Warning: Magnet Broadband-Stay away from this Company!!!

cynosure1023

I'm writing this post in the hope that someone looking around for a broadband provider will come across it and save them from the world of pain that is Magnet Broadband. I want to say from the beginning, that I can back everything up here, so if someone wants to PM me for specific details please do.

I have been with them for more than 5 years and recently I changed my Broadband package to 100 Mbps line and on Wi-Fi I am not getting more than 30-35 Mbps with them and all I can say is that they are a disaster of a company to deal with.

Here are the main reasons you need to avoid them:

-Their customer service is the worst I have ever come across. They are very rude on the phones including Management. From the moment I upgraded the order I have been gobsmacked at how bad everything is handled. They never switched my order and it took full week and many phone calls to get it sorted. Each time I rang I was promised someone would upgrade the package but nobody ever did. The bill was sent out with no problems at all- With NO Delays. They expect me to pay for the service which they are not providing me.

- Their Tech support is the worse. The Rudest people on Earth. They really don't seem to have any clue what is going on when you ring them. The people that answer the tech support line appear not to be the real support people - as far as I can make out. I emailed them clearly asking why the WIFI speed in the settings menu of Router restricted on the wireless router to 65 Mbps and the tech support replied me without reading the email properly and checking the screenshots that “I do believe that you were getting 35 Mbs previously. That is a fairly big jump in speed to be now getting 65 Mbs.”
I even rang them and ask to change the speed and frequency as it seems to be greyed out for me. The tech support agent said “Oh we cannot change those settings, the only settings which you can change that’s the only option we can change”. I ask so who can? It’s a router provided by you and there should be a 2nd level team who should be able to do change these settings. She just replied “No we cannot change anything”. What a waste of time and money!
I asked them to put me through their manger and they said that they don’t have capability to transfer the call. What kind of call centre they work in. Nobody ever called me back. The next day when I rang back they put me through the manager and the manager just lied to me saying he called me 3 times. I never got any call and no voicemails either. I wasted my whole day ringing them and waiting for the call.
I spoke to their manager and he said “He don’t care, once they provide the equipment and you get the service” We don’t care how much speed you get once you get connected that’s their job done. So I said that I have an official complaint with Comreg then Mr. Manager goes yeah just give them this reference as I deal with them always. He sounds as he is very PROUD of it.

-Their equipment is the cheapest quality ever. At least this is what I can make out. I provided them with the facts that 3rd party router is able to get more speed 70-80 Mbps. But their equipment cannot handle the speed. I don't want to be running bleeding cables all over me gaf. Have a little kid and what if he trips over.

- Less important, but worthy of a mention nonetheless - their wireless routers they supply are appalling. They're grand if you're the type of person that simply wants to enter your Wi-Fi password and work away. But if you're someone who intends to use their broadband connection as part of a media hub forget it, you will be disappointed, it’s simply rubbish.

These are the main points.

My advice: If you are considering getting Magnet, then DO NOT go with Magnet. I promise you will regret it if you do.
I have an Official complaint open with Comreg opened now.

thefinalstage

It seems to me that the crux of your complaint is that you are getting 35Mb over wireless? If that's the case comreg won't entertain it...

cynosure1023

poisonedstream wrote: »

It seems to me that the crux of your complaint is that you are getting 35Mb over wireless? If that's the case comreg won't entertain it...

Yeah I got your point. But the thing is I don't want to be running bleeding cables all over me gaf. Have a little kid and what if he trips over. They are not providing the service they suppose to be. It rules the whole point of WIFi then.

White Heart Loon

There's nothing wrong, you're doing well, that's about the max you can expect over wireless. You'll need to plug in to get faster.

cynosure1023

White Heart Loon wrote: »

There's nothing wrong, you're doing well, that's about the max you can expect over wireless. You'll need to plug in to get faster.

