Anyone with UPC Broadband-a little help?

sonic.trip

Hi, I currently have 3mb broadband with eircom and UPC are offering a good deal to upgrade to 15mb with tv etc, just looking to know:

A. Is UPC bb reliable, as I've never had any problems with eircom?

B. I've read a few times that UPC will not let you into their cisco wireless router, currently I have several wireless access points for media players etc configured arounf the house and I get in to the eircom wirless router no problem, has anybody experiences with this and any advice before I sign up?

thanks in advance

the_law

UPC is not the most reliable internet out there.

However, I'm a heavy downloader (200 GB or so per month) and UPC suits me fine. I have the 'modem only' hardware, which allows me to connect my own router and have control of whatever I need.

I've previously used Smart (pre-Digiweb buyout) and while they were technically a much better ISP, UPC is cheaper.

It's the same price/performance choice I made with my mobile provider. I'm on the phone 500-ish minutes per month, some international, and some mobile internet too. Was previously with Vodafone - flawless service, but €150 per month. Now with Meteor - the occasional call drops while on a cross-country journey, and signal's not as good in the middle of nowhere... but my bill is €90-€100 per month. Not as good a service, but worth the saving.

In my view, UPC is worth the gamble.

Rb

Wouldn't recommend UPC to an enemy. It's absolutely shit.

I've a 24 mb install and it's just not worth the money and fuss over it and I will be moving away from this retarded company as soon as I can. The broadband just goes quite frequently, comes back when it feels like it and then goes again. Previously it would disconnect for hours on end, then reconnect and then go again. Eventually we had a service person come to the house to fix it, who basically said whoever installed it did a really, really bad job and that he hoped it wouldn't happen again.

The TV is ****e and it regularly says a channel isn't included in the package when it is.

And to top it off they're really, really, really spammy and the hindu sales team down in Cork is constantly ringing me, sometimes up to 8 times in a day if I don't answer. I rang back and told them if they continued harrassing me I'd be contacting the gardai and the inbred little retards keep leaving me content-less voicemails.

Their sales team number is 0212338600 and if you google it, you'll see they've a huge history of spamming customers and harrassing them, as well as other people having contacted the gardai on them.

Their customer service overall is attrocious and with the ****ty reputation NTL and Chorus gained for themselves, they should literally be prevented from changing their name and trying to discard their history.

Do not use UPC, pay a little extra and get a quality service.

Skittle

As a contrary to the last poster , I've had no major problems with UPC and I'm on 30Mb. I guess it depends on where you are and whether your cables have been upgraded. Where about's in the country are you?

There are two modem types doing the rounds Scientific Atlanta (modem only, just stick your own router at the end of it) and the Cisco all-in-one unit. A lot of people have reported a lot of problems with the Cisco modem/router, however it is possible to turn bridging on, and this converts it into a router only and people have reported no problems with it's operation in this mode.

Mister Gooey

I have UPC 30mb broadband. It is great, very reliable and super fast. I have the Cisco router/modem but have it working in bridge mode - using my own Linksys router.

Parsons

Rb wrote: »

Wouldn't recommend UPC to an enemy. It's absolutely shit.


And to top it off they're really, really, really spammy and the hindu sales team down in Cork is constantly ringing me, sometimes up to 8 times in a day if I don't answer. I rang back and told them if they continued harrassing me I'd be contacting the gardai and the inbred little retards keep leaving me content-less voicemails.

Yes, I do agree UPC is absolute crap but what role religion (hindu) has to play here? Maybe you meant Indian sales ppl?

Karmafaerie

I'd take your rant a bit more serious RB if you even knew what BB packages UPC have.

They don't, and have never had, a 24MB service, so you must be the only one.

Cabaal

Rb, infraction given.

Lets remain civil shall we

deelite

I too have UPC (tv/phone/broadband) - it's cheaper than sky and eircom - that's the good thing about it. For at least 2 - 3 days per month we have no broadband in the house (no explanation given) and my son experiences "lagging" on the X-box since we moved from Eircom.

neilthefunkeone

Have UPC myself.. for about 4 years now i guess.. Im on the 10mb package now using one of the old modems..

