upc deals, whats the catch?

skelliser

Due to eircom bending over im goin to switch isps.

Iv been looking at upc deals, specifically the 77euro deal
digital telly
20mb bb
phone

that seems to good to be true

but im suspicious, whats the catch?!

iv also been looking at smarts Home Value 5Mb
http://www.smarttelecom.ie/home_broadband/more_details/Home_Value_5Mb.aspx


btw im currently on the
"Up to 3Mb broadband &
eircom talktime friends" eircom package

which is the best value the smart or upc?

thanks

jingx3

I heard there customer service is appalling.

jor el

jingx3 wrote: »

I heard there customer service is appalling.

UPC or Smart? UPC's phone support is pretty poor, as is Smart's. Smart's support forum is very good.

The UPC price can't really be beaten, and the speeds (up to 20Mbps) are often very reliable. Smart's speeds are not a problem for the vast majority of people, but your line quality and distance from exchange will determine what speed you actually get.

Verbal_Kint

I have a 10mb line in westside galway and speedcheck puts it at 2mb. who needs 20mb anyway, nice to have but any big downloads will be there in a reasonable time. Apart from speeds which are to be expected it does what it says on the tin. you miss a months payment your account is suspended and you pay a E10 charge. you miss two months and you have to pay about E80 to get reconnected. If you will be downloading+uploading less than 250gb/month go for the E55 deal.

bk

No catch really, UPC are by far the cheapest ISP in Ireland.

The prices they charge aren't unusual or particularly cheap across Europe, we are just use to getting ripped off by Eircom.

skelliser

Ya im well aware of ntls tech support, we used to be with them, then it broke and we switched to eircom, that was 2 years ago.
I take it nothing has changed!
we are tempted to go back, i cant abide this eircom censorship

DingDong

skelliser If you do decide to go for the BB,TV and phone package, you will be eligible to get a laptop(Asus EEEPC Netbook ) for €1. You do have to make your order through carphone warehouse though. Even if you just go for the 20Mb BB alone you can get the laptop for €1.
http://www.upc.ie/netbookoffer/

vibe666

skelliser wrote: »

Ya im well aware of ntls tech support, we used to be with them, then it broke and we switched to eircom, that was 2 years ago.
I take it nothing has changed!
we are tempted to go back, i cant abide this eircom censorship

i was in the same boat last november, fed up with BT over and over again, but i'd been burnt by both ntl (twice) and chorus (once) but decided to give UPC a shot out of desperation as they were the only option that could offer me more speed for less money.

i just went with their broadband and phone because i hadn't heard great reviews about their digital+ tv compared to sky+ so we kept that.

that was last november and although i've had some problems with their support in the past, they really do seem to be improving just recently and the broadband is great.

tbh it doesn't sound like you have much to lose by switching and maybe something to gain so i'd say give it a punt and see what you think.

skelliser

DingDong wrote: »

skelliser If you do decide to go for the BB,TV and phone package, you will be eligible to get a laptop(Asus EEEPC Netbook ) for €1. You do have to make your order through carphone warehouse though. Even if you just go for the 20Mb BB alone you can get the laptop for €1.

is this for real?!
it looks like its only availible on the 20mb deal

sorry for asking again,:D
but whats the catch?!

DingDong

skelliser wrote: »

is this for real?!

sorry for asking again,:D
but whats the catch?!

None it just a promotion being run till the end of October. I think its a great deal wish I could avail of it myself but I'm already a customer. Just remember the sale has to go through carphone warehouse.

skelliser

The prices qouted on the upc site are excluding vat? are they?
i cant find whether or not its 77euro inc vat or not

daveyjoe

DingDong wrote: »

skelliser If you do decide to go for the BB,TV and phone package, you will be eligible to get a laptop(Asus EEEPC Netbook ) for €1. You do have to make your order through carphone warehouse though. Even if you just go for the 20Mb BB alone you can get the laptop for €1.

I presume if you buy through the carphone warehouse that you'll have to pay the install fee though. They waive the fee when you order online, think it's €50 or thereabouts.

edit: Correction, it's €30.

bk

skelliser wrote: »

The prices qouted on the upc site are excluding vat? are they?
i cant find whether or not its 77euro inc vat or not

No, the prices on the UPC site are INCLUDING vat.

