SSE broadband feedback

The_Groat_Counter

foolishboy wrote: »

Tried using opendns and google dns, just as bad. Does seem like when it's choking it's especially bad with google for some reason.

Doesn't sound great... seems particularly odd that it happens with Google, hardly a niche URL.

I suggested SSE Fibre Broadband to some friends who were looking to make a saving (they've been paying through the nose for their broadband for a while without realising), and they placed an order. Bit worried now that this suggestion might come back and haunt me! They're quite heavy users of Google services - Gmail and calendar in particular, plus quite like the idea that Youtube doesn't buffer. Google search not working well wouldn't be popular either!

What is SSE like for streaming video services such as iPlayer, All 4 (the 4OD replacement), Netflix, Sky Go etc?

Ditto for streaming audio - BBC radio, Spotify, Deezer etc?

Any idea about communications services like Skype, Apple Facetime and WhatsApp voice calling?

Thanks for any feedback/comments.

foolishboy

The_Groat_Counter wrote: »

Doesn't sound great... seems particularly odd that it happens with Google, hardly a niche URL.

I suggested SSE Fibre Broadband to some friends who were looking to make a saving (they've been paying through the nose for their broadband for a while without realising), and they placed an order. Bit worried now that this suggestion might come back and haunt me! They're quite heavy users of Google services - Gmail and calendar in particular, plus quite like the idea that Youtube doesn't buffer. Google search not working well wouldn't be popular either!

What is SSE like for streaming video services such as iPlayer, All 4 (the 4OD replacement), Netflix, Sky Go etc?

Ditto for streaming audio - BBC radio, Spotify, Deezer etc?

Any idea about communications services like Skype, Apple Facetime and WhatsApp voice calling?

Thanks for any feedback/comments.

Well it's not all the time, but when things do grind it seems to impact these services the most. YT isn't as slick as before but the on demand stuff seems good in general. p2p is deathly slow in the week but seems to be pretty decent at the weekends. I stream TV/radio/music regularly so I'm especially sensitive to dropouts.

Skype/WA seem fine, don't use FaceTime much.

The_Groat_Counter

Thanks for the reply. We shall see how they get on. Google is surely one of the most interconnected internet entities in the world, so it's odd their services seem to be the problematic ones. Maybe the complicated structure of Google's peering arrangements is something that Daisy's network is struggling with, I dunno. It's certainly not a result that Google would want.

Glad that streaming and Skype/WhatsApp seem to work ok. Not at all surprised to hear that P2P is slow.

Raywill

Hallo everyone, 18185 does work on SSE, UK calls have had a price rise on 18185 to 5p plus 0.5p per minute.
Important: check your bills! I was charged for a paper bill I did not want or order, and was overcharged for the only charged-for phone call I made. The cost is supposed to be 8.1p a minute incl VAT but I was charged 25p plus VAT for a 1.5 minute call.
I am wondering if this is a genuine accident or if it is company policy! Perhaps you could all check your bills and report back, please.
The broadband is very slow at certain times, eg when there is a big football/rugby match on! No doubt it is because of so many watching online, and I suspect the contention ratio (number of users per "line") is quite high.

Fraulein_Kunst

I went with the deal as it was very cheap


my scenario:


My phone line was activated 3 weeks before my broadband, forcing me to pay for 2 bills as I had to use my old internet, meaning I could not use the phone with SSE.
I got letters contradicting when my broadband would start. When it wouldn't work I rang and was told there were issues in my area. It turned out later that in actual fact it was not due to start for over a week - so I was given wrong info on the phone.
They also sent me a letter saying I would get caller display - no mention of charges (please note also my phone does not work with caller display). The letter said I had this with my previous provider, but I did not. I didn't think anything of it as no charges were mentioned.


My 1st full bill was more than expected - I rang and they explained caller display. when I queried why the letter showed no charges, they said a different letter I got listed all the charges -- I find this to be unclear and misleading to customers
. They just kept repeating on the phone "we automatically carry over any previous services you had with your previous provider" and did not acknowledge my issue.




my mums case:


as it was cheap I got my mum this deal too. please note they offer no loyalty/friend discounts of any kind.
My mum had similar problems with letters that had conflicting dates but at least I was able to tell her that her broadband would start after her phone.
My mum actually did have caller display with her last provider and wanted to keep this service - due to my situation I was able to tell her about the charge. (£3, which is double most charge)
since her phone came on her caller display keeps going on and off. working for a day, then not, then working again. This is important to her as my brother is autistic and will not answer the phone if he cannot see the number.
When she calls them no one seems to be able to fix the issue - one time she was told she would have to call back in a few days as they were having system issues!