The BB has never gone down(bar power outages) its unbelievable.. Speed is constantly between 8.0 and 9.5 mb whenever its checked..
I have an x-box and never have problems with lag..

Guess it depends on where your located!!

CrazyRabbit

UPC: You'll either be blessed with a perfect broadband connection, or end up in broadband hell with constant, random interruptions to the service and terrible support from a support centre that constantly brags about how many awards it has won despite being about as technical as a cabbage.

Droichead

I have UPC tv basic package with no complaints - great picture ! Am thinking of moving from UTV phone.broadband (3mb) as the UPC 'exchange' underground box is directly in front of my house - so I should get the full 5mb that they offer. It is also cheaper than UTV.
:cool:

Karmafaerie

Droichead wrote: »

I have UPC tv basic package with no complaints - great picture ! Am thinking of moving from UTV phone.broadband (3mb) as the UPC 'exchange' underground box is directly in front of my house - so I should get the full 5mb that they offer. It is also cheaper than UTV.
:cool:

Distance to the UPC cabinet doesn't make a difference.

They're a cable operater so the line speed doesn't deteriorate as it will with DSL.

You can be 5 miles or 5 meters and it'd be the same.

Not that that means you'll get a good service.
It realy does seem to depend on the area.

From what I've seen here most UPC BB problems tend to be in Dublin and the surrounding areas (most not all).

I live in Limerick and have never had a problem.

It's down to the cabling in the area, and NTL it seems were much worse at laying cables than Chorus.
(Again, just guessing here).
While omst of the network has been replaced by UPC, some areas are still not up to scratch.

billbond4

I live in Athlone and im on the 5MB BB from UPC, and its been rock solid ever since I got it over a year ago.
I hate their TV interface,so I stick with Sky for the telly and Sky + (I nearly love it as much as George Hook does !! )

Rb

Parsons wrote: »

Yes, I do agree UPC is absolute crap but what role religion (hindu) has to play here? Maybe you meant Indian sales ppl?

Indian/Pakistani or even native Cork people, I don't care who they are but if they can't understand the message "Stop spamming me, do not contact me again or I'm going to the Gardai" then they're unsuited to a job dealing with customers. If they can't understand English properly, then they're particularly unsuited to a job dealing with customers in an English speaking country.

I'm sure UPC got them in at a very good price though, and I'm sure that's all that matters to that shambolic mess of a company.

Karmafaerie wrote: »

I'd take your rant a bit more serious RB if you even knew what BB packages UPC have.

They don't, and have never had, a 24MB service, so you must be the only one.

I got confused between the eircom package and the 30mb package we have, as Eircom were just rolling out their larger package while we were moving to UPC. If only the Eircom rep who was trying to convince us to stay had told us we could get the 24mb line cheap (my brother pays an extra €5 per month on top of what he was paying for 7mb) I would have never come near NTL/UPC/Chorus/Whatever. Similarly, sky offered us a free HD/+ box if we stayed and a free month, gutted we moved to UPC now tbh

Karmafaerie

Rb wrote: »

I got confused between the eircom package and the 30mb package we have, as Eircom were just rolling out their larger package while we were moving to UPC. If only the Eircom rep who was trying to convince us to stay had told us we could get the 24mb line cheap (my brother pays an extra €5 per month on top of what he was paying for 7mb) I would have never come near NTL/UPC/Chorus/Whatever. Similarly, sky offered us a free HD/+ box if we stayed and a free month, gutted we moved to UPC now tbh

Everyone's of course entitled to their opinion, but do you not see the irony in slamming UPC's sales agents, while assuming that Eircoms and Sky's agents aren't doing the exact same thing?

All Sales agents want is a Sale, they'll tell you and promise you the moon, and that doesn't matter where they work.
They're working on commission and after teh sale is made their hands are washed of it, so of course they make promises.

TBH I never trust a Sales agent, plain and simple.

The reason that people refer to UPC being cheaper than Sky and Eircom is because they are.
Always make sure of what you're signing up for, cause I can tell you that no matter what the Eircom or Sky sales agents told you, you wouldn't be paying less for anything comparable with UPC.

They are cheaper, and unfortunately sometimes, you get what you pay for.

