Madasafish Questions/answers (merged threads)

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hello Manik,

I'll do my best to answer your queries:

Could you confirm whether this will applies for any new packages that Madasafish may offer in future?

It's hard to know 100% what will happen in the future (my crystal ball is only 90% accurate) - however provided that there are no costs to us to move customers between different packages in the future I can't see why this flexbility wouldn't apply.

Also, conversely, if my needs were to change from a higher capacity package to lower capacity package, does Madasafish offer the flexibility to downgrade within the 12 month contract?

You can also downgrade your package from MAX Plus to MAX at any time within the 12 month contract without increasing your contract.

Are there any additional charges involved for upgrading/downgrading packages other than package price?

It is free to switch between MAX and MAX Plus. Keeping in mind that there is a cost difference and usage allowance difference between the two packages.

Kind regards,
Samara
Madasafish Customer Care

Manik

Thanks for the prompt response Samara. They have been most useful. Getting closer and closer to making my mind up now.

Manik

Flutterby

I'm learning loads on this thread...ty all.

I'm seriously considering Madasafish...I'm paying a fortune for Broadband and receiving 576Kbs. Can you help me decipher this information gleaned over at your brilliant site Samara? Many thanks.

BT ADSL broadband availability

ADSL is available in your area
Your exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services

According to BT Wholesale, your line should be able to support a 3.5Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max.

Standard ADSL RAG results:
You cannot receive 2Mbps ADSL
You may be able to receive 1Mbps ADSL
You can receive 512Kbps ADSL
You can receive 256Kbps ADSL

You are approximately 2.40km from the exchange (straight line distance).

There appears to a compatibility issue with your phone line. This could be caused by an existing DSL connection, ISDN, a DACS unit, TPON, a pending ADSL order or many other common issues. This will need to be resolved before ADSL can be supplied to your line.

Your BT ADSL code is: AEGEGEC

steve!_10

It basically says you can have ADSL and ADSL Max.

Max means you can get rate-adaption ADSL, which means the speed you'll receive is determined by your line's unique characteristics (in this case it says you can get 3.5Mb, but take that with a pinch of salt as BT get things wrong, but they're usually conservative estimates so you might get an even better speed). For my line it says I can have 3Mb, but I'm sitting on 5.5Mb right now.

You can't get 2Mb .. Which is contrary to the bit above, but then that's BT for you! Although that 2Mb isn't rate-adaptive like Max, and BT have very stringent limits for non-adaptive ADSL, which will explain the contradiction.

Ignore the line distance part. Distance information would be useful if it gave your line's physical length. Remember it gets routed around the streets, so it'll be longer. People used to use the straight line distance as a guide, as long lines have an adverse effect on ADSL's performace. You should go for a service that gives you Max, that way you get as fast as possible while still keeping reliability (in theory anyway).

Ignore the compatibilty bit, it looks like it's just detected you have ADSL already. Therefore it's incompatible as you can only have one ADSL provider at a time. To swap you'll need a MAC number from your existing provider.

Ignore the code bit, it's just a shortened code to describe your exchange's/line's availability. Probably more confusing than useful these days.

Hope that helps.

Flutterby

Thanks Steve...that was indeed a great help.

Eh, as a computer muppet can I ask something else?

If it says I can 'get' 3.5Mb...why am I only getting 576Kbs? (I bet the answer is dead simple as well.)

Thanks again.

steve!_10

Because that's what you're paying for.

If you want the 3.5Mb, then don't pay for a 512k product.

Donnie

That made me smile.

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi Guys,

To go in greater depth to Flutterby's question -

It used to be that ISPs would offer packages based on a strict speed ceiling.

For example, we used to offer the following 4 packages:

256 Kbps
512 Kbps
1 Mb
2 Mb

If someone signed up for a 512 Kbps package a year ago and they haven't switched packages then they would still be receiving the 512 Kbps speeds - despite that we're now offering speeds up to 8Mb.

Kind regards,
Samara
Madasafish Customer Care

KrazyFool

do they impose any throttling, traffic shaping or p2p restrictions?

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi KrazyFool,

In response to your query:

throttling - No
traffic shaping - No
p2p restrictions - No

Although if you're into P2P, as this can require substantial bandwidth, please note that our packages on offer have usage allowances for 5GB a month or 20GB a month respectively. You can, of course, exceed these allowances and extra usage is charged at £2 per GB exceeded.

If you've already got Broadband with a different supplier and you're already using P2P applications - check what your current monthly usage is to see if our packages will work for you.

Kind regards,
Samara
Madasafish Customer Care