TLDR: Basically some of the worst customer service ive had with an internet provider but now im stuck with them for 2 years. it is clear that staff are not trained properly as you get told different things when you ring up and they try to hide charges from you.
I regret going with them now.






ps - my mum wants to leave them now but it is outside the 28 days - this is mostly due to her having to wait 3 weeks longer for her broadband. would the 28 days start from when she had the full service or not? (if not this seems like a nice little scam to stop customers having the right to leave)
she feels they have not given her the full service yet (due to caller display) and so should have the right to leave without penalty


Im not so sure though

dpc1979

So an update on my issues with line speed.

They have continued to be up and down like a rough sea so i phoned to chase a fault i reported nearly two weeks ago. I was told the fault had been closed but nobody could tell me why!!

After an hour on the phone to SSE who tried to tell me it was down to the WIFI channel even though i dont use WIFI and everything is hardwired in!!!

I got through to the Tech line (08001975446) who was very very good and tech i spoke to took ownership of the problem and offered an excellent level of customer service - He commented that he believed there was some noise on the line just from our phonecall but was going to run some tests and also raise a fault and he would personally call me back when he has some answers.

targaid

We switched from TalkTalk at the same time as we moved house, so it was, essentially, a new install all around for us. The previous owners were on Virgin fibre, which we didn't want to start off. I wanted to move with the nearest service to my Talktalk one as it has always been fine for our needs. Besides, just moved house many expenses so needed to keep costs to a minimum for a while.

The whole thing was deeply troublesome, but mainly from the Openreach end. The engineer called hours after he was due to say he was going to be even later. Turned up, said it was going to be a big job thanks to the Virgin fibre stuff being in the house, said he had another quick job to do just up the road and could he do that and come back in an hour? My wife, being a kind-hearted soul, said yes and that was the last we saw of him. Got a call at 8pm saying he could come at nine and do the job. When we refused we were told it would be a priority line and the job would be done the following morning or on Monday. It took them two further weeks to get someone out. :mad:

When the new engineer did come he refused to use the master socket installed, cut the cable from it and wired it into his own. So none of the extensions work now, either. :mad::mad::mad: Oh, and he stuck the box to the skirting board with double sided tape so it's now lying on the floor awaiting me taking the panel off and screwing it into place properly.

Apart from just passing the buck, SSE have been okay to deal with despite huge waiting times on calls and one guy who was thoroughly rude and patronising towards me over my address.
Because his computer added Glasgow he refused to deal with me because I am not in Glasgow or even in the same county. The rest of the address was right but because his system added one word he told me I would '..have to go away and have a think about it if I wanted any help from [him].' That got me a month free!

It then took several more weeks to get broadband as the system SSE run now will not allow them to apply for a broadband connection until the line is installed. I surmise this is because of the trouble they're having with delays on the BT end.

Calls are fine, broadband is giving me what I expected, though the router is, as mentioned, not great. No significant issues with Google that I've noticed but I've not had time to rewire things so the desktop PC is connected.

foolishboy

..been running pings for a week now .. between 1pm and 6pm it's pretty dire to plenty of sites (not just google) but google/youtube and Apple seem especially bad. Each time the BT Wholesale speed test tells me I'm getting 75Mb down / 18 up although I can see that pings are terrible and performance dire. Will be calling again today at some point to see where I go from there ... I'm expecting to be fobbed off, it feels very much like the backbone just doesn't have the capacity - this is way beyond 'traffic management' that they will likely hide behind. Wish I could go back to BT.

foolishboy

http://testmy.net/stats/?&t=c&l=100&q=735781575820

I think this illustrates my problem rather well. Set a 24 hour monitor going at 7:30pm last night. As you can see the speed is pretty dire until midnight where it ramps up to what I should be getting, interesting to see how reproducible that pattern is - that's some pretty severe traffic shaping if so!

stevenpc

well everything went smoothly for me with the £12 month deal phone and bb both live on 28/9.
Speedtest using speedtest net also used when on tt download 14+ tested several times every day and evening since going live.
compaird to about 12 dl when with tt.Upload averages about 1.0 compaired to 0.60 with tt.
so no complaints from me so far.