I really don't want to jump ship but please look at your Caps

[kerrso05]

I really don't want to jump ship but these caps are causing all kinds of arguments in our house.My two daughters are 19 and 22 and they are almost on the internet 24/7....well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean with Facebook, Emails, downloading the latest American Sitcoms and the latest girlly movies and now what comes along Love Film. What can you do? I have tried sitting up to the wee small hours and downloading after twelve, that has worked but then you look at your quota and it's 30.1Gbs and we only have a couple of days left till the end of the month. Honestly, the caps are not generous enough for what is happening out there in the real world.
Please please please don't get me wrong Idnet are the Best Internet Service Provider in the whole world.....their customer service is second to none and even when we do go over our quota it's only £1 for a Gb......which honestly is not the worst penalty ....they even send you out a very polite almost apologetic Email notifying you that you have to pay the couple quid.

I really don't want to leave but please Idnet revisit your Caps.....there must be something you can do because I got a phone call the other night from a representative from BT who was offering me unlimited downloads for less money than I am already paying. Yes I know that BT are useless when it comes to customer Service but doesn't Idnet use the same network and if there is a problem on the network they send out a BT engineer to fix it. I wouldn't mind paying a wee bit more to get a much more generous allowance....I'm not saying go Unlimited but 30Gb is a bit low. A couple of years ago I would have said 30 Gbs was very generous but not now with the likes of Love Film and NetFlix and smart TVs. I would say there is an argument every month in our house trying to find out who is the culprit that downloaded/streamed too much.

Idnet Please look at this problem

[Simon]

There's no guarantee that IDNet will read your post here.  You really need to email them direct, and see if there's anything they can do for you. 

[kerrso05]

Thanks Simon for your reply.....I had already thought of that but I thought that they probably couldn't/wouldn't do anything if there was only one person having this problem whereas I was trying to find out if other people were having the same problem then maybe Idnet might do something.
One person leaving isn't going to have much effect on the situation
Guys.....what do you think of the Caps.....do you think they should be increased?

I really don't want to go to a dodgy company like BT......I used to be with one of their subsidiary's Plusnet and they were the worst in the world

[nomad101]

Hi kerrso05

Have you considered upgrading to a different package?  Not sure if you're on ADSL or Fibre but for a few £'s a month more you can get 50GB peak/ 150GB off-peak:

https://www.idnet.net/solutions/home/broadband/default-fibre.jsp

I'm also finding myself knocking up against the 30GB peak limit and starting to consider upgrading myself.  IDNet recently increased the allowances on some of their packages but unfortunately not on Home Plus Fibre.

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,28623.msg0

[Steve]

 

[Ray]

 

[nomad101]

Thanks!  I'm a long-time lurker but decided it was time to register and start posting!   

[Lance]

A good decision!

[psp83]

Hi kerrso05

Have you considered upgrading to a different package?  Not sure if you're on ADSL or Fibre but for a few £'s a month more you can get 50GB peak/ 150GB off-peak:

https://www.idnet.net/solutions/home/broadband/default-fibre.jsp

I'm also finding myself knocking up against the 30GB peak limit and starting to consider upgrading myself.  IDNet recently increased the allowances on some of their packages but unfortunately not on Home Plus Fibre.

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,28623.msg0

Trust me, I'm on the 50/150 FTTC package and that doesn't last long with a 80/20 connection 

I have to be careful what I use now & that is no streaming (iplayer, netflix, lovefilm etc) during peak hours.

[psp83]

Thanks Simon for your reply.....I had already thought of that but I thought that they probably couldn't/wouldn't do anything if there was only one person having this problem whereas I was trying to find out if other people were having the same problem then maybe Idnet might do something.
One person leaving isn't going to have much effect on the situation
Guys.....what do you think of the Caps.....do you think they should be increased?

I really don't want to go to a dodgy company like BT......I used to be with one of their subsidiary's Plusnet and they were the worst in the world

A few people have already said about the peak bandwidth allowances being to low on the fibre product in another post a little while ago, can't remember what post it was though.

I'm also looking around for other ISP's and might leave once my 12 month contract is up at the end of the year.

[kerrso05]

Hi kerrso05

Have you considered upgrading to a different package?  Not sure if you're on ADSL or Fibre but for a few £'s a month more you can get 50GB peak/ 150GB off-peak:

https://www.idnet.net/solutions/home/broadband/default-fibre.jsp

I'm also finding myself knocking up against the 30GB peak limit and starting to consider upgrading myself.  IDNet recently increased the allowances on some of their packages but unfortunately not on Home Plus Fibre.

