Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Ihug start counting uploads - not a happy customer!

geekiegeek

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Topic # 7989 26-May-2006 11:57

The only reason I went with iHug was the fact that they did not count uploads towards your data cap. Today however I have recieved an email stateing that this is no longer the case - from july 1st they will start counting uploads.

As an avid bittorrent downloader this makes a huge difference to my downloading habits and the amount of content that I will be able to download.

I'm pretty p1ssed off! Oh and of corse its all Telecoms fault according to ihug.

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cokemaster

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Reply # 36775 26-May-2006 23:46

I'm very disappointed at Ihug as well as Orcon.

Can't really see how they ever won 'ISP of the year' with their poor customer support and unstable connections. I'm not on them directly but I have friends who when myself or them call are usually waiting for 30+ minutes before we talk to someone. Then put on hold for another 15 minutes while figure out what one is talking about. No wonder they can't afford to have cellphone callers.

I mean the dealings I've had with the Xtra helpdesk when I was using a xtra plan... compared to the Ihug one, THE XTRA HELPDESK ARE ANGELS. And I regard Xtras helpdesk as fairly useless.

Or their off peak, on peak system where most of your bandwidth is offpeak (12am-8pm, I think its changed now) so to take advantage of it you need a script to start the downloads and to stop them.

Or their increasingly laggy connection to various countries. I know there is a bit of lag there but we can see in traceroutes that its happening on one of their gateway and other providers with the same 'route' don't experience the same problems. Of course they blame this on Telecom too... despite it happening on their connection. Theres more to this story but long story short, we had two accounts (normally used on two different lines in that household)... on the same line and computer - one account would have a lot lower latency compared to the other!

Now you've got them pushing people off their older 2mbps plans over to their 3.5mbps plans... which isn't so bad but in terms of allowance in a few cases you get less 'on peak time'. Then you have them shafing customers who have signed up for a minimum 12 month term by changing their plans (in terms of uploads) but giving no way for customers to disconnect or opt out without getting slapped with a disconnection fee. Again they blame telecom!

Ihug isn't the only ISP either, Orcon did the same thing. Forced all customers off their 256kbps flat... their early bird customers, their regular customers and new customers who had just signed up (on a term). Orcon blamed Telecom as well...

What really annoys me with Orcon is that they offered cellphone calling on their 0800 number but not their other numbers. And both Ihug and Orcon will answer their new customer line straight away but not their support lines.

Lession of the day:

Do NOT take up their free modem-connection deal. Do not take up a term with them. They obviously have no problems twisting the plans details (cost, bandwidth) while you have no real remedy without footing the $150 early disconnection fee.

If possible also do not let them bully you into doing a direct-debit from either your credit-card or bank account. So far Xtra is the only one that hasn't tried pushing me into one of those.

Do not accept their blame Telecom excuses.

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nzbnw

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Reply # 36787 27-May-2006 09:56

Do Ihug and Orcon still have contracts with this Broadband offers? I know Xtra have changed so they no longer offer contracts on new broadband connections. The last Broadband offer just passed was still the same, Free Connection and Free Modem, but no 12 month contract.

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DjShadow

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Reply # 36901 28-May-2006 16:25

yeah I am a bit cheesed off with the news that uploads count, that was one of the reasons I picked them over everyone else.
Only good thing ihug I guess that has going is the off peak caps?
I would consider changing however if another ISP brought out a better deal, or if xtra starts to compete with the wholesale providers and offering decent data caps.

cokemaster

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Reply # 36902 28-May-2006 16:32

The offpeak data caps, lets use two thirds of our bandwidth in one third of the time!

Probably the only advantage it has is the higher speeds (3.5mbps down, 128kbps up) compared to other providers.

Otherwise I'm quite happy sitting on my $49.95 256kbps 40gb plan with Orcon.

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richms

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Reply # 37086 29-May-2006 20:31

no, take the term and if they change the deal, then _they_ are breaking the contract, so you just ask if they want the modem sent back or not.

Dont take this changing things crap from them, they wouldnt be happy if you just started to pay half, so it cuts both ways.

Richard rich.ms

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Reply # 37088 29-May-2006 20:43

In the case of Orcon (and Ihug I pressume) they have a clause stating that they are allowed to change plans and their prices with 30 days notice with no note of what to do if you reject their changes.

No idea on the legality of this or not.

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richms

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Reply # 37105 29-May-2006 23:00

What was explained to me is they are able to make small changes to the offering if costs go up etc, but a jump from $49 to $109 is a major change and enough to get out of any contract, I would expect that removing the one redeeming feature of an ISP over others is a pretty signifigant change. All sorts of legal things cover contracts that only a lawyer or someone thats been there done that will know of. I know when I asked about the orcon doubling the cost of internet, i was told that there was no way they could hold the contract term up if it went to disputes as its clearly not fair.

Worth making there lives difficult over in any case.

Richard rich.ms