Avonline Broadband

David4HR

We live in a rural location and exited BT's service to take Satellite Broadband with AVONLINE - bad mistake :eek: Within a short timeframe (days) we realised the AVONLINE provision was not better than what we had via BT!

(In November 2016) we advised AVONLINE of the slowness (at this point I'm convinced we were on a ONE YEAR CONTRACT), they sold us 'their new ... best ... fastest' broadband offering. In so doing, we were put on a TWO YEAR CONTRACT.

We ignored the speed problems and thought this was a result of our computers, and concentrated on doing essential internet stuff - paying utility bills etc during lunchbreaks at work! Our computing equipment has been assessed and a laptop replaced - there's nothing wrong with our Computers ... the issues are with the broadband provision from AVONLINE :mad:

Contacted AVONLINE on 26/11/17 saying the service isn't good enough and we were misled into upgrading. Many long phone and various emails later , their "Professional and Helpful Customer Service people" inform us on the 10 January 2018, that we are tied in until November 2018 :T

We want to negotiate an exit from their contract. We feel we were mis-sold and the service isn't fit for purpose. Is there no way of not paying for their unacceptable broadband (compounded by to their poor customer service) before the end of their 2nd contract of November 2018?

JJ_Egan

Difficult to read your post .
But step one is what do the terms and conditions say regarding faults and early termination .

mije1983

You say the speed is poor, but the important bit is what you are getting against what they said you would get.

David4HR

Thank you mije1983. Their Tech guy told me "Latency" is what's causing us difficulties, apparently this is the delay from the Satellite back to our house and the applications (PC's) we use.

This is the key point if you're considering using Satellite Broadband : the delay ("Latency") prevents connection to some on-line banking and other on-line utilities.

littleboo

Yes, latency or round trip delay is comparatively high with sat broadband due to the fact that your packet has to travel up to the satellite and back down to earth before it breaks out to the internet, and then the same again with the response from the distance end. So it covers 10's of thousands of miles, introducing delay. Compare that with fixed line broadband where the distances are 10's or hundreds of miles. It's an inherent limitation of sat broadband.

mije1983

I assume the speed you are getting is less than the 9Mbps they state on their website in their guarantee? Have you tried raising this with them and trying to use it as your get out clause?

David4HR

Thank you, that's a very clear and succinct explanation of "Latency" .
This results in my on-line banking dropping out. So, be warned, it's unusable for the basics.
But, short of the standard 14 day cooling off period (long gone), it's looking like we're stuck with this. They were quick to upgrade, not so quick with any questions thereafter!

[Deleted User]

So you've used the service for 14 months and only now have decided it's not good enough?

David4HR

No. There's a series of events, including AVONLINE upgrading us to their 'best' (fastest!) broadband. Still unusable for accessing things like on-line banking - we've given up using it. And, wondering since it's been unfit for purpose, whether there' any way out - unlikely I know!

unforeseen

Regardless of who provides it, latency on a satellite Broadband connection is always going to be a killer.

Due to the distance (72000 km minimum) the latency will always be a least 240ms.