Reasons NOT to get Netsource Broadband

DaithiSurfer

All put in your favourite reasons NOT to get netfarce broadband here.

1. They have a policy of throttling users without telling them. They will not post or publish this policy anywhere so it can be read and understood. Until this happens they can do whatever they like to your connection and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. They are abusing thier customers with this bigtime. You are only a fool to subscribe to their farcical broadband connection.

GerardKeating

Originally posted by DaithiSurfer
You are only a fool to subscribe to their farcical broadband connection.

But with all the ranting of this new netsource policy, for heavy downloading, it is still the best dealing town for most users.

I am downloading about 20GB a month and have avoided the cap.

With Eircon/UTV/ESh1T, i would have incured charges for the extra 15/16 GB of traffic.

Maybe they handled the PR on this badly, but take a chill pill, they are way better than eircon/esh1t et al.

DaithiSurfer

Wrong.
They are not better because they charge a lot more and you get half the speed if you get capped.

If they had a public policy that you could see and point to if you got capped then that would be fair.
But this practice of changing terms and not telling people is not to be tolerated. How do you now you wont get throttled at 1 gig in 6 months. you dont, but now they have form of being pricks.

I never downloaded more than 10 and got capped.

The Brigadier

Netsource when they started, in all fairness to them really tried to look out for the customer. They were open to communication, and seemed like a good provider.

Recently they seem set to alienate their entire customer base.

By throttling customers without notice or confirmation. By handing out malicious emails to customers.

On a service level I personally have never had a probem. Their tech support have allways been very efficient and friendly.

I think their problems are from a Marketing / Public Relations angle. Whoever is looking after these has been making some pretty serious boo-boos.

The throttling situation is not a problem because they have throttled, but because they have tried to do it in the most under the counter manner.

My negative experience left me incensed. Not because of what they did, but the way they went about it. - It is alleged you have been using a P2P service for transferring copyrighted material. Prove you haven't or we will start billing you for costs at €200 a time....

Jokah

When you say P2P, are you talking about

1) Kazaa
2) Any legit chat program
3) A FTP client

Came across this in the Netsources Terms and Conditions:

"2.2 The Customer agrees to be bound by the monthly download allowance attaching to its chosen NETSOURCE DSL product. "

Interesting. Since they offer a "NO CAP" service surely then there is no download allowance so therefore what they are doing to you is wrong.

"6.6 The Customer agrees that from time to time it may be necessary for NETSOURCE to temporarily suspend the Facility during periods of repair, essential maintenance or alteration or improvement to NETSOURCE telecommunications network or otherwise in accordance with the law. Where possible NETSOURCE will give the Customer notice prior to such suspension and NETSOURCE shall restore the Facility as soon as possible after such suspension."

Just out of interest did they tell you they were restricting your cap before you found out? Or did they suspend it and then tell you. Unfortunately the term "where possible" is in this clause which means they can tell you when they like.

Then there is this

"NETSOURCE reserve the right to change service without prior notice."

Pity..........

"I think their problems are from a Marketing / Public Relations angle. Whoever is looking after these has been making some pretty serious boo-boos. "

I have to agree with James Melody on this point. They have mucked up in this area.

It's a sad story Daithi, it really is.

Hope it works out for you.

Mutant_Fruit

6.6 The Customer agrees that from time to time it may be necessary for NETSOURCE to temporarily suspend the Facility during periods of repair, essential maintenance or alteration or improvement to NETSOURCE telecommunications network or otherwise in accordance with the law. Where possible NETSOURCE will give the Customer notice prior to such suspension and NETSOURCE shall restore the Facility as soon as possible after such suspension.

This does not say that your connection may be suspended/altered at will, ONLY that it may be suspended while work is taking place like repair.

2.2 The Customer agrees to be bound by the monthly download allowance attaching to its chosen NETSOURCE DSL product.

The allowance is as much as you can download running 24x7 at max speeds on a 512 connection for the netsource 512 dsl product.

Jokah

You are right Mutant Fruit.

But I am trying to point out the errors in the contract. I believe on another thread someone said Netsource were using a really old Terms and Conditions contract and it certainly seems this way.

I agree that it is awful what is happening.

But

Then there is this

"NETSOURCE reserve the right to change service without prior notice."

That covers them completely. I have asked someone about this and they can do what they like.

Jonnie_Onion

I've been throttled and it took them a week to get back to me. I'm currently waiting on an irish broadband reception test in D12 and if everything works out i'm out of there. If not, I'll have to upgrade to the SME service for the privelage of a full service.

El_MUERkO

I'm using Netsourse and despite the ping problems I've never had issues with them.

This business of capping people without telling them reminds me of Homer advertising bowling with a shotgun.

It’s the worst handled stupidest bit of self-destructive publicity I've ever had the displeasure to witness.

The policy of the top 10% of downloaders being capped gives people no idea of what they can download safely. They’re scaring the customer into not using their service.

