UPC Ireland has announced plans to rebrand as Virgin Media

Automan · 06-10-2015 10:55am

ED E wrote: »

When the new CPE rolls out in the next couple months average wifi speeds will be well in excess of 100Mb.

That is if they are able to bring out a bug free router up to the task, currently there newest router the ubee limits all 100T devices to 30Mbps and all of there previous devices have poor WIFI.

ED E · 06-10-2015 12:05pm

Yeah, their CPE has been shíte, but so were older sky hubs and the early Zyxels eircom used. Vodafones VDSL service comes up to 100Mb but the ports only allow for ~85Mbps. Most providers cheap out on CPE, only problem with UPC is that we cant register our own with the CMTS.

Also it doesnt matter what people *need*. People buy BMWs to drive the kids to school in at 30kph and 50" tvs to watch 720p content. Average joe is still gonna see 400Mb for €45 or 30Mb for €40 and go "shut up and take my money" to virgin.

TheDoc · 06-10-2015 12:12pm

Automan wrote: »

Again the point im making is that most people on UPC will not see speeds in excess of 30Mbps, mostly due to UPC hardware ie the Ubee EVW3226 which limits 100T devices to 30Mbps, and the poor WIFI on all of there devices im not talking about 240Mbps advertised.

I side totally with the ISPs here. WiFi is a dirt technology imo and a pain in the hole. WiFi provisions should be left entirely to the customer to setup and maintain their own network and infrastructure. They should however provide easy bridge options on their hardware.

Also not sure the point your making on the 30mbps. That is a perfectly fine speed of wifi to provide customers in a household from their supplied device. If you want more, go get your own hardware.

I'm on the 250mbps package and get at worst 245mbps to the router. That is all I care about. That my router provides on average 20mbps wifi is just a bonus for me. But I don't place any dependancy on wifi within my household infrastructure.

I was toying with the idea of getting the recommended Archer router, but just going to hold off to see what the new UPC router looks like and how it performs.

Automan · 06-10-2015 2:20pm

TheDoc wrote: »

Also not sure the point your making on the 30mbps. That is a perfectly fine speed of wifi to provide customers in a household from their supplied device.

As long as it is capable of around 30Mbps fine, and the point I was making at the start was that most people would be happy with any BB provider as long as they were getting in and around 30Mbps as that is all most people would ever see due to most people only ever using WIFI, so UPC 240Mbps BB is excessive for the majority of people.

Automan wrote: »

With regards to UPC having such a great broadband, this is only true if you are tech savvy and capable of getting the full speed and buy your own router and are capable of bridging what ever piece of crap UPC router you have, otherwise any 30 Meg BB product is more than adequate for most people.

innocent_thing · 06-10-2015 10:16pm

bk wrote: »

No, we won't trust you because you have no idea what you are talking about!

UPC Ireland is owned by Liberty Global International (LGI) for more then 10 years. About 2 years ago LGI bought Virgin Media UK.

This is just a rebrand, from a corporate point of view it is more UPC taking over Virgin then the other way around.

UPC Ireland/LGI has pretty much constantly fought similar laws in Irish courts over the last 10 years. Such laws are simply not in ISP's interest.

There is no way UPC/Virgin Media Ireland will implement anything that isn't required by Irish Law and they are likely to continue to fight the introduction of any such laws.

Owkay Mr. KnowItAll.
Thats why Piratebay & co are still blocked.

ThisRegard · 06-10-2015 11:43pm

innocent_thing wrote: »

Owkay Mr. KnowItAll.
Thats why Piratebay & co are still blocked.

Nothing to do with the rebranding.

bk · 07-10-2015 1:34pm

innocent_thing wrote: »

Owkay Mr. KnowItAll.
Thats why Piratebay & co are still blocked.

MOD: Hmm.. breaking one of the fundamental rules of boards.ie, "attack the post, not the poster" and doing it towards a mod of the forum :rolleyes:

I suppose UPC (and other ISPs) blocking piratebay has nothing to with being ordered to do so by the High Court:

https://torrentfreak.com/irish-isps-start-blocking-the-pirate-bay-130710/

Last month the High Court gave Internet providers UPC, Imagine, Vodafone, Digiweb, Hutchison 3G and Telefonica O2 30 days to block The Pirate Bay.

And here you see that they don't do it voluntarily, unlike Eircom, only on a court order:

"UPC declined Irma's request in pre-litigation correspondence to voluntarily block [Kickass Torrents]. Our position is that ISPs should not, on a voluntary basis, choose what can or should be consumed by internet users. Such matters are for the government or the courts to decide," the ISP's statement read.

And here is UPC fighting the MPAA in court on introducing a three strikes system:

http://www.ampmusicmarketing.com/blog/the-big-4-vs-upc-a-three-strikes-ruling-update/

But, hey better to call people names then actually seek the truth and educate yourself!

TheDoc · 07-10-2015 4:07pm

Automan wrote: »

As long as it is capable of around 30Mbps fine, and the point I was making at the start was that most people would be happy with any BB provider as long as they were getting in and around 30Mbps as that is all most people would ever see due to most people only ever using WIFI, so UPC 240Mbps BB is excessive for the majority of people.

But see your making an assumption there that "most" people only use wifi. I don't believe that to be true. But I guess it's selective in terms of first hand experience.

