A couple of questions before i migrate to IDnet

[Pistol]

Hi guys

Looks like a great forum you have here thanks. Ill keep this brief as i am not a customer yet, but very interested.

Long story short, im with "Fast4" (read Crap4), have been 9 months. The last 2 months have been terrible. I want out, along with many other crap4 customers. I found out about IDnet and this forum from the great forum ISPreview which i am a member of. Those that wish, can read more about the crap4 mess on that forum, in the "fast4" section.

I have a couple of questions after reading about IDnet and read its T&C's etc, which i would appreciate it if any of you could shed some light on them for me please. This is what i posted on the ISPreview forum, then thought it better to ask here

Ok.. currently in top spot for my new choice after getting away from crap4 is IDnet. Some of what is below appeared in a post i made in another thread, but i think its more appropriate here.

For starters, if Mark J recommends an ISP, as he did IDnet, then its worth looking at

Ive read up on them here in this forum and cant find bad remarks about them.

They have their own forum that is popular and busy and seems friendly!!

They have their own pipes and can deal direct with BT and there will be none of this cr*p about crap4 blaming their backbone supplier EurcrapISP. (yes, i will tar both with the same brush since neither is willing to communicate about who is actually at fault. It is disgusting behaviour for them to act or not act in such a way that the customer is left in the lurch or in the dark.)

Their packages seem fair and sustainable.

Home Max is 30GB, 25 quid.

They register well on thinkbroadbands test results comparitively. Here

UK based tech support which is free..

T&C's and AUP both look fine.
The only query i would have is where they say:

An Outbound Migration constitutes a termination of the Agreement and will be initiated once a MAC Code has been presented to another Service Provider and shall occur on the date provided by the gaining Service Provider.
The full 12 months balance will become due on Services with an Annual Contract and must be settled in full either via cheque or debit/credit card prior to a MAC code being issued.

They mentioned full 12 months but dont put it in context as to what it is.. I assume its for new users who didnt migrate in..but they dont clarify that. They have a 1 month contract, so i doubt its for subscription charges.

I wonder if IDnet or many other ISP's have POPs in Northern Ireland...anyone know?

I play DoD:S a lot so my main concern is that i have low and reliable latency for online gaming.

So basically.. what is the 12 months referring to in the T&C's there...?

I noticed someone else from Northern Ireland here.. can any who are maybe post some WinMTR results over several minutes or tracert results please?

I have had to put up with disconnects, long downtimes, pings of up to 500, speeds down to 200 kb/s when they should be (and i achieved) about 6000 kb/s. Now they are trying to force me to pay 85 quid to leave.. madness.

Once again, thanks very much and all the best.

edit - ps i assume Signature rights only appear after x posts? I cant find the option to enable mine. Ta - lol.. ok after i edited this it appeared, nvm

[Rik]

Hi and welcome to the forum, have a karma.

The reference to 12 months only applies to those on annual contracts, which you won't be. I think these are only used for business customers, but stand to be corrected. On the Home packages, it's purely a one month contract - though beware, few of us ever move on.

[Pistol]

cheers for that quick reply Rik.
That makes sense, i think it wouldnt hurt for them to clarify that however.

The reason im so careful is because of my experience with my current ISP... They advertised in large print that they had no small print lol. 1 month contract, no cancellation fees etc...

The reality is that they want to charge an £85 exit fee irregardless if ive been with them 1 month or 9 months (essentially for a MAC, though technically it isnt) even after their terrible service. I wouldnt want to leave if they hadnt been so terrible. 

Cheers

[Rik]

Nae bother. I'll mention clarification to Simon & Tim (the MDs). Hopefully, someone in Ulster can help you with the pings. I can tell you that, with interleaving on, I regularly ping 21-22ms to the BBC, same to jolt, but I only do the latter to check for others as I'm not a games player.

Your signature problem was a markup issue, btw.

[john]

Hi Pistoleer and welcome to the Forum from me too.

I work in IT and a guy came down this morning and visited one of my colleagues enquiring about broadband. He's currently with Orange and they've sent him a letter to say they are withdrawing his dial-up service but offering him broadband for a couple of pounds a month extra including an Internet phone service. My colleague passed him over to me and of course I enlightened him on the problems I had with Orange and the merits of Idnet. This apparantly was not what he wanted to hear (or at least expected) but he's gone away with some food for thought

Because Orange has offered him a months free trial and he's already with them I think he's going to see how this goes first but I showed him the 'Think broadband' comparitor and how much higher Idnet scored over Orange and also showed him the 'orangproblems' forum so I'm hopeful that he'll eventually see the light.

[Lance]

Welcome to the forum, pistoleer.

You'll enjoy IDNet if you join, quite possibly the best company I've ever dealt with!

Because Orange has offered him a months free trial and he's already with them I think he's going to see how this goes first but I showed him the 'Think broadband' comparitor and how much higher Idnet scored over Orange and also showed him the 'orangproblems' forum so I'm hopeful that he'll eventually see the light.

