ToucanSurf Unlimited? Yeah, right! (merged threads)

pondie1

where do you want to start, I joined them in DEC 05, despite saying they are unlimited THEY ARE -- 3GB per week!
this is a typical email from them....
We monitor peak hour high usage on a weekly basis. Over the last week, your downloads and uploads have totalled 1.01 GB, which exceeds our peak hour usage thresholds:
ToucanSurf 512Kb and 1Mb: 0.75 GB
ToucanSurf 2Mb: 1GB
Peak hours are 6pm-11pm, Monday-Sunday (including Christmas and Bank Holidays).

We have therefore arranged for you to share bandwidth with other high users for the next seven days. Over this period, your access speed during peak periods will be determined both by your own usage level and by the usage of users with whom you are sharing bandwidth. At the end of this period we will review the situation and, if your peak hour usage is no longer exceeds the threshold, we will restore your service to its previous status.
I have installed a Bandwidth Monitor to monito my usage & it tells me that i have used nowhere near that!

several times when I first joined I got an email about the fair usage until finally they admited it was 3 gb per week.

Since I joined I have phoned them every week to complain that they havent taken any payments from my account. All i get is what appears to be an indian call centre, on one occasion I got through to an english bloke who did more in a phone call than i normally got.
The tech Service is abysmal I spent 30 mins at a premium rate to achieve nothing

DO NOT TOUCH WITH A BARGE POLE I WILL BE LEAVING WHEN MY YEAR IS UP!

pondie1

unlimited means

(a.) Unconfined; not restrained; unrestricted.
(a.) Not limited; having no bounds; boundless; as, an unlimited expanse of ocean.
(a.) Undefined; indefinite; not bounded by proper exceptions; as, unlimited terms.

EXCEPT TOUCANSURF - Maybe an email to Watchdog on BBC will help.

Fenris

Yeah, Toucan are gits. I've just managed to get out of their "contract" after six months of hell. See my thread, "ToucanSurf Unlimited? Yeah right!"

Fenris

pondie1 wrote:

DO NOT TOUCH WITH A BARGE POLE I WILL BE LEAVING WHEN MY YEAR IS UP!

Do what I did mate, send them a letter telling them you'll take them to court for breach of contract! I've been with them for six months and I've managed to get out of their "contract".

I kept all their FUP e-mails and all the e-mails/letters I sent them, chucked them all in a word document and e-mailed it to them. Then I followed it up with a phone call and two recorded letters. They finally relented and I got my MAC last Thursday!

There are dozens of people on other forums writing to them and threatening court action, so they're aware of how c**p their service is. If enough people write and complain they may think twice about advertising "unlimited" Broadband!

Mike-Graham

I am also with toucansurf, on their 2meg unlimited service, and I am truly disapointed. I don't download much, and have never had an email from them about unfair usage, but the speeds which I receive are appauling.

At the moment, I cannot play online games, as my transfer speed is 30kb/s downstream and 280kb/s upstream.

I have had a time when my download speed was 4kb/s, on 2meg broadband!!

I have had highs of 2150kb/s, so it can go fast at times, but does not do it regularly. I tried reconnecting, just the same happens. Its been at 30kb/s for 5 days now, and i cannot play games online.

In off peak, i got today, 1000kb/s, still unacceptable. I just dont know what to do about it though

I have complained 6 times now, each time they said they had fixed it, yet it still does it.

What can i do? Im afraid that they are making me share bandwidth when I haven't even broken any rules.

Fenris

Humm, if you're an online gamer I expect they are throttling you. I'm sorry to say it but Toucan (and most isp's in fact) love to pienalise anyone who does more with the internet than read e-mail a look at !!!!!!!

Do you connect via a router, or usb modem? If you use a usb modem I'd suggest trying a router and seeing if that helps. If you have a router I assume you've already rebooted it?

How long have you had your contract with Toucan? Can you leave? If so, get your MAC and go elsewhere. If not, write them a strongly worded letter saying you're not getting the service you've paid for etc and that, if they don't sort it you'll take further action.

mrJ_5

BT say that if your connection is over 400Kb/s then your connection is ok

as for 4Kb/s.... take speed tests, twice a day, at different times... say a couple of hours... over the course of a couple of days, and send it to them.... they should then tell BT to act... but if it is their service that is causing the issue... try and get out

not really suprised about this though, since touscan use tiscali's diabolical network

Mike-Graham

I have a router, and have tried everything to sort it out. Nothing cures it.

