UPC Broadband and Phone bundle.

PadraigL · 03-05-2009 11:29am #1

I currently have BT for phone (local and national calls free) and 1mb broadband. I have basic sky package for TV.
I am thinking of getting UPC for broadband and phone. From reading on the forums the broadband seems to be the business. There is less information on the phone.

If the broadband is down will the phone also go down? UPC is regularly down in my area.
Currently I have the phone in the hall and kitchen using DEC phones. If I get the broadband, I presume the modem will be in the spare room with the PC. I have a TV connection in here, so that's covered. Can I use/leave my DEC phones in the hall and kitchen still?

Thx

jimmycrackcorm · 03-05-2009 11:42am

I use a voip (non-UPC) line with my UPC Broadband. I have my dect base plugged into the Adapter and the other phones around the house.

If the broadband goes down (rare) the phone won't work. However as we always use mobiles it is not really a problem.

PadraigL · 03-05-2009 11:57am

Sounds good jimmycrackcorm.
I would be going for the upc phone as for €10 on top of the broadband we would have free local and national calls. Both family's are down the country so this is a must.

Also is the broadband wireless as I have a laptop that I use around the house at the moment?

Thx

tallaghtfornia · 03-05-2009 1:07pm

Sounds good jimmycrackcorm.
I would be going for the upc phone as for €10 on top of the broadband we would have free local and national calls. Both family's are down the country so this is a must.

Also is the broadband wireless as I have a laptop that I use around the house at the moment?

Thx

Depends on what package you go for think if you chose there 20mg package they give you a free router, But sure you can pick up a wireless router for around 25euro on ebay or get a cheap one in PC world and fit it yourself its simple.

The tax man · 03-05-2009 1:13pm

PadraigL wrote: »

Also is the broadband wireless as I have a laptop that I use around the house at the moment?
Thx

The modem itself isn't wireless.
You can get a wireless router added for €49.99 or if you went for the Ultra BB pack the router is free.

edit: tallaghtfornia beat me

watty · 03-05-2009 2:37pm

Moved from CableTv, as TV is optional.

The modem is just a modem. An ethernet/cable/dsl router/firewall/wifi is recommended. (NOT one with DSL modem built in).

vibe666 · 03-05-2009 6:59pm

as has been said already, if the broadband goes down the phone goes down as well, so it's not perfect.

also, as someone who moved from BT to UPC and took their phone service I was disappointed to find out that they don't do a UK landline calls package, just evening and weekends to irish numbers.

they also give you two basic dect phones when they install the broadband, but they're pretty basic and I don't actually like them much myself.

i'm actually considering changing the phone to blueface, but i'm not sure if i'm locked in a contract for the UPC phone or not.

also worth mentioning that I got a 4 pack of BT dect phones out of argos 3 years ago and they don't work on the UPC line for some reason. someone suggested they may not be certified for use on a digital line as some earlier dect phones weren't.

I'm considering upgrading to new phones again anyway, but it's certainly something to check. maybe you know someone who has a UPC phone who you could check your dect phones on first before you sign the paperwork?

PadraigL · 04-05-2009 12:10pm

I have one of these phones
http://www.idectonline.com/productdetails.aspx?id=169
Wonder if it will work??

Overall vibe666 are you happy with UPC. I am with BT 1mb broadband and phone and its grand. The line rental is the issue and the bundle seems very good value.

vibe666 · 04-05-2009 4:01pm

lol, I'm not exactly the best person to ask about UPC, I'm a well known UPC ISP basher.

I'm happy enough with the broadband though for the most part. speed wise it's been fluctuating up and down for a while, but i'm pretty sure it's because of the high uptake in my area as they've not been offering broadband here for long so it goes through phases of them connecting more and more people up which slows it down over the course of a few weeks and then they get complaints of a loss of speed and do upgrades on the back end and it speeds up again. at least that's what it seems like.

i get good pings though so online gaming is better than when I was with BT and I've had 3 losses of service since I signed up on November last year, which is more than I had with BT in 5 years, so that's not great either. but speed and cap wise, (even with all their faults) they can't be beaten.

I wouldn't have my phone with them again though if I had the choice. I'd rather go with blueface as I make quite a few international calls and they would have been much better value.

I really don't know why UPC don't offer UK/EU calls packages given their european infrastructure, it seems like a waste of potential revenue when their phone service is already IP based and they have strong ties with UPC in the UK and NL, I would have expected that it would cost them comparitively little compared to regular phone providers to offer the service.

that's a nice phone you have anyway, afaik you just need to make sure it will work with a digital line. there should be something in the manual about it.

gabbo is coming · 04-05-2009 8:27pm

Moved from UTV for phone + BB to UPC for BB and Blueface for telephone.

BB went down once in 6 mths.

Phone is excellent. Ported old number on to Blueface. Costs €100 per year for unlimited calls (I don't need more than 300 mins per mth). That's 8.25 euro per month where UTV was 27 and then some, plus we call international a lot more now.

Can't fault UPC BB either.

