Many people in Thurles are finding that their UPC Broadband and Phone service has become unreliable lately. We have received several complaints from people experiencing broadband connection difficulties within the last few days. Just last Sunday, 13th Feb 2011, UPC customers in Thurles had no broadband at all, for almost half a day. More worryingly, some people have noted that when their UPC broadband goes down, they also lose their telephone connection if they had signed up for UPC’s Broadband & Phone package.
Several people have noted that broadband service drop-outs and slow connection speeds have occurred on and off for several months now. Something definitely has occurred to cause this and the situation does not seem to be getting fixed in the Thurles area. As a ‘Technology Town’ we feel we deserve better service from UPC than we are currently getting. We would like Your help to highlight the problem!
To help we would like fellow UPC customers in Thurles to do a simple Broadband Speed Test (link opens in a new window) and post your results here for comparison. To start the Speed Test simply click the yellow star, the test should only take a few seconds to complete. To post your results, simply click the “Leave A Comment” link below and enter your results. To best compare results from around Thurles we would like you to include 3 simple pieces of information;
- Your Current Broadband Package (e.g. 10Mb, 20Mb or 30Mb package),
- Your Actual Download result from the Broadband Speed Test page ( feel free to include the Upload Result too, if you like )
- The Ping Result (e.g. 40 milliseconds)
The more advanced users can also include a picture of their results by clicking the ‘Copy Direct Link’ on Speedtest.Net, then clicking the ‘add images to your comment’ link on Thurles.Info (Positioned just above submit comment button). Then paste the link into the pop-up box. The picture will then appear in the “Leave A Comment” box when submitted.
It will be interesting to see results from around Thurles and perhaps by participating in this we can look forward to better service from UPC in the near future. It is the 21st Century, after all!
Service Provider: UPC
Broadband Package: 30MB Fibre Power Package
Actual Download Speed: 2.6 MB
Ping Result: 219ms
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1162252181.png[/img]
With UPC, 25MB Fibre Power Package
Download Speed – 3.13 MB
Ping – 226ms
No UPC Phone for 4 days since 24th Dec 2010 to date.
No UPC TV for 9 days since 24th Dec 2010 to date.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1162252437.png[/img]
Those speeds are pretty abysmal, at a guess there could be some problem with the backhaul between the network node(s) that serves Thurles and the rest of the UPC network.
If you sign up for UPC phone you will lose your phone service if you lose internet access as the phone is VoIP (Voice over IP) based.
I’m with UPC, 20MB package, this is my speedtest result.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1163553351.png[/img]
Internet has been cutting in and out all day 🙁
Thanks everyone from posting your results. Keep them coming…
Thx Rory, yeah that makes sense.
When I first signed up, 4 or 5 months ago, I did a speedtest and the result was flaky but acceptable back then.
However, something seems to have happened before Xmas and has been getting worse since.
Imagine Xmas Eve and most of Xmas Day with everyone home and no TV or Phone courtesy of UPC.
I think I will dump the TV and get ‘free to air dish’, – once off payment of €80 instead of €90 per month.
So much for the Green Party statement -“Everyone has access to Broadband.”
UPC getting even worse, with a 25MB package, this is my speedtest result today.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1165911490.png[/img]
Yeah, worst result ever today;
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1166281928.png[/img]
I’m on a 10MB package. Recently UPC notified me that my modem speed has increased. What a joke!
Everything about their service is a complete and utter lie. Customer support is a shambless. You enter into a contract with these guys and you don’t get what you pay for. Daylight robbery. It says alot of UPC when people in other counties are having the same trouble i’m having in Dublin. My connection usually dies for a couple of hours a day as it is and it’s clear from this speed test that i’m actually only getting about 10% of what im paying for.
What a farce………they’ve obviously fooled the Green Party. Crooks!
