Eclipse, Throttling and should I move to IDNet?

[kerrso05]

Good Morning one and all

Guess what I have just asked for?........ my MAC Code from Eclipse.
In the early hours of the morning I took Rik's advice and sent an Email to Eclipse and asked for my MAC Code. Hopefully in the next day or so I will have it and I will be moving.............Guess where?

yes..................IDNet

Talk to you soon


Harry
Bangor, Northern Ireland

[Rik]

We'll look forward to seeing you fully in our midst, Harry.

[Barndog]

Nice 1 Harry, im only 5 miles away from you in Newtownards...lol

[RichR]

Hi there.
As an ex-Eclipser myself welcome aboard. You've made a good choice. After being given the run around by Eclipse with the internal wiring in my house, the viruses on my Mac :-), the phase of the moon and any other excuse that they could come up with for the slow throughput I joined IDNet. Magically the elves from IDNet came in overnight when I switched over and rewired everything and my throughput as measured by ThinkBroadband jumped from ~3Mbps to ~5.7Mbps.
Eclipse used to be very good, like IDNet are now, but went rapidly downhill once taken over by Kingston Communications :-(

[Rik]

Hi Rich

Welcome to the forum, have a karma.

[Ann]

Welcome from another exEclipser.  Seems my experience was the same as Rich's.  When I left I told them that it was because of the very slow speed I was getting and they said that I hadn't given them enough of a chance to sort it.  Moving to IDNet sorted it thank you very much.  There was nothing else for me to sort.

[kerrso05]

Ann, thanks for the welcome. How long did it take for you to receive your MAC Code from Eclipse?.....no sign of mine yet.
What RichR said about Eclipse was exactly what happened to me 3 yrs ago when I was with Plusnet.....they told it was the fault of the equipment...then they said it was my Modem.......then they told me to directly wire the modem into the master socket......and every time I did one of there fixes I had to wait a week or so to test out all their useless suggestions........meantime I couldn't get on-line and I was getting charged for it. It was a total and utter disaster. They eventually sent a BT Engineer out to the house...guess what the engineer did, they cancelled the appointment, then rearranged another appointment.....to which she (the Engineer) refused to come into the House to test the equipment ,but blamed Plusnet for wasting her time, saying "you are too far away from the Exchange and Plusnet have put you on a 2 meg connection which your line can't take....get in touch with your Service Provider and ask them to put you to a 1 meg connection....Plusnet are wasting our time" Was I mad!!! Wasting her time what were they doing to me??? I was raging. I had went two months without connection and it was the fault of Plusnet and then when they did admit they had set the line too high of connection they introduced Throttling. I couldn't take much more, so I left and went to Eclipse.
I must be honest and say that Eclipse have been fair with me up until last year when they seemed to join forces with Tiscali and thats when things went seriously wrong.
Anyway, that was then, and this is now......and hopefully very soon I will be a true IDNetter.....I just hope Eclipse don't drag their feet on issuing my MAC code.

Rik, I just received my Cat5 network cable with RJ11 plugs from ADSL Nation......That was very quick, Amazing Service, certainly will do business with them again.....of course I have plugged it into my Zoom Modem and everything seems to be working well. Thanks

[Sebby]

ADSL Nation are brilliant. I've ordered from them several times and dispatch is rapid! 

[Lance]

You must be given you mac code within 5 working days, but hopefully they won't make you wait that long!

[Rik]

Rik, I just received my Cat5 network cable with RJ11 plugs from ADSL Nation......That was very quick, Amazing Service, certainly will do business with them again.....of course I have plugged it into my Zoom Modem and everything seems to be working well. Thanks

Let us know if it improves things for you.

[Ann]

Ann, thanks for the welcome. How long did it take for you to receive your MAC Code from Eclipse?.....no sign of mine yet.

I got mine within minutes and it was also detailed on the 'my account' section of the Eclipse website although I suppose that might have changed.  I think you could request it from there too although I phoned them.

[kerrso05]

Ann

I used my account, to Email them, to request my MAC Code.......I wonder should I have Phoned them???.....decisions, decisions,.......I'm beginning to sound like Gordon.....Gordon Brown  .

