Broadband Up to xxMB - Beware of Pipex!!!

valmiki

I have been with Pipex for a good couple of years, on their Pipex Solo 1mb uncapped package, for £23.44 per month. Great, no major problems, really happy with the service.

About 2/3 weeks ago, I noticed that they were offering a new package Pipex Go, 2mb uncapped for £24.99. Brilliant! Double the speed for a quid more, and sign up for another 12 months - I can live with that! So I went through the migration process, where I was informed of the package details, speed (2mb), uncapped, etc. and new price.

A couple of days ago, I received an email to tell me that the whole process had gone through, and I was now on Pipex Go. However, I noticed that I was still downloading at the same speed, 1mb, so I fired off an email or two and waited....

Well, I rang them up today, and was informed that the max I could get on my line was 1mb! Hey, I said, no-one told me of that when I was applying for the new package on-line! Aahh, you have to read the terms & conditions, in which it states up to 2mb. Aaaarrgghh! I now for sure as I double-check everything, that as I was signing up through the 'My Control Panel' I was NEVER told it was 'up to 2mb', it just stated 'Pipex Go 2mb'. And I can't go back to my old package, as they don't offer it any more.

Checking their website, they have now changed the Pipex Go offer, so that you can now have 'up to 8mb speed', which is capped (15Gb), and all for £23.99.

I don't want 8mb-capped, just the 2mb-uncapped that I was under the impression I could get when I signed up. And guess what? their telephone line checker states that I can have up to 3.5mb speed! So am I being diddled or what?

So I am on the same service as before, for more money, and now tied in to another 12 month contract, so I can't do anything about this for a long while.

So to all you peeps out there, don't be fooled by any checker that states that you can have 'up to xxmb' because when you do sign up, you may well be tied in at a higher cost for a service that is not what you expected. I have already contacted OFCOM about my situation, so I wonder what any outcome will be.

Just wanted to share my experience with you peeps...don't fall for any telephone line checks....

normanmark

If your line can handle the maxmium speed of 1mb of normal ADSL then that's all it'll hold. Max products can give a potential speed of 8mb, but in your case i would of thought the most you'd get with that is maybe 2-3mb

valmiki

i'd be happy with 2mb!

still doesn't explain why their website is offering Pipex Go to me at 3.5mb and then they say that all I can get is 1mb.

pjala

Sounds very shifty to me, let us know how you get on with ofcom, I can see a lot of companies needing to be held to task over broadband changes in conditions.

mrJ_5

the upto 8mb is based on adslmax - and will go as fast as your line can handle

your max 1mb is at a guarenteed fixed rate, and its not on adsl max... many providers are using adsl max, to get everyone onto a capped package

mclaren_2

im with blueyonder - 4mb uncapped - £25 pcm - at the mo, im on about 70KB/s which is just a bit more than 512kb - blueyonder said its a problem at the local cabnet and they are getting it sorted, and due to the hastle, i can get componsation due to it being their fault.

if you can get cable in your area (ntl telewest) go 2 them as the quality of the line isnt ADSL but DSL - coax cable, and the speeds when on 4mb is amazing - i get average speed of about 480kb/s - has went to 530kb/s

normanmark

valmiki wrote:

i'd be happy with 2mb!

still doesn't explain why their website is offering Pipex Go to me at 3.5mb and then they say that all I can get is 1mb.

check this

http://www.adslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

that'll give a better insight

Graham1

Quite a lot of providers no longer offer their 500K and 1M "unlimited" products to new customers but keep pre-existing customers on those products if they don't want to upgrade their speed. Invariably an upgrade to "up to 8Mbps" by those customers results in a capped product.

DjSatansfury

You also realise it takes up to 10 days for your line to "normalise" i.e. settle to the right speed with the new adslMAX technology.

Madasafish_Customer_Care

Hi Valmiki,

I've got a recommendation, which may not work for you, however it's worth having a go. Have a check of your bandwidth usage stats and see if you can live with the 15GB usage allowance that comes with the "speeds up to 8Mb" product. There are people out there who genuinely require an unlimited product - however it's been my experience that the majority of our customers tend to stay below the 2GB mark (even the ones on our historical unlimited products).

If your bandwidth does fall below 15GB a month, give Pipex a call. From what I know of the wholesale costs, there shouldn't be any cost incurred to Pipex to switch you from the "speeds up to 2Mb" product to the "speeds up to 8Mb" product. I think that any logical customer care agent would happily put switch you to the "speeds up to 8Mb" product without incurring any further contractual obligation.

From a personal perspective - if I were with an ISP for a few years, as you've stated that you have been - I would expect for them to accomodate me as a loyal customer. I wouldn't expect to be put on an 8Mb unlimited product, but I would see what they would say to putting you back on the 1Mb unlimited product or reducing your bill by £1 a month.

I hope that is helpful and good luck!

