ICE Broadband is the worst

[watty]

I wanted to take the time to register on this forum as I have been using the speed test on this website for some time now.

I want to warn everyone in Ireland who is even thinking of using ICE Broadband to please think again and search for another ISP.
I signed up about 2 months ago for a 4 Meg down 1 Meg up connection.
From the start I was getting a crap service with the speed, so I phoned them up and they "adjusted the system setting" which helped for the best part of about 2 days then it was back to the way it was.

Right now when I run a speed test I get 364kb download and 873kb upload.
ITS SUPPOSED to be at least 3.60 meg download and 980kb upload. My upload is faster then my download at the moment. when the chaps came to install the thing on the roof 2 months ago they informed me that my signal strength was very good (Living in Celbridge, Kildare).

I still have my BT Broadband 2 meg down connection as I never canceled it after getting ICE. Its more stable and allot faster then ICE even though the ICE connection should be more then double the speed of the BT connection while also costing double the price €60 euro per month.

I am happy I still have BT as today I am phoning ICE and telling them to shove their service up were the sun don't shine. Their Tech support is the worst I have ever come across. Before I ordered their service I asked the sales department every question I could think of to make sure it was a good reliable service.

In total since I joined ICE Broadband I have phoned them up countless of times complaining about the service I was paying 60 euro per month for.
They just brush it off as if they are doing it for free.

So now its the last phone call to make to this amature company.
And after I'll phone up BT and get my broadband upgraded to their 3 meg connection.

So a warning to you all, DON'T USE ICE Broadband !!

[watty]

I've been onto ComReg and they advised me to log a formal complaint so they can intervene during the termination of contract if ICE Broadband decide to try and get snotty with cancellation fees

[Bercon Forklifts]

We had problems here, and yes, it took a bit of doing to get hold of Tech Support, but once they changed our IP address to a new one, our speeds are back up to respectable again, and it didn't take that many calls or other pressures to get it that way.

They're not good at responding to calls or E-mails, but for this area, we've no choice other than ICE, and in over 12 months, we've not had that many days when there were problems with speeds.

Attached is a PDF that shows how bad it got, but also how good it can be as well. Our speed is 3 Mb down, and 1 up, we're pretty close to that again now, and it's stable, which is all I can ask.


Steve

[Jail8ird]

What was the strength of the signal when ICE initially came to test it?
How long are they in your town. Did they already have many sign ups ?

We've been waiting for broadband for ages in our village so we're really happy that a company like ICE have come to the aid of the rural communities. But I was still cautious about forking out a contract so I waited for the verdict of a few neighbours who signed up first what the speed was like etc. I also made sure the signal strength was good when they came out to test my signal.

You've got to do your research. A company can't be damned by one view point.

[mrplop]

Originally Posted by Jail8ird

You've got to do your research. A company can't be damned by one view point.

If you look at the posts on Boards.ie you find quite a lot of people have 'damned'
Ice with their views.
They're truly awful with almost a complete lack of technical support.

Tonight my 3mb connection has sunk to an all time low - 71kbts.
This is dial-up to all intents and purposes.

I have called their support section over 20 times without an answer.

I would consider this pretty damning.

[adamant]

If you read my posts from the last 2 years you would see how bad Ice can be.I even got on to comreg too. I have no choice but Ice ,living in the sticks.
I think that they become oversubscribed and then have to increase Bandwith to solve there problem.So my advice is change if you can ,and dont recommend them to anybody in case they eat into your bandwith.

Ps When I started with them my contract was 15:1 contention , now 40:1 .Does that say something! At the moment its ok , but next day who knows!

[mrplop]

Tonight I getting LESS than dial up speeds.
I advise anyone that's having the same issues to contact Comreg and then cancel your service.
Save CSV's with your speeds and send those to Comreg too.

I've used an awful lot of different services across the globe - Ice is the worst.

[watty]

OK I gave them a chance 2 weeks ago after the manager phoned me and told me my antenna box on the roof was the "old" one and he wanted to get someone out to install the "new" one and sorry this, sorry that.
That manager has left ICE broadband now (I was told by a Tech support chap in ICE)

Guess what?

It still sucks, 2 weeks later...They close tech support at 9pm on a friday right?
Well I phoned at 8:45 tonight and it went stright into "Are opening times are" meaning they closed up for the night early.
So I left a message "Connect me on the matter of terminating my contract with you"

Don't use ICE Broadband, no matter what they say, no matter what....just don't use them as they lie..If your in the sticks I feel sorry for you if they are your only option

[Endox]

The problem with this connection seems to be over-subscription. It's very common with this sort of ISP - they have to saturate the network with subscribers to get the revenue to buy more bandwidth. it's a sort of chicken-and-egg scenario - and long-term subscribers seem to see a constantly degrading service since sign-up.

