

* Unless you change your current package.

Don't think that statement is accurate ?

I'm a UPC Customer on a bundled package of 100Mb + Phone (Anytime World). I'm 'outside' my initial 12 month contract. I'm not changing my current bundled package which I've had for over 12 months etc..

I received a letter from UPC today which apart from indicating how they've improved aspects of their various services during the year, clearly states the following..

Quote "..Unfortunately, due to factors outside of our control our costs have increased over the past year. As a result we have to make some changes to the price of your UPC services which will come into effect from your next bill in August 2012.

Broadband and Home Phone - Increase to your bill - €1.50 inc. VAT per month"

To me, that clearly reads that they are increasing the amount I have to pay them each month even though I am an existing customer. (& I'm not changing my existing bundled package).

What do you base your comment that "Existing customers will not be affected by the price increase" on ?

I also don't like what I'm seeing (unless its going to change again soon) in the 'new' phone services that UPC now have as the choices in the bundled BB+Phone packages. They've changed from Anytime World / Freedom World to 100 or 200 min total time based packages etc..

Arciphel

I thought the old phone packages with unlimited evening local calls etc are staying the same, and that the new packages with the 100 mins free mins etc were in addition to the existing packages?

bonoman66

Arciphel wrote: »

I thought the old phone packages with unlimited evening local calls etc are staying the same, and that the new packages with the 100 mins free mins etc were in addition to the existing packages?

That's my assumption too - that nothing related to my existing phone service will change.

I'm only pointing out that I don't like the new phone service choices that are available as part of their BB+Phone bundles etc..

They still have Anytime World / Freedom World as phone packages & you can select them if going into the phone section of their website. However you can no longer select these phone packages (like you used to be able to do when I signed up last year for my BB+Phone bundle) if you go into their BB+Phone bundle section of their website. You only have a choice of the new Anywhere 100 or Anywhere 200 phone packages in the BB+Phone bundle section etc..

Maybe they are changing their website & have not made all the updates or added in all the available options yet, but they've currently removed the old phone choices/packages from the BB+Phone Bundles section so new customers don't have the option to choose Anytime World or Freedom World as part of a BB+Phone bundle.

Arciphel

Well if they change freetime world package I'll be getting rid of the phone service, the only thing I use is the evening national calls.

bonoman66

Arciphel wrote: »

Well if they change freetime world package I'll be getting rid of the phone service, the only thing I use is the evening national calls.

I really don't think that they are going to remove / change the phone package that an existing customer has, so don't be overly concerned about that.

I just think its a poorer choice (not having the option of picking Anytime World or Freedom World on their website) for new customers who may want BB+Phone.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

@bonoman66 - I've asked UPC on three seperate occasions and each time that's what I was told by the Sales agent(s).
Btw, I'm also outside the 12 months min. contract.

I obviously do not want to mislead anyone but as I said, the above is what UPC have said each time I've asked. I took a screen grab the last time in case I have to use it

bonoman66 wrote: »

Don't think that statement is accurate ?
...
What do you base your comment that "Existing customers will not be affected by the price increase" on ?
...

Nollog

Sponge Bob wrote: »

That price rise means anyone who wants to terminate UPC can do so immediately and without penalty anytime over the next month.

Can one go down a tier without penalty ?

F1ngers

/\/ollog wrote: »

Can one go down a tier without penalty ?

If you are in contract, you can not go down a tier without penalty - you would have to pay the balance of your remaining contract first.

If you are out of contract - it should be just a simple phone call to go down a tier.

bonoman66 wrote: »

I just think its a poorer choice (not having the option of picking Anytime World or Freedom World on their website) for new customers who may want BB+Phone.

You can, just with 25MB or 50MB, http://www.upc.ie/phone/anytimeworld/
Not available with the 100MB package, that I can see.

slave1

I'm on the 50mb bband and anytime world and just got a letter outlining +10mb and a €1.50 month increase

bonoman66

BearNecessities wrote: »

@bonoman66 - I've asked UPC on three seperate occasions and each time that's what I was told by the Sales agent(s).
Btw, I'm also outside the 12 months min. contract.

