UPC (NTL) Broadband - Cowboys, they're just cowboys Ted!

cowboysted

DONT EVER USE UPC (NTL) FOR BROADBAND, EVER, EVER!! OK?!?

Has anyone else had the misfortune of believing their speil about their 20Mb broadband? Well obviously so since Ive come accross similar threads already. I thought I was alone in this, but I have since found 8 other people (in person not online) all with the same package and all with the same problem - average speeds of approximately 2 to 4mb and a max of 12mb (this was the max obtained by 2 of the 8 people, I and the other 6 have never even breached the 10mb line, EVER!!!).

DONT EVER USE UPC (NTL) FOR BROADBAND, EVER, EVER!! OK?!?

The worst part of all this is that they offer NO solution - just that they are aware there is an issue but cant give a date for it to be resolved (couldnt even guarantee it would be done in the next SIX months), NO refund and worse of all if you ask for their lower package instead they say you will only get the same ratio of speed - so going for a 3mb package will only then give you 512k speed. Its all a load of cowboyfoolery if you ask me.

DONT EVER USE UPC (NTL) FOR BROADBAND, EVER, EVER!! OK?!?

Oh, and if you are the unlucky one who's just got their service and decide to make a call to their tech support department, DO NOT believe them when they tell you they'll call you back. They dont. 6 out of 6 times in a bloody row I was told that they would call me back - I have to say i found it pathetically funny by the fourth time. Oh, and I dont mean to drop names but ask for someone else should you get on to a guy called Junaide (~sounds like), as 2 of the 6 above times were from him.

DONT EVER USE UPC (NTL) FOR BROADBAND, EVER, EVER!! OK?!?

note:
Their Digital TV service is actually the total opposite - good choice, affordable and reliable.

kaimera

my 20mb uncapped [soon to be 50 if rumours are to be believed] NTL service is perfect

go ntl

consultech

Yeah u obviously dont know how to uze d internetz properz

Orderin UPC tonight, sounds like tasty high speed fun to me, if not, Ill cancel dem * by paying by draft for first month.

Thor

i use 20mb broadband and have to say it works perfectly for me and my mate who lives around the corner aswell.

Sad to hear you had such trouble from them but why dont you just cancel it and get something else.There isn't a point in going through so much hassel for it. The way i see it if they upgrade the lines to 50mb in the coming weeks as the roomers tell us(lets hope) then your line should start acting right and if not just keep at them until they do something or just cancel it and demanding a refund as they didnt supply you with the correct package.

hope you get it sorted!

Cabaal

Lads can we atleast try to use english when posting...

Also OP, posting
DONT EVER USE UPC (NTL) FOR BROADBAND, EVER, EVER!! OK?!?
over and over just means you come across as ranting and unreasonable imho

paulm17781

I despise UPC, they are awful. I have had their broadband for 4 years and have no plans to change, it is great.

L31mr0d

my service had been fluctuating between 15Mbs and 18Mbs for a while but I'm now getting a constant 19.5Mbs to 20Mbs.

yoshytoshy

At the moment I've five routers in the house ,3 work differently with ntl.

Belkin one will not do wifi over 9MBIT ???
Netgear causes peculiar slowness ,range of the wifi is not great.
Two eircom netopia routers ,haven't tried with ntl
Got a linksys ,flashed it and am using openDNS aswell . pages are appearing instantly ,no lags.

You do need to work with it at the start ,but it's worth it and it's fast.

Only thing i detest about NTL is that friggin music on 1908 ,even pm.dawn or air or something would be better:)

GigaByte

My 20MB NTL connection is prefect!

bonnieprince

lads lads lads its a simple process of directly connecting to your ntl modem and then do a speed test. Most cheap wireless routers will ruin any good speeds. Belkin routers are the lowest of the low, try flashing the firmware otherwise throw in the bin!
Linksys are the best and still affordable to most.
Netgear are ok but check for firmware updates also.

