Collating complaints against IBB.

nialler

well let me tell yiz folks. I got a biz line from IBB, initially 2mb but upgraded to 3 after many phonecalls. 4-5 months it ran with perfectly (I'm about 200m from odlums). Then the problems started to happen, I VPN into the office a lot and screen refreshes in both remote access and apple's remote desktop were lousy, my usual websites and forums were crawling, started keeping logs, did the tests they recommended, even rewrote them for a mac user and sent it back, kept logs, somehow managed to get a 5.6kbit upload one evening, how slow is that and have been sending in about 3 emails per day. Phoned them constantly, support, what f*cking support, they're useless but they've now made an excuse that odlums is over capacity and they're upgrading I should see a huge difference by next wednesday at the earliest and friday at the latest.

I've asked repeatedly for their equipement to be taken off my property, friday week gentlement and ladies I'm going up with a vice grips and a spanner.


btw if you want a ticket number it's 64375. My business relies on this connection and it's now not a viable solution

dub45

arcane99 wrote:

Hi all,

I have just been having a discussion with Jeremy Nel - Chief Operating Officer of Irish Broadband about the past months problems. Thanks Mac

From what he was saying, I dont think he sees the scale of the problem on his network over the past month. I hope to talk to him again tomorrow. So what I would like to see is users posting their problems from the past month on this thread.

If possible, please include logs, ping results, download screenshots, etc to verify your problem Also include your county and district, so he can see where the main points of failure are and see the scale of the problem. And not just from Today, if you have some stored over the weeks, please post.

And hopefully, he will be able to post a response here.

Many Thanks

When can we expect the IBB response?:rolleyes:

banquo

It always seems to be the same story: grand for 2-4 months and then *crash*.

spitfier

save us obiwan eddie hobbs - you're our only hope.

unhappy_galway_

I have IBB 2Mbit/s 24:1 service since the end of August last. Usual story, great at first, now crap. Since begining of November packet loss varies between 2% at 7am to 25% in the late evening.

2Mbit/s at 24:1 contention implies a CIR (committed information rate) of 83.3kbit/s.
If I try to place a VoIP call, which uses 81kbit/s, and no other traffic on my connection I should have no packet loss. If I just do a ping, which is close to zero bandwidth, I should have no packet loss.
Since I do see packet loss while keeping within the CIR it is clear that IBB
fail to protect the CIR which they are contracted to provide. I.E. they are in breach of contract and I can cancel whenever I want to.

IBB tech support do actually answer the phone (after 30 to 40 minutes) and they have actually replied (not just auto acknowledged) to e-mail. The current story is that they are reworking the backhaul network, this has been the story all month, and I should see an impovment real soon now. If I don't see this improvement next week I am going to let my laywer explain the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services act, and the fairness in consumer contracts EU directive to them.

IBB need to be encouraged to provide at least the minimum contracted service in a proper manner. They may have made a strategic error in setting their prices so low. The nearest competition is Leap who charge EUR 129/month for a 1Mbit/s 8:1 service. The only Digiweb product with an upload CIR sufficient to support VoIP is Metro Xpress at EUR 249/month. And those are before VAT! EUR 40/month before VAT would be absurdly cheap if the service was actually supplied.

spitfier

Okay, I'm just off the phone with IBB's tech support. I tried to be as civil as I could be because I'm sure that it's not the people in tech support who are causing my sub-dialup speeds. I pay for a 2 Megabit line. They sent me an email asking me to download a file from heanet recording the download speed and ping and tracert www.google.com recording the results. I've sent all this on to them and have been told I should receive a response within 24 hours. The recorded results are as follows:

spitfier

unhappy_galway_ wrote:

2Mbit/s at 24:1 contention implies a CIR (committed information rate) of 83.3kbit/s

Can you explain to me once and for all how it is you work out the CIR? I originally thought it would have been 256/24 - though I now know this to be incorrect.

Adey2002

I know this is a double post, but I thought it would be suitable for this thread also.....