I obviously do not want to mislead anyone but as I said, the above is what UPC have said each time I've asked. I took a screen grab the last time in case I have to use it

Ok - Thanks for the info & background.

Personally, in my dealings with UPC Customer Support, I've found them very poor & have been incorrectly advised about questions I've asked them on more than one occassion. Based on my own experiences, I would not trust what they say unless I had it in written or printed form. Again in my case, I have a letter directly from UPC addressed to me, informing me they are raising the monthly cost of my existing package from this August.

I hope you are right by the way

bonoman66

F1ngers wrote: »

If you are in contract, you can not go down a tier without penalty - you would have to pay the balance of your remaining contract first.

If you are out of contract - it should be just a simple phone call to go down a tier.



You can, just with 25MB or 50MB, http://www.upc.ie/phone/anytimeworld/
Not available with the 100MB package, that I can see.

Thanks for the correction & for highlighting that. I had been selfishly focused on the 100Mb bundle as it was what I had. ( Note to oneself not to be so narrowminded in future )

slave1

There is now a fiver differential between the 25/30 bband and the 50/60 bband (probably always a fiver but I never paid attention) so I've decided to use the price increase I was notified of (€1.50/month) as a reason to avoid the downgrade fee and save €60 a year by moving from 50/60 to 25/30.
For me 25/30mb is plently, more the 500gig I'm interested in.

Anyhow, detailed conversation with the lady from UPC (who was spot on on everything we talked about) and she informs me the bband increases are SUMMER PERIOD ONLY, and speeds will revert back at the end of the summer.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Gadgetman496

slave1 wrote: »

Anyhow, detailed conversation with the lady from UPC (who was spot on on everything we talked about) and she informs me the bband increases are SUMMER PERIOD ONLY, and speeds will revert back at the end of the summer.

Funny she told you that, because someone somewhere within the same company is misinforming it's customers. Why? Because I just received a letter from UPC this morning informing me of the new speed increase due to network upgrade & instructing that a router restart was all that was required to avail on the speed upgrade. I don't believe that this is a "summer period only" scenario for one minute. What logic could possibly be behind a ridiculous move like that? It makes sense for UPC to tailor their offerings by discarding their 20 - 25 base and streamlining it with a 30 - 50 - 100 or whatever those speed ranges end up at.

emy

I also got a letter today from UPC complaining about their cost that are "outside their control", and are begging €1.50 more from August 2012.
Also I was called regarding a TV package because I do not have any,I said: NO need, I watch mostly online for free.
Its pity that they do not have any other choice, 10mb or lower, I do not need 25Mb (under 20 mb real)
We have to play the way they want.

...I do restart many times during the day the modem and always I have below 20mb....from 25 to 30mb? Is a joke, big one!

Ziycon

F1ngers wrote: »

You can, just with 25MB or 50MB, http://www.upc.ie/phone/anytimeworld/
Not available with the 100MB package, that I can see.

You can pay an extra €5 a month as an add on for the 50mb package/bundle to increase your BB upto 100mb

bonoman66

slave1 wrote: »

Anyhow, detailed conversation with the lady from UPC (who was spot on on everything we talked about) and she informs me the bband increases are SUMMER PERIOD ONLY, and speeds will revert back at the end of the summer.

Don't shoot the messenger.

Not doubting what you were told but this is another prime example of the utter sh1te that can come out of UPC Sales / Support Teams.

There's nothing in my letter that says its for Summer Only nor do I think they would make such changes for such a short period of time.

The change is more likely being made to bring them into line with the service offerings in other UPC regions / countries.

Its a prime example of what I mentioned on one of my very recent previous posts - about UPC having misinformed me about things on more than one occassion.

The management over these front line services (Sales / Customer Support) need a bit of a foot in the ar5e me thinks. The training (if any exists) must be diabolical.

bonoman66

Ziycon wrote: »

You can pay an extra €5 a month as an add on for the 50mb package/bundle to increase your BB upto 100mb

I can't see any such option on their website, which is what I was talking about originally - for people who might have wanted to order 100Mb BB + Phone (Anytime World) Bundle online via their website. (Maybe you have to call & ask over the phone is that what you mean?)

