go slooww

December 15, 2005 10:46 AM

Looking for a broadband connection in the UK? Dont believe all you read from all providers (even well known ones, like Pipex). A geek fights back; annoyed by his download rates being cut down from 200kb/sec, to 1kb/sec (with a geeky video of wow, gta and him downloading stuff). A bit more info (some annoying pop ups - and the videos a bit slow paced - but Pipex users beware!)
posted by 13twelve (23 comments total)

"a bit more info" ....more like the only info.

Wheres the other links to disgruntled Pipex users?
posted by lemonfridge at 11:25 AM on December 15, 2005

What a whiner. Obviously he's never dealt with SBC or Comcast.
Only then will he know true geek pain.
posted by drstein at 11:56 AM on December 15, 2005

Of course, it would be wrong to fuck with his poll, but isn't it tempting to click on "Pipex is the greatest ISP EVAR!" ?
posted by twine42 at 12:38 PM on December 15, 2005

I've been a Pipex subscriber for years, on broadband and dialup and have never been able to fault their service. I remember reading about them limiting certain 'bandwidth hogs' in a Register article recently. It does say there that they were sending notifications to people affected. Sounds like this person was probably maxing out his connection 24/7.
posted by Edame at 12:39 PM on December 15, 2005

Could be worse - could be Bulldog.
posted by longbaugh at 12:40 PM on December 15, 2005

Obviously he's never dealt with SBC or Comcast.

Comcast is a mixed bag because they're such a conglomerate. Here in central Mass. they're great. 800KB/sec (yes, kilobyte not bit) downloads over BitTorrent, web, and FTP alike for $40 a month with 80KB/sec upload. No servers per the acceptable use policy (Comcast is united on that front), of course, but I'm an extremely heavy downloader and I've yet to have a problem.

That said, I know plenty of other people and have lived in other places myself where the situation is entirely the opposite - threatening emails and occasionally snailmails about overusage, diminishing download speeds over time, speed caps over large port ranges, etc.

They're really just hit or miss. SBC, on the other hand, I've yet to hear one single good thing about.
posted by Ryvar at 12:49 PM on December 15, 2005

I have Comcast broadband and have no complaint except the price. With no competition, Comcast charges me 50% more than ryvar pays. Adding cable TV sends the monthly bill past $90.00.
posted by Cranberry at 1:06 PM on December 15, 2005

Sounds like this person was probably maxing out his connection 24/7.

I pay for my 24/7 2mbit line - may I be allowed to use it? 24/7? Pretty please? I don't know what Pipex TOS says but usaually, one should be able to use the service one pays for...Seems fair enough to me. ok, I'll go read the links now..
posted by dabitch at 1:17 PM on December 15, 2005

With no competition, Comcast charges me 50% more than ryvar pays. Adding cable TV sends the monthly bill past $90.00.

Our total bill is $50/mo with basic cable.

Our total bill for Speakeasy alone was $110/mo plus $40/mo for cable back in Boston proper for what we effectively get now from Comcast, plus the right to run servers. Ultimately I'm not doing enough interesting things anymore to make that small difference worth it.
posted by Ryvar at 1:20 PM on December 15, 2005

The idea of giving TV cable companies territories - thus avoiding duplication of facilities - seemed reasonable in the early days, except that it has prevented competition.

There is a rumor that Verizon will aggressively challenge Comcast in this area with wireless. Verizon is already here with telephone service. Comcast is advertising lowering your phone bill with their phone service.

A toast to price wars.
posted by Cranberry at 1:43 PM on December 15, 2005

Well, on one hand there's not much to either the site or the deadly dull video but on the other hand I am with Pipex and have experienced this but didn't know what was happening - I thought it was me - so I was tweaking firefox, checking my router, upgrading my drivers etc....time to change ISP!
posted by oh pollo! at 2:00 PM on December 15, 2005

I pay for my 24/7 2mbit line - may I be allowed to use it? 24/7? Pretty please?

I'm not disagreeing with you. I hate download caps as much as anyone else but there's a there's a fine line between use and abuse, and they have to draw it somewhere (and they're still not setting caps, they're regulating the download speeds of >1% of total users according to the reg article) . I do my share of online gaming and heavy downloading from my 2mb line (which is why I don't use a capped subscription), but I don't max it out every second of the day. I get max speeds when I need it so it's not causing any problems for me.

I don't know what Pipex TOS says

From here:
PIPEX reserves the right to manage Customer Traffic across its network. This may involve restrictions to the Customer's Service including, but not limited to, reduced connection speed, restriction of 'peer to peer' downloading or imposing specific usage limits. These restrictions maybe used singularly or in conjunction with others. PIPEX reserves the right to deploy network Traffic management measures at anytime without notice. PIPEX undertakes to use network management to deliver a fair service to its customers.

