Madasafish...5Gb just isn't enough!

duncansby

Hi - I have been with madasafish for nearly a year and have not even managed to get over 2GB. I am a fairly heavy user, using the internet 2 or 3 times a day, downloading a couple of albums of music each month, and my kids watch music videos on the yahoo site regularly.

I do not see my internet habits changing greatly with 8megs, the only real change I see would be driven by the ability to download whole films legally. Even then, it's not a great problem to rent dvds on the internet so I don't much see film downloads taking off unless they are a lot cheaper than renting.

Antagony

I am considering joining MAAF when I eventually get my MAC code from e7even and I must admit that I was also concerned that 5 GB wouldn’t be adequate (remember that that is not just a download limit, it is a total internet traffic limit). So I downloaded and installed the excellent traffic monitoring program NetMeter. It is a free program which measures your daily, weekly and monthly usage, and provides very useful projected usage indicators.

I don’t do any P2P stuff but I do a fair bit of other heavy usage activities such as watching BBC video content and listening to streaming radio. I also connect to my work’s network via VPN and use VNC to access our customers’ networks occasionally. I only installed NetMeter 12 days ago but I’ve been intentionally boosting my usage since then to be sure that I don’t underestimate it; and with all this usage, I am still only averaging under 100 MB per day. According to NetMeter, my projected total usage for this month (be sure to set the month period to start on the day you install it) is 2.749 GB, which is slightly over half of the 5 GB MAAF allow. So far, 5 GB looks to be more than adequate for my usage and, having looked at many of the budget ISPs currently available, I have noticed that a lot of them only allow 2 GB, which makes the MAAF limit look quite generous.

The only problem I can foresee for moderate internet users is that usage will probably increase with the advent of higher ADSL speeds, as more and more web designers create pages with extra content, and as viewing videos and listening to music becomes more readily available. But that is likely to be a slow progression and I imagine that ISPs like MAAF will continually review their allowance to keep it aligned to moderate usage.

Rex_Mundi

ISPs pay BT not only for connecting you each month. They have to pay also for the amount of bandwidth you use on top of the user charge. This means that the more you use each month, the more you will cost your ISP. (low users are a dream for them)

I'm sorry Samara......you say that 5GB is a generous amount. You say that this will not affect the majority of users...................Consider this...........If one of your users got a full speed download at the new ADSL Max speed (8Mb), it would only take them approx 1.25 hours to reach their monthly limit of 5GB.

Part of the reason that faster speeds are useful to companies now (online companies), is because they can offer us a much wider range of internet services (legal movie downloads, program streaming, etc). It is the fact that we are still stuck with this outdated system of pricing that is holding all of us back.

A movie in XVID or DIVX (I use these formats as being kind........other formats can make movies a far bigger file size), takes approx 700MB (sometimes a fraction more). A service that only allows us 5GB a month doesn't give us much scope for using the new services becoming available on the net.

This is a very low limit that would only be useful for a minority of users.

Rock_fan35

I don't know why people are getting on MAAF's case here. They are very open about what you get for your money - reliable solid access for a great price and customer service.

Yes, I could use up 5 gig quite quickly connected at 8 meg, but what am I gonna download legally that takes up 5 gig? I won't suddenly want to download more than I did before - it'll just be quicker when I do download something.

I spent a long time looking for a good ISP to replace Pipex where were just too expensive. Madasafish

Madasafish has effectively halved my costs saving me £150+ per year, and my speed is now being upgraded from 2 meg to upto 8.

I am online for several hours a day, surfing mainly, but I download a few MP3s and game demos too. The 5 gig limit is more than enough for me.

If I wanted more than this I'd have gone for a different product. I get the feeling that some people here would like to have the great service MAAF customers are reporting, but with unlimited downloads, but they don't want to pay for it? Well there's no such thing as a free lunch.

When new video-on-demand services become common place then ISPs will adapt their services accordingly to meet customer demands, but in todays market, Madasafish seem to have got it right for a lot of people.

I for one am delighted with Madasafish - half the price and 4 times as fast. I wish I'd switched earlier.

Steve

Rex_Mundi

Fair play to you rock fan.

I'm still on Zen Internets 2Mb package purely because this remains a completely unlimited package (no traffic shaping, no limits at all). They've offered me a FREE upgrade to 8Mb with a 50GB limit (download limit only..........doesn't include upload amount)... (also no limits on how I use the download).

When Samara talks about companies offering unlimited packages, then including a FUP. At least I know that Zen mean what they say about unlimited (no limits on anything/types of download).