Any one who is having a problem with IBB should email and complain to the advertising standards authority... comreg may be toothless but ASAI have an obligation to investigate complaints....

Advertising as a broadband provider and not providing it is against advertising law. IBB are doing so several times a day now with their television adverts.

The person to direct your complaints to is: nodlaigh@asai.ie. In your email explain that IBB are advertising a product which they are not delivering. Where you can, quote speeds etc, but remember the recipient at ASAI may not be IT literate and understand, so try to explain in simple terms as you can. Make comparisons with other broadband suppliers etc. Explain your reasons why you think Irishbroadband should not be allowed to advertise themselves as broadband suppliers.

unhappy_galway_

spitfier wrote:

Can you explain to me once and for all how it is you work out the CIR? I originally thought it would have been 256/24 - though I now know this to be incorrect.

In the real world the CIR is specified in the contract or service level agreement. It is the data rate the customer is entitled to send or receive without incurring loss or abnormal delay. There may also be a specified MIR (maximum information rate or burst rate) which is the maximum the service supplier will allow a customer to use if and when the capacity is free. The MIR may not always be the same as the physical signaling rate of the channel. E.G. BreezeVL systems signal somewhere between 2Mbit/s and 6Mbit/s depending on signal to noise ratio but the MIR is configured to 1, 2, 3, or 4Mbit/s depending on what you have paid for.
IBB don't mention a CIR anywhere but the only fair interpretation for a contended service is that the CIR is the MIR divided by the contention ratio.
In fact the BreezeVL gear only allows the CIR to be set in increments of 128kbit/s so it is probably set to 0 by IBB. In my case at least the configuration of the BreezeVL is not relevent, the problem is in the backhaul.

The important thing about CIR is that the ISP MUST provision adequate bandwidth to satisfy the sum of all customers contracted CIRs AND must protect that bandwidth from the being consumed by high burst rates.

spitfier

IBB don't mention a CIR anywhere but the only fair interpretation for a contended service is that the CIR is the MIR divided by the contention ratio.

2Mbit/s at 24:1 contention implies a CIR (committed information rate) of 83.3kbit/s

.

If the CIR is the MIR divided by the contention ratio how is it you come up with a figure of 83.3kbits? Because when I divide 256kbits by 24 I get 10.6kbits. Also if what you're saying here is correct:

In fact the BreezeVL gear only allows the CIR to be set in increments of 128kbit/s

both of our figures would be incorrect?

I just want to have a leg to stand on if an IBB representative trys to sell me over the phone that "at times when 23 other people sharing your line are online you will get 10kbits per second because 256/24 = 10.6"

unhappy_galway_

spitfier wrote:

.

If the CIR is the MIR divided by the contention ratio how is it you come up with a figure of 83.3kbits? Because when I divide 256kbits by 24 I get 10.6kbits. Also if what you're saying here is correct:



both of our figures would be incorrect?

I just want to have a leg to stand on if an IBB representative trys to sell me over the phone that "at times when 23 other people sharing your line are online you will get 10kbits per second because 256/24 = 10.6"

Where is the 256kbits coming from? I am doing the calculation for Breeze 2Mbit/s that is 2,000,000 bits per second divided by 24 = 83,333.333 bits per second.

The CIR setting on the BreezeVL gear would only be relevent if they were offering different CIRs to customers on the same access unit or if the contention on the BreezeVL link were actually the problem. At least here in Galway the problems are contention in the backhaul rather than on the wireless access unit.

spitfier

I mean 256kBps. 256kBps/24 = 10.6666667kBps. 8(10.6666667kBps) = 85.3333336kbps So when Irish Broadband get back in touch with mean, can they honestly turn around and tell me that they're providing what's in the contract? It's not there fault if 23 other people seem to be on all the time?

Dummy

Just received this article by email - http://www.techcentral.ie/trade_channels/high_tech_homes/view

Read the last paragraph of this article.

