Author Topic: Pipex (Read 4074 times)

Simon · « **on:** April 05, 2006, 15:00 »

After several years of recommending people to Pipex, I would never do so again.

I have found out, after wondering why my Bit Torrents were suddenly downloading so slowly, that Pipex (among some other ISPs) are apparently throttling the range of ports used on file sharing networks, and according to several other forum posts (on various games / file sharing forums), have not even had the courtesy to inform their customer of this. Not all file sharing is illegal, and in my opinion, they have no right implementing this strategy, when broadband services are advertised as being 'unlimited'.

I therefore decided, after long consideration, that I wanted to switch my broadband provider, and found a lot of good reviews for Namesco, on ISPr. They offer a 2Mb package (10Gb capped) for £19.99 per month, whereas I am now paying Pipex £23.44 per month for a 1Mb package, and Namesco have confirmed by e-mail that file sharing ports are not throttled.

I have just phoned Pipex to request a MAC code, in order to migrate my connection, and was told that I had to pay a £58.75 cancellation fee, because although I have been with them for three years, when the minimum contract term is one year, when I moved house last September, this constitutes a new contract, which I am bound to for 12 months.

I am now in the right frame of mind to take them on legally, but have no concrete proof of the port throttling (apart from tittle tattle on various forums), and would probably not have a leg to stand on as far as the minimum term contract goes either. Suffice to say, I would never, ever, recommend this company again, and will be leaving the day my contract expires, which is unfortunately not for another 6 months, then it will be Pipex...

Rodders · « **Reply #1 on:** April 06, 2006, 08:53 »

Hiya Simon,

NDO/Namesco also offer the package with a theoretical 8Mps download rate (typically 6.5Mps). It's known as HomeMax and I've just upgraded to it, from the package you're now considering. The cost is £24.95 pcm, i.e only £1.51 more than you're currently paying Poopex.

Home2000 | HomeMax
Download Speed: 2Mb | up to 8Mb
Upload Speed: 256K | 448K
Contention Ratio: 50:1 | 50:1
Web Space: 250MB | 250MB
POP 3 Email Accounts: 5 | 5
Free .co.uk domain name
Visitor Statistics
0845 backup dial-up connection
Setup Fee: FREE | FREE
Monthly price - Standard (10GB transfer): £19.95 | £24.95

Probably worth thinking about, I'd say!

Simon · « **Reply #2 on:** April 06, 2006, 10:53 »

I saw that, Rod, but on doing a line check, it seems my line is only capable of 2Mb, so it didn't seem worthwhile having the Max package.

I think I have made up my mind now, to migrate, but it will cost me £58.75 to escape from Poopex. If I stick to the 2Mb, £19.99 package with Namesco for 6 months, I can save about £3.50 per month on what I was paying Pipex, and have a faster connection, with people who answer the phone and e-mails, and seem to know what they are talking about. This, effectually, knocks £21 off the Pipex fee, so it would cost me £37 over six months. I may even seek to challenge the release fee afterwards, on the basis that Pipex have broken the terms of their contract, by not providing the service 'unlimited', as advertised.

My only concern is that any images uploaded on here, using my Pipex webspace, will no longer function, and may cause problems opening threads... :|

Rodders · « **Reply #3 on:** April 06, 2006, 11:19 »

2Mps? That's a tough break, Simon.

In the meantime, I'd start copying your Pals graphics to a free Photobucket account. You may soon have a bit of thread-editing to do!

Best of luck,

Simon · « **Reply #4 on:** April 06, 2006, 11:32 »

Sorry Rod, my mistake, according to the line check on Namesco, my line can support up to 4Mb, but still not the Max package, so it's not really worth paying the extra at the moment.

As for images on here, I will just shift my Pipex web folder to the new webspace. I can obviously amend my sig and avatar, but anything else will just have a placeholder instead of the image - tough, but sh*t happens.

The main issue at the moment is finding our exactly how much it's going to cost me to dump Pipex. You have to give them 30 days notice, so if I do that right now, they will probably still want to charge me for next month's service, as well as the termination fee. I suppose I could just cancel the direct debit and tell them to get stuffed, but I could do without the grief of a county court dispute over £24, even though I reckon they are on thin ice by restricting 'unlimited' services without notification. It's a shame it's such a drama changing ISPs, because I have the imputus at the moment, which may dwindle if I have to wait another few weeks to time it so as not to pay a month for nothing.

Delgado · « **Reply #5 on:** May 20, 2006, 08:04 »

Im leaving Pipex as well. Ive been very happy with their service, but their packages are now not good value. Im paying £23-44 for Solo 1000, which you can get a similiar package from them, although you are capped for about £14-50. When I phoned to complain that I was on an old package, and could they offer me anything as an old customer, they offered to upgrade me to 2000 and reduce the price to £17-99 pm. The only problem was I would be capped at 30gb.

I decided to try Bulldog Alltime 2000 which is £24-50 pm, with a promotional 6 months @£19-50. My exchange is being upgraded at the moment, and when they have finished I will be upgraded to the highest speed which is about 5 free.