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,28623.msg0

Thanks for all your posts............I have looked at the 50Gb peak limit but it wouldn't take long for the girls to smash that. If it was 60Gbs or 70Gbs I might consider it but it's nowhere near BT unlimited and I see that Zen (who are another good company like Idnet have 100Gbs and 200Gbs without the peak and off peak caps. The 200Gbs without peak and off peak caps.....sounds like it is a better deal. I also see that our local Broadcaster UTV do a Unlimited Fibre Optic deal but again I don't know anything about them (other than they make embarrassing cr*p TV) and again they have a fair Usage Scheme....which to these ears sounds like traffic shaping/controlling and I wouldn't want anything to do with that.
Come on IDNET do something about the Caps.......please....make them a wee bit more generous and more in keeping with what is happening in the real world...............with Netflix internet TV and downloading etc.

If the Government can do a Uturn surely Idnet can look at their policy and listen to their end users and change the caps.....please

[Simon]

Maybe a "fair usage policy" within the home might be something worth considering? 

[kerrso05]

Maybe a "fair usage policy" within the home might be something worth considering? 

I have already tried it by putting monitoring software on their Laptops (although can't do anything with their iPads and iPhones)............I mean how do you deal with an argument that goes along the lines of "Dad, (name of boyfriend) he has unlimited Fibre from Sky whereas you have old fashioned fibre from some "old boys" internet provider...get REAL" and then she goes on to argue that there are 4 adults in the house who all want to either stream download, whatever with the internet and all we have to play with is (roughly) 1Gb a day.....and when she puts it like that I have little or no argument other than the main one "who do you think pays for this.....ME" and then she goes on to say "but Dad I only use 7Gbs a month....you can see that because you put the monitoring software on my laptop......Dad you need to waken up and smell the coffee.....you can have unlimited downloads for less money....you need to move"

So you can see from the above, I have little or no room to  negotiate when comes to these caps......I don't think my point "but they are the best internet provider for customer care or they are the best Internet provider in the World"....cuts much ice when it comes to internet usage and their boyfriends have a provider that gives them unlimited usage (but gives them a load of other cr*p....which I don't want) 

No I'm sure I speak for most Fibre Optic Users within Idnet that they do need to get real and slightly up their very strict Caps or either go down the Zen path and have no off peak or peak usage......they can't compete against their main rivals BT and now Sky who are giving unlimited

[Rik]

Size matters.

[mervl]

You hit the nail on the head. It's the grocery argument: the corner shop has to compete with the big supermarket: result: loss of the corner shop but, quite frankly, to most consumers it makes no difference (well it does, actually, they get better choice at lower prices). I haven't seen a shred of evidence that IDNet or anyone else's FTTC support is any better than BT or the other big boys (and some evidence to the contrary, in fact). All the ADSL comparisons are irrelevant: VDSL2 to the cabinet uses different hardware and is inherently more stable and always dependent on Openreach (which does practice the equivalence that  it preaches, and very well too).

I go out of my way to use  services that allow me to download during off-peak rather than stream beacuse of IDNet's caps - I could equally well manage with lower traffic managed speeds and without the capping problem, but I then wouldn't choose IDNet as my provider; there are others that do it cheaper and as well. As for the myths about superior service: like witchcraft we should have left them behind in the medieval world. However good, IDNet are not a religion.

Going back to my grocery analogy: the small grocers that survive are those that cater to the minority "quality" market who survive on customers who are prepared to have a restricted choice (the local organics). I can't blame IDNet if they stick to their principles on this one.

[Gary]

Size matters.

A shrinking user base won't help  I use almost all my 50GB sometimes, and never touch the 150GB really, who wants to stream a film after midnight when you want to watch one during the evening when you are actually awake. Along with all my other bandwidth eating devices this peak/off peak is killing me, Zen really does seem to be the only option unless there is a big change in tariff structuring at IDnet, and tbh I can't see that changing as they have their business model and are really modelled for actual businesses than home users I would guess. What really gets me is so many friends laugh at the price I pay, before I could say yes but the level of support is outstanding, but that's changed too.

