Another UPC question.

aaronm13

I have been getting ads in the post for the last while about UPC broadband being available in my area and am strongly thinking about going for the 10mb and phone package and finally telling Eircom where to stick it.On there 3mb package and its ok,speed can be crap at times but that's life.Could save about 20 quid a month if I switch but a little hesitant with it been UPC.My major concern is with their throttling of torrents and this is the deal breaker for me,if they do I'm staying with Eircom.A sales rep rang me last night and is ringing back in a few days so want to have a decision by then.He reckons they don't throttle at all but by reading over various posts here it looks like they do.So is there a definitive answer on this to ease my mind.I am on a private ice hockey tracker and if I have a crap speeds my ratio will suffer and I'll get booted off so I cant let this happen.Also whats the modem like that they give,will I need to buy anything extra to connect a PS3,Xbox for streaming and connecting another PC up,not bothered about wireless.Thanks in advance.

Xterminator

didnt eircom already commit to throttling/blocking file sharing sites and protocols?

if so ... staying with them isnt going to help you.

aaronm13

Xterminator wrote: »

didnt eircom already commit to throttling/blocking file sharing sites and protocols?

if so ... staying with them isnt going to help you.

They seem fine at the minute but that doesnt mean it will stay that way.As stated I'm looking to change for cost reasons and getting a faster speed for less which UPC offer,but again do they throttle torrents?

Gran Hermano

UPC have admitted they use traffic shaping to limit torrents. There is an article and interview on file where they say so. Think it was the Sunday Business Post.
Their customer service is complete pants too, I was on hold for an hour last night.

aaronm13

Tell me about it,think it took me about 10 minutes to get the guy to understand what throttling was,he kept saying "no our broadband is unlimited".The penny finally dropped and he said they definitely don't throttle,so you can understand why I have my doubts.If they do can I basically expect 0 download speeds?What type of speeds do others get with private torrents?

Mena

I know someone in UPC Corporate and he's confirmed to me that they do throttle torrents (this was last year).

I don't think it's 24/7 though, think only peak hours, but I could be wrong there.

I switched to UPC from Eircom's 7.x BB a while ago, took the TV/BB/Phone option. I miss Sky (and will probably resub to them, UPC can't compete at the moment) but the BB and Phone is by far a better choice. This being said, it's all been running smoothly for me and I've had no need to deal with their infamous customer service as of yet.

Gran Hermano

Here's the article, my mistake was the Tribune not SBP.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=54416845&postcount=106

aaronm13

Thanks for that link Gran Hermano,guess you cant blame them really but as long as its not 24 hours a day it should be ok.

Also does anyone have any info about the modem as mentioned above and any extra hardware needed for PS3,xbox etc connections.