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UPC HAS BEEN told to stop any advertising which includes the claim that its broadband services are the fastest on offer in Ireland.
The order comes after one TV ad, featuring RTÉ host Craig Doyle, were rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland after a complaint from a rival broadband operator who said its own services were quicker.
Magnet Networks said the UPC claim of “Ireland’s fastest broadband” was mislead and couldn’t be substantiated.
In their formal complaint to the ASAI they said UPC’s internet offerings were based on a technology with a ‘contention ratio’ of 8-to-1 – meaning it was possible that eight people could be sharing a domestic connection at any one time.
This meant that a customer subscribing to UPC’s 100Mb service, its fastest offering, might only experience download speeds of 12.5Mb.
YouTube credit: h2filmsDublin
Magnet themselves said they offered a 50Mb service which was not contended, meaning customers would not have to share their connection with others.
UPC had responded by saying that their service – which could be accessed by 535,000 homes – was being advertised to the mass market, to which the existing market of around 3,800 cable internet customers did not apply.
It also said its 25Mb broadband exceeded the entry level products offered by other subscribers, and that it actively monitored the takeup of its broadband to ensure it had sufficient capacity to cater to current and prospective customers.
The ASAI upheld Magnet’s complaint, saying that while UPC’s offerings were the fastest services to the majority of Irish homes, it was inappropriate to make an absolute claim when other providers – albeit ones who were not accessible to the mass market – had faster services.
Magnet CEO Mark Kellett said the ruling helped to provide a “more transparent picture to the general consumer” who could easily be confused by the offerings available on the market.
Craig Doyle is the most annoying man on Irish television. Less of him can only be a good thing.
Never seen Brendan Kilkenny then
Or Tubridy? Still, he’s very annoying and doesn’t seem like there anything he won’t hawk.
That man makes me cringe! As for UPC, they’re nothing more than a crowd of gangsters! Have you ever tried to decipher a UPC bill? They’re like something you’d find on the wall of an Egyptian Pyramid!!
Channel 100 on UPC should be banned forever.. That annoying voice constantly pontificating about UPCs services !
Couldn’t agree more. I actually complained to UPC. Drives me crazy.
who gives a fek, upc and magnet do not offer services in Donegal, pandering to the city slickers. Internet In Ireland offers bad service for rip off prices.
“City slickers”??? Sweet jesus…..
U can sing dat…no broadband in ireland is that fast….
I’m with Magnet and received a consistent 50mbs download speed
Magnet is not in any way widely available
No maybe not, but Dublin is part if Ireland, and the post I commented on stated that no Internet speeds were that fast in Ireland.
craig doyle is a self obsessed twat he wont be missed.
UPC should be banned from advertising altogether.
Agree with that wholeheartedly. Not just banned from advertising, but from marketing too.
I’d love to have UPC or magnet fibre in my area because the local eircom offerings are brutal
poor chap:(
I know the feeling, my parents have dial-up in co.limk. Lets hope the rural broadband scheme will have it sorted in next few months.
I had UPC broadband for all of three days. It was useless, by which I mean it was slower than dial up. When I contacted their technical support people they conceded that it wasn’t working. But they also said that if I wanted to get it corrected I would have to call a premium rate helpline. They said that in ‘certain circumstances’ they ‘may’ refund the cost to me. I told them that I wasn’t interested in the service anymore, that I was exercising my rights under the cooling off period and that they could come and take their equipment away.
At that point they told me they would assume the cost of getting the system up and running and that they would have someone from the premium rate helpline call me. I told that if they could get the service up and running I would re-consider but that I wasn’t paying anything until such time as they delivered. I said that in the meantime I was staying with my existing broadband provider who were, and still are Magnet.
