North West Electronics/BlueBox

pawddy · 26-01-2014 3:58pm

On Friday, a technician came out to my house, and he basically told me that all the transmitters are over-subscribed, and that's why the connection is so poor come 6 o'clock.

I had similar problems around this time last year, and when the technician came out he moved me to a new 'sector'. I asked the technician on Friday about moving to another sector, but he said there isn't any, they're all over subscribed.

So looks to me like we won't be seeing any improvements any time soon.

NIMAN · 26-01-2014 7:14pm

As I mentioned earlier, when the technician came to install mine, he told me that the transmitter had no more capacity, so I couldn't get their service.

I assume its not a case of a transmitter being over-subscribed, its either full or its got space on it. I would guess they can handle 'x' amount of users and no more. Thats what I took from his "no more space" comment. Said I would have to wait until they added more capacity.

Plus if there are 10 users on a capacity of say 50, you are going to get faster speeds than if the full 50 spaces are allocated. Contention.

pawddy · 26-01-2014 9:47pm

NIMAN wrote: »

As I mentioned earlier, when the technician came to install mine, he told me that the transmitter had no more capacity, so I couldn't get their service.

I assume its not a case of a transmitter being over-subscribed, its either full or its got space on it. I would guess they can handle 'x' amount of users and no more. Thats what I took from his "no more space" comment. Said I would have to wait until they added more capacity.

Plus if there are 10 users on a capacity of say 50, you are going to get faster speeds than if the full 50 spaces are allocated. Contention.

Well the word the technician used was over-subscribed. The contention ratio is 48/1, and he said that there were around 70 households connected to my particular transmitter.

NIMAN · 27-01-2014 12:27pm

The big problem with a BB provider is that they are not obliged to provide a minimum speed. When they say "up to 50mb" if you are getting 25mb, then that technically covers them and the service they are providing.

I would love to see the Gov or regulator put in a new rule of a minimum speed for BB in this country.

Bresy · 18-02-2014 9:28am

Sent yet another pointless email to these guys as my speeds are now worse than ever . So slow their speed test cant find a server to test . Im looking into switching to elsewhere now , Ive had enough a constant 3meg would do me . I hear Vodaphone is pretty stable.

pawddy · 18-02-2014 11:33am

I've been sending emails since the 2nd January. I've been with bluebox now for 3 years, and it has never been this bad. I emailed them originally regarding ping/packet loss, and after about 3 weeks they asked if they can send a technician out. He said that he'd get back to me with the results... did he ever get back to me? no. If I phone requesting to see the results, or asking when will I hear about them, I simply get "We will email you".

Last week I agreed to upgrade to a static IP address, and they said they'd contact me within 24 hours. 2 days past.. no word. I emailed them again, and they replied this time with "we will contact you within 48 hours".

I might try look into switching to vodafone or eircom, I don't think I could put up with this much longer.

Bresy · 18-02-2014 12:16pm

what is the craic with the static IP address ? Does that help ?

pawddy · 18-02-2014 2:11pm

Well.. to be honest, i'm not too sure. I believe it allows them to configure the network properly, so they can open ports and stuff like that. Could possibly improve packlet loss (i think, dont quote me on this), and it'll definitely help you if you have problems connecting to other people's games/servers.

I'm gonna try it out and see how it goes.

pawddy · 09-03-2014 6:15pm

Exactly one week ago, my speeds began to sky rocket.. 15-25mb's download, and 5-10 upload. Ping's were great too, around 25-40ms, 5-20 jitter and 0-1% packet loss. The best it had been in months, i was well chuffed! However, today it seems to have gone back to its old self. 1mb up and down, and useless pings.

Awfully confusing stuff.

Tommy Lagahan · 17-03-2014 3:13am

Back at home for the weekend, contention's bringing the speeds down to 1mbit from about 3/4PM to 10/11PM. Goes back up to 10Mbit the rest of the time. Such'n inconsistent crap, its 250 euro a month for 1/1 contention 10mbit with this crowd. Ya get 50mbit 1/1 contention from Eircom for 55.

Tommy Lagahan · 08-07-2014 12:35am

Just want to post another update on this, NWE have become completely useless in the evenings now.
Frequently switching BACK to the Three stick and throwing tenners into it just so I can get a game of something online in. Ping jitter, packet loss and low speeds.

Rang them up several times, engineers are supposedly fixing the problem. Stuck on midband for 6 years and counting, with my 28.8k capable dial up landline.

pawddy · 08-07-2014 10:30am

Mines is the same. Everytime I email and mention the word 'ping', 'jitter' or even 'packet loss' they don't really seem to have a solution. They reply with 'Can you send us speedtests'. Every time I ring, they send a technician out to my house, and he isn't able to do anything either because when he is currently at my house, which is before 5pm, I get good speeds, and solid latency results.

I just try my best to avoid the internet between 6pm and 11pm. I started posting on this thread 6 months ago, and it's still the same.

NIMAN · 08-07-2014 6:17pm

Glad I'm getting a good steady 4mb all the time with VF. Suits me.

RuralDonegal · 15-07-2014 12:15am

Hi,

I have had exactly the same experiences with North West Electronics and their support. OVer 6 months ago I upgraded from their 10Mb service to 50Mb service as the 10 was just a waste of time. I have sent them numerous speedtests where the speed has been 1Mb or below and then after contacting ComReg they sent out an engineer out of hours who did speedtests and took photographs of them and recorded speeds between 2.25 and 4Mb and they emailed me after that saying because these were above the advertised rates of 50Mb/48:1 contention then they consider they are delivering a reasonable 50Mb service....no word of the number of times I have sent them speedtests that were not within their advertised rates?