Kind regards,
Samara

valmiki

Hi folks

thanks for all the replies!

unfortunately I do use more than 15GB a month, so I don't think Pipex's capped deal is for me.

checking the link that normanmark supplied, shows that I can get up to 3.5mb on Max, and 1mb on 'normal' adsl.

what has really annoyed me is that they never informed me that the maximum (without going Max) I could get from my line was 1mb, so that switching to the new package has had no benefit to me at all.

there is no cable in my area (i'm on a newly-built estate, and cable ends at the beginning of the road going in) so I was not even able to consider ntl/telewest.

I feel that I should backtrack a little, here's the email I sent originally

Hi there

I have a complaint with Pipex. My user ref is xxxxx

I was on Pipex Solo service, 1mb ADSL, £23.44 per month

I decided to upgrade to the 2mb Pipex Go service, uncapped, for £24.99.

Went through the 'My Control Panel' online, noticed that it said Pipex Go 2mb, all went ok.

Had an email two weeks later that I would start paying for the new amount, but I noticed that I was still downloading at 1mb.

Sent a couple of emails, no replies.

I decided to ring up today, and you have informed me that I could only download at 1mb as that was the max available on the line!! Nobody told me.

So, the broadband checker informs me that I can download at 3.5mbps via my telephone number (xxxxxxxxxx), on the Pipex Go service, and I can't even get that (not that I want it, 2mb was I thought I'd get), I have to stay on at 1mb, for the next 12 months!!!!

If I sign up to a package that offers a dl speed of 'up to...' then at what point can I cancel an order if the speed is not worthwhile to me? If I wait until after I have the new service, I'm tied in for the next 12 months.

Unless I hear from yourselves, I will be complaining to Trading Standards as it seems that you are marketing something that you can't offer, and then tying me in for 12 months

regards




Here's the email I sent after speaking to OFCOM:

With regards to my complaint below, (above)

I have contacted OFCOM who have advised me to contact yourselves (again) that this is a Formal Complaint, and that I have been given a case reference code of xxxxxx. I understand that the complaint will be escalated and dealt with in accordance with your Code of Practice.

If I do not hear from you in the near future I will be contacting CICAS.

regards



I did get a reply of Pipex though,:



Dear Pipex customer nice personalised touch!


Thank you for your email.


The Pipex Go package that you select supports the standard ADSL package and this is limited to 2MB, but in your case on the standard ADSL system your line is limited to 1MB, therefore this is the speed that is provided in accordance with your line that is supplied by BT Wholesale and what can be offered on your line to the local exchange. This is a copy of the information from the BT Wholesale website with regard to query on your telephone line:

“For Telephone Number xxxxxxxxxx on Exchange SKEWEN

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 1Mbps. However due to the length of your line the 1Mbps service may require an engineer visit who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.

Our test also indicates that your line should be able to support a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 3.5Mbps or greater.”

The 3.5MB speed is one for the ADSL Max service, which is not yet supported by the Pipex Go package that you chose when changing service online. There will be other packages launched as soon as possible to existing customers so that you can change service and move over to the Pipex Max service.


As an existing Pipex customer we recognise that you may want to upgrade to the ADSL Max services (an up to 8Mb service), please be re-assured that we are working on this and we are definitely planning to provide upgrade options to our customers. The challenge is that we have to use a facility called the BT Wholesale Bulk Migration Tool to do this, which has very recently been launched as a trial.


The whole industry is restricted by BT Wholesale to re-grading its existing customers on a pro rate basis in line with market share via this tool, and volumes are very low at the moment. This means that the re-grade process will inevitably have to be undertaken over a period of months.


Pipex intends to commence the regrade process in the first half of June, but only when it is satisfied that the BT Wholesale Bulk Migration Tool is working properly. Last year when Pipex upgraded its customers to 2Mb, BT Wholesale rescheduled the upgrade programme several times thus disappointing many customers that were advised that the regrade would happen sooner than it actually did. Pipex does not wish to misalign its customers expectations for the 8Mb upgrade by committing to dates that cannot be guaranteed by BT Wholesale.


Your patience is appreciated.


Kind regards

ie. the standard line, which does not even refer to the fact that I only wanted 2mb, not up to 8mb. Additionally, their website is offering up to 8mb, the above email shows they're not guaranteeing anything yet, still signing up customers.

I have just sent the following:

Dear Pipex Customer Services Advisor

Thank you for your email. I fear that you have not understood my actual complaint.

What has annoyed me, and has raised concern is that Pipex have offered me a package of up to 2mb and then not offered me an opportunity to cancel my upgrade when it has become clear that I can't have that speed! How many other customers has this happened to, that you offer a more advanced packaged and then they find that this has not actually occured, that they are receiving the same service as before?

Hence, I do not consider this complaint to be have been concluded, and I await your reply.

Yours