Rb

I worked in sales for years and have never witnessed such harassment. When in insurance, we'd regularly call a client once per day or every second day to keep the pressure on to renew/sign up which was bad, but I've literally had 8 missed calls from UPC in one single day which is beyond ridiculous.

I think in two years of being with Eircom, I got maybe one sales call? And I don't think I ever heard from Sky, although I *could* have been contacted once.

The UPC crowd also never left voicemails, they'd just leave messages of someone breathing or some other bs. The main number they were calling me off was 0214852700, which when googled will bring you to this. As you can see, there's plenty of people pissed off about their behaviour on that number as it is. The number in the first post I made here was the latest number, which also yields complaints when searched.

It's not normal or tolerable sales behaviour and they should be ashamed of themselves. The only company I've ever had come close to this was Betfair who at the very least left voicemails explaining who they are, what they wanted, when they'd call back etc.

I was with Eircom and Sky for 2 years iirc and had one issue with Eircom, which was dealt with a little badly but overall was a fine experience. Combined they're well more expensive than UPC/NTL/Chorus but the quality is so much better that it's actually worth the extra few euro per month.

CrazyRabbit

Rb wrote: »

Indian/Pakistani or even native Cork people, I don't care who they are but if they can't understand the message "Stop spamming me, do not contact me again or I'm going to the Gardai" then they're unsuited to a job dealing with customers. If they can't understand English properly, then they're particularly unsuited to a job dealing with customers in an English speaking country.

I'm sure UPC got them in at a very good price though, and I'm sure that's all that matters to that shambolic mess of a company.



I got confused between the eircom package and the 30mb package we have, as Eircom were just rolling out their larger package while we were moving to UPC. If only the Eircom rep who was trying to convince us to stay had told us we could get the 24mb line cheap (my brother pays an extra €5 per month on top of what he was paying for 7mb) I would have never come near NTL/UPC/Chorus/Whatever. Similarly, sky offered us a free HD/+ box if we stayed and a free month, gutted we moved to UPC now tbh

FYI...UPC's Helpcentre is in Limerick.

Rb

Just thought I'd bump this with a litte update

UPC kept contacting me with their automated service of 0212338600 which just keeps ringing and hanging up, so yesterday I called their sales team which is behind it on 0818272827 and spoke to a sales rep called "Johnny" who assured me it wouldn't happen again and that my number would be taken off their marketing list immediately.

Well, low and behold I get a nice missed call from 0212338600 this evening so rang back and asked to speak directly to a manager in their sales team.

This is where it gets really beautiful.

The sales rep said she'd transfer me and then failed to put me on hold properly and I sat there and listened while she, and her colleagues, took the piss out of me for demanding to speak to a manager. After sitting there listening to their **** for a minute or two, I then get transferred to "Jake", their manager. By now I'm completely steaming at the incompetent little rats and amn't interested in hearing some pathetic little excuse for them keeping me on the marketing list when I had explicitly asked to be removed. He didn't have any answers anyway, surprise surprise.

They're unbelievable. Second worst company I have ever dealt with.

vibe666

Rb wrote: »

They're unbelievable. Second worst company I have ever dealt with.

just out of curiosity, who was the worst?

IrishTonyO

Only problem I had was with the speed upgrade not working at the speed it should (15mb), went back to 10mB and I always get full speed 24 hours a day and never once have been disconnected.

I think UPC's broadband is the best I have used

Rb

vibe666 wrote: »

just out of curiosity, who was the worst?

Three.

Rb

IrishTonyO wrote: »

Only problem I had was with the speed upgrade not working at the speed it should (15mb), went back to 10mB and I always get full speed 24 hours a day and never once have been disconnected.

I think UPC's broadband is the best I have used

That's pretty A grade shilling there Tony

IrishTonyO

Rb wrote: »

That's pretty A grade shilling there Tony

I do not get paid by UPC, cop on.

jor el

Leave the back seat modding out

jay93

Rb wrote: »

Three.

maybe in your experiance 3 are the worst not for everyone in my opinion vodafone are the worst in ireland right now dire service 3 would out perform vodafone 3G anyday

condra

My UPC goes down about twice an hour for 2-3 minutes at a time.. WITHOUT FAIL....