RoyalMarine

chorus broadband is just plain sick.
speed wise its lightning. its perfect!

their tv package aint half bad either.

aint had their phone service, but i assume its the same as any other, except no line rental charges.

either way you look at it, go with what you can afford. recession times and all

skelliser

bk wrote: »

No, the prices on the UPC site are INCLUDING vat.

are you positive?
like the broadband deal thats 77euro IS 77 euro

daveyjoe

skelliser wrote: »

are you positive?
like the broadband deal thats 77euro IS 77 euro

Yes... well €77.50.

Edit: By the way if you click through to the order screen it will tell you that "All prices include VAT."

skelliser

my current situation is eircom bb plus anytime talk minutes which works out as ~120euro per 2 months
my current basic ntl is 67euro per same time period.

thats 187euro.

now this upc deal is 77per month which is 154euro

a saving of ~30 per 2 months and a total saving over the year of ~180euro

iv have left out the call charges but have i missed anything else?

daveyjoe

skelliser wrote: »

my current situation is eircom bb plus anytime talk minutes which works out as ~120euro per 2 months
my current basic ntl is 67euro per same time period.

thats 187euro.

now this upc deal is 77per month which is 154euro

a saving of ~30 per 2 months and a total saving over the year of ~180euro

iv have left out the call charges but have i missed anything else?

Nope, well except the fact that UPC have much better broadband speeds.

skelliser

cheers, looks like il be heading back to ntl
*cringe*

vibe666

skelliser wrote: »

cheers, looks like il be heading back to ntl
*cringe*

i was hesitent at first too, but it's been a much better experience for me than it ever was with NTL or Chorus.

just to whet your appetite, I did a screengrab of the web interface for my torrent client (with the names blocked out to protect the guilty).



it's from a private tracker, not a public one, but it's still all good. even with well seeded public trackers my speeds are more tha good enough.

skelliser

that pretty good, especially for the low seeded torrents
are they your average speeds?
where are you located as well?
whats it like in the evenings?

Bill-e

UPC/Chorus. Their internet/phone package is spot on, get it.

That's where you should leave it, the TV service they offer has been the bane of my life for the past 6 years or more. I have the 1908 number on my speed dial number 2. I can name off and recognise half the call centre staff by voice. It's great that they open the call centers later then they used to. I think the guys in the office here were getting annoyed with my rants and raves to chorus every couple of days.
At christmas my TV service was down for 3 weeks, and they just ad and remove channels at will. They treat existing customers like sh!t and their sales people will tell you what ever you want to hear just to get you to sign on the dotted line, even if it pure lies. The series link option they advertise doesn't work for 90% of the people out there. Also, they are unwilling to refund or give you anything extra in compensation for their complete shambolic service that they offer. they charged me for the 3 weeks it was broken at christmas! Anyone you speak to doesn't have the authority to do anything.

In conclusion, if you wish to stay sane just leave off the TV package. :cool:

skelliser

ya, i would but the 77euro deal is the only one i save money on!

that does sound pretty bad, would you say that the tv is rubbish so?

sgie87

I have just been on the phone with UPC,they have upgraded me from my 20mb ultra package to the "new ultra" package for €84 per month.

There new limit on the "Unlimited" broadband is now 110GB per month,

I would not recommend them.

Hellrazer

sgie87 wrote: »

I have just been on the phone with UPC,they have upgraded me from my 20mb package to the "ultra" package for €84 per month.

There new limit on the "Unlimited" broadband is now 110GB per month,

I would not recommend them.

Sounds wrong to be honest.Ive just been onto them about a phone and broadband package and I can get the 20meg ultra with all local and national calls for 60 a month incl VAT.
It also has no cap on the Ultra package either.

This deal here : http://www.upc.ie/phone/diamonddeal/

sgie87

Ok, six months ago i signed up for this package
"
20Mb Broadband Ultra

Download: 20Mb

Upload: 1.5Mb

Suitable for: anyone who downloads large files, challenges other gamers around the world, and more.

Wireless Router: FREE
20Mb Broadband Ultra with FREE wireless router for just €42 a month and FREE connection when you order online. "

All was perfect,untill this month,they have doubled the price to €84 a month.When i rang them as to why this happend they informed me that i had broken there acceptable usage policy by downloading 110GB in a 30 day period. Once you brake this limit you are put on a 84€ package(not advertised)

"there is no monthly usage cap for Broadband Express or Ultra. All broadband services are subject to our acceptable usage policy."