Yeah I'd be totally happy with a consistent 30mbps speed coming to me via ethernet. And I'd be happy to pay the €10 it would be worth. But we have moved on from there. And with it my habbits, my dependencies etc.

So now my infrastructure, and personal devices and things I've put in place, are based on that reliable, 240mbps I get via ethernet. I won't get into the piracy specifics, but I also do work from home transferring large databases etc. etc.

And I guess with the wonderful joys that is wifi, the more devices that are on the go the tighter bandwidth allocation works. So having that large speed point at the router, provides a little more breathing room for the modern household.

I also disagree with your point that you need to be tech savy to get good service from them. I'm still using the UPC supplied Cisco router, and as I say I get the full 240mbps straight into my HTPC and devices plugged into it by ethernet. No hassles or frills.

I use powerplugs to my main PC upstairs which gives me a disappointing 50mbps, but still 20mbps upload which is nice. As you say, it's TOTALLY fine for me, and the reliablity is great over wifi. Never once had a drop over the powerplugs. But I'm greedy, so I was looking into buying my own router to improve wifi speeds in the house, and running an ethernet cable up the side of the house into the main PC.

It's the reason that people are tech savy, is how we have UPC looking into rolling out new routers with much better wifi, addressing points that actualy tech savy people are making.

If we were all just happy with our lot we would get the 30mbps you mention, and probably pay €50 a month for it. Or maybe like me, pay €67 a month for 24mb ADSL (decade old tech?), only two years ago, in a town where no one was tech savy, and they thought that was fibre.

Was unbelievable the one "community meeting" I attended asking TD's present about the broadband infrastructure in the town. Ended up being a lecture on modern domestic internet.

innocent_thing · 07-10-2015 4:24pm

bk wrote: »

MOD: Hmm.. breaking one of the fundamental rules of boards.ie, "attack the post, not the poster" and doing it towards a mod of the forum :rolleyes:

But, hey better to call people names then actually seek the truth and educate yourself!

It's not about calling names. It's my point of view. If UPC really cared Piratebay wouldnt be blocked now and instead defend the interest of their users.

And actually you as a mod should not be rude to users like "No WE WONT!!" This is your opinion, not "we".

So my post was honest response to you. You defend your opinion aggressively and expect others to agree with it. Thats why KnowItAll. Kind of narcissistic, isnt it?

To previous poster, I never said Piratebay is blocked because of rebrand...

Now have a nice day, dont need more negativity in my life. Especially from people who feel overpowered and threaten.

CramCycle · 07-10-2015 4:52pm

innocent_thing wrote: »

It's not about calling names. It's my point of view. If UPC really cared Piratebay wouldnt be blocked now and instead defend the interest of their users.

It was blocked by a court order, if they didn't comply, their might not be a UPC around.
This said, if you are a UPC customer, using these services is still really easy and requires minimal effort. UPC could literally not have made it any easier to use such services without breaking the law.

bk · 08-10-2015 7:42am

innocent_thing wrote: »

It's not about calling names. It's my point of view. If UPC really cared Piratebay wouldnt be blocked now and instead defend the interest of their users.

But your point of view is completely factually incorrect!

It is extremely annoying seeing you claim that UPC/Virgin want to block and inconvenience users when the FACT is that they have spent literally millions over the last 10 years fighting IRMA and the MPAA in Irish courts!

Defending the rights of their users to their privacy.

That is in contrast to Eircom who rolled over for IRMA very early on and implemented a three strikes system.

You might find my mod style annoying, but the one thing I can't stand is people trying to spread completely factually incorrect information and continuing to do so after they have clearly been shown to be incorrect!

ghostdancer · 08-10-2015 9:21am

quite surprised there doesn't seem to be any new introductory offers after the re-brand. even a "€25 for 4 months, regular after" type of promotion....

bk · 08-10-2015 11:18am

ghostdancer wrote: »

quite surprised there doesn't seem to be any new introductory offers after the re-brand. even a "€25 for 4 months, regular after" type of promotion....

They seem to be focusing on the free mobile service for 3 months at the moment. Which I agree isn't much of a deal.

ED E · 08-10-2015 11:25am

ghostdancer wrote: »

quite surprised there doesn't seem to be any new introductory offers after the re-brand. even a "€25 for 4 months, regular after" type of promotion....

They can't afford it :P

Nollog · 08-10-2015 12:25pm

innocent_thing wrote: »

It's not about calling names. It's my point of view. If UPC really cared Piratebay wouldnt be blocked now and instead defend the interest of their users.

And actually you as a mod should not be rude to users like "No WE WONT!!" This is your opinion, not "we".

So my post was honest response to you. You defend your opinion aggressively and expect others to agree with it. Thats why KnowItAll. Kind of narcissistic, isnt it?

To previous poster, I never said Piratebay is blocked because of rebrand...

Now have a nice day, dont need more negativity in my life. Especially from people who feel overpowered and threaten.

They did, in court. They lost due to laws.

Eogclouder · 08-10-2015 2:10pm

/\/ollog wrote: »

They did, in court. They lost due to laws.

Also, UPC fought the corner on behalf of their users and only complied when they were legally obliged to. Other providers like Eircom caved immediately to requests from the likes of Universal without even going to the courts.

willycat · 10-10-2015 7:29pm

Yep, Eogclouder is right.

Eircom started to block sites much before the case even went to court; they did as soon as the big entertainment companies started their copyright rant. UPC didn't do such thing until was forced by Irish courts.