It is a bit technical to get set up on Blueface, but the support you get from the guys in blueface is savage - web pages telling you exactly what to do...and then when you are set up - that's it, no maintenance.

I bought this phone adapter for €50, that was the only outlay for extra equipment....

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=338018

Kensington · 04-05-2009 11:18pm

I've had the UPC phone service for just under a year now. Qualitywise the UPC line is no different to an eircom line. Sometimes if the broadband goes down, the phone goes too. However, in the year I've had it it's been down about 3 times maybe? It's certainly far, far cheaper than eircom anyway!

You can plug the cablemodem into any phone socket anywhere on your house extension and it will then run all phones on it as normal (just make sure you disconnect the eircom line where it enters first!!!) There shouldn't normally be a problem with DECT phones - a lot of the Argos phones are UK models, and need a certain adapter that converts the Irish phone jack into a UK one with the phone plugging into this, before they will work for you.

Blueface is the other alternative which has been mentioned here. It's cheaper again, there's NO line rental for the basic pay as you go package and uses your broadband connection. You can calls most world landlines for the price of a local call. It'll also work all your phones, like with UPC. BUT it does require a little bit more know how to get going and to iron out quirks in it. There is an initial outlay to buy a VoIP adapter. It also relies on your broadband connection being good, and heavy downloading on your broadband can sometimes affect the call quality. It is not compatible with sky, if sky require your box to be connected to a phoneline. However, unless you've had it installed for less than 12 months, or you have sky multiroom, this shouldn't be a problem. It is something to bear in mind for the future though.

vibe666 · 05-05-2009 2:20am

Kensington wrote: »

It also relies on your broadband connection being good, and heavy downloading on your broadband can sometimes affect the call quality.

afaik, if you buy an ATA (phone adapter box) to use with blueface, it sits between your modem and router and will always prioritise VoIP traffic over anything coming from your router to minimise or eliminate this regardless of what you're doing, even heavy torrenting.

Cabaal · 05-05-2009 9:33am

vibe666 wrote: »

afaik, if you buy an ATA (phone adapter box) to use with blueface, it sits between your modem and router and will always prioritise VoIP traffic over anything coming from your router to minimise or eliminate this regardless of what you're doing, even heavy torrenting.

Non the less an ATA on its own or an ATA with QOS is far from perfect in respect of ensuring call quality is always at its best especially if P2P is used on the connection, it can help but it won't be anywhere as good as UPC's offering for a phone service (quality wise)

vibe666 · 05-05-2009 10:09am

Cabaal wrote: »

Non the less an ATA on its own or an ATA with QOS is far from perfect in respect of ensuring call quality is always at its best especially if P2P is used on the connection, it can help but it won't be anywhere as good as UPC's offering for a phone service (quality wise)

really? would have expected it to be able to do it properly given that it should (in theory at least) be able to stop any non-voip communication going to the modem in the event that call quality was going to be compromised.

ah well, i suppose it was too much to ask for a perfect solution to the problem.

just have to get everyone i know in the UK to sign up for jajah instead.

Kensington · 05-05-2009 10:56am

vibe666 wrote: »

afaik, if you buy an ATA (phone adapter box) to use with blueface, it sits between your modem and router and will always prioritise VoIP traffic over anything coming from your router to minimise or eliminate this regardless of what you're doing, even heavy torrenting.

Only if the ATA has in-built routing can it do that.
The one linked to by gabbo is coming doesn't have a router function. It has to be connected after your router, just like a PC, and so doesn't have any QoS ability.

There is the next model up to the PAP2T though, the SPA-2102 which does have routing functions and QoS, and sits between your modem and existing router, but for whatever reason, Linksys cap the maximum throughput of the SPA-2102 to 10Mbps when in routing mode. So your nice, fast 20Mbps connection will max. out at 10Mbps. Bridging the ATA will give you the full 100Mbps Ethernet speed, but disables the router function and hence QoS. Crazy!

Also, the QoS on any device you place on your network can only limit what's going out of your connection (upstream) - if you're hammering the download end of things, it has no way of controlling this since it can't control what's coming in from UPC's network. Call quality will suffer as a result.

gabbo is coming · 06-05-2009 9:14pm

Cabaal wrote: »

Non the less an ATA on its own or an ATA with QOS is far from perfect in respect of ensuring call quality is always at its best especially if P2P is used on the connection, it can help but it won't be anywhere as good as UPC's offering for a phone service (quality wise)

I don't have QoS on the router or on the ATA. I've been in a call of duty network game while listening to last fm streamed on mobile over wifi with various large files being downloaded on PC while someone on house phone (Blueface). Never a single hiccup on call quality.

However, it is *possible*.

I'm on a 10mb BB package.

PadraigL · 11-05-2009 6:50pm

Thanks for the replies.

Can you use SMS with the NTL phone connnection. Asked the girl in sales and she said "of course" but I have my doubts.
Funny thing is I can text out on my landline but cannot recieve text messages and BT could not fix the problem. It all worked fine when I joined BT..

_Sidhe_ · 11-05-2009 7:01pm

No SMS on UPC's lines.
AFAIK anyway.