CiaranC

Surprised at this, theres been a UPC line in my mothers house for over ten years, I dont think its ever gone down. Consistantly high speeds too.

edit: actually i remember an outage about 2 years ago, but they put a message on their website, one on the phones and had it fixed fairly rapid

PandyAndy

I'm on UPC's 30mb package. All seems to be fine

Karmafaerie

I just love how whenever one person has a problem, they assume it's everyone.

You know when it rains on me, I don't automatically assume the same cloud is encompasing the whole country.

As Vibe said, quiet often it's an individual thing.
I had massive problems with 3 myself, but my cousin had massive problems with Meteor.

I have no problem with UPC, but don't assume that everyone is the same.

Quiet often however when somebody has a problem, that equuates to "UPC are the worst company in the world! Arrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!"

Any problems that you've had with UPC, somebody else has had just as bad with somebody else.

Like I had with Eircom for instance.
But that doesn't mean that I'm going to tell somebody asking for my oppinion on Eircom that they eat babies!

moonboy52

So much hate for a company!

I am with UPC for 4 years now.

In that time my connection has went down maybe 10 times in total for only a brief period.

In my opinion their Broadband 30Mb service is superb!

"You can please all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot please all the people all the time."

Rb

Holy ****, I'm still getting calls from their automated spam machine. I don't even know what to do now, I've requested 3 times to be taken off their spamming list and yet it won't go away.

Also lol @ defending UPC and their reputation. NTL had a terrible reputation for customer service, in fact it was routinely named as the worst customer service provider in the country. UPC has continued this reputation and there are complaints all over the internet about their disgraceful customer service. If you google the numbers they call you from, people have been filing complaints with the Gardai, that's how bad they are.

Their behaviour is indefensible but if some idiots want to defend it blindly then work away, there's enough evidence throughout the internet and elsewhere that there are enormous issues with this company and a few tacky shills on a shite Irish forum aren't going to change many opinions. One of their engineers had previously admitted that installations were often done badly to gain call outs (since their installations and maintenance is outsourced) and keep the company busy. They're horrendous.

jor el

For continued stupid posts, trolling and ignoring of warnings, Rb takes a permanent break from this forum.

vibe666

i can't say i've never had any problems with UPC because I've had plenty of problems in the past, but it's the same with any company.

nobody puts the same effort into customer service these days as they used to, i see it every day in my own job and it's terrible but it's also a fact of life. everyone wants everythin cheaper so customer service is usually the first to go and that has a knock on effect to other areas when things DO go wrong (and from time to time they will do, such is the way of these things).

my broadband has been down a few times in the year and a half i've had it and my phonelinehas been intermittent and it's cost me more in mobile bills as a result, but it looks like that problem is fixed and my broadband is now better than it's ever been and i'm actually genuinely excited to see what happens when the 100mbps comes in, even though i know i don't really need it.

i had a tremendous amount of trouble in the past with both chorus and ntl so i've as much reason as anyone to hate them, and indeed i did and i've thrown a fair bit of abuse at upc fanboi's myself in the past but they've (upc, not fanboi's ) done and awful lot of good for broadband in ireland just recently and they're still doing more and as a very heavy internet user i can appreciate that and i'm grateful.

no, they're probably don't have the best customer service record in ireland and no, it doesn't work 100% of the time for everyone, but for the most part, in my recent experience they're offering the fastest service and it's about to get LOTS faster so i'm all onboard with that.

Cabaal

In relation to UPC reliability, I used UPC for approx two years.

Speed wise I certainly can't fault them, I never had to telephone them but every few months my modem would loose connection for upto an hour. It would always resolve itself though and I was never that pushed about it

Downtime could have been easily down to service outage, no residential ISP is going to give a business service level agreement agreeing to 98/99% uptime.

CrazyRabbit

It's really hit & miss with UPC.

Either the best connection & service, or it's absolute hell.

I get great speeds usually, but have also had frequent disconnections & less frequently, about 40-50% packet loss. And this is for well over 2 years now.
Most of the time, I can live with it, but on occasion it gets extremely bad and I have to call support. After so dozens of dozens of calls, I don't think I'm any closer to getting a permanent fix.