Rik, I have noticed a difference with the new wiring in place, I definitely think it is faster although as usual I am being throttled on my downloads. At the moment I am getting speeds of 7.7 kbs (I used to get 70kbs) downloading a mp3 file of 3.18 mb....it takes about 8 minutes to download that. That is an improvement because I was getting speeds of 0.23kbs...so something has improved.....so hopefully by moving Service provider to IDNet (who doesn't throttle) I will receive even better speeds than that. If that works out then I will purchase the 2-wire Modem and that will complete the all round  improvements to my Broadband experience..well that's the plan.........let's hope it works.....if only Eclipse would give me my MAC code.....to be truthful I'm not the most patient of guys 

[Rik]

They only have five working days to do it, Harry, after that you can complain to Ofcom. Glad the wiring seems to be an improvement.

[kerrso05]

Rik, yes there is an improvement. I have sent Eclipse another Email to try and speed things up and if that doesn't work I will phone them and if that doesn't work I will complain to Ofcom

[Rik]

It will do no harm to mention Ofcom when you next contact them.

[Ann]

Phone them.. it really was painless..

call this number: 0845 1224 111

[g7pkf]

Rik, yes there is an improvement. I have sent Eclipse another Email to try and speed things up and if that doesn't work I will phone them and if that doesn't work I will complain to Ofcom

Have you looked on your account page as Ann suggested?

[kerrso05]

g7pkf

As I said I went onto the accounts page (actually it is called Connection Manager Page) and I requested the MAC Code, I clicked on Request Button and I was taken to a page which asks me to Phone 0845 1224 111 and request option 1 but it also has a button to ask for a support ticket, which I did and that sends an Email to Customer Services to request the MAC Code. I did all this on early Thursday Morning and then on Friday I sent another request via Email, with a copy of the original Email request, asking for my MAC Code.
If I don't get anything by tomorrow I will phone them and relate the above to them and if that fails to produce a Code then I will do as Rik has said and let them know, that I am going to complain to Ofcom. It appears that Ann was very lucky getting her MAC Code so quickly but then again she phoned......maybe I should have done that!!!!.....who know's what is best to do in the situation.....I know one thing is, they don't make it easy.
The next hurdle I will have to complete is cancelling my Visa Direct Debit but hopefully my Wife (who works in the Bank) will sort that out for me

[Rik]

Hi Harry

As much as I trust IDNet, and I do more than any other company I do business with, I will never grant a CCA/CPA on a card - it removes control from me. When you migrate, I would urge you to use Direct Debit or standing order as your means of payment.

[kerrso05]

Rik............Noted but my wife (she who must be obeyed.......and who has nearly 30 yrs experience in the Bank as a Financial Advisor) feels very secure with the Credit Card/DD arangement and plus if anything goes wrong eg. IDNet went bankrupt (God forbid) the Credit Card Insurance would cover my installment.
She says, it is up to the individual what arrangement they feel happy with. I have used this for the three Internet Service Providers I have been with in the past, Freeserve, Plusnet and Eclipse........it just is a bit of a Hassle having to cancel it, in that you have to write to the company (Eclipse) to cancel and then send a copy of the letter to Visa to cancel.
But I can't do anything without the MAC Code....by the way, I checked with Eclipse Account and I see that I have two open Support Tickets about my MAC Code...both of which haven't been answered.....so at least I have those two as proof of my request....I'll be sorted in the next day or so.
Thanks

[kerrso05]

HOORAY............ .................I GOT MY MAC CODE.......so I will be moving from Eclipse and coming to IDNet.

Eclipse sent my MAC Code today via Email.....so hopefully that will start the ball rolling and I will be on my way to IDNet and then I can truly call myself an IDNetter.

Thanks for all you help and support (especially Rik) 

And then I can say

[Sebby]

Great stuff. You could be on IDNet in as little as 3 days if all goes well.

[Rik]

Great news, Harry. With a bit of luck, you could be with us by the end of the week.

[Simon]

Nice one Harry! 

[RA-1972]

well done mate ,,,, bring on the HAPPY days .