Are PIPEX always this bad?

I got Pipex Broadband 5 weeks ago. In that 5 weeks-

1. There hasn't been a usable News server - it takes 30 second to view a
post if it can at all (although their status announcement which went up in
AUGUST seems to have disappeared tonight - maybe it's fixed at last?)
2. Email was unusable for a day and they have managed to lose all posts
stored on the equipment which failed - and cannot (or don't want to) provide
a log of what may have been lost.
3. All connectivity was lost for an evening.
4. Tonight's EU-US fault (not PIPEX's fault, I know) does seem to be
exacerbated by a fault which does appear to be a PIPEX problem. This from
their Network Status page:

"Additionally, an unrelated intermittent routing problem at our North London
site has affected traffic flow for some ADSL users. "

I've sent 3 separate emails to their "customer support", one each about
issues 1-3 above. I've only received a reply to the third one and that was
only a cut and paste from the related Network Status report which told me
nothing I didn't already know.

Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
just going through a really bad time?

Alick wrote:

> I got Pipex Broadband 5 weeks ago. In that 5 weeks-
>
> 1. There hasn't been a usable News server - it takes 30 second to view a
> post if it can at all (although their status announcement which went up in
> AUGUST seems to have disappeared tonight - maybe it's fixed at last?)

Try using news-text.dsl.pipex.com for your text groups...

> 2. Email was unusable for a day and they have managed to lose all posts
> stored on the equipment which failed - and cannot (or don't want to) provide
> a log of what may have been lost.
> 3. All connectivity was lost for an evening.
> 4. Tonight's EU-US fault (not PIPEX's fault, I know) does seem to be
> exacerbated by a fault which does appear to be a PIPEX problem. This from
> their Network Status page:
>
> "Additionally, an unrelated intermittent routing problem at our North London
> site has affected traffic flow for some ADSL users. "
>
> I've sent 3 separate emails to their "customer support", one each about
> issues 1-3 above. I've only received a reply to the third one and that was
> only a cut and paste from the related Network Status report which told me
> nothing I didn't already know.
>
> Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
> just going through a really bad time?
>
>


--
Alexander Mann, (E-Mail Removed)
www.xisp.co.uk - UK webhosting

"Alexander Mann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3fc3b7e6$0$52883$(E-Mail Removed).. .
>
> Try using news-text.dsl.pipex.com for your text groups...
>

Thanks Alexander - that works fine. Would've been nice to get that steer
from PIPEX though, instead of a cut and paste "we'll fix it sometime, if we
get round to it"...

> I got Pipex Broadband 5 weeks ago. In that 5 weeks-
> 1. There hasn't been a usable News server - it takes 30 second to view a
> post if it can at all (although their status announcement which went up in
> AUGUST seems to have disappeared tonight - maybe it's fixed at last?)

I don`t use their newsgroups - I only use text based groups (someone else
has already posted a link to their new server), I use www.individual.com

> 2. Email was unusable for a day and they have managed to lose all posts
> stored on the equipment which failed - and cannot (or don't want to) provide
> a log of what may have been lost.

They may not be able to provide a log of what was lost - if the hardware
went up in smoke, its as good as gone forever. I`ve had 2 periods of no
mail since February to my knowledge, which is a massive improvement over
what btinternet managed (usually two per week or so)

> 3. All connectivity was lost for an evening.

I think i`ve lost "all" connectivity twice, for a couple of hours each
time. Not bad overall IMO !

> 4. Tonight's EU-US fault (not PIPEX's fault, I know) does seem to be
> exacerbated by a fault which does appear to be a PIPEX problem. This from
> their Network Status page:
> "Additionally, an unrelated intermittent routing problem at our North London
> site has affected traffic flow for some ADSL users. "

Shit happens - it also affected Blueyonder customers, as I was stuck
trying to sort out a problem for my sister.

> I've sent 3 separate emails to their "customer support", one each about
> issues 1-3 above. I've only received a reply to the third one and that was
> only a cut and paste from the related Network Status report which told me
> nothing I didn't already know.

They probably have more on their hands at the moment with the bigger
fault. Poor perhaps, but put it into context.

99% of the current complaints can be "sorted" (or at least explained)
with a cut and paste, 1% might be cheesed off at the lack of response.

> Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
> just going through a really bad time?

I think you`re just unlucky :-}

--
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Alick wrote:

> "Alexander Mann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:3fc3b7e6$0$52883$(E-Mail Removed).. .
>
>>Try using news-text.dsl.pipex.com for your text groups...
>>
>
>
> Thanks Alexander - that works fine. Would've been nice to get that steer
> from PIPEX though, instead of a cut and paste "we'll fix it sometime, if we
> get round to it"...
>
>

The last Mark, Technical Director (owtte), told me was that these text
only servers look likely to be a permanent affair but that PIPEX can't
announce them officially until UUNet, the people that manage them,
confirm them.