I’m fairly sure that most of the original 10% will leave the service quickly. So does that mean the next 10% will be capped? And they’ll continue down through all their users till everyone is running at a lower rate.

To be honest my internet habits haven’t been effected one iota by Netsourse's new policy, the day they cap my connection is the day I cancel my direct debit and unplug my modem, I will not contact them or respond to any contacts from them after that point.

Jokah

Great Post El_Muerko...

Simple yet effective.

"They’re scaring the customer into not using their service."

Agreed. And they could end up shooting themselves in the foot.

MrPinK

Do we really need another 'netsource are bollox' thread? There's already 5 others. People who are considering the service are well aware of what they're like at this stage. If you don't like the service then you should leave, and stop ranting about how awful they are. It's getting a little tiresome.

You are only a fool to subscribe to their farcical broadband connection.

Take a look at the 'How happy are you with your Broadband ISP' thread. Your view is the minority. More ppl are happy with the service than unhappy

DaithiSurfer

When they throttle the top 10% that means they cant be the top dpwnloaders next month.
There fore a whole new 10% of people will be capped and so on ....
What kind of rubbish is this?

MrPinK

The throttled the small percentage of ppl that were using half of ns's total bandwidth. If some other ppl step up and start using up that much then I'm sure they'll get throttled too. If not, then there won't be any need to throttle anyone.

Gonzo

im gettin broadband soon I hope and was thinking of going with Netsource but after reading all the posts here over past month regarding netsource I now wouldnt touch them with a bargepole coz of bad pings, trottling, stinking emails, high costs etc, it sounds like a joke to me. I'll look to IOL Broadband when my area is finally broadband enabled.

mr_angry

Personally, I've been very, very happy with my Netsource package. However, recently I've become a bit worried by some of the stories, such as throttling and the outlawing of file-share programs. I happen to use P2P quite a bit.

I think Netsource were trying to be the most open-minded broadband provider in the country, but eventually the constraints of the real world have caught up with them, and they're likely to become no better than Eircon and E-Shat. I've done everything I can think of to disguise my file-sharing, but I get the feeling my happy-go-lucky, carefree days might be coming to an end.

Jonnie_Onion

If your P2P program allows it, you could just disable uploading. Hardly with the spirit of P2P though is it?
Your other option is to search for and download (free) a program called PeerGuardian, which blocks known RIAA etc. i.p.'s from connecting to you. Not 100% effective though (there is the chance an unknown will connect).

rymus

so they only have a problem with you when you share downloaded copyright material off your computer? Not when you actually download it? Couldnt you just empty the contents of your shared folder.. that way no files on your computer can be shared or uploaded to anyone else. Or am I just being obvious again?

To some way add to this thread:
I'm moving to a DSL enabled area in the next few months (hurrah) and I fully intend on going with netsource SME. That is of course unless Esat get their heads together and upgrade the exchange for their business product in the mean time. I'm only thinking of getting NS because, as a first time DSL user, I'll probably try to download the internet over my first few months of use. (Yeah and I like the 24:1 contention too). Failing that I'll probably get in touch with Amocom and save on line rental.

Order at present anyway is
1. Esat ADSL
2. Netsource
3. Amocom

Yes, I'm a downloader; not a gamer. Although I have been known to dabble in a bit of Army Ops

gurramok

They have throttled me down to at about max 28kBits/s !
Every page on boards takes about 5 minutes to load, no joke.
See my post in 'happy with broadband', bandwidth page returned a massive 14.4 kBits/s.

They have not informed me of throttle, 10 days ago now.

I get punished for using the service so -called excessively and abusing the 'spirit of the service', SNL type fiasco.

They never sent me any terms and conditions.

Everything was grand for 3.5 months before the throttle, practically unusable now.
MrPink, count yourself lucky until they target you for throttling, risk is high it will happen and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

²°°³webkev²°°³

I rang them today, and they told me that they had removed the throttle and put me on a contention ratio of 10:1 with the top downloaders.. my speeds are so low today its nearly impossible to use the internet..

I guess they seriously dont want people downloading anything!!

and at these speeds at this contention, whats the point in paying extra for a 24:1 service..

bizmark

sorry to hear your being messed around so much...

Time to jump the sinking ship and head over to esat ibb or (god forbid) Eircom

From nearly day one Netcrap have been awful and they cost tomuch .........

talla

Originally posted by ²°°³webkev²°°³
I rang them today, and they told me that they had removed the throttle and put me on a contention ratio of 10:1 with the top downloaders.. my speeds are so low today its nearly impossible to use the internet..

I guess they seriously dont want people downloading anything!!

and at these speeds at this contention, whats the point in paying extra for a 24:1 service..

eh a 10:1 ratio would be the best contention ratio of any DSL provider in the country. Are you sure about that contention ratio?

MrPinK

The 10:1 contention is on netsource's side and is in addition to the 48:1 contention at the exchange, not instead of it. So even if you can get full speed at your exchange you have to share a connection to netsource with 9 other high downloaders.

talla

now that really is going overboard:mad:

Co33iE

on a good note ping times have never been this good after 8 before :P even managed to play 2 maps of tfc today with sub 80 pings and hardly any spikes at all.