Res ipsa loquitor

Peanut

unhappy_galway_ wrote:

The important thing about CIR is that the ISP MUST provision adequate bandwidth to satisfy the sum of all customers contracted CIRs AND must protect that bandwidth from the being consumed by high burst rates.

Even if there were no signal problems, packet loss etc., I really very much doubt that they would be able, on a technical level, to provide a minimum guaranteed contended speed.

Tippex

Guys,

I feel I've been one of the lucky ones as I've had a damned good service up until recently on the bray mast.

Been doing some traces to uk servers and boards etc and I keep seeing the bottleneck between the (100+ms) tallaght router and Ibis.gw router.

I've 2mb business connection (contract is up next month) might start looking else where.

Tip

Sponge Bob

Dummy wrote:

Just received this article by email - http://www.techcentral.ie/trade_channels/high_tech_homes/view

The same article (more or less) was in the Irish Times a month back

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/property/2005/1006/1282679880RPCITYLIV_06.html

06 October

"The reality of the present" is a little different to the one shown on the DVD, according to the resident, who moved into her house in December and spent much of her first Christmas trying to pick up a grainy RTÉ1 and RTÉ2 with the aid of cat's whiskers. She claims she was told the house would be Sky Plus enabled, but it wasn't. She currently pays for a Sky Satellite service.

"We were among the first in Europe to build this kind of development and we wanted to lead the way but there have been teething problems and we are working with Irish Broadband to try to rectify them. But we acknowledge it's frustrating for people living there. An interim company has been set up to deal with the situation and we are committed to doing so."

Vincent O'Connor says the company will be "more cautious" about its claims for future developments. "We intend to take another look at the marketing, perhaps the message for Archers Wood was too strong and couldn't be met. In future we will try to put a different emphasis on what we are offering in our DVDs." For the moment, residents at Archer's Wood are left flailing in high-tech limbo. As late as last night, our resident told City Living she had no internet or phone line.

Peanut

It's interesting to read discussion forums for an Australian ISP that also uses Ripwave - Unwired. I guess the threads will look familar to some users here.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-threads.cfm?f=18&g=62

Tazz T

I like the idea of using a pizza box to boost your signal - I might try that.:D

unhappy_galway_

Peanut wrote:

Even if there were no signal problems, packet loss etc., I really very much doubt that they would be able, on a technical level, to provide a minimum guaranteed contended speed.

I presume that doubt refers to IBB's competence to do so. The capabilities necessary to do so come as standard with routers from respectable manufacturers. I don't have access to the details of IBB's network but the MAC address I see for the router at toonabrookey is from a block assigned to Juniper Networks. Juniper routers can certainly do everything that is required.

SamoZlo

I've sent my details by mail.
Carlow Town, near Tesco.
today morning net was dead. completely
I coudn't open google.com
now it works *great*
for 1Mbit Breeze I've got speeds about 3-4 Kb/s
so it's much better than yesterday and from the day of installation
fu**ing admin in my firm - if I had network there (not blocked like now) I'd know to keep away from IBB.
my bad luck.
I've got installed everything one week ago (exactly on 16th November)
can I cancel the Service without any costs?
I didn't sign up anything on paper - only agreed to the conditions while applying for the net.
give me quickest possible answer - i'm on day 6th.
today is the first day I could get on board.ie
sh&t

Peanut

unhappy_galway_ wrote:

I presume that doubt refers to IBB's competence to do so. The capabilities necessary to do so come as standard with routers from respectable manufacturers. I don't have access to the details of IBB's network but the MAC address I see for the router at toonabrookey is from a block assigned to Juniper Networks. Juniper routers can certainly do everything that is required.

Well, competence is certainly a factor!

But more from the point of the client devices being intelligent enough to co-operatively & dynamically split bandwidth allocation (managed by the base station).

This is a lot more difficult on a wireless network I think - due to the fact that the airwaves are contended in themselves - on a wired network this isn't an issue because you will usually have dedicated ethernet from the device to the router/switch.