In times of tightening belts IDNet are expensive, and really the support seems no where near as good as it was a few years back, when they forget my domain mail is with them and tell me they cant deal with third party domains, and  I specifically told them in my email my domain is on their servers, I can't help but feel somewhat dismayed. I don't want to change, but I fear the days of the cosy IDNet customer relations are gone, times have changed.

[kerrso05]

like meryl I also go out of my way to use  services that allow me to download during off-peak rather than stream....but....little good it does me (except sleep deprivation) when the rest of my family stream during the day.
I also can't blame IDNet if they stick to their principles on this one but I'm not asking them to go to Unlimited like BT and Sky does because they will never compete with the Big Boys but surely they can compete with the likes of Zen. I'm not asking for the earth I'm just asking for them to re-look at their business model for home users in respect of Fibre otherwise our beloved Idnet will lose their loyal customers....who said it wasn't a religion (only joking).....to me it is more a loving concerned community that wants to look after it's customers.....well at least i'm  they do

[Tacitus]

Size matters.

In the consumer space I think you're right and the days of the small consumer ISP are probably numbered.  The only way out is for them to become a B2B supplier. 

Timico realised this a while ago and are setting themselves up as a pure business ISP dealing in integrated comms for business.  One supplier to give you SIP, Internet and hosting, with as much integration as you want.  Private VPN across multiple sites, check.  SIP phones linked over multiple sites with integrated mobile systems, check.  Throw cloud services into the mix and this is the way to go.  Businesses tend to prioritise service and reliability over cheap since the continued existence of the business may well depend on it.  I don't doubt Zen are looking at this sort of thing with the opening of their new datacentre.

As I see it, this is probably the only way a small ISP will survive, any consumers who want to sign up may do so, but they will pay a price (or a long term contract) that most consumers (including prosumers) will probably find uneconomic.  The current age of austerity means that more people are going to be looking for *cheap* and considerations of what constitutes value will vanish through economic necessity.

[andrue]

I haven't seen a shred of evidence that IDNet or anyone else's FTTC support is any better than BT or the other big boys (and some evidence to the contrary, in fact).

I'm an FTTC refugee from Be and although I have no real complaint about IDNet support it is definitely not the best I've come across.

The problems I've had IDNet deal with so far are:

* The wrong email was being used. They suggested going into the member centre to fix it. 
* My member centre details suddenly reverted to the defaults. They have never explained why just suggested that if I change the details over the phone they might 'stick' better.
* It took a full 24 hours for them to change the reverse DNS for my IP address.
* There was something else I needed them to do that also took 24 hours. The worse of both of those issues was that it was 24 hours of silence while my request sat in a queue waiting its turn 

It's not what I'd call bad but nothing compared to Be where you could have a laugh with the staff. You only have to look at how the Be staff are handling the current customer exodus. Wishing them well, encouraging discussions on the merits of FTTC and politely just dropping in the odd 'hope you come back to us if/when we do FTTC'.

FYI: https://help.bethere.co.uk/help/support/geographical

Not to mention IRC and the forums where Be staff hang out. For the record it's that friendly attitude and community spirit that will make me go flying back to Be just as soon as they offer FTTC. I don't need the unlimited bandwidth (looks like 15GB peak is plenty for me) but I do like feeling 'part of the family'.

[mervl]

Yep, just to try and lighten the gloom, I'm a newbie with direct experience of IDNet since August last year (on FTTC). Their part of the network is superb for reliability and quality as far as I'm concerned, so too for me the reliability of the Openreach local loop (to my surprise after the disaster of a decade ago); both let down by BTWholesale (who seem a bit like Network Rail: endless engineering works). Trouble is, the IDNet network could be the least important factor affecting my use so the practical difference with the competition is not much (and even a bit of their network congestion might not affect my use too much). Use Sky's backhaul (which my second connection does) and you avoid even the BT Wholesale let-down.

[andrue]

Yep, just to try and lighten the gloom,

Well I'd like to say I'm not unhappy with IDNet. It's doing everything I expected and wanted. I'm just missing the community spirit a bit

[Rik]

Whiskey, gin or vodka?

[andrue]

Whiskey, gin or vodka?

Whisky. I prefer not have either ice or a spurious 'e' in mine 

[Rik]

Just testing.   

[pctech]

Sky will only remain unlimited until they reach a certain amount of users with the same usage habits, then like those before them they will introduce a fair usage policy which will allow them to use traffic management or other network management techniques.