With me mates router I am getting 70-80 MBps. Tried Netgear & TP Link.

garyegt

if you're not happy with the router why dont you get a better one? of course theirs is going to be ****, most isp's routers are. its probably not wireless N compatible

cynosure1023

garyegt wrote: »

if you're not happy with the router why dont you get a better one? of course theirs is going to be ****, most isp's routers are. its probably not wireless N compatible

Yeah thats wht m looking to do now. But buying a descent router costs around 100 euro or more which is now an extra expense on top of me bill. Which I should not be paying for....

garyegt

surely you are getting broadband service though? if you are then yes, you should be paying for it...

at the end of the day its down to your isp to supply you with an internet connection, its not up to them to supply a router with all the bells and whistles. if you want to network your house, thats nothing to do with magnet, theyre only supplying the service, and you have to pay for that.

i know its not what you want to hear but its the way the world works

stupidman

Have to agree..signed up with them before..had no service for days and then the odd day of internet and the customer service was terrible..with Vodafone which aren't great either took 3 months to fix a fault.

White Heart Loon

cynosure1023 wrote: »

With me mates router I am getting 70-80 MBps. Tried Netgear & TP Link.

Then go and buy one. What are you struggling with on only 35mbit?

degsie

OP has an unfounded grudge. Move on folks.

wheresmybeaver

Now to side with OP here, magnet provide an incredibly locked-down modem / router, apparently its a nightmare just doing basics like port forwarding and you cant even manually set a WiFi channel (in case of interference from neighbors etc). OP can NOT buy another modem as VDSL modems are configured specifically for the Irish market. And magnet will not let you put their modem into bridge mode. OP can only get his promised speed over LAN, when others with the same fibre / VDSL product on Vodafone, eircom etc can get their promised speeds over Wifi as well as LAN. Sounds like a crippled service to me.

Nonoperational

Could you not set up another router as an access point and use it?

Mr. G

I'm shocked to hear this. They need to get their act together by the sounds of it.

Why won't they allow you to put it into bridge mode?

wheresmybeaver

Mr. G wrote: »

I'm shocked to hear this. They need to get their act together by the sounds of it.

Why won't they allow you to put it into bridge mode?

they apparently refuse to provide you with the required user credentials to connect via the bridging router.

I'm only going by memory of another thread now but I'm not even sure its possible to manually port forward with magnet vdsl because of their modem restrictions? Can a magnet vdsl / fibre user confirm this?

daelight

Funny, wonder how this thread stays online but when I said about bad experience with Pitman Training, it was removed? I didn't tell people to 'stay away' from them, just how appalling their service was.

White Heart Loon

Can you not disable wireless on the modem and add an access point?

cynosure1023

I just bit the bullet and purchased me own router. Plugged-in and now getting 84-90 Mbps connection on WiFi. The router only cost 65 euro and I don't understand why Magnet cannot come to an agreement with a supplier to provide good quality router.

White Heart Loon

cynosure1023 wrote: »

I just bit the bullet and purchased me own router. Plugged-in and now getting 84-90 Mbps connection on WiFi. The router only cost 65 euro and I don't understand why Magnet cannot come to an agreement with a supplier to provide good quality router.

Name a provider that does. All ISP provided routers are crap but are fine for 90% of their customers. It's your internal network, not their problem

degsie

cynosure1023 wrote: »

I just bit the bullet and purchased me own router. Plugged-in and now getting 84-90 Mbps connection on WiFi. The router only cost 65 euro and I don't understand why Magnet cannot come to an agreement with a supplier to provide good quality router.

So you'r staying with Magnet then :rolleyes:

the_syco

cynosure1023 wrote: »

With me mates router I am getting 70-80 MBps. Tried Netgear & TP Link.

Is your mates router his ISP's router?

cynosure1023

@degsie: I dont ve a choice bcoz i cant get UPC here as yet but i told them to let me know once they can and also put me on the list, i will switch to them once they can provide BB here and rang sky they said that they cannot take over magnet's line easily as they do something to the line in Exchange (me mate work in telecoms and he told me everything abt it- cant put here) so its not easy job and would only be possible for Eircom to take over but then i will ve to stay with them for 1 year as of contract. Also not straight forward and will be good few weeks without line & Broadband which I cannot bear.

@the_syco: Yes, his one is from the UPC. He have 120 MBps line and he gets 95-100 over WiFi.

White Heart Loon

cynosure1023 wrote: »

@degsie: I dont ve a choice bcoz i cant get UPC here as yet but i told them to let me know once they can and also put me on the list, i will switch to them once they can provide BB here and rang sky they said that they cannot take over magnet's line easily as they do something to the line in Exchange (me mate work in telecoms and he told me everything abt it- cant put here) so its not easy job and would only be possible for Eircom to take over but then i will ve to stay with them for 1 year as of contract. Also not straight forward and will be good few weeks without line & Broadband which I cannot bear.