I know people who have downloaded far more and not been put on the new price plan,
There old fair usage policy on the 20mb package was up to 250gb in a 31 day period, it is now down to 110GB,im my area anyway.

Unlimited is does not mean unlimited ,read your contract or some of the other posts in this forum.

Edit :
have just got off the phone with UPC again,the FUP(fair usage policy) is still at 250Gb per 30 day period, They could not tell me why i was put up to the higher pricing bracket ,but the cusomter service rep,told me a new bill would be issued immediately with the €42 per month 20mb package on it.

So good result.
But do be awear that UPC can change the FUP anytime they want without your permission,it is in the contract.

As for the quailty of the line, i get a constant 20mb/s except for 4pm-7pm where it drops to around 14mb/s,and the line has only droped out for about an hour in the last 6 months,

Irish-Lass

I have triple play with UPC and have to say have had no problem with them at all - tv is grand have setanta and espn as extras on the service but broadband has been great, did have problems with the phone the first 3/4 weeks but got on to the techs and they were out and sorted the problem no problem. Very happy with the package we have save a bundle not having to pay eircom the line rental.

vibe666

sgie87 wrote: »

All was perfect,untill this month,they have doubled the price to €84 a month.When i rang them as to why this happend they informed me that i had broken there acceptable usage policy by downloading 110GB in a 30 day period. Once you brake this limit you are put on a 84€ package(not advertised)

i have a letter from them here from the last time I exceeded their mysterious (until that point) FUP that clearly states it is 250gb per month. i know i'm not the only one who got one of these letters from them either, quite a few people did.

there's going to be an awful lot of noise if they think they can move the goalposts after clearly marking them out with these letters.

i'd like to see them explain in court how they considered 250gb "normal usage" in Feb/March, but now all of a sudden they consider it to be less than half that.

vibe666

skelliser wrote: »

that pretty good, especially for the low seeded torrents
are they your average speeds?
where are you located as well?
whats it like in the evenings?

just to clarify, i'm a member of a private torrent site, which is where those torrents were from so everything is well seeded by only a few people.

there's no leeching so you tend to get full whack out of whatever you download such as those 4 linux ISO's there in my screengrab.

oh, and i'm in navan.

so the short answer is YES, you *can* get those speeds if you download from the right places.

daveyboy_1ie

I am with UPC and have the 20MB BB, phones and telly (with Sky Movies and Sky Sports prmier package) and pay €130 a month. So far very happy with service and i play a lot of online gameing so the quality is superb, unbeatable actually. I play on a lot of UK servers and beat their pings or rates per minute everytime so you cant argue with that.

Although if you only want internet for browsing and streaming then the 10MB package should be more than enough

itsonlywords

RoyalMarineComm wrote: »

chorus broadband is just plain sick.
speed wise its lightning. its perfect!

their tv package aint half bad either.

aint had their phone service, but i assume its the same as any other, except no line rental charges.

either way you look at it, go with what you can afford. recession times and all

Just for the record, their phone service is terrible. Regular breakdowns. Lose broadband, lose phone also. No emergencies even. Support non existant. I am leaving after 18 months of hardship in my supply

skelliser

thanks for that sgie87 and vibe666. excellent info.

So there is a catch!!
thats fairly sneaky from ntl


im kinda on the fence now, i use torrents so im worried i will get caught out here although im not sure i could get thru 250gb up/down per month. I might tho with the incresed speed.

anyone else get these letters.

skelliser

hmm so many different experiences, i do however believe that with ntl the service is related to location.
itsonlywords, where are you located?

itsonlywords

skelliser wrote: »

hmm so many different experiences, i do however believe that with ntl the service is related to location.
itsonlywords, where are you located?

Waterford

thebman

There terms of service are no different to many other ISP's TBH.

If you don't want to go with them then your probably better off not getting any broadband package. They all pull this crap.

Friend has the TV and Broadband and never had a problem. It depends on if there is problems with the infrastructure in your area or not. If there are problems and you really aren't getting what you are paying for then you would be able to cancel the service and do so with your bank if they start giving you hassle.

All ISP's are the same. I wouldn't not go with one because other people have had a bad experience or two. Its when the general opinion is that its crap that you should steer clear.

