UPC offering 30Mbps broadband and problems with upgrade

timmy69

myles79 wrote: »

i just phoned aswell and was told there is no need to apply with a form upgrades are done automaticaly and will be upgraded anytime between now and jan 15th all you need to do is reboot your modem and check if its done at some point in that time frame

I wonder if this is true? as I was just told on the phone that it will not be automatic this year and customers will need to fill out the online form and renew for another 12 months . Rather not renew for another yr just yet tbh.

who is this

timmy69 wrote: »

I wonder if this is true? as I was just told on the phone that it will not be automatic this year and customers will need to fill out the online form and renew for another 12 months . Rather not renew for another yr just yet tbh.

I was told that too, but they told me that the form wouldnt be available till about the end of the week, just as I was browsing the site discovering its there now - albeit well hidden.

Sure who the feck is gonna think "Oh I bet that upgrade form is in 'About us'"? I was only looking there to see if theres a press release detailing when FX and ESPN are coming

dedon

I am thinking about going with the 5mb option . Its in the €80 TV deal. But it doesn't come with a wireless router.

Will I just buy a regular one in PC World or something and connect it myself?

Yggr of Asgard

I am only a broadband / phone customer and if I upgrade my broadband will become 3€ a month more expensive.

Currently I pay 53€ (42€ broadband + 6€ Standalone + 11€ Phone minus 6 € discount) in future I need to pay 56€ (42€ broadband + 8€ Standalone + 6€ Phone).

But then again 3€ more for 3 MB upload speed is fair for me.

vibe666

dublin-texas wrote: »

But then again 3€ more for 3 MB upload speed is fair for me.

i'm in the same boat and ditto here too for the 3mbps being my main reason for upgrading.

just got stuck on hold for 10 minutes waiting to find out my account number so i could sign up.

sorted now though, roll on 2 days time!

NothingMan

dedon wrote: »

I am thinking about going with the 5mb option . Its in the €80 TV deal. But it doesn't come with a wireless router.

Will I just buy a regular one in PC World or something and connect it myself?

I'd pay them the extra €50 to install there one. They generally give out Netgears and they cost about €65 in a shop. You could get one cheaper online but the extrta €10 is worth them installing it and setting it up.

Tony

On the upgrade form it says the charges will not increase for me so maybe the €8 stand alone charge is for new customers only?

dublin-texas wrote: »

I am only a broadband / phone customer and if I upgrade my broadband will become 3€ a month more expensive.

Currently I pay 53€ (42€ broadband + 6€ Standalone + 11€ Phone minus 6 € discount) in future I need to pay 56€ (42€ broadband + 8€ Standalone + 6€ Phone).

But then again 3€ more for 3 MB upload speed is fair for me.

vibe666

NothingMan wrote: »

I'd pay them the extra €50 to install there one. They generally give out Netgears and they cost about €65 in a shop. You could get one cheaper online but the extrta €10 is worth them installing it and setting it up.

wouldn't recommend it personally.

they've been giving out an "all in one" cisco modem & router for the last few months and it's a bit of a dog from what people have been saying here, and once it's installed by the engineer then that's it, you're stuck with it as the hardware ID specific to that modem is linked to your line. at least with the modem only install you can chop and change your router as much as you like as lon as you leave the modem where it is.

even the old netgears (WGR614v7) that they gave out weren't great and certainly not worth the 50 quid asking price imho.

personally, if you're happy enough to set it up yourself, i'd go for a modem only install and (after looking through a few reviews to find one that suits your needs) spend the €50 quid on getting your own router.

even if you buy whatever UPC are offering they aren't going to support it beyond basic internet connectivity, they will send you to cisco or netgear support or try and upsell you on their premium support line at however much that costs these days, at which point you're better off coming on here anyway for support or calling the mfg of whatever router you buy for direct support from them instead.

burkeie

Ordered it on phone only 2 hours ago, no change in terms or cost to my existing contract, only resets the clock on the 12 month contract.

The minute i plugged out modem and turned it back on the speed increase was there.

Getting about 26.5mb download and 2.4 upload on avg. Considering its always a little slower during the day time, the speed should increase later on tonight. have seen it go to 28.5 and 2.7 the odd test.

speedtest image attached.

Thor

filled out the form there a few minutes ago. hopefully it goes through without any problems.

main thing im looking forward to is better pings, which from what i can see from the people are getting better pings!!!

hopefully all goes well. i wondering what eircon are going to do now that upc have upgraded again!!

Leiva

Thor wrote: »

filled out the form there a few minutes ago. hopefully it goes through without any problems.

main thing im looking forward to is better pings, which from what i can see from the people are getting better pings!!!

hopefully all goes well. i wondering what eircon are going to do now that upc have upgraded again!!

Better Pings !

burkeie

Thor, for what its worth with regards to ping, i got 14ms ping, 2ms jitter and 0% packet loss on pingtest.net

screenshot attached.

Yggr of Asgard

burkeie wrote: »

Ordered it on phone only 2 hours ago, no change in terms or cost to my existing contract, only resets the clock on the 12 month contract.

The minute i plugged out modem and turned it back on the speed increase was there.

Getting about 26.5mb download and 2.4 upload on avg. Considering its always a little slower during the day time, the speed should increase later on tonight. have seen it go to 28.5 and 2.7 the odd test.

speedtest image attached.

Wow, that is a fast upgrade than and great to hear that there is no change in cost.

Those of you who used the form, is the "customer number" on the web form the same as my account number on my bill or do I need to call them to get that out of them?

NothingMan

dublin-texas wrote: »

Wow, that is a fast upgrade than and great to hear that there is no change in cost.

Those of you who used the form, is the "customer number" on the web form the same as my account number on my bill or do I need to call them to get that out of them?

It's on your bill.

