Tiscali bandwidth at an all time low!

OK, so up to now Tiscali have pretty much delivered what I have been paying
for, but recently (in particular since they upgraded all their 512k
customers to 1mbit) the service has gone down the pan in my estimation. I
have been testing the bandwidth regularly over the past few weeks and the
average of my 1mbit connection is 250kbps, which is around a quarter of what
it should be and not even as fast as it was before they upgraded me!!. Ok I
accept that at busy periods the contention ratio etc, the final figure could
be a bit down on the max, but these figures are very dissapointing after
they offered 1mbit upgrades to double your speed!

Now I know that there are certain people in this group who wouldn't comment
positively with regards to this post, even if I was prasing the service, but
in this case I feel that at the moment, I am getting a raw deal on this
service. I must say that the bandwidth was much better and nearer the max
when I was on 512kbps. At least then I was getting the stated service
speeds. Now I am on the 1mbit package and getting 250kbps or less most of
the time.

I have to add that the bandwidth tests I have been conducting have been at
light periods, usually after 1am/2am. When the service was first upgraded,
the speeds were very good indeed and held up at 980kbps or more all the
time, but they have declined very much since then, down to an average of
250kbps now.

So my question is..... Is anyone else experiencing these poor bandwidth
speeds on their 1mbit Tiscali service? I would very much like to hear
comments from other users on this package, just to make sure its not just my
local exchange before I consider my next move.

Thanks

On Mon, 9 May 2005 12:05:09 +0100, "John" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Now I know that there are certain people in this group who wouldn't comment
>positively with regards to this post,

its an excellent post :-)

>So my question is..... Is anyone else experiencing these poor bandwidth
>speeds on their 1mbit Tiscali service? I would very much like to hear
>comments from other users on this package, just to make sure its not just my
>local exchange before I consider my next move.

there has been more congestion as people have been moved onto faster
services on IPstream with the extra capacity sometimes lagging the
demand, see http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

there isn't such a facility for datastream so see what people come
back with, if they upgraded the end user links and not the exchange
link then they doubled the contention ratio :-(

Phil

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 9 May 2005 12:05:09 +0100, "John" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>>Now I know that there are certain people in this group who wouldn't
>>comment
>>positively with regards to this post,
>
> its an excellent post :-)
>
>>So my question is..... Is anyone else experiencing these poor bandwidth
>>speeds on their 1mbit Tiscali service? I would very much like to hear
>>comments from other users on this package, just to make sure its not just
>>my
>>local exchange before I consider my next move.
>
> there has been more congestion as people have been moved onto faster
> services on IPstream with the extra capacity sometimes lagging the
> demand, see http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/
>
> there isn't such a facility for datastream so see what people come
> back with, if they upgraded the end user links and not the exchange
> link then they doubled the contention ratio :-(
>
> Phil

So Tiscali are on Datastream?
Any idea where I can get a list of ISP's and what they are on? Datastream
or IPstream....
It seems pointless to upgrade everyone and then screw up the service.
Maybe its time to look at the alternatives, if Tiscali can't deliver..... A
1mbit service that only provides 250kbps is pathetic....

On Mon, 9 May 2005 13:54:47 +0100, "John" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>So Tiscali are on Datastream?

yes

>Any idea where I can get a list of ISP's and what they are on? Datastream
>or IPstream....

you have to collate it - NTL, Virgin, Tesco, CPBB, Tiscali,
Hi-velocity, are the ones that come to mind. Some do both.

>It seems pointless to upgrade everyone and then screw up the service.
>Maybe its time to look at the alternatives, if Tiscali can't deliver..... A
>1mbit service that only provides 250kbps is pathetic....

usually its a lag thing - they upgrade, discover a problem, provide
more bandwidth and the problem goes away.

If you come to move away you discover another attribute of Datastream
- migrations are only just in the trial phase so you may have to
"cease and reprovide".

Others (inc IPStream) have also messed up with the upgrade game, so
you are not alone. Small consolation, I know.

Phil

Out of interest which Exchange are you on?

Dan

John wrote:
[snip]
> So my question is..... Is anyone else experiencing these poor bandwidth
> speeds on their 1mbit Tiscali service?
>
The small charity I help was down to 30 kbps download (but upload 247
kbps) on Saturday, and 6 kbps on Tuesday. Their throughput figures were
tiny, so there can have been no issue of capping.

Tiscali Tech Support was a complete joke - their seemingly infinite list
of troubleshooting steps seemed designed more to bully customers into
giving up than to try and find the cause of the problem.

The best bit was when they wanted us to download some software to
"tweak" the download speed - the 160:1 improvement needed to reach the
promised 1Mb would have been a pretty impressive tweak.

Luckily, we are near the end of 12 months with Tiscali, and have a spare
PSTN line, so we are ordering ADSL from scratch from another ISP, and
have given notice to leave Tiscali the moment our minimum term is up.

For others not so lucky, their Cancellation Line on 0845 077 4488
offered escalation to "Second level Technical Support in Milton Keynes"
the moment they knew we were serious about cancelling. Whether
seond-level support would have been any better, I don't know - but first
level support is a disgrace.

John Geddes
Derbyshire