My reasons why your broadband is slow
1. You have a crap pc (check what processes are running & remove any crap programs, check memory)
2. You have a crap wireless router (test it without encryption, check mtu size)
3. Contention in your area (ntl are usually 1 to 20 users which is better than eircom's 1 to 48)
4. Try a tcp optimizer if running XP, Vista optimises each time it connects but xp does not.


cowboysted "And you dont mean to drop names????" nice one pal.

dub45

Unfortunately UPC appears to be a bit of a lottery and it is obvious that some people get excellent speeds and others have problems. Unfortunately if you read their now many terms and conditions they are long on the customers' obligations and very short on their own obligations.

Their attitude towards customer service appears to grow worse by the day and I am beginning to fear their increasing monopolistic position. Increasingly they have peoples' bb, phones and tvs with little if any serious competition on the horizon. It is not a good situation in the longer term at all.

Cabaal

yoshytoshy wrote: »

At the moment I've five routers in the house ,3 work differently with ntl.

Belkin one will not do wifi over 9MBIT ???
Netgear causes peculiar slowness ,range of the wifi is not great.
Two eircom netopia routers ,haven't tried with ntl
Got a linksys ,flashed it and am using openDNS aswell . pages are appearing instantly ,no lags.

Why are you even thinking about using a ADSL router with a cable modem?
Wifi issues are nothing to do with your cable service

yoshytoshy

Cabaal are you asking me about the eircom routers ? ,I only mentioned them because I have them.
I didn't know they were adsl specific until you told me ,but I would have checked it out before i tried.

Reason I mentioned them is just to list them with the other routers in comparison. Never had any trouble with the eircom routers ,one of the good things about eircom.

Cabaal

yoshytoshy wrote: »

Cabaal are you asking me about the eircom routers ? ,I only mentioned them because I have them.
I didn't know they were adsl specific until you told me ,but I would have checked it out before i tried.

Reason I mentioned them is just to list them with the other routers in comparison. Never had any trouble with the eircom routers ,one of the good things about eircom.

Fair enough, just thought it was strange you mentioned them

yoshytoshy

Cabaal wrote: »

Fair enough, just thought it was strange you mentioned them

I'm glad you did at least it saves me bothering about them:)
The only reason I had a belkin router was back when I was using irish broadbands portable thing ,whatever it was called.
Ntl is the first time I've been able to test out equipment properly ,I think thats an issue with using cable is that it shows up weaknesses fairly quickly.

Sponge Bob

Belkin is crap, I never buy their gear

I never answer any problems on Boards involving a Belkin, life is too short !

Onikage

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Belkin is crap, I never buy their gear

I never answer any problems on Boards involving a Belkin, life is too short !

Can't tempt you with this? http://www.ibood.com/ie/en/product_specs.php

Would be great if it wasn't Belkin :P

Clover

kaimera wrote: »

my 20mb uncapped [soon to be 50 if rumours are to be believed] NTL service is perfect

go ntl

+1 to that.

cowboysted wrote: »

note:

Their Digital TV service is actually the total opposite - good choice, affordable and reliable.

-1 to that.

I found the Digital TV service to be very poor and got rid off it after a few months.


From my own point of view as I have the 20 meg package and I would pass on the upgrade to the faster speed in a heart beat if it meant I could get the phone service from UPC , so that I could get rid of the land line.

yoshytoshy

Clover wrote: »

From my own point of view as I have the 20 meg package and I would pass on the upgrade to the faster speed in a heart beat if it meant I could get the phone service from UPC , so that I could get rid of the land line.

can you not get a phone from them for some reason ?

Clover

yoshytoshy wrote: »

can you not get a phone from them for some reason ?

They say that it is not available in my area yet ( D15 ) , I have asked about it a few times over the last six months but no joy so far .

It has me a little as I can get the broadband and digital tv but not the phone service.

yoshytoshy

I was suprised at how little hardware on my end was needed for the phone, normal phone just plugs into the modem really pleased with it.

my dad had magnets phone and it needed a voip box as far as I can remember ,the quality was terrible though crappy long ring tone before it would connect. that was in a brand new magnet apartment complex.

alter200

Clover wrote: »

They say that it is not available in my area yet ( D15 ) , I have asked about it a few times over the last six months but no joy so far .

It has me a little as I can get the broadband and digital tv but not the phone service.

same here

their website says phone is available in D15 but when I ring sales they say not

yoshytoshy

maybe it's just a small upgrade somewhere that needs to be done ? you might be on the wrong side of it.