Upshot of the story is that the call never came, UPC never fixed the service but they did manage to debit my bank account for something in the region of €100. When I told them to give that money back they refused. When I complained to my bank about an unauthorised direct debit they refused to do anything about it either. I was given to understand that because UPC operate a ‘Direct Debit Plus’ type mandate, normal safeguards do not apply. They can debit your account for whatever they like, even if it’s unauthorised, and they can’t be made to give it back. The only way I did get my money back was by refusing to pay for the Cable TV service they were also supplying to my home at the time (but not anymore, now I’m with Sky).
WARNING to anyone considering getting involved with UPC. Do not under any circumstances agree to set up a direct debit over the phone. Don’t even give them your bank account details. Ask them to post you out a proper mandate which contains all the standard terms and conditions, including the Direct Debit Guarantee. Information about how direct debit originators are supposed to operate, and your rights as a payer are available from http://www.ipso.ie/section/DirectDebitScheme
Had a UPC sales rep at the door last week. Told her, I wouldn’t take it for free!! Worst customer service on the planet.
@Dave
I fully support your comment.
When I WAS with UPC I use to tine how long it took to get to talk to someone.
It averaged 14 mins.
Their phone service is a disgrace and their field support is as bad.
I have banned them from coming onto my property altogether now
No 3 win that award by far, I waited one day for 30-45 minutes to be connected to a guy who didn’t speak much English and didn’t know the alphabet, needless to say it wasn’t the quickest conversation ever.
Whilst the UPC packages may have a contention ratio of 8:1 I have subscribed to the service in a variety of addresses over the past five years and I have never once experienced slowness due to contention ratio.
I constantly max out my connection in the address that I’m in at the moment. I have also been a Magnet networks customer in the past and I also experienced no lag due to contention (which can still occur on the exchange level, their claim of no contention is a bit of a misnomer).
This just smacks of desperation on Magnet’s part.
“We’re not going to try to improve our services to double the speed… we’ll just try and rubbish the claims of others instead.”
UPC is only available to a certain minority… and Magnet’s availability is even smaller than this. I would say that UPC *do* have the fastest consumer speeds in Ireland.
Whilst their support may not be great I don’t see any problem with them claiming that they have the fastest consumer broadband in the country because this *is* true.
Do NOT do business with UPC.
Worst customer service ever!
Just finished with them this week.
Lucky me!!
If the alternative is eircom UPC is heaven in comparision
In fairness, their broadband is faster than the speed it takes to switch stations on their tv boxes. Bad bad company, terrible service.
The service that UPC tried to sell me was a package that comprised TV, broadband and telephone. What I noticed was that if someone was on the phone, you might as well give up watching TV because the signal became patchy. The broadband connection was non-existent but I wonder what it would be like in a household where people are simultaneously on the phone, watching TV and surfing the web.
IPC is the best in the country and most wildly available.
UPC, damn phone
Magnet shite ,had 24mb internet for a year,did a speed test instead of 20mb I was getting max 8-11mb (I know It’s impossible to get all 24mb,u need to live under antenna if u want to get all speed) now with upc 50mb ,doing test every week ,getting 42-45mb ,happy!!:)
upc 50mb rocks compared with eircom. that is all.
So nothing has changed at UPC-dropped their services a fe years ago – never looked back–the orst customer service EVER.
For 50eur a month, I get phone with free evening/weekend calls and 100Mb broadband from UPC. Speed checks consistently show 104Mbps coming in and 8Mbps out, which is unbelievable. No other company can beat that. I can download a 1.5GB HD movie in 2 to 3 minutes and I’ve had NO problems or slowdowns. Why isn’t everybody in Dublin on this plan?
Robert Mayberry (see above) would call you a city slicker!
Just thought I’d add if you can’t find his comment ctrl and f on Windows or cmd and f on mac and type in the name, speed things up a bit.
Can’t get Magnet, UPC or eircom! So I can’t get any of the wonderful package deals that are constantly advertised on the TV. Instead I pay E38 per month for broadband only! The joys of living in the countryside :)
It’s not.
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