I never trust a sales person, all they care about is signing you up.
If I had a tech question about new service, I'd ring the tech line, and ask them first.
Or ask the sales person to pass me to the tech agents.
The amount of blatant lies I've had told to me by sales agents in the past.
I don't mind if they don't know, but just admit to it, and don't lie like!

Yama · 14-05-2009 4:15pm

Kensington wrote: »

You can plug the cablemodem into any phone socket anywhere on your house extension and it will then run all phones on it as normal (just make sure you disconnect the eircom line where it enters first!!!) There shouldn't normally be a problem with DECT phones - a lot of the Argos phones are UK models, and need a certain adapter that converts the Irish phone jack into a UK one with the phone plugging into this, before they will work for you.

Hi, am I reading this right (I have phone and BB with SMART at the moment along Sky+HD multiroom and am considering changing to UPC Phone & BB), all I have to do is connect a normal phone cable from the phone outlet on the new UPC modem to any existing phone outlet in my house and all other analog or normal phones along with Sky+HD multiroom will work as normal, provided I disconnect the old Eircom cable?? Is this correct, great if it is.

Thanks
Yama

_Sidhe_ · 14-05-2009 4:33pm

Yama wrote: »

Hi, am I reading this right (I have phone and BB with SMART at the moment along Sky+HD multiroom and am considering changing to UPC Phone & BB), all I have to do is connect a normal phone cable from the phone outlet on the new UPC modem to any existing phone outlet in my house and all other analog or normal phones along with Sky+HD multiroom will work as normal, provided I disconnect the old Eircom cable?? Is this correct, great if it is.

Thanks
Yama

It would work, but UPC won't support it.
If he house wires go, you'd have to get them fixed yourself.

Also be carefull with SMART.

Tey won't port your number over to UPC.

Yama · 14-05-2009 9:46pm

Hi _Sidhe_

Thanks for your quick reply.

This is probably an obvious question, but just to be sure....

I presume you mean that should the house phone wiring breakdown for any reason in the future, I would have to fix it myself, which is understandable as it's not installed by UPC? You don't mean that by connecting it up to the UPC modem phone output, it could damage the wiring some how and cause it to go?

Regards

Yama

Kensington · 14-05-2009 9:59pm

No damage will occur from connecting your cablemodem to your extension, as long as your eircom landline is completely disconnected from the extension before connecting your cable modem to it.

_Sidhe_ · 14-05-2009 10:12pm

Yama wrote: »

Hi _Sidhe_

Thanks for your quick reply.

This is probably an obvious question, but just to be sure....

I presume you mean that should the house phone wiring breakdown for any reason in the future, I would have to fix it myself, which is understandable as it's not installed by UPC? You don't mean that by connecting it up to the UPC modem phone output, it could damage the wiring some how and cause it to go?

Regards

Yama

Exactly what Kensington said.
It won't cause damage, but as you said, becuse UPC have nothing to do with the wires they wouldn't repair or support it.

Superfin · 14-05-2009 10:15pm

Hello,

I currently have the basic digital Tv package/Phone and broadband with UPC and my question is is it possible to cancel the TV package adn keep the other 2 packages or am I restricted to keeping the lot??

Thanks

Kensington · 14-05-2009 10:19pm

Superfin wrote: »

Hello,

I currently have the basic digital Tv package/Phone and broadband with UPC and my question is is it possible to cancel the TV package adn keep the other 2 packages or am I restricted to keeping the lot??

Thanks

No, you can cancel the TV element and keep the phone and broadband.
They will charge an additional €6 on top of the monthly fee for phone and broadband, for not taking TV. They will also charge you a once off €10 downgrade fee for removing television.

Superfin · 14-05-2009 10:25pm

Thanks for the reply, thinking of switching to Freesat and just doing the sums.

Thanks

_Sidhe_ · 14-05-2009 10:34pm

Superfin wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, thinking of switching to Freesat and just doing the sums.

Thanks

Your phone would go up by 6 Euro as well.

When you have all three services you get your phone for €5.00.
If you cancel TV or BB, your phone goes up to €11.00

So you'd be paying €12.00 more.
€6.00 stand alone, and €6.00 more for your phone.

The lowest TV pack is €20.00, so you'd only be saving around €8.00.

Superfin · 14-05-2009 10:46pm

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

Your phone would go up by 6 Euro as well.

When you have all three services you get your phone for €5.00.
If you cancel TV or BB, your phone goes up to €11.00

So you'd be paying €12.00 more.
€6.00 stand alone, and €6.00 more for your phone.

The lowest TV pack is €20.00, so you'd only be saving around €8.00.

Great stuff, thanks for all the info, it suddenly doesnt seem such a saver if I do change.

Thanks

_Sidhe_ · 14-05-2009 10:47pm

Superfin wrote: »

Great stuff, thanks for all the info, it suddenly doesnt seem such a saver if I do change.

Thanks

No worries man.

PadraigL · 17-05-2009 3:51pm

Superfin

Are you happy with the phone?

UPC Broadband and Phone bundle.

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