I signed up to ICE this Summer and like other people on this forum, had no other choice of ISP. Initially we signed up for the voice service with 3Mbps downstream but it was unusable. We went through the whole rigmarole of "upgrading the basestation", "changing the levels" etc etc but none of it made any difference. Eventually a technician came out and moved the antenna to point at another POP and all has been well since then. I don't get the full rate, but it's quite adequate. The voice service was still not reliable so we cancelled that part of the service. I have been told that it only works properly if you are in visual sight of the POP due to the network not having QoS for voice. I have also heard that ICE are losing subscribers at a high rate, but this could be due to local exchanges being enabled.

I had another small problem with the direct debit but found their accounts department to very helpful and they resolved it for me within the hour, and e-mailed me the new details. I also found the tech support staff difficult to reach but just kept calling until I got someone. In fairness, I did leave a message once and they did call back the same afternoon. Generally I found them helpful but their issue seems to be that they know the network is over-subscribed but can't admit to it. Instead they will go through a slew of excuses like upgrades, faults, weather etc. I heard them all until I got the antenna moved.

[pnolan66]

Hello, I have posted the following in other threads but think the info has relevance in most threads on this site.
Might help you out.

Permanet needs firewall

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Hi, I have read the posts and thought I would mention my experience.
I use a provider who backhauls through permanet.
The IP address is from a permanet router, my node (antenna) then runs dhcp on the private 169.254......... class b address.
I have installed a gateway immediatly behind the antenna linked to a switch for the lan.
The constant attacks detected have proven my choice to be a wise one.
I have used an old pc running the pointclark.net linux release for individual use.
The community edition of their package is well worth downloading.
Its free and so stable, secure, usefull and easy to use.
It protects my lan from attack, it provides all network services I need including the DHCP, NAT, DNS, WEB PROXY, CONTENT FILTERING, BANDWIDTH MANAGEMENT and many more services including IPSEC VPN and PPTP VPN.
The download is an iso file which you just burn to a cd and boot up your old pc with it and install.
It needs very little by way of speed, hard drive size and memory to work but the faster/more it has the better, especially if you use the home folders/network share/web proxy services as these will take space and resources to use.
Oh and make sure the pc your going to use has 2 network adapters at least, one for the WAN(internet) and one for the LAN. You can install more and run subnets from them too.
All things considered it makes a better choice than a desktop software firewall for security and function, also seems better than the alternative hardware(software) firewall/gateway option due to ease of use and function.
Many services available to your network and the software is free.

Just thought I would pass that on to you all.

Happy and secure surfing to all.

AND

Speed problems

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Hello, I have previously posted the following in the CLEARWIRE forum and thought it might be of use here too.
Also I mentioned using a linux firewall/gateway on your connection to help but failed to mention the benefits for all if it is used.
The web proxy cache it runs allows almost instant access to previously viewed sited, you can also set it to download and cache "OBJECTS" below a chosen size so if you want website content including video you can adjust the "OBJECT" size accordingly.
If everyone used one the requests over your connection to your ISP's gateway would be tiny in comparison and everyone would benefit from the available bandwidth.
Anyway here is the other post:

Speeds dropping off?

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These companies all use "Traffic shaping", this works like a bucket with a small feed pipe. You will get an initial burst of speed, sometimes upto your limit(if the contention allows), but after a short time the bucket is empty and your now on drip feed, topping up your bucket at a fraction of your limit.
The P2P connection packets are blocked, using "socks to http" with a subscription to a socks server will get you around this.
You could also try using the "TOR" network, but they wont thank you for clogging it with P2P traffic
You should also know that your being monitored ALL THE TIME.
If you don't like the idea try using "privoxy" along with "TOR", just grab the "VIDALIA" bundle, this will encrypt all requests and responses.
Wireless would be fine for gaming and P2P if the companies had the bandwidth, they don't.
With eircom's huge charge for backhaul, and ESB getting greedy for access to their fibre the providers are tightening their belts.
If enough people complain things will change, with loads of subscribers the ISP's will be able to purchase more backhaul, so low cost crappy access is the first step, it HAS to get better.
Cisco have purchased a WIMAX company recently, the big boys are getting behind this technology, this will improve things greatly.
Hope some of this has helped someone.
Best of luck with your future access.

[Xpro]

hi there,
im using ice and i subscibed for 3mb download and im gettin constantly over
6mb.i live only few hundred yards from there base so signal is great.
generaly i would advise for those how are getting ice broadband to check first
the location of their base in your area,because obvioustly if too distant the signal is gona be cr@p