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1166288812.png[/img]
My contract with UPC is a 10Mb Package. Have never received a download greater than 2.79Mb/s to date. This month payment will be as slow as UPC’s Service.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1166340294.png[/img]
UPC’s 25mb Package service offering today.
No phone for 2 hours yesterday.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1167192131.png[/img]
I’m on 10mb package with UPC and this is the service I’m getting today!!! Grrrr!!!!
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1167258103.png[/img]
I am with Eircom in Thurles. 15mb. package excellent service.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1168083960.png[/img]
Hi Honey,
Looks like we all may move to Eircom. UPC refuse to send out any tech body to examine my 25Mb package.
Here are my speeds at 1.25pm while the country sleeps.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1169742069.png[/img]
I’m with Eircom in the littleton area.
I’m very happy with them at 3 Mb/s
Sometimes it goes op to 3.3Mb/s
[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f36/biggles007/speed.gif[/img]
Hi Michael, What package are you on with Eircom. I have one 25Mb package and another 8Mb package with UPC. 8Mb wireless package gone since this morning – won’t even load Google. Tested it on 4 different laptops
See download on 25Mb package at 9.13pm tonight. Their speed test states I am getting 23.5mb download. I can’t even download a Youtube video without an interruption every five seconds.
Spoke to them twice today – It took 40 minutes to get an answer. No satisfaction whatsoever. They deny they have a server in the Limerick region. Looks like this company is about to loose a lot of custom. Between everything TV Phone and kids broadband in Dublin & Thurles I pay them around €3,600 p/a. Dublin is actually worse than here. I see Thurles people on Facebook now taking up the flag. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000054789071&v=wall&ref=profile#!/profile.php?id=100001425212600
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1172596668.png[/img]
George, I’m on a 3mhz package. Was out for about 4 hrs last year when a line got broken in Littleton. As far as I know I’m on the Limerick server.
UPC’s 25Mb package ceased to function at 9.45pm today. Returned with limited use at about 10.30pm but unable to load pictures and most Web sites. No servers shown on Speedtest.net. Similar service on my 8Mb package and they are still refusing to acknowledge that anything is wrong with their system and refusing to send tech body.
System came back 10.35pm. Speeds show
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1176974105.png[/img]
Now gone unusable again but working in one minute jumps.
Their Speed test licenced from ookla is showing on http://www.upc.ie/broadband/speedtest/ a 15.17Mbps Download – Ping 31Ms – Upload:1.36Mbps on my 25Mb package
Its 11.00pm and on a 25Mb package image shows present state of play with jokers UPC .
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1176997175.png[/img]
If I ping a Dublin Server using Speedtest.net I get the following:-
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1177014438.png[/img]
Are UPC feeding false information to us through their test site in relation to their Limerick server.
Test result at 9.50 am 28/2/2011
[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f36/biggles007/speed-1.gif[/img]
Hi
Just to point out those servers that are used by the speedtest.net website do not belong to UPC. They are hosted by different ISPs, so it is entirely possibly to get different speed measurements by picking a different server.
The Dublin speed test server is hosted by Digiweb and the Limerick one is hosted by a company called Fast Wireless Internet. These types of measurements are not as simple as picking a location that is geographically near to you as the path information takes between your home computer and the destination could be radically different.
Hi Rory,
We are aware of all this and thank you, but can you explain why the Internet service in Thurles supplied by UPC is so bad – since last November? To be honest we do not need to run a speed tests to understand the speed of our system, as it is evident that when some sites won’t load,e.g Facebook, pictures on sites won’t load etc, that we have a problem. When UPC are contacted they deny any problems exist. Service not running again this morning until about 10.45am. Now running on a 25Mb package as shown.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1179254411.png[/img]
UPC at http://www.upc.ie/broadband/speedtest/ informs me I have Download speed of 21.55.
Hi George,
I don’t work for UPC, but I do work in the telecoms field. I can’t offer anything other than speculation as to what the problem might be. To give a concrete answer I’d need to have access to the UPC network beyond what a normal end user would have.