I'm sure a lot of (UK at least) broadband companies have TOS including terms like this.
posted by Edame at 2:13 PM on December 15, 2005

ah, well if they say it right there in the terms, fair enough. I never buy capped service myself. I pay more, but then I use it like nuts too. 24/7!
posted by dabitch at 2:24 PM on December 15, 2005

The problem is that the TOS were quietly changed.
posted by oh pollo! at 2:29 PM on December 15, 2005

It's kind of ironic that they claim that it won't affect most users because (to heavily paraphrase) "They don't actually need a fast 2mb connection in the first place if they're just browsing the web and reading email". Having to persuade that people need to pay for a fast 2mb connection, and yet they don't actually need it so shouldn't worry about poor performance is quite a feat.
posted by chill at 2:45 PM on December 15, 2005

I hate download caps as much as anyone else but there's a there's a fine line between use and abuse

No, if they advertise their broadband connection as being x speed, I want it x speed 24/7, not it might just graze x speed for a moment before sinking back to a much lower speed.
posted by Joeforking at 3:11 PM on December 15, 2005

That's nice, Joeforking, but ignores the reality of the situation which is this: you can either have cheap broadband, or you can have fast broadband. You can't have both.

Unless you're willing to compromise a bit: don't be a dick and saturate your pipe 24/7, and you can get faster d/l's (in general) without having to pay through the nose.

Don't like it? Get a T1 and stop yer bellyaching.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:54 PM on December 15, 2005

And before you tell me about how wonderful it is in Korea where 100 Tb/sec. connections are commonplace for ten cents a year, I'd like to remind you that I'm all for socializing critical infrastructure like telecom, but that's not the topic of conversation right now.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:55 PM on December 15, 2005

I call bullshit, Civil_Disobedient. Not on the Korea thing, but on the 24x7 thing. The cable companies have a tool to combat this: it's called metering and capping. "You may download and upload only so much before we start charging you extra for the strain you're placing on our network." If they advertise an "unlimited" connection, then switch the Terms of Service on you so that it's full of limits that the average Joe wouldn't know enough to ask about... Well that's bullshit. Dishonest bullshit.

I tell you, I cringe every time I see written "I've made a torrent of the installer/zip/clip". I just can't download anything via BitTorrent now, because my broadband company instituted packet filtering without telling us, claiming that the paragraph in the TOS about "ensuring network quality" covered everything succinctly. It makes me sick to see the advertisements they run, showing people jumping for joy about the freedom they have with cable, and then knowing how hampered and free I'm not with the most expensive service they offer.

I'd have DSL here in a second, if our phone lines weren't installed during WWII and physically incapable of carrying data over them.
posted by Imperfect at 11:47 PM on December 15, 2005

claiming that the paragraph in the TOS about "ensuring network quality" covered everything succinctly

Unfortunately, it does. Hey, I hate the bastards more than you could ever imagine. And I probably use more bandwidth in a given day than the surrouding three miles of people (but then, I do live in Maine, so take that with a grain of salt).

The sad truth is that Joe Average's connection contract does not specifiy hard numbers for uptime or bandwidth. They'll use misleading language like "download at a blazing-fast maximum of 4 Mb a second!" and hope you skipped over the maximum part. Oh, you can get those sorts of contracts if you really want... you know, the kinds that guarantee uptime and a percentage of max bandwidth over a billing period (usually a couple percentage points shy of 100%). But then, like I said before, you sure as hell won't get that for $39.95 a month. More like 5 times that.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:46 AM on December 16, 2005

Video summary:
- Text of emails from Pipex about how good their service will be
- Clips of quick downloads using IE (200k/s)
- Text of emails showing that service will be throttled
- Clips of slow downloads using IE (10k/s)
- World of Warcraft is slow
- Text of emails saying that Pipex updated their T&Cs on the website and did not email their clients.
- General whinge text
- Clips of Grand Theft Auto

Know what's worse than slow internet? Watching other people's slow internet.

The UK has a highly competitive broadband market. This guy has a choice.
posted by quiet at 6:17 AM on December 16, 2005

Wonder if he's complained to Offcom about his problem, or written to the company itself. His FAQ doesn't say.
posted by stumcg at 7:00 AM on December 16, 2005

stumcg - it's OFCOM and they are worse than useless. The T & Cs that the company use are subject to change at any time without notice (other than 5 days notice on the website) and are worded in such a way that the customer has no hope of getting satisfaction.

Imperfect - depending on who provides your service I might be able to help you out.
posted by longbaugh at 8:13 AM on December 16, 2005