...................The internet is changing all the time................................We are only just beginning to see services offering downloads in much bigger file sizes. This is happening because online companies know that we have far greater download speeds than we've ever had before. I feel that the present policy of most ISPs with their limits/FUP restrictions, is holding most of us back from using the net to its full potential.

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hello All,

I’m greatly enjoying this debate – I think everyone here is discussing their points very intelligently!

If a major video chain were to release a new service tomorrow where you could download films legally* and there was a high take up with our customers - I’m sure that we would look at offering a new package with higher usage; however this would mean a higher monthly cost. As Rex Mundi pointed out the more bandwidth someone uses – the more expensive it is for the ISP to sustain them as a customer.

Rex_Mundi – I have a lot of respect for Zen, by what I’ve read, it’s my opinion that they’re a great Internet Service Provider. They’re packages are generally more expensive, however they do come with loads of usage included and I’ve heard good things about their customer services.

Historically speaking, Zen was one of the last good true Unlimited Service providers, however they’ve even realised that an Unlimited Service is unsustainable and they’ve pulled this product offering for new customers (with exception to the unlimited 256 Kbps product). The new Zen product set is as follows:

Zen 8000 Pro (8Mb and 50GB) = £34.99 monthly * 12 = first year cost: £419.88
Zen 8000 Active (8Mb and 20GB) = £24.99 monthly * 12 = first year cost: £299.88

Compare this to Madasafish
Madasafish MAX Broadband (8Mb and 5GB) = £10.99 x six months £16.99 x six months = first year cost: £167.88
Madasafish MAX Plus Broadband (8Mb and 20GB) = £19.99 x six months £25.99 x six months = first year cost £275.88

The OP is doing 11GB a month and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be many packages on the market that cater specifically to this usage.

There is a great quote from Mr. Saffron on ADSL Guide regarding the news on EFH Broadband pulling it’s unlimited services which basically states that there is no true unlimited services and the true cost of this sort of service would be in the £100s a month. The full article is available here.

Kind regards,
Samara

*As a side note – downloading films sounds like a great thing – but as the film industry is protective of their copyright revenue, I have trouble getting my head around how they would approach making films downloadable.

mr_fishbulb

Rock_fan35 wrote:

Yes, I could use up 5 gig quite quickly connected at 8 meg, but what am I gonna download legally that takes up 5 gig?

The sky film service, bbc content online (hopefully soon BBC Multiplex for me), iTunes songs and movies, game demos, XP/Office service packs.

espresso

Madasafish_Customer_Care wrote:

Hello All,

I’m greatly enjoying this debate – I think everyone here is discussing their points very intelligently!.............

:hello:

Whilst I agree that the MAAF 5GB package is probably good value when compared to the majority of the well known competition, the same cannot be said if you download more than 5GB or indeed for your 20GB per month package.

You are obviously specifically targeting low users and I agree with some other posters, that with the recent speed increases that users will very easily exceed your 5GB limit. If it takes less time to download, you have more time to use the net and will download more!

You quoted a comparison between Zen and MAAF where MAAF was £24 cheaper, so here is another comparison for you:

MAAF 8MB 20GB package = £275.88 per annum

Newnet 8MB 25GB package = £262.40 per annum

MAAF customers would have to pay an extra £120 per annum on top, to get the same amount of data, when compared with Newnet prices!

5 x 12 = 60GB x £2 = £120
£275.88 + £120 = £395.88

So the true like for like comparison is:

MAAF £395.88 per annum (includes the first year, first six months discounted)

Newnet £262.40 per annum, which is over £133 :eek: cheaper for the same bandwidth!

Basically choosing an ISP is still a minefield, as all that ISP's really want is your money, so that they can continue to make a profit from you subscribing to their service. Most users would like to get it right first time and stay with an ISP but I do not believe that 5GB package although competitive, gives enough bandwidth and for users wanting more bandwidth, your product is no longer competitively priced!

:wall:

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi Espresso,

Those are good points - however I'm having trouble making sense of the Newnet website.

It appears that the connection is £47 and you have to pay for hardware out of pocket (no biggie if you can migrate in and you've already got hardware). There also is a %5 surcharge for paying by any other method than Direct Debit.

If you did a solid 25GB a month this looks like a good offer - however if you're a new customer and you're doing 20GB and you use the domain name and webspace then you're better off with us.

The bottom line here is that there is no perfect ISP that will suit everyone's needs.

Kind regards,
Samara

mr_fishbulb

Madasafish_Customer_Care wrote:

It appears that the connection is £47 and you have to pay for hardware out of pocket (no biggie if you can migrate in and you've already got hardware).

I thought the £47 fee was charged by BT to 'switch on' the broadband capability for your phone line. So any ISP would charge it (or re-coup the costs some other way)?