Have also done the speed tests on numerous occastions, and sent toucan the results, they generally email back and tell me the problem is fixed, when infact it isn't.

Have been with toucan for around 6months now, so no chance of getting out just yet

Fenris

Ah, but there is! If you read back in this thread you'll see that I was with Toucan for 6 months and their service was abysmal. I managed to get away from them due to breach of contract on their part.

You just need to send them a letter, preferably by recorded delivery so you've got proof of receipt, telling them you want it sorting out ASAP. Quote the Sale of Goods and Services Act 1982, which states that a service should be fit for it's intended purpose, which in your case it's not. If your service doesn't improve within, say, 14 days, send another letter telling them that, as they have failed to provide the service for which you are paying they are in breach of contract and you want your MAC so you can migrate.

I just kept plugging away at them until they finally relented. It won't happen overnight, but there's always a chance!

Besides which, it strikes me that other than this service issue you have no problems with Toucan otherwise; no "unlimited" of FUP issues. So you'd probably be happy if they just provided the service you're paying for yes? Don't tell them that though, make 'em sweat!

Andrew7

There seems to be some disenchantment about Talk Talk broadband, but no one on this site seems to have considered Toucan as an alternative. At £15.99 for 2 Mb (unlimited downloads), Toucan broadband appears less good value than Talk Talk’s £9 for 8 Mb with free phone calls. However, for various reasons, mainly Toucan’s refer a friend incentive and cheaper line rental, and Talk Talk’s long contract length, Toucan seems to me to be cheaper and better value. How much better partly depends on how much difference it makes having an 8 Mb connection, rather than a 2 Mb.


At £8.99/month (for a years contract), Toucan line rental is £2 cheaper than Talk Talk, or you can have line rental on a months rolling contract for £9.99.

Toucan is only a 12 month contract with no leaving fine

Although you pay for 18 months with TT, 1 or 2 months wait for connection means you only get 16 or 17 months broadband.

The Talk Talk deal includes free calls, but Toucan gives free weekend calls, and to other Toucan customers, and all over rides work, so for other UK calls I use 1899 ( 3p a call). This costs us less than £2 a month, that’s about 3 calls per weekday.

I'm not sure how much advantage TT's 8 Mb over Toucans 2 Mb is. I've heard and that with any 8Mb line you don’t always get 8Mb if the line is busy or you are not near the exchange, and also that in addition to this TT throttle P2P downloads at peak times, but I don’t have broadband at home yet (mainly because my present computers are too old, and I have too many other things on, to take full advantage of it, so I mostly use the internet in the library), so I can’t speak from experience.

So, given that Toucan may be a slower connection, how does the actual cost add up?

With Toucan you are committed to (including line rental) £12x(8.99+15.99)-(25+10)=264.76, if you are referred and join on line.

With TT you are committed to and outlay of £18x(11+8.99)+29.99=389.81, if you take the modem (£29.99 less without the modem). For this you get an extra 4 or 5 months (assuming a 1 or 2 month’s wait for connection) broadband, but this may not be worth that much in a year’s time. Its more likely that there will be something else around that you would rather transfer to and you won’t be very pleased to be locked into a contract by a £70 early leaving fine.

Even if you consider the cost of only 12 months’ worth of TT broadband, Toucan seems to me to come out ok. Again assuming a months wait for connection, TT would cost 12x(11+8.99)+29.99+9=278.87 (£14 more than with Toucan), plus £9 for each extra month’s wait, if you count the cost of the modem over the 12 months. Without the modem this would be 248.88, £15 less (or £6 less if you have a 2 month’s wait for connection) than a year’s Toucan broadband (if joined on line with a referral).

This does not take account of the money you would save with Talk Talk on free phone calls. For us this appears to be less than £25 a year, but maybe other people make more calls than. Eventually you must run out of people to refer, and Toucan might withdraw the offer, but at the moment I don’t think many people actually know about Toucan.

Sorry if I sound a bit like a Toucan salesman – my only connection with Toucan is that I have a phone account with them. I may be unconsciously biased by a desire to get people to refer. There may be other better options, I haven’t looked at them all, it might be better, for example, to have Toucan for the cheaper line rental and the referral incentives, and then use someone else’s broadband. The £25 referralcincentive is for the line rental, not the broadband. However, as I haven’t seen Toucan mentioned much on this site, I think it is at least worth drawing your attention to it.

Best wishes

Andrew

***Referrals and suggestions can only be placed on the Referral Board, thank you Board Guide***