Thanks Rory. Difficulty with Email – present speeds:-
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1179273038.png[/img]
Another week of slow internet speeds.
I’ve tried all the usual tricks, reset router, etc, nothing works. 🙁
Some websites I can’t reach at all, like DoneDeal.ie , Komplett.ie etc.
Some people have even said they can’t get into Thurles.info !!
Other websites are so slow the browser times-out and shows error message.
I believe it’s something to do with UPC’s DNS system, it’s all outta whack!!
Try another DNS server.
Google’s DNS servers are
8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4
Both free and available for public use.
Future does not look any brighter. This is what I have to put up with this morning with UPC’s 25Mb package.
UPC’s silence is deafening.
[img]http://speedtest.net/result/1188291158.png[/img]
See latest test. A Telephone Line would be faster. Upc in a recent ISP review were rated “The worst customer service in the world. They cannot get anything right, no matter how many times you call. NEVER EVER AGAIN.”
Some of the comments reflect the feelings of users of their service in Thurles:
Quote “What can I say? A *TERRIBLE* ISP. I’ve had problems with my modem dropping regularly, I’ve gone through technical support which is absolutely appalling. Technicians have called out FIVE times to fix the same problem but the problem remains.
I’m told my modem has a “poor signal”. Five visits from technicians later and I still have a “poor signal”.
First it was to change the lines leaving my house, then it was changing the lines to the modem, then it was changing lines outside, and now they’re calling again. To do what? god knows.
Area faults are extremely common, and they never ever offer compensation for these faults.
Customer support is truly awful, their staff don’t seem to give a shit and send you around in circles.
No reference IDs to follow up problems, nothing, you need to repeat the same crap every single time.
Stay away from NTL/UPC!”
This speed test image on a 25Mb package explains why.
[img]http://speedtest.net/result/1188366689.png[/img]
mmmmmm. And there was me. hoping that UPC would come into Nenagh. Would take me ALOT of convincing before I give up my DSL broadband !!!!
Anyone know if UPC have plans to come to Nenagh ?
After several months of dodgy internet I’m finally getting a better speed now.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1188533398.png[/img]
It only started yesterday, but at least now my email comes in in seconds, not minutes like it used to!
Also, all the sites I couldn’t see before are back which is good news.
I’ve heard that other people are still having problems, though.
The worst company ever …………….
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1188929586.png
Got a visit from an extremly very well informed UPC tech today. No rubbish, knew what he was talking about, listened and within 30 minutes of him leaving behold speed test image.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1190297062.png[/img]
So UPC has at least one competent person within their organisation who understands customer service and has the required knowledge to identify and rectify. Regretably I failed to ask him his name, but he knows who he is and thank you.
Out of curiosity any details on what the problem was?
Hi Rory,
By the way thank you for your help over this issue – much appreciated.
Do not know what was the problem, but the tech admitted that there was a problem and stated he would be in touch with other admin people in UPC.
However I note my system points to Dublin and no longer Limerick.
Brianc appears to be correct Quote “I believe it’s something to do with UPC’s DNS system, it’s all outta whack!!
By the way just got a call from ‘Wesley’ who called this morning regarding this issue, asking me to check my system. Thanks Wesley it is “Wow, wow,wow.” See image. I now have to tie my monitors to the desk top.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1190328561.png[/img]
Peeps,
Just one point to note…
DO NOT USE http://www.speedtest.net as its notoriously poor as most tests route to the United States first and then back into the country you test on.
Use http:sppedtest.magnet.ie or some known good site for tests if you don’t trust the UPC site.
I live in Thurles also but don’t see speed issues but have seen intermittant issues to websites.
Any issues today and i’ll post up my test results.
John.