I am one of the unlucky few, or are those with a good connection a part of a small and extremely lucky group? I don't know to be honest, but I think UPC do deserve a lot of the bashing they get.

Witchy.ie

I recently moved from Vodaphone BB to the UPC Phone/TV/Wireless 15 Mb Broadband package. When it's working the BB speed seems to be ok but I'm rebooting the Cisco router a couple of times a day and still 2 out of 3 web pages I try to visit fail to open on the first or second attempt, instead I get the now all to familiar "Your internet does not appear to be working" message. It takes repeated refresh's to get the page to finally load. It's extremely frustration I never had a problem with the previous provider apart from 1 or 2 short outages over a three year period. Calling their tech support has so far yielded only the usual BS response, "Have you tried rebooting the router". I realise that others have reported good service from UPC and good luck to them but I've had enough and will be changing back asap.

Karmafaerie

Witchy.ie wrote: »

I recently moved from Vodaphone BB to the UPC Phone/TV/Wireless 15 Mb Broadband package. When it's working the BB speed seems to be ok but I'm rebooting the Cisco router a couple of times a day and still 2 out of 3 web pages I try to visit fail to open on the first or second attempt, instead I get the now all to familiar "Your internet does not appear to be working" message. It takes repeated refresh's to get the page to finally load. It's extremely frustration I never had a problem with the previous provider apart from 1 or 2 short outages over a three year period. Calling their tech support has so far yielded only the usual BS response, "Have you tried rebooting the router". I realise that others have reported good service from UPC and good luck to them but I've had enough and will be changing back asap.

From what you're describing there every problem you hae is a wireless issue.
Have you troubleshooted your wireless?
Cause I'd be surprissed these days if 1/3 to 1/2 of all newly set up wireless networks don't have problems until troubleshooted.

The UPC install technician is just gonna set it up and walk away, but that doesn't mean you're working optimally by a long shot.

If you've never set up a wifi connection before a few of us here can advise you, or you can call UPC and ask for the second line BB support.

Improbable

I've been with ntl/UPC for several years now and never had much cause to complain. There are the odd periods of downtime but no more than a couple of hours once every 5-6 months. Just yesterday I contacted them to get the free upgrade from a 20Mb line to 30Mb deal and it was done within the hour. Speeds have always been reliable.

DemoniK

Just moved from Smart (aka digiweb now) to UPC after watching a neighbours connection over 2 months.
I like them have had no connection issues, and get full speed up and down.
I've only had good experience with their customer service also - I had an initial problem (my misunderstanding) where I switched the modem/router into bridge mode and my phone line dissappeared. Apparently you need to have the router on for the ATA points on the box to function for the phones.

Bloody stupid to me, and seemed like a bug in the firmware. I got on to them and explained what I was observing - they checked to see if they could get me a modem - nope - all out of stock and no longer being order.
So we discussed and I suggested getting a box - which I did and was up and running within 15mins of phoning them up again to provision.

All in all I'm happy with UPC.
Smart were no longer being competitive, and their phone support waas woeful. Only for the guys on their forum I would have left a long time before hand.

I looked at others before leaving to UPC. Vodafone appear to be the worst right now as I know several folks who are extremely unhappy with them - in fact all are moving back to Eircom because of the crap service.
I looked at Magnet, but the twats on the phone couldn't explain to me what their Bolt package would give me. I emailed them first - no reply. I phoned, got hung up on, phoned again and they couldn't answer my technical queries (I wanted proof on improved routing for gaming servers). I was going to post on their forum here which was removed because they were setting up their own. About a month later, still nothing...

So UPC was the next thing. And I'm happy with them. I hated Chorus MMDS in the old days and still wouldn't go for their TV service. But the BB has been up now for 2 weeks and is rock solid here in Limerick.

kiwilostineire

I have had three missed calls from the UPC number today, it only rings once or twice and then they hang up so I do not even get the chance to answer. Guess they are then ticking the box to say they attempted a call.

I only have basic tv package through them so I guess they are interested in me upgrading....

I am on three, moved from meteor, never had issues with either mobile company and only moved to get a nicer phone.

But then I don't tend to call them looking to raise issues.

