[WXC/VFX] Goodbye xnet, hello Slingshot

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [WXC/VFX] Goodbye xnet, hello Slingshot

euanandrews

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#27081 13-Oct-2008 20:59

I've had enough.

My online experience during the now infamous Torrent hours (12 - 8am) is appalling.
I can't even view websites, basic websites at that time of night...let alone download anything.

Its been widely reported by many users here, yet all communication from xnet has dried up on this website (probably because they knew the backlash that was coming)

I have spoken to the xnet CSR's twice with no success or acceptable response...I'm just being fobbed off.
I was even told by one CSR that it is likely the Torrent plan will go the same way as the Go-Large plan.

The lack of communication and answers, the lack of progress or any commitment too, and the current appalling service reminisce of the Xtra Go-Large and Woosh Orbit Flat Rate fiasco's.

Time to vote with my feet.

I will now try Slingshot...as I like the look of their plans with unlimited free data between the hours of 1am and 7am.
I do read some forums discussing speed issues as well, but they do not appear to be as bad or common as xnet's issues.
But of course, with any of these plans, I wonder how long it will last, before its either canned or changed.

Time will tell.

Bye bye xnet.

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#170951 13-Oct-2008 21:07

Bye bye, bartender... U could at least shout us all a farewell beer :)

If honest work and justice are not enough - we'll get a lawyer.

DjShadow

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#170952 13-Oct-2008 21:11

Thing is, if everyone goes to Slingshot to get free overnight Data, won't they have the same problem? (then xnet gets faster with everyone jumping over)

sbiddle

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#170954 13-Oct-2008 21:15

DjShadow: Thing is, if everyone goes to Slingshot to get free overnight Data, won't they have the same problem? (then xnet gets faster with everyone jumping over)

When all the torrent users are disconnected when section 92a is introduced then every ISP will get faster!

You do raise a very valid issue, from following threads on here over the past few years it certainly seems to be the case as people switch between ISP's. You have to remember that it can take as few as 50 - 100 hardcore torrent users to flood an entire ISP, that's not a lot of people to jump ship and move the problem elsewhere.

euanandrews

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#170955 13-Oct-2008 21:23

That said, you guys go elsewhere!

DjShadow

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#170956 13-Oct-2008 21:28

Ok, so if slingshot gets bogged down then wouldn't it be logical to move to an ISP known to have big pipes like Xtra and TelstraClear? at least then you know your paying for speed.
I once used xnet myself and not happy with the performance of international, jumped over to telstraclear and was very happy at the speed I was getting, considering I was paying a few dollars more I got the performance I wanted

Niel

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#170959 13-Oct-2008 21:41

DjShadow: I once used xnet myself and not happy with the performance of international, jumped over to telstraclear and was very happy at the speed I was getting, considering I was paying a few dollars more I got the performance I wanted

And that is so true, XNet is not suitable for the heavy downloaders and I do not think they want to go there. Leave that to the big guys with spare bandwidth. It is my opinion that for XNet they simply provide ADSL because it is required for the thing they are really good at, phone services. They have tried to accommodate the minority that grabs the majority of bandwidth, but it did not work.

You can never have enough Volvos!

DjShadow

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#170966 13-Oct-2008 21:53

Yeah the torrent plan in my eyes is just xnet saying ok here is all our capacity that we can afford on current pricing, feel free to fight over it but least it for the lite users during daylight hours

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attilathegorilla

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#170968 13-Oct-2008 21:53

My problem is I don`t wanna pay for a phone line, I hardly ever use the landline phone, so Naked DSL would be the way. But none of the 3 ISP`s I like for speed (Telecom, TelstraClear and Vodafone) offer NakedDSL.

If honest work and justice are not enough - we'll get a lawyer.

euanandrews

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#170971 13-Oct-2008 21:57

DjShadow: Ok, so if slingshot gets bogged down then wouldn't it be logical to move to an ISP known to have big pipes like Xtra and TelstraClear? at least then you know your paying for speed.

Yup...just its more money.

Over the years, I have now been with:
- Xtra
- Woosh
- Ihug
- Paradise (cable)
- Xnet

Paradise (TelstraClear) provided the most reliable speeds out of the lot...but did have issues with regularly disconnecting, but this was years and years ago...but there charges are to high.

Its something I reluctantly accept...choosing ISP's with plans that are relatively cheap yet provide large quotas...ya got to expect problems at some stage.

linw

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#170973 13-Oct-2008 21:59

What's even more puzzling is that I can't even contemplate youtube in the evening as it buffers every 1 or 2 seconds yet speedtest shows a good enough speed to LA (2035kbbs).

I'm also going to be off soon but am finding it hard to choose somewhere that won't have the same problem! Anywhere with no torrents would be good.

attilathegorilla

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#170975 13-Oct-2008 22:13

linw: What's even more puzzling is that I can't even contemplate youtube in the evening as it buffers every 1 or 2 seconds yet speedtest shows a good enough speed to LA (2035kbbs).

I'm also going to be off soon but am finding it hard to choose somewhere that won't have the same problem! Anywhere with no torrents would be good.

The LA speedtests seem to be very inaccurate, something going on there. I used to be with Xtra, their speeds were pretty good, definitely good enough for youtube, even at busy times.

If honest work and justice are not enough - we'll get a lawyer.

choccers

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#170982 13-Oct-2008 22:34

Well those that have made the move to SS will be happy to know I am NOT a heavy torrent leech.

So it will not be me clogging up the new ISP. Be some other greedy begger

hellonearthisman

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#171002 14-Oct-2008 03:43

Slingshot has it's good and bad point's.

Good points: general surfing is normally fast.
Bad points: Torrents are shaped and files larger than 10MB are prioritised to about 30KBps after the 1st 10MB

I think Slingshot is good, but saying that, I think the 30KBs is a little light, I does cause some services that where not time critical to become as sites like megaupload and rapidshare timeout the connection if the speed drops to below 8Kbps, which happens if you try and have multiple connections.

Still it's good value but it could be a better place.

sbiddle

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#171005 14-Oct-2008 06:20

TheBartender: Paradise (TelstraClear) provided the most reliable speeds out of the lot...but did have issues with regularly disconnecting, but this was years and years ago...but there charges are to high.

But therein lies the problem. Speed and low price are mutually exclusive. If you want 10Mbps torrent downloads 24/7 (something thast is easily done on TCL cable) you have to realise you won't be getting the same rates you pay on a torrent plan for it.

TCL's pricing isn't expensive compared to other naked ADLS plans in the market - infact their cable prices increased a few months ago because they were actually quite a lot cheaper than the naked ADSL offersings but they can't compete with the free data caps that Xnet and Slingshot are offering. When these 2 ISP's however get bogged down with traffic management issues it really is a case of deciding whether you want to pay a premium for a rock solid high speed broadband connection or not.

hachi

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#171007 14-Oct-2008 06:57

sbiddle:
DjShadow: Thing is, if everyone goes to Slingshot to get free overnight Data, won't they have the same problem? (then xnet gets faster with everyone jumping over)

When all the torrent users are disconnected when section 92a is introduced then every ISP will get faster!

You do raise a very valid issue, from following threads on here over the past few years it certainly seems to be the case as people switch between ISP's. You have to remember that it can take as few as 50 - 100 hardcore torrent users to flood an entire ISP, that's not a lot of people to jump ship and move the problem elsewhere.

You're happy about section 92a? That's unusual.

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