NBS Satellite "upgrade" from 12th July 2012

ToadVine

So, according to 3 there will be an upgrade to the NBS satellite broadband service from 12th July 2012. This upgrade will provide customers with "a much improved service and a significantly enhanced customer experience" according to a letter I received this morning.

According to the letter, "the service offered to you will be improved as per the detail below:
1. Minimum download speed 3584 kbs
2. Minimum contention ratio 48:1
3. Minimum upload speed 384 kbs
4. Data cap 11gb (over a sliding 30 day window)"

I have been told by a 3 customer rep that I'll be getting a new satellite dish over the coming days/weeks, and the dish will be smaller and pointing in a different direction. I think the 3 rep said that DigiWeb would be replacing OnWave as the supplier (but may have misheard).

The 3 rep also said my usage, which is currently 9gb over the last 30 days would be reset to 0gb from date of installation of the new dish. There will also be a "dedicated website to allow you to manage your usage as you go through the month" ... I'm presuming this means a website that allows you to monitor download amounts in realtime. It will also be possible to buy extra bandwidth at the rate of €2.50/0.5gb or €5/1gb if you hit the 11gb allowance over any 30 day period. According to the 3 rep I spoke to, service is simply suspended if the 11gb allowance is reached in any 30 day period ... no throttling or capping speeds as they do now. Also, no hourly/daily limits as they have now.

The 3 rep was convince this "upgrade" would mean a hugely improved service and user experience.

I'm not convinced ... but OnWave have been utterly dire recently, so I'm hoping this new upgrade will be (at least) a small improvement.

theothers108

Got a letter aswell toad does this mean that free usage from 11pm to 8am is gone??

ToadVine

theothers108 wrote: »

Got a letter aswell toad does this mean that free usage from 11pm to 8am is gone??

Apparently there was never "free" usage between 11pm-7am. 3 have confirmed to me that usage between those hours will count for half ... e.g. if you download 8gb between those hours it'll count as 4gb towards your limit.

ruffmut

I have been without a service since last Friday, bar about 2 hours yesterday. Phoned Onwave and they told me that they don't support customers on the NBS scheme anymore, three took over it and to phone three direct.

He also said that they have had a lot of calls since the upgrade letter went out with similar problems.

I phoned Three who told me that my upgrade was carried out but it is frozen now. Was supposed to be then transferred to tech support but they were too busy, so I am now waiting for a call back.

blackphilip

Hello Folks,

I am new here so go easy! I am a long temr customer with three and the national broadband scheme. I too received a letter on 13th Jul 2012 to inform me that the service was being upgraded, would be down for maybe 30 minute intervals, and everything would be fixed by monday 16th July. First thing, I did not receive the letter until 13th Jul, the upgrade was already taking place on thursday the 12th Jul, the service was down from approx 12 noon on friday and after 6 phone calls to three technical services 1913 then 2215 to get the tech support, I got the usual spoof, and lies...."we will ring you back to activate the system, you will be compensated for the loss of service, if you don't like it take your business elsewhere". I contacted comreg, - there response was as follows -

I would like to acknowledge receipt of your email received on 16/07/12.

ComReg can become involved in the resolution of individual cases only when the customer has first lodged a complaint with the operator in question. To lodge a formal complaint I advise you to proceed as outlined below:

<li style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5;" class="MsoNormal">Contact 3Ireland via email to

customer.services.ie@3mail.com<li style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5;" class="MsoNormal">State that you have been advised by ComReg to lodge a formal complaint<li style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125); mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5;" class="MsoNormal">Request a complaint reference number
[*]Give the details of your complaint

If 3Ireland does not respond to your complaint within 10 working days you can contact ComReg with the complaint reference number. We can then intervene on your behalf and seek an official response. At this point can you also provide your account number and an alternative contact number please.

You may also wish to raise your issue with the National Broadband Scheme run by the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, to Niamh Hamill at 01-678 2123, or by email at nationalbroadbandscheme@dcenr.gov.ie.

Should you have any further queries or require any other assistance you can call our Consumer Line on 01 8049668 or 1890 229668, or email consumerline@comreg.ie.

My advice is to do as comreg says above...if we do not contact them, and alert the authorities to these shambolic companies then who is? The broadband service has been down the best part of today also, totally unacceptable, and fraudulent...totday the technical staff informed me not to phone them again, they will contact me in a few days.....crazy, when you have to use broadband as part of your business.

I hope this is of use to other three broadband customers.

Regards
BP

yuloni

This post has been deleted.