Hi John,
DO post your test result, but with regard http://www.speedtest.net/ I cannot agree with your findings. It is extremely accurate when you compare all speed issue images now posted on this site and is regarded world wide as the ‘best in the business’. UPC also state http://www.speedtest.net/ is not reliable – funny how accurate it was with regards to recent tests undertaken by Thurles.Info don’t you think. See my recent post, and then travel to earlier posts. The http://www.speedtest.net/ test is certainly more accurate than anything else out there presently.
George,
On reading http://www.boards.ie and following threads there from UPC and Eircom subscriber issues
http://www.speedtest.net has tons of issues including capacity and numerous routing issues.
Their routing “out of country” for a test on a server “in country” is not how these websites should be setup and it introduces routing delay which = poor speeds.
Sorry i had a typo in the website i mentioned it should be http://speedtest.magnet.ie
As for ‘best in the business’ nobody would stand over that statement 🙂
I’ll pop my speeds up later today.
John.
Great news. You’ll run away with yourself now.
Hi John, I speak as I find and having discussed this matter with the best and most trusted in IT matters, they agree that http://www.speedtest.net/ is the most feared by broadband suppliers in particular.
The test site http://speedtest.magnet.ie is also recommended by UPC for some reason, mainly because its readings equal UPC’s test sites which for Thurles reading at least is far from accurate as shown here in recent posts.
But my advice to any of our readers: http://www.speedtest.net/ No 1 for true & real readings. See image hereunder and compare with March 7th pre visit from Wesley of UPC.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1190510555.png[/img]
Hi
In this case John is correct, for some of those locations used by speedtest.net the traffic from your computer could take a rather round about journey e.g. ————. Like I mentioned before it can be difficult to get accurate figures regarding network performance.
I’m not saying there wasn’t a problem, clearly there was but you can’t rely on speedtest.net for accurate information all the time. In some cases yes in other cases no.
George,
Do you work in IT by any chance as a simple traceroute would tell you this ?
When a site is hosted “in country” then the route should be from Thurles to Limerick or Dublin
or whatever server you click on. On http://www.speedtest.net/ you can clearly see the route goes out to the states and then back into Ireland. This defeats the hole purpose of Hosting a server in Limerick or Dublin etc.
Now i’m not saying these wasn’t an issue remember i’m just pointing out how crap this site is.
The speedtest site http://speedtest.magnet.ie is hosted by another ISP so UPC can’t fix that one.
So from a routing perspective you will not get the correct results 90% of the time from http://www.speedtest.net/ as they introduce 20+ hops into the route taken to get to an Irish server which SHOULD NOT be the case. With all the extra hops comes delay and with all the delay comes slow speeds..
There a 100mb UPC connection in my girlfriends house in Dublin which clearly shows the issues
i mention. After 35mb the website falls over and can’t handle the traffic so its totally unreliable.
John.
Did a test at 8.30 pm 09/03/2011
I’m on 3 meg Eircom
[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f36/biggles007/testnet.gif[/img]
Did a different test at 8.35 pm 09/03/2011
[img]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f36/biggles007/testmagnet.gif[/img]
Michael further proof of what I am stating. Magnet and UPC test sites are selling broadband. Speed tests are showing high downloads. On http://www.speedtest.net initial readings reflected the slowness of my system.
When repairs were completed by UPC speedtest.net now replicate and reflect the readings given by both Magnet and UPC.
See tonights upload reading :
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/1193100944.png[/img]
Truth is you do not need a speed test to know your system is slow but if you do, trust http://www.speedtest.net/.
Note I am now pointing to Digiweb Dublin and not Limerick.
I must state that those who came to examine/test my system, employed by UPC, are extremly professional and spent time in trying to get it sorted correctly.
It’s not only Thurles. I am in Wicklow and having the same problem…not as bad as you tho..but I am supposed to have 25Mb and am getting a lot less. Plus frequent disconnections.
[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/2086800015.png[/img]
Contact them Jack, We pushed them and got satisfaction eventually. Their service in Dublin continues to remain dreadful. Also check your bill/account when dealing with them.