My understanding of contention ratios are that they are a worse case scenario not what you should be experiencing every evening and every weekend but to have shown on numerous occasions that the speeds have actually been below advertised rates then surely that warrants some sort of effort to improve things but I think the problem is that they cannot improve things unless they were to remove some users from their masts....which of course they are not going to do. I was told by one of their engineers that they have some users setup on the 10Mb system who are getting more than that because one fop their engineers was not caping the speed of the connection when he was installing the dish.

Anyway looking forward to hearing from others with similar stories....maybe a collective approach might help?

Tommy Lagahan · 15-07-2014 5:37pm

Same story here RuralDonegal, they should cap everyone at 5/10Mb and be done with it, should have enough bandwidth for low contention on that. I would be 100% happy with 5mbit if it had a stable enough ping and no packet loss so I could play a damn game online with my mates when they're finished work.

Back when I got the service it was always playable, now I have to wait till 2AM to get stable enough packet loss to chance a game of CS:GO, and once 2/3PM comes around its useless again. Not to mention weekends, it never, ever works on weekends.

I think we should all arrange to head straight up to their office in Derry in person and simply tell them to sort it out or we're all gone. I only personally know 2 other households using this service and they're in the same situation.

pawddy · 21-07-2014 4:46pm

Tommy Lagahan wrote: »

Same story here RuralDonegal, they should cap everyone at 5/10Mb and be done with it, should have enough bandwidth for low contention on that. I would be 100% happy with 5mbit if it had a stable enough ping and no packet loss so I could play a damn game online with my mates when they're finished work.

Back when I got the service it was always playable, now I have to wait till 2AM to get stable enough packet loss to chance a game of CS:GO, and once 2/3PM comes around its useless again. Not to mention weekends, it never, ever works on weekends.

I think we should all arrange to head straight up to their office in Derry in person and simply tell them to sort it out or we're all gone. I only personally know 2 other households using this service and they're in the same situation.

Tommy, I'm in the exact same situation as you. The packet loss goes nuts during the evenings and it makes playing any game almost impossible! I've now turned to plugging my phone into the computer and using my mobile's data. Every time I mention packet loss, or ping or jitter they respond with, 'Well what speed are you getting?'. It drives me up the wall!!

pawddy · 21-07-2014 4:48pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Glad I'm getting a good steady 4mb all the time with VF. Suits me.

Niman, are you getting a constant 4mb 24/7? I can't seem to find anything on the vodafone website that isn't fibre optic packages.

NIMAN · 22-07-2014 5:21pm

Yeah to be honest anytime I test it its around the 4mb mark. Haven't done it in a few weeks though.

Do you want me to do a few tests for you? Mine is old copper line, unfortunately, but as you folk are saying, a slower speed with a steady line is better than faster speeds, sometimes.

pawddy · 31-07-2014 2:34pm

Yeah please do. I'd be on an old copper line too, would like to see how they perform. Your definitely right there, I would be delighted with a solid 4mb with stable ping and jitter 24/7!

It makes me wonder though how something hasn't been done about it? Isn't there any form of standards that NWE have to meet for their service to be legally sold?

darth_maul · 11-08-2014 12:26pm

Any update on this, how is it now going for everybody, particularly in Gweedore area

NIMAN · 12-08-2014 12:22am

pawddy wrote: »

Yeah please do. I'd be on an old copper line too, would like to see how they perform. Your definitely right there, I would be delighted with a solid 4mb with stable ping and jitter 24/7!

It makes me wonder though how something hasn't been done about it? Isn't there any form of standards that NWE have to meet for their service to be legally sold?

Sorry Pawddy, haven't checked this thread in a while.

So just done a test, 00:21am on a Tuesday morning. just over 4meg
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3683212110

I'll do a few more random ones over the next few days and post them.

pawddy · 16-08-2014 6:12pm

Sorry I've been away on holiday and haven't been on here since. My internet has been dropping every 20 seconds or so for the past hour now. Anyone else experiencing the same problems?

NIMAN · 19-08-2014 12:10am

Another speedtest of Vodafone landline

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3698061733

4.3meg, sorry but its after midnight, must get a few done during peak times to see ehat they are.

NIMAN · 19-08-2014 10:48pm

Slightly slower at 22:45

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3700280779

NIMAN · 20-08-2014 9:52pm

Just over 4meg at 21:50.
Shows its generally steady.

fooker! · 05-09-2014 12:06am

Well I see you guys are in the same situation as me and a few others from my area!
I found this thread looking through Google after giving up playing the PlayStation online to see if other people are in the same boat!
Its a pain to browse the internet at times never mind play a game online but what can ya do if they keep telling you there is nothing wrong?!
For me its either this crap or dial up! so there isn't many options for me!

H_A_L_9000 · 17-09-2014 3:45pm

When Bluebox is working it's great, but we have been plagued with problems and outages and the customer service is non-existent.

neil mc skeane · 09-10-2014 3:28am

Are NWE not licensed by both government agencies, as broadcasters.so looking at the way they are treating its customers and poor customer service maybe that's an avenue we could explore to evoke a positive response from them

NIMAN · 09-10-2014 9:33am

Did you try Joe Duffy?

H_A_L_9000 · 09-10-2014 9:34am

I made enquiries recently with OFCOM and was told that all Communications companies have to belong to an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme who will if required take action against offending organisations, however this is not mandatory until 2015.

North West Electronics/BlueBox

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