Will be switching to them shortly from Digiweb whose cap is just way too low for the price.

vibe666

skelliser wrote: »

...although im not sure i could get thru 250gb up/down per month. I might tho with the incresed speed.

it's not that hard if you're a torrenter.

remember it's what you download plus what you upload so 150gb downloaded ad 100gb uploaded is your limit (or any combination of up/down traffic).

although if this thing about reducing the 250gb FUP to 110gb is true, UPC are going to find themselves on the wrong end of a very sharp pokey stick! :mad:

thebman

I think you'd have to be a real hoarder of media to reach that cap each month TBH.

I almost stay within the Digiweb 30GB cap with a housemate and both of us use torrents in the house. We'd definitely download more if we had a bigger cap but I don't think we'd ever hit a 250GB limit in a month between two people.

vibe666

thebman wrote: »

I think you'd have to be a real hoarder of media to reach that cap each month TBH.

nope, just using it as it's intended.

with 3 games consoles in the house, 3 PC's, a netbook and mobile with wifi it gets consistently used up every month, you'd be surprised how easily it goes when they count what you upload as well as what you download.

it's just like a credit card limit though, i always see it as more of a target then a limit.

none

Just saw the Asus netbook deal, look cool:) Does UPC provide broadband and phone services in Dun Laoghaire? Their site claims no.

vibe666

none wrote: »

Just saw the Asus netbook deal, look cool:) Does UPC provide broadband and phone services in Dun Laoghaire? Their site claims no.

i'd imagine their site speaketh the truth(eth), but give them a ring and see what they say.

Heisenberg1

none wrote: »

Just saw the Asus netbook deal, look cool:) Does UPC provide broadband and phone services in Dun Laoghaire? Their site claims no.

You should give them a ring to check I notice
that KN networks is doing alot of work for them
in your area only a matter of time before you have
it.

none

luzon wrote: »

You should give them a ring to check I notice
that KN networks is doing alot of work for them
in your area only a matter of time before you have
it.

Bill-e wrote: »

...their sales people will tell you what ever you want to hear just to get you to sign on the dotted line, even if it pure lies.

That's why I prefer to ask real people rather than their customer service;) And by the way, I can't see that Asus netbook on http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/.

ollieo

I'm currently with eircom broadband and was thinking about switching over.
Can anyone tell me if I will have to give eircom back their wireless modem or pay for it if I don't send it back?

vibe666

none wrote: »

And by the way, I can't see that Asus netbook on http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/.

me neither, but i did see posters in the windows in their blanch shopping centre store so it's definitely on.

weird that it's not on their site though.

ollieo wrote: »

I'm currently with eircom broadband and was thinking about switching over.
Can anyone tell me if I will have to give eircom back their wireless modem or pay for it if I don't send it back?

it might depend on how long you've had it, i'm not sure what their deal is on ownsership of the hardware, but it's not going to be any good to you if you have a cable broadband connection because it won't work.

in any case, assuming you sign up for the 10 or 20mbps UPC broadband packages, they give you a free wifi cable broadband modem to use anyway which is of similar standard to the eircom one, i.e. not exactly gonna blow your skirt up with it's features, but it gets the job done for most people.

ollieo

Thanks for that I'll be sending it back so if it doesn't work with cable broadband.

madmoe

Hi lads, anyone know what the exact model of the laptop is?

vibe666

it's a netbook, not a laptop.

it's actually whatever you want it to be.

you can either choose the bottom end Asus EeePC laptop worth (allegedly) 250 euro for 1 euro or take 249 euro off any carphone warehouse laptop as an altenative.

did you see the PDF that DingDong posted on page 1 of this thread?

DingDong

vibe666 wrote: »

it's a netbook, not a laptop.

it's actually whatever you want it to be.

you can either choose the bottom end Asus EeePC laptop worth (allegedly) 250 euro for 1 euro or take 249 euro off any carphone warehouse laptop as an altenative.

did you see the PDF that DingDong posted on page 1 of this thread?

At least I didn't call it a labtop

madmoe

Must look at that PDF. What is the cheapest bundle to get to be able to qualify for this?

vibe666

bundles don't matter as long as you sign up for the 20mbps broadband, that's the only qualifying product.

i.e. if you got 10mbps broadband, the full TV and phone, you wouldn't qualify, but if you get the 20mbps broadband on it's own, you do.

madmoe

Thanx mate.