Madasafish Questions/answers (merged threads)

Reubo

I had a call from my sister who asked me to check out her MAAF account today.
It turns out there was BB usage for the past week of approx 7GB downlaoded which is above her limit and she also had an e-mail telling her so.
ALarm bells rang as their laptop has been in for repair for the last week and there is no way anyone could have downlaoded anything at all as the laptop is the only computer in the house. They do not have a wireless set up either so it could not have been hacked at all.
On contacting Customer services and explaining the problem it turns out that my sister is not the only one who has reported excessive downloading...there have been others.
She also had e-mails about the download limit and was extremley surprised to get them as she thought they had not downloaded much...now she knows for sure there is a problem..
She is awaiting an e-mail to inform her of what is the cause.

SO BEWARE and Check your accounts!!!!

tiptoe_mouse

Reubo wrote: »

I had a call from my sister who asked me to check out her MAAF account today.
It turns out there was BB usage for the past week of approx 7GB downlaoded which is above her limit and she also had an e-mail telling her so.
ALarm bells rang as their laptop has been in for repair for the last week and there is no way anyone could have downlaoded anything at all as the laptop is the only computer in the house. They do not have a wireless set up either so it could not have been hacked at all.
On contacting Customer services and explaining the problem it turns out that my sister is not the only one who has reported excessive downloading...there have been others.
She also had e-mails about the download limit and was extremley surprised to get them as she thought they had not downloaded much...now she knows for sure there is a problem..
She is awaiting an e-mail to inform her of what is the cause.

SO BEWARE and Check your accounts!!!!

Thanks. I've just checked the breakdown of our usage, and it shows usage on two days when we were away. We don't have a wireless set-up either. I wouldn't say it was a lot - KB rather than MB - but it does seem to indicate there's a problem with madasafish's measurements.

tiptoe

harryhound

Hi Samara,

I think a lot of us on here, including me, don't understand how the technology works.
In my case I have a telephone line that comes into "your" Voyager 210 router and the router is then connect by Ethernet cable to a Netgear wireless DG834G. Out of the Netgear another length of Ethernet cable hard wires to my PC. Mrs H likes the freedom to use her laptop anywhere on our property.
I created this set up over a year ago, using advice plus intuition called trial and error. I think I've got the Netgear secure and when we are not using PC or Laptop, everything except the initial router is turned off at the mains.

Obviously BT has the ability to communicate with the router to test the line and keep everything "balanced", in the face of interference caused by changes in the environment (Eg my neighbours using their big compressor or the weather blowing a gale and shaking all the wires - Hi EDF: only two power cuts so far !).

When BT or anything else is communicating with the router, does that count as MY broadband usage? Or can my usage only take place after I have switched on again at the mains and got a rush of automatic updates from the likes of AVG?

Harry.

Thinks: Will conduct an experiment next time we are away for a few days.

curtic01

Worth staying with MAAF?

I've been a customer of MAAF for 2 years - i'm paying about £24.50 a month for Max Broadband and Talk Free, and then i get another bill for about £5 per month for dialling 18866. I've spoken to customer services today to see if they can offer me a better deal now that my current contract has expired - and wait for it - they offered me £1 off per month!!! Wow...not.

I pointed out that the top package on Talk talk is 24.99 per month and for that you get free landline calls at any time and 100 inclusive mobile minutes. The lady was not interested.

I'd like the free anytime calls and mobile minutes rather than lowering the price of my monthly bill.

I've been very happy with MAAF but should i stick with them when i can get (more) service cheaper elsewhere?

I don't know if Samara can help?

Claire

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi Blake7 - may I please get your username and I'll track down the hardware - I've got to apologise as I've had some feedback that hardware isn't been sent out as quickly as we would like. We're currently investigating this to get the order fulfillment process back on track.

Hi Ruebo - I'm really sorry that happened with your sister - please keep us updated on what's happened and always feel free to send me her username if you want me to help sort things out.

Hi Tiptoe_mouse - We've recently made a change in how usage is displayed, so you'll now 'see' the smaller increments of usage that are being accrued. Terry D on thinkbroadband has supplied a great explanation on this.

Hi Harryhound - all activity (download and upload) that goes to the router is counted as usage. When your computer is shut off and it's only the router that's still on I would expectt that the volume of activity would be very small - mostly just activity that's set to keep the connection active.

Hi Curtic01 - I would be more than happy to review your account for you to see what the best deal is that we can offer you. It's hard for us to compete with Talk Talk in terms of prices as they are an LLU provider. To describe what an LLU provider is 'in a nutshell' - they've basically installed their own equipment at the exchange which means that they bypass the BT Wholesale system and don't have to pay monthly fees to BT Wholesale for each customer connection. In saying that though, I'm pretty sure that we can offer you better than £1 off a month

Kind regards,
Samara

harryhound

Thanks Samara, that link to "thinkbroadband" makes sense.
So the router is a bit like leaving any other electrical kit on "standby", but now, as well as paying a pound or two a year in electricity, we could be being charged an extra pound or two for having BT monitor the line, while we are away on holidays? Or did the little bits less than 0.01 eventually add up and "click" over the meter anyway?
(Up to now, I've not gone over my allowance. Thinks "must stop watching youtube" and get a life).:D
Cheers,
Harry.

lowbrim

I have been with Madasafish for years now and on MAX speed that is available on exchange. My speed varies between 2.6 & 3.3 kbps speaking to neighbours who are with other suppliers no one can beat them.

I also have the phone package with them and at the same price as BT but with free evening and weekend calls included in the price unlike BT unless you pay extra I have no complaints especially as the customer service is second to none:T .

frugallass

I'd requote that to "Samara's customer service is second to none" - not sure about the rest of MAAF though :rolleyes:

gritts

Madasafish_Customer_Care wrote: »

Hi Curtic01 - I would be more than happy to review your account for you to see what the best deal is that we can offer you. It's hard for us to compete with Talk Talk in terms of prices as they are an LLU provider. To describe what an LLU provider is 'in a nutshell' - they've basically installed their own equipment at the exchange which means that they bypass the BT Wholesale system and don't have to pay monthly fees to BT Wholesale for each customer connection. In saying that though, I'm pretty sure that we can offer you better than £1 off a month

Kind regards,
Samara

I'm confused, I thought Madasafish was owned by BT. In which case cannot Madasafish/BT get a better deal from, errrrrr, BT so it CAN compete with Talk Talk.

Or is that too simple? I'm no expert, just a customer about to leave when my contract is up unless they can get anywhere near Talk Talk.

I'd also like to agree Samara's customer service has been excellent. Not the case with email/call centre though.

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi Gritts,

It would seem to make sense that now that we're owned by BT Retail that we would somehow get a reduction in price on wholesale costs.

However, in fairness of the market BT Wholesale is not allowed to offer any reduction in costs to BT Retail ISPs. That would be completely unfair and not allow competition in the marketplace.

Kind regards,
Samara