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ljr2004
30th April 2006, 21:35
Hi everyone,

I am going to be migrating from EvolutionDSL 8MB Office max product asap and i have a couple of questions about Multiplay:

1. How long has the company been going / providing broadband services?

2. I understand there is a problem with bt capping the line @ 2MB and this is what i have been getting in general web browsing etc or 220k-ish d/l speed despite being synced @ 6500kbps and I am now past the 10 day training period. I guess i am asking if this will increase. i know its based on my line but I'm only 750 metres away from the exchange and my line has always been good quality?

I'm going to bust on Evolution here, sorry but i need to explain the circumstances. Basically my problem with evo is a) poor customer service and lack of any kind of support, 2) bad communication with customers, we are never informed and when we are its the same rubbish spurted out every time which makes me feel undervalued as a customer, 3) problems with there servers so nobody can access the net. its definitely an evo problem because it happens to every evo customer @ the same time, 4) "assumed" traffic shaping despite them saying they don't do that (i can't prove it but the evidence suggests its true). This is based on extremely poor speed the majority of the time. starts of well, then a couple of mins later slows down, until it reaches 15k. this has happened to lots of evo customers and due to the step down like nature of the speed decreases suggests traffic shaping.

I am basically worried that MAX DSL is nothing more than a glorified 2MB connection where i will occasionally see the high rate but only for a short period of time.

Back to the questions:

3) My biggest issue is only getting 15k when using Usenet regardless of port, have tried changing it. occasionally i got 200k for about 10 mins then back to 15k for the rest of the day. I'm not a 24/7 leecher, i don't d/l excessively from Usenet, but i do expect the same speeds as i get from everything else. what are peoples experiences of Usenet access on multiplay? at present it takes days to d/l a couple of gig @ 15k. i want to d/l @ full speed, get it over with and turn my PC off.

I jumped onto evo from feedom2surf because of what they said on their site and the price for the product, pretty much what multiplay are saying. I have been researching to migrate to another ISP and so far have come across multiplay and ukfsn as viable options for a good price. ukfsn have a 300GB off peak limit which i will never come close too but its as good as unlimited imo which is what i want (i hate the poxy caps some isp's put on their products, makes me feel like they are telling me what to do, lol).

I could d/l @ 220k non stop on my old 2MB connection and from what i gathered ADSL max is supposed to be an upgrade so i would at least like my new "up to 8MB" (i understand that bit) connection to outperform my old 2MB connection if that's possible or as a worst case scenario equal it (i don't mind paying for the higher upload speed and no usage cap). when i got 512 i was amazed, then i got 1MB and my speed doubled. then i got 2MB and my speed doubled again. now I've upgraded and all i want is for it to be faster, but I'm not expecting the full speed, between 400-600k will put a smile on my face. :)

I apologise if I'm ranting or babbling I'm just wary of a company I've never heard of before, especially after the evolution fiasco, i really should have done my research better and they are driving me crazy, d'oh. :rolleyes:

GeeDee
1st May 2006, 11:18
Originally posted by ljr2004

1. How long has the company been going / providing broadband services?


Multiplay as a company has been around for many years. We run the largest LAN Party events in the UK (over 1000 at the last event). We are also the largest gaming network in europe and operate as our own ISP. We have our own network infrastructure which powers not only the ADSL platform but also sees over 10,000 simultaneous gamers per night playing on our game servers.

ADSL is one of the latest major developments and we have been providing services to users since late July 2005.

Originally posted by ljr2004

2. I understand there is a problem with bt capping the line @ 2MB and this is what i have been getting in general web browsing etc or 220k-ish d/l speed despite being synced @ 6500kbps and I am now past the 10 day training period. I guess i am asking if this will increase. i know its based on my line but I'm only 750 metres away from the exchange and my line has always been good quality?


ADSL MAX is a very new system for both users and ISPs and nobody yet knows for sure what to expect from it. We have a few users who have similar issues, but plenty more who are experiencing close to full throughput from the 8Mb connection.

When the service has had a little more time to 'bed in' (we're still chasing for a better system to move our existing users from Standard ADSL to MAX!) then we can take a closer look at users who feel the service is not performing as it should and see what can be done.

Originally posted by ljr2004

3) My biggest issue is only getting 15k when using Usenet regardless of port, have tried changing it. occasionally i got 200k for about 10 mins then back to 15k for the rest of the day. I'm not a 24/7 leecher, i don't d/l excessively from Usenet, but i do expect the same speeds as i get from everything else. what are peoples experiences of Usenet access on multiplay? at present it takes days to d/l a couple of gig @ 15k. i want to d/l @ full speed, get it over with and turn my PC off.


You can expect to see the same throughput for USENET as you see for any other service from MP DSL. Assuming the end USENET server can cope with the traffic, you certainly won't be throttled back by our network.

Originally posted by ljr2004

I could d/l @ 220k non stop on my old 2MB connection and from what i gathered ADSL max is supposed to be an upgrade so i would at least like my new "up to 8MB" (i understand that bit) connection to outperform my old 2MB connection if that's possible or as a worst case scenario equal it (i don't mind paying for the higher upload speed and no usage cap). when i got 512 i was amazed, then i got 1MB and my speed doubled. then i got 2MB and my speed doubled again. now I've upgraded and all i want is for it to be faster, but I'm not expecting the full speed, between 400-600k will put a smile on my face. :)


You should be able to get a rough guide for an estimated ADSL MAX data rate by putting your phone number into the checker here (http://www.bt.com/broadband). It's obviously not guaranteed, but it should at least let you know whether you can expect to see above 2Mb on your line or not with the MAX service. :)

Hope this helps answer your questions. :)

Giles
Multiplay.

ljr2004
1st May 2006, 13:11
Thanks for the quick reply :)

BT says i have a line rate of 5.5mbps upto 8mbps.

This is what my router (Zoom x5 5554 ADSL Modem/Router) is reporting on my line conditions, sync etc. I don't know much about it but are all those errors normal?

SNR Margin - D:4.7 U:14.0 dB
Line Attenuation - D:40.3 U:22.0 dB
Errored Seconds - D:2499 U:10
Loss of Signal - D:0 U:0
Loss of Frame - D:0 U:0
CRC Errors - D:3913 U:10
Data Rate - D:6464 U:832 kbps
Latency - D:FAST U:FAST

At the moment i connot get more than 2mbps but i have seen it hit 600-700k on occasion so i think it definately can handle more?

Mr Footlong
3rd May 2006, 19:40
Hi there. If you have seen the many threads on ADSL guide you will have seen my name on there more than once and the fact that I got one of the best Solicitors in London who is a good friend onto Evolution last week due to the disgusting service/ support. I did exactly the same as you. I was a VERY happy freedom2surf customer of 5+ years, but with the introduction of faster internet 'but we control what goes fast and when', I wasn't happy so found that EVO were stating both on their site and in emails to me about their NO CAPS EVER policy. Suffice to say that I along with you and few thousand others got stung despite getting all this in writing before joining.

Hopefully you will have seen the thread on ADSL guide asking about Multiplay and I have voiced my true opinions on there as an existing customer for various services that MPUK provide: http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=which_isp&Number=2424945&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=

I ain't paid or given any favours, sexual or otherwise (shame as some of them are quite sexy tbh) by Multiplay for what I say about them. I merely believe in giving praise where praise is due and raining hell on those that mess me around :). I finally got my MAC from EVO today and signed up asap with Multiplay. I am confident that I will actually get the service stated and will happily eat humble pie if proved wrong. Mmmm, pie.