This means that no matter what the client does, the router can throttle it once it gets that far. However on a wireless net a badly behaved client can screw things up before the traffic even reaches the router, and in doing so impact performance for the rest of the wireless clients.

g2e

spend 3 months with IBB, with a total of exactly 11 days working connection
had 3 engineer call outs and at one point have someone in customer care tell me there is something wrong with my computer...eventually(after 30+ emails, over 10 calls) got fed up of paying for nothing, rang and emailed to cancel my a/c, was told i was liable to pay the remainder of the contract(a contract I have never seen)....canceled direct debit in bank.

they rang me up yesterday evening because a the payment for the month was missed..the a/c had not been cancelled and they are still trying to get money out of me...

I have to laugh at them, quick enough to take your money but when it actually comes to offering a service or some kind of customer support!

layke

Long story short.

Got IBB, Worked great with nice pings and fast downloads. They upgraded their lines to 2mb down & up, when this happened I lost all signal to the base station. After engineers called out they said my line of sight was fine and they didn't know what was wrong.

Anyway the problem sorted it self, then after 3 more days it went down and stayed down. Call after call I was ignored with no satisfaction. in the end I cancled my service and went with a business line with Leap for €129 p/m. Which I have never been down for longer then 10 mins.

In summary. IBB oversold what their network can handle. Their support was sh**e and customer services non existant.

(email available on request).

mayhem#

sisyphus wrote:

ove over to WiMax technologies (Potentially up to 74 Mbps, with a 31 mile coverage area.

And you actually believe that?!

E.

Sizzler

My mate works in IBB and he said that the general ethos there is "party time", they are new to the market so they are just building up their customer base, they aint interested in customer care or shoite download speeds so I wish you luck if you even plan on getting your compliants together ! He was saying that him and the rest of the tech support crew basically dont give a shoite as long as their wages go in each month lol...nice workif u can get it....

Redisle

Hi guys,

I have been trying to get broadband for a few months now with no success. I am still on very, very slow dial and I am getting v. annoyed. I recently discovered that I was able to get Irishbroadband because they put up a new transmitter on spur hill, near my house. This made me very happy but I decided to research it a bit before a 12month commitment when i stumbled accross this forum and now I am seriously questioning ordering their service. Would it be faster on a relatively new mast or would it be the same as everyone else, working right for just 2 months? This is really my only option as I cannot get it over the line because apparently I am too far from the dam exchange. I believe I can also get nova networks but with a installation fee of 140euro its pretty pricey. Any ideas. Help would be appreciated.

O and by the way, why not try and give out about irish broadband on a radio show of some kind like cork talks back on redfm here in cork. I believe a large number of people listen to this station and it might help get a bit of publicity.

Anyway, please reply - should I or should I not order broadband from ibb?

fatherdougalmag

Maybe more applicable to IBB customers than others but the Consumers Association of Ireland has started an online register where you can log your experiences with various public and private service providers. Might be no harm to use this as an avenue to pursue bad customer care or service.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

spitfier wrote:

I mean 256kBps. 256kBps/24 = 10.6666667kBps. 8(10.6666667kBps) = 85.3333336kbps So when Irish Broadband get back in touch with mean, can they honestly turn around and tell me that they're providing what's in the contract? It's not there fault if 23 other people seem to be on all the time?

do you mean kilobytes per second ?
this is actually 10.6 kbps / 8 = 1.325 kbps ( kilo bytes per second )

not 10.6 by 8

kilo bits need to be divided by 8 to get kilo bytes .

normal 56 k will give you around 2.5 to 3.0 kilo bytes per second , so 1.325 is pretty crap

dan99989

fatherdougalmag wrote:

Maybe more applicable to IBB customers than others but the Consumers Association of Ireland has started an online register where you can log your experiences with various public and private service providers. Might be no harm to use this as an avenue to pursue bad customer care or service.

Complaint lodged!

dan99989

Ha! The Bray mast is up sh1t creek (again) - so i call them (again) to complain. Just as i reach there support selection menu on the phone an invoice from the buggers arrives in my inbox...

€35 p/m for an unusable and unstable "broadband" service...:mad: