heavily overcharged by upc

zenno

hello all.

I am on fibre power unlimited broadband 30mb with upc and my bill was always €42 per month since i first started with upc broadband over three years ago but now i got a bill of €129 for this month.

in the past couple of months upc broadband was cut off for long periods of time so i rang them and said i wanted compansation for been left without broadband at that time and they deducted €25 from this bill which should have put my monthly broadband bill to €17. now thats fine but how the hell can upc charge me €129 when my broadband is only €42 per month ?. if anyone from upc can check this out for me then fine' but i will not be paying that as it is an obvious error on upc's side.

if daren upc is around pm me and i will send my details.

Random

is it possible you might have gone over their "fair usage policy" of 250gigs. i've read in other threads here they bump you up to a higher package when you do.

zenno

Random wrote: »

is it possible you might have gone over their "fair usage policy" of 250gigs. i've read in other threads here they bump you up to a higher package when you do.

there is no way on planet earth that i went above 250gb in one month especially this month as i have not uploaded or downloaded much. i am going to get onto them now again and sort this rubbish out. I have been with them over three years and if they want to mess me around they will just lose another customer.

another thing' if this is a new thing with their 250gb limit then I have not been notified about the changes.

zenno

this so-called fair usage policy of 250gb was not in the eula of their conditions when i joined upc so it looks like they put this on recently and i was never sent a letter of their changes if this is the case.

this new fair usage policy of 250gb/month was not in the contract i went with. as far as i know it was dealt with by lowering your broadband speed if you used it heavily. i can't find the papers from when i joined upc but i will get them eventually. this bill is causing problems here and upc better sort this problem out quick and fast or i will cancel my contract with them on monday. i have had enough of their broadband cut-offs and over-charging.

shinzon

not doubting you and you will probably get it sorted with UPC, but just to point out there never was has been or ever will be unlimited BB, there is always fair usage on a product whether it is implied or not, whether throttling or not, UPC has just taken the stance to upgrade those people who go over there cap to there broadband extreme package which is 80 euro and not advertised anywhere on there site.

And im not attacking you or suggesting for one minute that you have but its just something to note for reference

Shin

zenno

shinzon wrote: »

UPC has just taken the stance to upgrade those people who go over there cap to there broadband extreme package which is 80 euro and not advertised anywhere on there site.
Shin

it not only should be advertised but a letter sent explaining their unprofessional approach to hidden charges should be.

well i will be waiting for darren or someone from upc to acknowledge my problem with upc to set this straight. either way they better look into this or lose a long term customer. I have enough problems to deal with. €42 gone to €129' what do they think they are pulling here.

I have been with upc for three years and i do remember i did go over 250gb over a year ago as download and upload is added into one and i never got a problem as the 250gb limit was not in the contract at that time' so i know they are trying to pull a fast one.

upc would you rather keep an always paying customer or would you rather lose another one. sort this out.

billyboy01

zenno wrote: »

there is no way on planet earth that i went above 250gb in one month especially this month as i have not uploaded or downloaded much. i am going to get onto them now again and sort this rubbish out. I have been with them over three years and if they want to mess me around they will just lose another customer.

another thing' if this is a new thing with their 250gb limit then I have not been notified about the changes.

The same thing happened to me, so I left UPC's 30meg BB, TV and phone package, there down close to 100quid a month from me:rolleyes:. They dont seem to give a damn about keeping there old long term customers! If you are as lucky as I am, you can probably get a similar speed BB and phone package for the same or cheaper price then UPC.

UPC:P:P:P:P:D

R3laX

Check Your bill on their website. It would explain for what You have been charged. I think if You get switched in middle of the month, they'll charge for 2 month minus part that was already paid(that's what happened to me).

zenno

billyboy01 wrote: »

The same thing happened to me, so I left UPC's 30meg BB, TV and phone package, there down close to 100quid a month from me:rolleyes:. They dont seem to give a damn about keeping there old long term customers! If you are as lucky as I am, you can probably get a similar speed BB and phone package for the same or cheaper price then UPC.

UPC:P:P:P:P:D

well i live in swords co. dublin so i have a few options which is a bonus.

(CLARIFICATION IN REGARDS TO MY UPC PROBLEM) ok to clarify this to you...at first slightly over 3 years ago i got the upc 20mb d/l and i think it was 1mb upload and that was 42 euro a month' then last year upc had a deal for customers that were on the 20mb to upgrade free to the 30mb d/l and 3mb u/l speed. this is what i have now. this upgrade was free providing i go with another years contract with them. but i have been on 30mb now for the last year. the thing is that upc never called my package with them "extreme" it was just called upc ultra and as i said above they gave me the extra 10mb free for the extra years contract. it looks like some dufus accountant in there put me on the new customer base account for new extreme 30mb customers.

zenno

well eventually i got a response from upc about this issue. according to them they said i went over the 250gb on the 30/09/2010 and they said via e-mail that i was sent a warning letter. well i never received a warning letter at that time nor have i ever received one ever. so how can they charge me 129 euro for this months bill when this over usage charge was made on the 30/09/2010 ?. i am in the process of dealing with them now. by the way on that date 30/09/2010 that was the only time on my account records that i was supposed to have went over the 250gb. if i had received a warning letter in september 2010 then i would have took action and not went over the usage. so they send me a over usage bill 6 months later, that makes no sense at all.

billyboy01

zenno wrote: »

well eventually i got a response from upc about this issue. according to them they said i went over the 250gb on the 30/09/2010 and they said via e-mail that i was sent a warning letter. well i never received a warning letter at that time nor have i ever received one ever. so how can they charge me 129 euro for this months bill when this over usage charge was made on the 30/09/2010 ?. i am in the process of dealing with them now. by the way on that date 30/09/2010 that was the only time on my account records that i was supposed to have went over the 250gb. if i had received a warning letter in september 2010 then i would have took action and not went over the usage. so they send me a over usage bill 6 months later, that makes no sense at all.

As I said earlier, the same thing happened to me and others I know! Seems to be there way of boosting their profits.:mad:

Everyone I know that this crap happened too, Voted with their cash and went elsewhere!:D

Look around you may have other BB options in your area!

dub45

zenno wrote: »

well eventually i got a response from upc about this issue. according to them they said i went over the 250gb on the 30/09/2010 and they said via e-mail that i was sent a warning letter. well i never received a warning letter at that time nor have i ever received one ever. so how can they charge me 129 euro for this months bill when this over usage charge was made on the 30/09/2010 ?. i am in the process of dealing with them now. by the way on that date 30/09/2010 that was the only time on my account records that i was supposed to have went over the 250gb. if i had received a warning letter in september 2010 then i would have took action and not went over the usage. so they send me a over usage bill 6 months later, that makes no sense at all.

It really helps people to read your posts if you put in a few sentences and paragraphs.

The claim to have sent out a warning letter is very common on here - have you asked them for a copy of it?

Also be methodical with them and ask them for explanations point by point.

Have you asked them for an explanation as to why you are being charged now for allegedly going over your "limit" almost six months ago?

Have you asked them how they comply with Comreg's requirement that they should have a policy on so called unlimited products?

ComReg would like to advise consumers that any provision of a contract which sets usage thresholds, or describes what constitutes ‘fair’ or ‘acceptable’ use, should be clear and unambiguous, particularly where the service is described as being ‘unlimited’.

Usage thresholds or limits should be clearly set out, as should the manner in which they may be updated or amended.

ComReg expects each service provider to implement a clear, transparent and policy for dealing with customer usage above any set thresholds. The policy should set out the rules for contract termination, including penalties, the charges that shall apply for any use above the threshold/limit, and the policy regarding migration of the customer to other packages, if applicable.

Sponge Bob

You cannot be billed so far in arrears ( 4 or 5 months) they are obliged to bill in a 'timely' manner. Tell them to refund the lot or you will go to comreg.

zenno

thanks folks i really appreciate the replies and am sorry for my typing but i am just stressed out at this stage.

thanks for all that great information and i will contact them again and include said comments.

upc sent me an E-mail a while ago telling me to download a program from them that will monitor my broadband usage so i installed it but i have noticed something very strange.

when i installed this program i opened it up and it said my monthy usage so far is 0.1MB (by the way my new monthly started 2 days ago and i have not downloaded or uploaded anything) now at this stage i left my pc on it's desktop and did not even go onto the internet and i checked the usage 1 hour later and it said my usage was 21.18MB which is strange.

then i done a test and looked at my usage and it said around 30MB so i immediately clicked firefox to open my homepage and then immediately checked the usage and it went up to 33.60MB. how on earth could it take over 3MB just to open my homepage' this is very strange. i have e-mailed upc about this and just in the last 5 minutes typing this text it has gone up to 43.22MB there is something not right at all here.

i use a heavy password for my upc wireless and the password is in sanskrit so i cannot imagine anyone hacked into it. i have relayed this information to upc so i am awaiting a responce.

zenno

dub45 wrote: »

Have you asked them for an explanation as to why you are being charged now for allegedly going over your "limit" almost six months ago?

Have you asked them how they comply with Comreg's requirement that they should have a policy on so called unlimited products?

I have included that in my e-mail to them and am waiting for them to respond. I will be calling them by phone tomorrow as well and will ask them this as well.

TouchingVirus

You have background processes (ones that are not obvious to you, the user) using the internet. It could be Windows Update downloading some updates for Windows, it could be other stuff like Virus updates or it could be somebody using your connection.

I reckon it's one of the first two and not somebody using your internet. But change the password for your wireless to be sure.

The amount you've been charged is consistent with going over the 250gb/month limit. You'll be asked to contact aup@upc.ie and Mia or one of the others there will get back to you. Ask them to provide usage stats for the last 12 months.

zenno

TouchingVirus wrote: »

You have background processes (ones that are not obvious to you, the user) using the internet. It could be Windows Update downloading some updates for Windows, it could be other stuff like Virus updates or it could be somebody using your connection.

I reckon it's one of the first two and not somebody using your internet. But change the password for your wireless to be sure.

The amount you've been charged is consistent with going over the 250gb/month limit. You'll be asked to contact aup@upc.ie and Mia or one of the others there will get back to you. Ask them to provide usage stats for the last 12 months.

ok for the first part i have windows update turned off as i manually update it once a week myself so thats not the cause.

and secondly my antivirus which is kaspersky internet security 2011 is set for manual updates so this is not the cause either.

TouchingVirus

This program that you downloaded runs only on your computer, so it's only logging your usage. So it's not logging overall usage on your router. If somebody got your wireless password their activity would be on their own connection to your router and wouldn't get logged by your piece of software. So there's something on your own machine using the internet in the background. I only listed those above as examples.

It might well appear that you have been exceeding your allowance, even if doing so via background processes and not actively using 250GB/month. That's why you need to ask for the stats

zenno

TouchingVirus wrote: »

This program that you downloaded runs only on your computer, so it's only logging your usage. So it's not logging overall usage on your router. If somebody got your wireless password their activity would be on their own connection to your router and wouldn't get logged by your piece of software. So there's something on your own machine using the internet in the background. I only listed those above as examples.

It might well appear that you have been exceeding your allowance, even if doing so via background processes and not actively using 250GB/month. That's why you need to ask for the stats

thanks TouchingVirus yes i see. i will wait for the stats and take it from there.

<AUP@upc.ie> said thank you for the mail. please be advised that we are the high usage desk here for upc. we only keep records of high usage on customers accounts. Apologies i am unable to help further but as i mentioned we only track the high usage. regards mia. [end]

well it seems to me that they cannot give me the stats for the last 12 months only the stats below.

AUP@UPC.IE fibre power broadband 30MB.

total 267.83 total 319.83 {action 1 warning letter 30/09/2010} {action auto upgrade to extreme 31/01/2011} like i said i never got a warning letter or anything of the kind.

my stat for february 11th 2011 upload 101.69 download 94.015146 total 195.7 {action auto upgrade to extreme 31/01/2011}

if i had have received the letter then obviously this would never have happened so i will call them and request a copy of the letter they supposedly sent out to me which i never received.

i checked again now on my usage and it was on 60MB and immediately clicked onto youtube homepage and it went to 69MB so just by clicking onto youtube homepage with no video running it used 9MB to open youtube. now that is crazy by any standards.

dub45

It is absolutely disgraceful that a customer has no way of measuring their upload/downloads. UPC can literally accuse the customer of downloading/uploading any quantity they like and the customer has no comeback.

Imagine any other utility company charging a customer on the basis of "you used what we say you used" they would be laughed out of it.

Has any one ever asked UPC what system they use to monitor customer usage and if such a system has been independently certified as being fit for use?

Given customers increasing use of the web and the tendency of companies to charge for such use at lower levels than before, the proper measurement of data should be an issue for Comreg and they should be ensuring that proper systems are available to the customer to measure bandwidth used.

dub45

zenno wrote: »

thanks TouchingVirus yes i see. i will wait for the stats and take it from there.

.............................
if i had have received the letter then obviously this would never have happened so i will call them and request a copy of the letter they supposedly sent out to me which i never received.

............................

It has been reported on here before that they will claim that An Post have confirmed delivery of the letter. This of course is firstly a lie and a very serious slur against An Post. An post will of course confirm delivery of a registered letter but the letters sent out by UPC are not registered.

An Post cannot confirm delivery of any non registered letter.

So if they try that on you tell them were to get off!

zenno

dub45 wrote: »

It has been reported on here before that they will claim that An Post have confirmed delivery of the letter. This of course is firstly a lie and a very serious slur against An Post. An post will of course confirm delivery of a registered letter but the letters sent out by UPC are not registered.

An Post cannot confirm delivery of any non registered letter.

So if they try that on you tell them were to get off!

interesting and a very good point. I will definately keep that in mind when i talk to them.

L'prof

zenno wrote: »

i checked again now on my usage and it was on 60MB and immediately clicked onto youtube homepage and it went to 69MB so just by clicking onto youtube homepage with no video running it used 9MB to open youtube. now that is crazy by any standards.

9MB is crazy for a webpage? I'm not so sure it is when it's youtube you're talking about and besides 9 MB is a tiny proportion of the 250GB fair usage. I'm not sure why you're getting worked up about it. You'd have to refresh that page 1.5 times a minute for the entire month to exceed your limit that way. If all you (of course somebody else could be using it!) were doing is browsing, you wouldn't be going over your limit.

I found an interesting site that analyses web pages and it says that YouTube is 14285 bytes which works out at 14MB.

zenno

L'prof wrote: »

9MB is crazy for a webpage? I'm not so sure it is when it's youtube you're talking about and besides 9 MB is a tiny proportion of the 250GB fair usage. I'm not sure why you're getting worked up about it. You'd have to refresh that page 1.5 times a minute for the entire month to exceed your limit that way. If all you (of course somebody else could be using it!) were doing is browsing, you wouldn't be going over your limit.

I found an interesting site that analyses web pages and it says that YouTube is 14285 bytes which works out at 14MB.

this is not the point. the point is that it should not take 9MB just to open a webpage. i am the only one on the pc as i have unplugged all other pc's as of yesterday until this issue i have is sorted out.

if any of you that use upc want to try this for yourselves the name of this program is SHaPlus bandwidth meter 1.3.1 sent to me from upc.

the amount of websites you would open and use in 1 month and each website adds 9MB to your usage then in my opinion it is bad. my usage for today is 92MB and all i have done is use gmail and boards.ie. i have not used anything else. there is something strange about all this i know that much. the main issue i am dealing with here in my thread is more important but i just added this info in as well as it is strange that it takes 9MB just to open a webpage and is added to usage it is very large imo.

so this would be a big issue for people on the lower upc speed.

L'prof

zenno wrote: »

this is not the point. the point is that it should not take 9MB just to open a webpage. i am the only one on the pc as i have unplugged all other pc's as of yesterday until this issue i have is sorted out.

if any of you that use upc want to try this for yourselves the name of this program is SHaPlus bandwidth meter-setup from upc.

the amount of websites you would open and use in 1 month and each website adds 9MB to your usage then in my opinion it is bad. my usage for today is 92MB and all i have done is use gmail and boards.ie. i have not used anything else. there is something strange about all this i know that much.

Unless you're watching videos, YouTube alone wouldn't be 9MB.

zenno

L'prof wrote: »

Unless you're watching videos, YouTube alone wouldn't be 9MB.

well all i can tell you is the truth and this is what is happening. it is taking 9MB just to open the youtube homepage on upc. it is taking 4MB just to open gmail. so i am not an expert in net communications but i am absolutely positive this is the case. and just to see was it just my pc i used my sisters laptop with that program and it is verified and true that this is the case.

L'prof

zenno wrote: »

well all i can tell you is the truth and this is what is happening. it is taking 9MB just to open the youtube homepage on upc. it is taking 4MB just to open gmail. so i am not an expert in net communications but i am absolutely positive this is the case. and just to see was it just my pc i used my sisters laptop with that program and it is verified and true that this is the case.

What about google?

zenno

L'prof wrote: »

What about google?

google seems to fluctuate from 1MB to open the google homepage in firefox to 2MB on the second try. i restarted the laptop and done a test on youtube homepage again and it used 3MB this time to open the homepage.

must be a bug in the program or it just fluctuates up and down. i just think it is odd.but it is been added to usage either way.

L'prof

zenno wrote: »

google seems to fluctuate from 1MB to open the google homepage in firefox to 2MB on the second try. i restarted the laptop and done a test on youtube homepage again and it used 3MB this time to open the homepage.

must be a bug in the program or it just fluctuates up and down. i just think it is odd.

I'll log into linux later and check it properly. I'm sure there are plenty of other bandwidth monitors you could try.

zenno

L'prof wrote: »

I'll log into linux later and check it properly. I'm sure there are plenty of other bandwidth monitors you could try.

i agree but upc sent me this one to use. i might try a different one to be sure. but they seemed to recommend this one as they sent it. SHaPlus bandwidth meter 1.3.1

zenno

dub45 wrote: »

the proper measurement of data should be an issue for Comreg and they should be ensuring that proper systems are available to the customer to measure bandwidth used.

I might just write comreg a registered letter regarding this.

I also see on upc billing website that no information on usage exists but everything else is available except this main usage information, I wonder why. I think it's time to get the pen and paper out.

dogpile

zenno wrote: »

i agree but upc sent me this one to use. i might try a different one to be sure. but they seemed to recommend this one as they sent it. SHaPlus bandwidth meter 1.3.1

Just downloaded that program....... running in a tray down bottom, something don't look right with it after just flicking through various web pages not DLing anything in well under 10mins I'm over 100MB......it's actually ticking away as I'm doing nothing.......God help you if that's what UPC use to monitor usage

zenno

dogpile wrote: »

Just downloaded that program....... running in a tray down bottom, something don't look right with it after just flicking through various web pages not DLing anything in well under 10mins I'm over 100MB......it's actually ticking away as I'm doing nothing.......God help you if that's what UPC use to monitor usage

thanks for trying that program and verifying the results here.

well as i said i was given the link for that program by upc via e-mail so it does begger belief.

dogpile

I'm pretty much close to 1gig in under an hour now of doing very little.....don't think I've ever gone over 30gig a month, ever!


I'd do that in a week with this

zenno

dogpile wrote: »

I'm pretty much close to 1gig in under an hour now of doing very little.....don't think I've ever gone over 30gig a month, ever!


I'd do that in a week with this

yeh it's a strange one thats forsure. I will be doing a fare few more tests later on other software to see how this pans out.

my e-mail details from upc as follows...

Thank you again for the mail but unfortunately I am not able to advise of anything else at present. The acceptable usage policy is part of the terms & conditions of your contract please read through the following link at it may help you understand the policy better.

http://www.upc.ie/termsandconditions/acceptableusagepolicy/


Apologies but we have to see the usage curtailed before any downgrade is allowed to go through that is why we would have had to wait till the end of February.

I can only suggest that you make sure to keep a close eye now and hopefully this issue will not arise again and the upgrade will not happen again. Please look at the meter below it may help you to monitor the usage

http://www.shaplus.com/bandwidth-meter/


Regards


Mia


Mia Manek

upc Broadband Usage CoOrdinator

Upc

Inchicore

Dublin 8.

Email:

dub45

zenno wrote: »

thanks for trying that program and verifying the results here.

well as i said i was given the link for that program by upc via e-mail so it does begger belief.

You should ask UPC what software they use to monitor customer usage and if it has been certified by any professional body as being fit for purpose.

zenno

dub45 wrote: »

You should ask UPC what software they use to monitor customer usage and if it has been certified by any professional body as being fit for purpose.

don't worry this is exactly what i will be asking them tomorrow when i ring them as well as e-mail them. i have it all on paper now.

L'prof

L'prof wrote: »

I found an interesting site that analyses web pages and it says that YouTube is 14285 bytes which works out at 14MB.

Massive, brainfart here! 14285 bytes is 14kB, which is 0.01MB. When I opened YouTube my network activity spiked to about 100kB/s, so get rid of that software UPC recommended!

Sponge Bob

The shaplus app should be this one on their own site, is this the LINK that UPC sent you ??

http://www.shaplus.com/exes/misc/ShaPlus%20Bandwidth%20Meter-Setup.exe

Are you running Skype all the time BTW ??

zenno

L'prof wrote: »

Massive, brainfart here! 14285 bytes is 14kB, which is 0.01MB. When I opened YouTube my network activity spiked to about 100kB/s, so get rid of that software UPC recommended!

10/4 removing it now.

zenno

Sponge Bob wrote: »

The shaplus app should be this one on their own site, is this the LINK that UPC sent you ??

http://www.shaplus.com/exes/misc/ShaPlus%20Bandwidth%20Meter-Setup.exe

this is the link upc sent me... <upc> Please look at the meter below it may help you to monitor the usage

http://www.shaplus.com/bandwidth-meter/ in regards to you're question on skype' at first i had skype on the taskbar but wasn't using it. but while i was testing the program for the last fare few hours i had it turned off but the same problem with the program usage was still the same. having skype on didn't make any difference than it being turned off.

Sponge Bob

That is the correct link and my bandwidth does not gallop like yours does. There is something the funneh about this, maybe a virus maybe only skype.

You may have a public IP addresss with the UPC router often set in bridging mode, if so you should exit skype after setting it not to launch with windows and see if that makes any difference. If necessary reboot and look at the bandwidth.

It is also possible you are fragmenting packets with a borked MTU value, this means you are sending 2x or 3 x the data packets you should send for a given amount of data. This could well be UPCs fault but proving it is a tad technical to say the least.

However it is provable it is their fault !!

zenno

Sponge Bob wrote: »

That is the correct link and my bandwidth does not gallop like yours does. There is something the funneh about this, maybe a virus maybe only skype.

You may have a public IP addresss with the UPC router often set in bridging mode, if so you should exit skype after setting it not to launch with windows and see if that makes any difference. If necessary reboot and look at the bandwidth.

It is also possible you are fragmenting packets with a borked MTU value, this means you are sending 2x or 3 x the data packets you should send for a given amount of data. This could well be UPCs fault but proving it is a tad technical to say the least.

However it is provable it is their fault !!

i see. i will look into that.

i always scan a few times a week with kaspersky internet security 2011 and malwarebytes and trend micro housecall. but this system according to all of them is clean. but i will get to the bottom of this none the less.

Sponge Bob

Try this off a command line, if it fragments at a value below 1460 we might be on to something.

http://help.expedient.com/broadband/mtu_ping_test.shtml

zenno

getting back to the main issue...I have just found another error in upc's billing of my usage.

it say's on my bill that was posted to me the other day that my usage for the month of february 2011 was...{my stat for february 11th 2011 upload 101.69 download 94.015146 total 195.7GB but on this attachment below it say's 149.28GB for february 2011. so this is another error on their side. it's either one or the other but i will sort this out as well later. the more i dig into this the more i seem to find. the bill i was sent in the post is completely different to what their e-mail and upc bill online is.

dub45

I found with them recently that their billing is extraordinarily unprofessional. I had terminated my contract with them, had incredible difficulty in getting them to actually cancel it but they continued to send me bills with figures that seemed to be plucked out of the air. No attempt whatsoever to show how the figures were calculated.

I know I constantly criticise them but every interaction I have with them is an unmitigated disaster. they really appear to be making up stuff as they go along and there isnt a hint of professionalism in anything they do and that is based on direct experience.

zenno

dub45 wrote: »

I found with them recently that their billing is extraordinarily unprofessional. I had terminated my contract with them, had incredible difficulty in getting them to actually cancel it but they continued to send me bills with figures that seemed to be plucked out of the air. No attempt whatsoever to show how the figures were calculated.

I know I constantly criticise them but every interaction I have with them is an unmitigated disaster. they really appear to be making up stuff as they go along and there isnt a hint of professionalism in anything they do and that is based on direct experience.

I will agree that their billing is extraordinarily unprofessional i have just found holes in their own billing to me and this is not going to help them at all.

why should i have to spend hours and days e-mailing them and trying to sort this out when they (upc) have made clerical errors in their billing, i have no confidence in upc anymore as they do not include usage in their online billing information which i find very suspect.

the way i see it now after all this idiotic behaviour from them is' when i deal with them tomorrow if my problem is not sorted out then i will write them a registered letter and cancel my broadband account with them. they firstly will have to explain the errors in their billing to me first so i can get it on record.

also i see that not one upc boards member in billing has replied in this thread as they usually comment here on issues like this. vodaphone have no problems of replying to their customers comments on boards.ie.

dub45

zenno wrote: »

I will agree that their billing is extraordinarily unprofessional i have just found holes in their own billing to me and this is not going to help them at all.

why should i have to spend hours and days e-mailing them and trying to sort this out when they (upc) have made clerical errors in their billing, i have no confidence in upc anymore as they do not include usage in their online billing information which i find very suspect.

the way i see it now after all this idiotic behaviour from them is' when i deal with them tomorrow if my problem is not sorted out then i will write them a registered letter and cancel my broadband account with them. they firstly will have to explain the errors in their billing to me first so i can get it on record.

I wish you luck with that!

slave1

If we are at the stage where routine day to day surfing is contributing to breaking a 250gig AUP on a 30mb connection then there's something wrong somewhere.
I leave myself 8gig for routing surfing a month and use the rest of the AUP for other downloading/uploading purposes and have never had an issue with UPC/AUP (so far:eek:)
Will be interesting to see how you fair out, I wouldn't neccessarily jump ship, you could use to your advantage and ask for a loyalty discount if you stat, you don't want to cut off your nose etc. because who's to say your next ISP will be any better....
Keep us updated

bonoman66

dogpile wrote: »

Just downloaded that program....... running in a tray down bottom, something don't look right with it after just flicking through various web pages not DLing anything in well under 10mins I'm over 100MB......it's actually ticking away as I'm doing nothing.......God help you if that's what UPC use to monitor usage

I noticed too when I setup this bandwidth monitor that the traffic it measured was significantly higher than I could see was actually occurring - I just ran some very simple file download tests & saw it measured several times the data doownloaded. When I checked the setting / configuration option within the bandwidth monitor utility, I saw that multiple devices/network protocols were all ticked meaning that I was not seeing accurate data tranfer / usage figures. When I unticked all the options apart from the one I knew to be my primary NIC in the PC, everything started to measure correctly & has been stable / accurate since. Maybe just have a look at the settings to see if there are multiple devices/protocols ticked & try just ensuring just the main NIC in your system is ticked & test it again. Hopefully this might help you.

Bear in mind that it is possible for the bandwidth monitor correctly to show some usage even when you are not physically doing something yourself because its possible that maybe your AV software is being updated in the background (granted not all the time but just an example of why you might see some usage at certain times when you are not proactivley using the web/or downloading) or maybe Windows update is working away in the backgound. Obviously you'll see some usage too if you're feeding data to your dekstop (& have forgotten you've done this - stats, share prices tickers, internet radio etc..)

Sponge Bob

That is possible, there are selectable virtual and real drivers in the settings for the recommended download monitor. In real life a real device driver may pass to a virtual device driver and then to the operating system. This would explain a double count.

Only one of physical network card (eg often broadcom or intel ) should be selected and one of wireless network card ( often from the same two vendors) and with all the miniport and virtual drivers not monitored in case of double and treble counting.