You used to be able to do that last year via their website etc

If you go to their website & look under the BB+Phone bundles, for 50Mb bundle, it indicates €10 to double the speed to 100Mb & there's no option of Anytime World. It appears if you want Anytime World as a new Customer, along with just BB in a Bundle, you are restricted to being able to choose 25Mb or 50Mb as part of your bundle & have no online option to 'Double Up' to 100Mb from 50Mb at all..

Tar.Aldarion

Im meant to be getting 120 now...getting 80.

Ranicand

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Im meant to be getting 120 now...getting 80.

First thing you will not get full speed over wireless you need to be using a wired connection.

For higher speeds you also need the correct Eithernet cable some of the older cables will not support the higher speeds.

AllGunsBlazing

One thing worth mentioning about speedtest.net is that a lot will depend on your pc and browser's ability to handle flash.


For instance this is the result I get with Opera...




While this is what I get when using SRWare Iron....



Anti virus and Firewall software can also slow down your link conisiderably as well. So the result your seeing may not be at all representative of what your link is really capable of.

Tar.Aldarion

Ranicand wrote: »

First thing you will not get full speed over wireless you need to be using a wired connection.

For higher speeds you also need the correct Eithernet cable some of the older cables will not support the higher speeds.

AH I figured out my 16 port switch is only 100 meg

GEO147

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

AH I figured out my 16 port switch is only 100 meg

So is the NIC card in my Dell XPSM1530 laptop, which is a total joke.

who_me

bonoman66 wrote: »

Not doubting what you were told but this is another prime example of the utter sh1te that can come out of UPC Sales / Support Teams.

There's nothing in my letter that says its for Summer Only nor do I think they would make such changes for such a short period of time.

The change is more likely being made to bring them into line with the service offerings in other UPC regions / countries.

Its a prime example of what I mentioned on one of my very recent previous posts - about UPC having misinformed me about things on more than one occassion.

The management over these front line services (Sales / Customer Support) need a bit of a foot in the ar5e me thinks. The training (if any exists) must be diabolical.

When I switched from SmartTelecom to UPC, I was told UPC customers had zero contention. I don't know if contention applies to cable modems in the same was as it does to DSL, but certainly my (no contention) SmartTelecom was far more consistent in delivering its max speed.

Also, when I switched to UPC, I was told there was no monthly usage limit. I just noticed after I upgraded to the 100Mbps package, a usage limit now applies (fairly generous, in fairness). Still, it would have been nice to have that mentioned..

And gotta love this:

Sponge Bob

Looking at Speedtest stats (as reported on Netindex) UPC appear to have increased the Download speeds but not the Upload speeds. The high number of UPC outages reported in the past few days could be related to their efforts to increase upload speeds.

bonoman66

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Looking at Speedtest stats (as reported on Netindex) UPC appear to have increased the Download speeds but not the Upload speeds. The high number of UPC outages reported in the past few days could be related to their efforts to increase upload speeds.

Yep - I'd say you are probably correct.

I noticed my down speed has jumped to 117Meg whereas my up varies between 7-9Meg (which is pretty much what I was already getting before the upgrades).

Anyway, I'm in no way complaining - the speeds are great when/if you can get them. Here's hoping they stabilze the networks in the recently affected areas soon.

Sponge Bob

They had plenty of time to do this properly, these upgrades are 2 years LATE

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/item/12855-upc-is-building-a-120mbps-n

Smyth said the intention is to have the 120Mbps offering in place by the middle of 2010.

Zascar

I was just downloading a torrent and noticed it was downloading a lot faster than normal - I was getting 3.9 mb/sec - whereas I was usually only getting about 2.8 before that. So the above letter says 25mb gets upgraded to 30mb, but I'm getting speed tests of 32mb/sec

tylerdurden94

In Dublin 12 and on 100 got the letter saying I have been increased to 120 but have yet to see an increase, have unplugged numerous times to reboot but yet nothing, anybody around my are have the increase yet?