BostonB

What was wrong with the Netgears? The idea of a combined unit to reduce the cable tangle appeals to me. What was wrong with the Cisco units?

NothingMan

BostonB wrote: »

What was wrong with the Netgears? The idea of a combined unit to reduce the cable tangle appeals to me. What was wrong with the Cisco units?

Not sure why he says the Netgears are bad. I had one at my Mothers and requested it in my new apartment. It works excellently. Strong signal. Allows you to forward all the porst for XBox and VNC. Never drops connection.

Went against the Cisco option as someone here said they were touchy with VNC connections.

markfla

I can't find it anywhere on the site for existing customers to upgrade their speed....am I retarded and missing something?

vibe666

BostonB wrote: »

What was wrong with the Netgears? The idea of a combined unit to reduce the cable tangle appeals to me. What was wrong with the Cisco units?

lots of people here have complained about poor performance with the netgear routers in the past, both wired and wireless. regardless of that though, you can get a better router for less than €50 quid that can be set up yourself in 5 minutes, so on that basis alone they aren't worth what UPC are charging for them.

as for the cisco boxes, a search of boards.ie for either the words "ntl" or "upc" and "cisco" will give you all the answers you need.

if you are looking for the 30mbps broadband off UPC then you are very likely to be a heavy user and as a heavy user you have many better options for a router than what UPC are offering, simple as that.

Yggr of Asgard

markfla wrote: »

I can't find it anywhere on the site for existing customers to upgrade their speed....am I retarded and missing something?

"who is this" posted the a couple of post earlier:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=63780928&postcount=179

It's well hidden on their page.

daveyboy_1ie

timmy69 wrote: »

I wonder if this is true? as I was just told on the phone that it will not be automatic this year and customers will need to fill out the online form and renew for another 12 months . Rather not renew for another yr just yet tbh.

I rang today as I wanted to order a Digital Playback box anyway and once I made the order I asked a by the by question of how do I avail of updated speeds and Sales dude said its done automatically but will take 'a week or two' to come into action and when I said I regularly test my upload/ download speeds he suggested to come back to them if my speeds are not up and running by end of next week as they should be done by then.

He seemed confidant enough, I reckon its just the new speeds we are all being offered.

markfla

dublin-texas wrote: »

"who is this" posted the a couple of post earlier:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=63780928&postcount=179

It's well hidden on their page.

sound job....thanks

burkeie

I didnt bother with the combo one, as i prefer having my own seperate router. (The router they give you is pretty basic in functionality). Also getting the modem seperate is prob better as its the same reason buying a dvd/tv combo is bad idea, in terms of troubleshooting/replacing/upgrading.

The router i went with is http://www.netgear.ie/home_wndr3700.php
(2.4 and 5 ghz) which should cope better than the 54mbs default modem when the upgrade to 120mb comes next august.

Works a treat so far, great range and very fast ping times even wirelessly.

markfla

just did the upgrade there now.....I would have never have found that link.....sly dogs

burkeie

daveyboy_1ie wrote: »

I rang today as I wanted to order a Digital Playback box anyway and once I made the order I asked a by the by question of how do I avail of updated speeds and Sales dude said its done automatically but will take 'a week or two' to come into action and when I said I regularly test my upload/ download speeds he suggested to come back to them if my speeds are not up and running by end of next week as they should be done by then.

He seemed confidant enough, I reckon its just the new speeds we are all being offered.

They will be rolled out eventually but it will not start until the march time frame based on person i was talking to. Also if you have any probs getting the speeds, you really cant give out too much if you chose not to "officially upgrade" as your current contract will be for the previous speeds.

It depends how close you are to having your current contract finishing up and financial situation and dont blame people for not wanting to go into another 12 month contract. the main thing to understand though is that you cant complain really about delays in upgrading (even if it goes from mar-aug as i would expect) as they dont need to upgrade you at all legally.

It makes more sense to me that they will eventually upgrade the stragglers who dont renew just before they make the switch to 120mb in august.

Yarnhall

You'll get the auto upgrade in March '10 too (just got off the phone with a sales rep).

slave1

just upgraded, only with them just over a month so no biggie entering into a new contract, here comes 15mg...........whoooosssshhhhh

tylerdurden94

If i order online do they send out the free wireless router? I was thinking about getting a new wireless router probably a gigabit one any point or just use the one they give?

Is it new boxes or just a modem reboot?

burkeie

tylerdurden94 wrote: »

If i order online do they send out the free wireless router? I was thinking about getting a new wireless router probably a gigabit one any point or just use the one they give?

Is it new boxes or just a modem reboot?

if you order online and dont have upc already, they will bring the modem/router to your house during the installation itself. I kept the free router but i am not using it as i prefer my own. I would heartily recommend getting a better router with the internet speeds increasing your modem may become a potential bottle neck down the road.

If you are existing upc user, then no new hardware is needed, its simply a phonecall, or a online form to fill out. just reboot modem an hour after the call and you should have the new speeds. The phone call method seems to be quicker than the online form by the way. (note: when going to 120mb next august though, a new modem will be needed as they are going to docsis 3.0 which isnt supported via the current modems)

Last but not least, apart from router speed bottlenecks, we are also nearing a point where a lot of hard drives (apart from raid 0 or ssds) will not be able to write as fast as the internet connection being supplied. For anyone looking to get the full use of 120mb next august, i would recommend looking at/investing in an SSD (for laptop/pc) or a raid 0 hard drive (pc only) config over the coming months. (ssds are expensive at the moment though)

huggs2

well went from 10 megs to 15 megs while still on the phone. Upc are getting better and an extra 5 megs free. Nice.

sdanseo

Just took the upgrade there too. I'm presuimng the distance-selling regulations governing the 7-day cooling off period for upgrades of this nature extend to this?