@the_syco: Yes, his one is from the UPC. He have 120 MBps line and he gets 95-100 over WiFi.

I suggest you have a search here, the UPC issued routers (especially the Horizon) are the ones complained about most here. Completely locked down too, you have to hack them to bridge them. But do come back and rant again when you change.

seanp_25

cynosure1023 wrote: »

I just bit the bullet and purchased me own router. Plugged-in and now getting 84-90 Mbps connection on WiFi. The router only cost 65 euro and I don't understand why Magnet cannot come to an agreement with a supplier to provide good quality router.

Which router did you go for?

Upgrading to 70MBit soon, might need to get my own router.

(btw I didn't know they did 100MBit? I thought it was only Fatpipe 24 and 70)

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

they apparently refuse to provide you with the required user credentials to connect via the bridging router.

I'm only going by memory of another thread now but I'm not even sure its possible to manually port forward with magnet vdsl because of their modem restrictions? Can a magnet vdsl / fibre user confirm this?

The router only gives very basic options. Even the most basic of options like changing your WiFi access password are missing. Port forwarding using the standard router login? Forget it.

I was able to obtain the admin password for my router from Magnet support, which gave a few more options alright but haven't checked if bridge mode is possible with this.

cynosure1023

seanp_25 wrote: »

Which router did you go for?

Upgrading to 70MBit soon, might need to get my own router.

(btw I didn't know they did 100MBit? I thought it was only Fatpipe 24 and 70)

I got Belkin N 600 DB. Its a dual band router with alot of features like guest network, self healing, usb port, parental control, Media server (its a brilliant feature as i can access n stream multimedia via me xbox n tele). TBH its one of the best router in for that price, i am kind of impressed in for that price range. Got it from power city. I am even getting upto 94 MBps.
Yeah they do 100 Mb line. They dont ve it on the website tho.

White Heart Loon

Belkin? You shouldn't listen to the gobsh1tes in Power City, if you asked here you'd have been advised anything but Belkin

Gmaximum

cynosure1023 wrote: »

@degsie: I dont ve a choice bcoz i cant get UPC here as yet but i told them to let me know once they can and also put me on the list, i will switch to them once they can provide BB here and rang sky they said that they cannot take over magnet's line easily as they do something to the line in Exchange (me mate work in telecoms and he told me everything abt it- cant put here) so its not easy job and would only be possible for Eircom to take over but then i will ve to stay with them for 1 year as of contract. Also not straight forward and will be good few weeks without line & Broadband which I cannot bear.

@the_syco: Yes, his one is from the UPC. He have 120 MBps line and he gets 95-100 over WiFi.

If you are getting 100Mbps you are not using DSL and therefore not connected to any exhange. I suspect you are on their fibre to the home platform. Sky only need a phone line to deliver their service. The max speed they offer is 24Mbps over ADSL from the local exchange

chazbat1

The assumption here is that the OP has VDSL - he says he has 100MB which is not VDSL - probably a fibre optic connection - in which case (My mate lives in Clongriffen) the OP should have CAT 5 network points around his home... I have to agree with others - 35MB over Wifi is about right - I have UPC with double the speed of the OP and had to buy my own decent wifi access point to get over the 35MB the Horizon box was providing and use Powerline adapters for my back bedroom / home office.

whomitconcerns

they offer 100mb over fiber...have it for years. I use the 60mb option and I get 40mb over wifi and 47/48 over cable at worst. At best i get 56mb on cable. Their cust service and tech support is terrible. But when it works they are the best provider I have had re speed etc.

And yes I have bought my own router as theirs is pants. I picked up a wireless 802.11ac compatible router too ::D:D and my new lappie has it built in so will see if that helps..may go to 100mb then too

degsie

cynosure1023 wrote: »

rang sky they said that they cannot take over magnet's line easily as they do something to the line in Exchange (me mate work in telecoms and he told me everything abt it- cant put here)

Your 'mate' is full of guff :cool:

garyegt

degsie wrote: »

Your 'mate' is full of guff :cool:

maybe not, in some areas magnet have some equipment at the exchange, just like bt do