I hear allsorts of things about Bulldog-some good some bad-but the proof will be in the pudding. I think this applies to all ISPs

Should be done in about 2 weeks. I will report back-if I can get online-lol

Simon · « **Reply #6 on:** May 20, 2006, 11:21 »

30Gb is a huge allowance, Delgado, and I think even a high usage subscriber would have to go some to be restricted at that level. The problem remains, however, that they are throttling line speeds on the P2P ports, so no matter what your download limit, you would still be speed capped with Pipex, at around 25Mb, when downloading torrents or P2P. Along with the increasing random dropped connections, this is my main bone of contention with Pipex, and the fact that they treat their existing customers like s**t.

I have also heard mixed reports about Bulldog, so would be interested to hear how you find them. Personally, I will be switching around August / September, as I have found a temporary workaround for the port throttling issue (but this only works for download speeds), and didn't want to give them the satisfaction of charging me the termination fee. At the moment, Namesco / NDO is still at the top of my list.

JK · « **Reply #7 on:** May 20, 2006, 14:45 »

Hi Simon
I have seen a magazine artical that may interest you about this issue.
Have a look in PCW may issue. It appears there is a company called sandvine that make the equipment the ISP use to do it.

Simon · « **Reply #8 on:** May 20, 2006, 15:05 »

Thanks for that, JK, I'll look out for the mag. I just Googled Sandvine, and it seems this could be the very practice Pipex, and other ISPs are now implementing. It might have been better for customer relations, had they the decency to inform customers of the changes to their T&Cs, rather than simply letting subscribers find out by chance.

http://www.sandvine.com/solutions/traffic_mgmt.asp

Delgado · « **Reply #9 on:** May 20, 2006, 17:25 »

Surely these Service Providers could be challenged on all this! If you agree to purchase a product for a sum of money, and that product is changed without your knowledge, they must be in breach of contract. Have we got any Law People in this forum?

If a shop sold you goods and delivered something different the fair trading people would soon be on their backs! I can understand the Service Providers problems, but if they are taking your money for unlimited broadband, and their was no fair policy rule when you signed up, how the hell can they get away with it?

:x :x

Simon · « **Reply #10 on:** May 20, 2006, 19:08 »

Because, as usual, there will be a clause in the T&Cs, which states that they can change the T&Cs at any time. They will say that customers have been informed, because the new T&Cs are on the website, but who checks these on a regular basis, if they haven't been informed of a change? It wouldn't have hurt them at all, to send out an e-mail, informing customers of the change to the fair usage policy. They manage to send spam quite efficiently. I don't think there is any legal comeback, and if challenged, they could point out that most (although not all) of the usage they are now restricting is illegal anyway. :whistle:

Basically, they have us by the short and curlies, and the only way we can respond, is to switch to a different ISP. If enough people start to leave Poopex, they will have to take notice. After all, it's only their profits they are interested in. Customer Service doesn't come into it.

:angry:

JK · « **Reply #11 on:** May 25, 2006, 22:32 »

Hi Simon and all.
Throttling will never appear in the terms and fair usage policy.
The ISP will have to invest in much more infrastructure to allow all
50 users in the 50:1 ratio to be on peer to peer traffic. A couple of users
using it will account for over 30% of the data usage. Any ISP you use
will never state that they will throttle peer to peer traffic. You can be online all the time and just surf the net, then they will be happy. They will even throttle skype users. The equipment will allow the ISP's own VOIP traffic to pass untouched.

Lona · « **Reply #12 on:** May 25, 2006, 23:47 »

Have a look here Simon..................

http://pipexsucks.atspace.com/index.html

Simon · « **Reply #13 on:** May 26, 2006, 09:51 »

Seen it already, but thanks Lona.

Delgado · « **Reply #14 on:** June 01, 2006, 07:22 »

Quote from: "Delgado"

Im leaving Pipex as well. Ive been very happy with their service, but their packages are now not good value. Im paying £23-44 for Solo 1000, which you can get a similiar package from them, although you are capped for about £14-50. When I phoned to complain that I was on an old package, and could they offer me anything as an old customer, they offered to upgrade me to 2000 and reduce the price to £17-99 pm. The only problem was I would be capped at 30gb.

I decided to try Bulldog Alltime 2000 which is £24-50 pm, with a promotional 6 months @£19-50. My exchange is being upgraded at the moment, and when they have finished I will be upgraded to the highest speed which is about 5 free.

I hear allsorts of things about Bulldog-some good some bad-but the proof will be in the pudding. I think this applies to all ISPs

Should be done in about 2 weeks. I will report back-if I can get online-lol

Reporting back on above-

I applied for this 18th May, got the confirmation on the 19th, and was connected yesterday. I dont think any complaints are due there. The Customer Service Staff, although not always sure what they are talking about, are helpful and do their best.

I would never recommend Pipex again-what a shower of s**t they have become. I cancelled my Direct Debit to them and sent a cheque for the final 30 days notice, as discussed with them on phone. A few days later got a letter telling me that if I didnt re-instate my Direct Debit, I would be cut off; a few days later despite cashing my cheque they applied to my Bank and tried to take the money again-my Bank blocked it!

I was cut off yesterday morning, and my phone call was met with complete disinterest. I was connected a few hours later by Bulldog-who had forgotten to send me my e-mail telling me my log on details, but a phone call to them sorted that out.

So there you have it-lol!!!