MrPinK

Originally posted by talla
now that really is going overboard:mad:

Well that depends on how much bandwidth netsource allocate them. In theory, I think it's a great idea, far better than throttling. 10% of the ppl were using 47% of the bandwidth, so you set aside 10% of the bandwidth and let these ppl share that amount between them. They can't use up any more than their fair share. As long as they're not all downloading at the same time they should get decent speeds. I'd say the only reason they're not at the moment is because many of them have adopted the 'they throttled me so I'm gonna max out my connection all the time for the next 2 months' approach and now they're only effecting each others speeds.

²°°³webkev²°°³

Originally posted by MrPinK
Well that depends on how much bandwidth netsource allocate them. In theory, I think it's a great idea, far better than throttling. 10% of the ppl were using 47% of the bandwidth, so you set aside 10% of the bandwidth and let these ppl share that amount between them. They can't use up any more than their fair share. As long as they're not all downloading at the same time they should get decent speeds. I'd say the only reason they're not at the moment is because many of them have adopted the 'they throttled me so I'm gonna max out my connection all the time for the next 2 months' approach and now they're only effecting each others speeds.

I cant get speeds of over 7kbs..
The service has basically made itself useless.. im sure in theory it works but in theory so does communism (..simpsons)

The Brigadier

I have just been speaking to Michael Byrne the Operations Manager at Netsource. He has done a lot to allay my fears.

On my P2P issue. He has asked me to just send him a quick Email saying that to the best of my knowledge my account was not being used for the distribution of copyrighted material.

And that would be the end of that.

On the subject of throttling, Michael pointed out that the top 10% of users on the SOHO package are currently consuming 47% of the bandwith. These users are now sharing a 2Mbit connection with a contention ratio of 10:1...They therefor have the best service around. It is just the fact that they are all bandwith hogs.
This will not apply to the SME or higher packages.

d0gb0y

I'd also like to point out that some of people who had their bandwidth restriction have left them already(myself included).
This is an extract from an email I recieved regarding the throttling

Netsource are not imposing a cap on your downloads, you may still download
as much as you like at no extra cost

so Lagsource are encouraging people to max out their throttled connections so why not, they will probbaly throttle people for this aswell so watch out you might end up with a 56k connection just like me

SkepticOne

Originally posted by James Melody
On the subject of throttling, Michael pointed out that the top 10% of users on the SOHO package are currently consuming 47% of the bandwith. These users are now sharing a 2Mbit connection with a contention ratio of 10:1...They therefor have the best service around. It is just the fact that they are all bandwith hogs.
This will not apply to the SME or higher packages.

So Netsource aren't actually implementing a throttle themselves, they just put the heavy users into their own pen and let them throttle each other. The heavy users are slowing themselves down.

richindub2

Im getting an average ping of 25 to ireland, 55k/s downloads and the netsource engy spent an extra hour at my house to set it up on the pc. Ive no complaints at all

Jokah

Haha, Lag source...

Now people are worrying me. I ordered from Netsource, or the "company of many names". I have DSL at work so I have just ordered the basic package. I can download stuff free at work then transfer it over via email if I so like.

I will be downloading quite a bit from home...I don't want a bleeding cap.....

Dr_Teeth

So they've put the 40 biggest bandwidth hogs in Netsource on one 2MB line? Also, that level of contention doesn't count what might be happening at each of their DSLAMs. That's gotta hurt..

I'm moving into Dublin in 2 weeks from the styx, I was going to go with Netsource based on recommendations from Boards.ie but not anymore.

Teeth.

Jokah

Teeth,

Netsource are not all doom and gloom. If everyone jumped off a cliff would you?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Dr_Teeth
So they've put the 40 biggest bandwidth hogs in Netsource on one 2MB line? Also, that level of contention doesn't count what might be happening at each of their DSLAMs. That's gotta hurt..

It should ease the problem at the DSLAMs slightly, since all the heavy users are slowing each other down, they have less chance of slowing down light to moderate users sharing the DSLAM.

Dr_Teeth

I dunno XP, their attitude toward their customers seems really suspect to me. Plus as a gamer I am not interested in a company that cannot offer decent latency, regardless of bandwidth issues..

Teeth.

Jokah

Mmmmmm well ok. I mean I was probably a little harsh.

You see I am not interested in Gaming just yet. I am waiting for Xbox Live. All I am interested in is Downloading.

When I came back from the states having to go back on Dialup ISDN was very painful indeed.

If I have any problems using Netsource I will let you know. At the moment I am just leaving them get on with their thing. If they f!ck me up in the first 3 months of the contract, ill cancel str8 away. I can go elsewhere....

NotImpressed

My problem with netsource would be that they were all over boards when things were good.
Now people are just posting second hand info from them.
Where are the netsource people on boards gone too?
why not come on and explain it straight from the horses mouth?