alex

--
Alexander Mann, (E-Mail Removed)
www.xisp.co.uk - UK webhosting

"Alick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3fc3a879$0$13348$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I got Pipex Broadband 5 weeks ago. In that 5 weeks-
>
> 1. There hasn't been a usable News server - it takes 30 second to view a
> post if it can at all (although their status announcement which went up in
> AUGUST seems to have disappeared tonight - maybe it's fixed at last?)
> 2. Email was unusable for a day and they have managed to lose all posts
> stored on the equipment which failed - and cannot (or don't want to)
provide
> a log of what may have been lost.
> 3. All connectivity was lost for an evening.
> 4. Tonight's EU-US fault (not PIPEX's fault, I know) does seem to be
> exacerbated by a fault which does appear to be a PIPEX problem. This from
> their Network Status page:
>
> "Additionally, an unrelated intermittent routing problem at our North
London
> site has affected traffic flow for some ADSL users. "
>
> I've sent 3 separate emails to their "customer support", one each about
> issues 1-3 above. I've only received a reply to the third one and that was
> only a cut and paste from the related Network Status report which told me
> nothing I didn't already know.
>
> Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
> just going through a really bad time?
>
>

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pipex!
Stick around in this NG, and you'll soon appreciate the flavour!


--
(E-Mail Removed)
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On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 21:44:07 +0000, Alexander Mann wrote:

> Alick wrote:
>
>> "Alexander Mann" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:3fc3b7e6$0$52883$(E-Mail Removed).. .
>>
>>>Try using news-text.dsl.pipex.com for your text groups...
>>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks Alexander - that works fine. Would've been nice to get that steer
>> from PIPEX though, instead of a cut and paste "we'll fix it sometime, if we
>> get round to it"...
>>
>>
>
> The last Mark, Technical Director (owtte), told me was that these text
> only servers look likely to be a permanent affair but that PIPEX can't
> announce them officially until UUNet, the people that manage them,
> confirm them.
>
> alex

How wonderful. I was with Pipex for 18 months and it only took about 20
seconds for each post to be downloaded. Wish I'd known about the different
server as I wouldn't have gone to another provider.

"Alick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

> Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
> just going through a really bad time?
>

I have been with Pipex for around a month and all I have had is problems
including a nine hour outage which they tried to blame on BT before
admitting it was a Pipex issue. I used to be with BT and never gave my
ADSL a second thought but now I am always left wondering if Pipex will be
offering a full service when I go on-line assuming I can get a connection.

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 19:09:41 +0000, Alick wrote:

> I got Pipex Broadband 5 weeks ago. In that 5 weeks-

I have been with Pipex for 1.5 years now.

> 1. There hasn't been a usable News server - it takes 30 second to view a
> post if it can at all (although their status announcement which went up in
> AUGUST seems to have disappeared tonight - maybe it's fixed at last?)

Some has already posted the text only news server with almost instant
download instead of the 30 secs delay.

> 2. Email was unusable for a day and they have managed to lose all posts
> stored on the equipment which failed - and cannot (or don't want to) provide
> a log of what may have been lost.

This started recently, I have no problem with Pipex email before. I'm
still getting Authentication Failure error message now and then.

> 3. All connectivity was lost for an evening.
> 4. Tonight's EU-US fault (not PIPEX's fault, I know) does seem to be
> exacerbated by a fault which does appear to be a PIPEX problem. This from
> their Network Status page:
>
> "Additionally, an unrelated intermittent routing problem at our North London
> site has affected traffic flow for some ADSL users. "

Yup, last night was one of the worst in my 1.5 yrs with them. I've had few
before being the last one about this time last year.

> I've sent 3 separate emails to their "customer support", one each about
> issues 1-3 above. I've only received a reply to the third one and that was
> only a cut and paste from the related Network Status report which told me
> nothing I didn't already know.
>
> Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
> just going through a really bad time?

Well, I heard a lot of bad email and call centre support stories but I
haven't got a real reason to leave Pipex now really. The last time I
called them, was put in the queue for few minutes but all were well..
though the problem I had couldn't be solved there and then (Pipex wide
problem with their email servers).

Just my 2p worth..

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 05:32:27 -0000, "Informer" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>
>"Alick" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>
>> Even Freeserve weren't this bad. Did I make a bad ISP choice, or are PIPEX
>> just going through a really bad time?
>>
>
>I have been with Pipex for around a month and all I have had is problems
>including a nine hour outage which they tried to blame on BT before
>admitting it was a Pipex issue. I used to be with BT and never gave my
>ADSL a second thought but now I am always left wondering if Pipex will be
>offering a full service when I go on-line assuming I can get a connection.
>

The fun starts with Pipex even before you get online with them . . .

Ordered Pipes broadband a fortnight ago - and my activation date was
earlier this week. But I am still waiting for delivery of the 'free'
modem Pipex promised and which they apparently sent out over a week
ago.

Spoke to a guy today in what is laughingly called Customer Support.

"Could take 10 days or could be even longer"
"But I will be billed from my activation date, even though I dont have
a modem to yse?"
"Basically yeah".
"And there's nothing you can do?"
"No, nothing"
"You really couldn't care less could you?"
silence
"OK, well thanks for your help"

No apology, no suggestion that they will try to find out where the
parcel might be
But at least he was honest - his tone was couldn't give a monkey's,
and he made that very plain. Yes im looking forward to a fun time with
Pipex. Another great British Company.

There are a lot of ISPs out there - and most of them must be better
than this lot!

>