You just can't help some people!

[Simon]

Hi Pistoleer, and

As a new customer of IDNet, I can also confirm what a great service these guys provide.  I had a small issue with the billing cycle, probably caused by my own actions, but these were sorted quickly and amicably.  The forums are a great source for out of hours support, and are also a very friendly place to come a chat.  I think you'll like it here. 

[Gary]

Hi just another happy IDNet customer here as well , great forum, great staff at the end of the line who know what they are talking about, and are polite and friendly, best ISP I have been with, you would not regret the move. 

[Pistol]

Cheers all   I am decided that i will move to be with you guys..i just need to get out of paying the criminal £85+1 month to Crap4 first..

One other question if i could please - what is the routing setup in terms of pipes? How many hops are there for you to the bbc for example?

Anyone find out or know about the question of a POP being in Northern Ireland or not? The reason i ask is that i was told with my current ISP that i had to accept having a ping up to 30-50 higher than fellow customers in England.. would this be the same here?

Cheers

[Kheldar]

Welcome and enjoy another tuesday karma,

no complaints from me either as a relatively new Idnet customer - wow its been 6 months i've been here !

or i think it will be 6 months tomorrow !

Am sure you will find it a good ISP and this forum is always helpful, wild and wacky.

Just be aware we have a few rugby fans 

and i note you'll help lower the average age of forum members to 

[Rik]

One other question if i could please - what is the routing setup in terms of pipes? How many hops are there for you to the bbc for example?

Anyone find out or know about the question of a POP being in Northern Ireland or not? The reason i ask is that i was told with my current ISP that i had to accept having a ping up to 30-50 higher than fellow customers in England.. would this be the same here?

Hi

Here's a tracert to the Beeb:

tracert www.bbc.co.uk

Tracing route to www.bbc.net.uk [212.58.253.71]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  www.routerlogin.com [192.168.0.1]
  2    22 ms    22 ms    21 ms  telehouse-gw3.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]
  3    22 ms    22 ms    22 ms  rt-lonap-b.thdo.bbc.co.uk [193.203.5.91]
  4    23 ms    22 ms    21 ms  212.58.238.133
  5    25 ms    22 ms    22 ms  fe0-0.rt0-frontpost.prodgw.bbc.co.uk [212.58.239.222]
  6    24 ms    24 ms    30 ms  212.58.253.71

Trace complete.

I can't answer the NI question, I'm afraid, we do have an NI member, but I haven't see him in here recently. He does tend to be around in the ThinkBroadband IDNet board, so you could try posting there, or give IDNet a ring - it's a free call 0800 0267237.

[Rik]

wow its been 6 months i've been here !

It just seems longer, Steve.     

[Pistol]

Thats magic Rik ta. Yep think i will give them a call then thanks.

[Kheldar]

It just seems longer, Steve.     

only to you Rik.

[Rik]

 

[Simon]

Cheers all   I am decided that i will move to be with you guys..i just need to get out of paying the criminal £85+1 month to Crap4 first..

If it's for the sake of a month, it might just be worth sitting it out, but I note your sig says 13 weeks, so that might be a bit harder to stomach.  I had the same issue with Pipex.  As has been said in another thread, I don't think there's an easy way to get early release from these contracts.  All you can do is time your 30 day cancellation notice to coincide with the monthly payment, so that you don't end up paying an extra month that you don't use. 

[Pistol]

Nae bother. I'll mention clarification to Simon & Tim (the MDs).

Quality. Thanks and they did. Im impressed and i wanted to share that on ISPreview forum, from where i found out about you guys. I posted thus there, in case any of ye wanted to know.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=25269

Keep it up!

ps Si6776, yer right.. tricky spot im in. Im currently arranging to consult with CAB and TS, as i content that Fast4 are misleading us with their claims and also have breached their Terms. THing is thats likely to take ages to sort out.. all the while i suffer with cr*p net.. *sigh* If i pay it..i reckon ill have a well hard time to ever try and claim it back. Cheers for the advice re timing the notice though.

[Rik]

Now you know why we like it here - we get listened to and our input is valued and, as you've discovered, often acted on very quickly.

I hope you can find a way to resolve the Fast4 problem speedily, though I expect there will be some pain along the way.

We'll keep a chair warm for you...

[Pistol]

eek i must be loosing my mind.. turns out they did say it was for Annual contracts only all along so the MD's didnt need to have changed it... *holds head* sorry.. *gibber*

[MoHux]

eek i must be loosing my mind.. turns out they did say it was for Annual contracts only all along so the MD's didnt need to have changed it... *holds head* sorry.. *gibber*

How to back yourself into a corner!! 

Join the club Pistoleer! 

[Simon]

We'll keep a chair warm for you...

eek i must be loosing my mind.. turns out they did say it was for Annual contracts only all along so the MD's didnt need to have changed it... *holds head* sorry.. *gibber*

OK, maybe we'll keep the barrel warm for you instead.