TanG411

I've been with UPC Since 2002 (When it was just Chorus) using their TV service only.
Last week we moved to their broadband and phone service (Moved from Smart Telecom).
We got the 15MB bb package and even though I'm happy with the service, the download speed using speedtest.net comes up as 5.5mb/s. Is that normal for 15MB?

Anyway, I'm using the Cisco router, unbridged. They're definitly a good service, never had a major problem with them before.

vibe666

Larkin91 wrote: »

I've been with UPC Since 2002 (When it was just Chorus) using their TV service only.
Last week we moved to their broadband and phone service (Moved from Smart Telecom).
We got the 15MB bb package and even though I'm happy with the service, the download speed using speedtest.net comes up as 5.5mb/s. Is that normal for 15MB?

Anyway, I'm using the Cisco router, unbridged. They're definitly a good service, never had a major problem with them before.

no, not normal.

one thing about UPC broadband is that if everything is working properly, you should get the advertised speed (at least in non-peak times).

do some more speedtests (i'd usually run it a few times on a different server each time to confirm the fastest server, don't just let it auto-pick) and then ring UPC and tell tech support. it could be something simple, or it could be something that needs an engineer out, so keep at them until it's resolved.

TanG411

vibe666 wrote: »

no, not normal.

one thing about UPC broadband is that if everything is working properly, you should get the advertised speed (at least in non-peak times).

do some more speedtests (i'd usually run it a few times on a different server each time to confirm the fastest server, don't just let it auto-pick) and then ring UPC and tell tech support. it could be something simple, or it could be something that needs an engineer out, so keep at them until it's resolved.

Just checked it on speedtest again and my Download came at 14.72mb/s so it seems okay now. Probably slow at the time due to them setting it up, or something.

ShaneU

Is it possible to get UPC phone and broadband without getting their TV subscription?

IrishTonyO

ShaneU wrote: »

Is it possible to get UPC phone and broadband without getting their TV subscription?

Yes, they charge a 'standalone' charge of about €8 if you do not get the TV service.

Zero-Cool

Can anyone tell me if the UPC wireless USB dongle is N standard? I just resorted to my internal nic wlan card but i'm only get 3-4 mb's instead of the 15mb. I tried my friends new laptop with windows 7 beside the desktop and ran speed tests on both. 14.5mbs on laptop, 3mb's on desktop. Desktop has XP and the wlan card is G standard. If the dongle is N standard I will give this a go.

Thanks

IrishTonyO

sheehy83 wrote: »

Can anyone tell me if the UPC wireless USB dongle is N standard? I just resorted to my internal nic wlan card but i'm only get 3-4 mb's instead of the 15mb. I tried my friends new laptop with windows 7 beside the desktop and ran speed tests on both. 14.5mbs on laptop, 3mb's on desktop. Desktop has XP and the wlan card is G standard. If the dongle is N standard I will give this a go.

Thanks

Do you mean the wireless router? UPC don't have a dongle. Their wireless routers at the moment are b/g not sure what ones they will have for the new speeds.

Zero-Cool

IrishTonyO wrote: »

Do you mean the wireless router? UPC don't have a dongle. Their wireless routers at the moment are b/g not sure what ones they will have for the new speeds.

They supplied me with a dongle. Router is in sitting room. Engineer couldn't connect with my built in wireless card so he put in a wireless USB dongle to pick up the internet connection. I unplugged it when he went cuz I would trust the internal card more but I need to check if the dongle has N standard.

IrishTonyO

sheehy83 wrote: »

They supplied me with a dongle. Router is in sitting room. Engineer couldn't connect with my built in wireless card so he put in a wireless USB dongle to pick up the internet connection. I unplugged it when he went cuz I would trust the internal card more but I need to check if the dongle has N standard.

Oh didn't realise they gave out dongles, do a Google on the make and model should be on the dongle somewhere.

Zero-Cool

Just at work at the mo so can't check but I will tonight if no one has one here. On the phone to UPC, tech support were very helpful (they really did improve their service imo.) But agent said their network might not be the most compatible with XP. If their dongle won't get full speeds, I will need to buy new wlan card with N standard or upgrade to Windows 7 (which I don't think I really need to do)