pipex rant

[icanhazburger]

Up until now I thought pipex were great.

So I switched from pipex go 2mb (even though it says 'upto 8mb) to Pipex Max 8mb.

This was a week ago, after a day I told them my speed had not gone up at all, infact speedtest results were same as before, about 1930kbps, so they said its a bt problem, will be fixed by next day, ring back then if not sorted by afternooon.

So I rang back as theres still no change, this time I'm told its due to fluctuation you get in 1st ten days of usage, every day I disconnect and reconnect my router several times and do a speedtest, everytime its pretty much bang on the 1930kbps mark, so its clearly not fluctuating.

I've a friend who works 2nd line support for another major isp, and he actually made me an account that has access to same documents as there 2nd line support so I could make sure that pipex cannot try and palm me off with rubbish info.

I think I'm correct in saying that for the 1st ten days everytime you connect the exchange will connect you at different speeds to try and and determine the maximum you can achieve without loss, yet my speedtest results are consistently the same as before they upgraded me, yet when I phone pipex up I get the same old "its the ten day fluctuation period" and then the icing on the cake "call back in ten days", I pointed out that I'm paying for a service that I'm not getting, and they are clearly telling me porkies, if they said "sorry our mistake, it may take a few days to activate the 8mb" then I would not mind, but I just know that after ten days I'll ring up and they will finally either admit there mistake or do something about it while covering up there mistake, so I'll have to wait even longer.

5 days ago I asked them if I could speak to a supervisor as I wish to talk to them about it, and they said I'd be phoned back within 24 hours, that has not happened, and when I tell them that in that case I want my mac code, they say if I do then my bank account will immediately be billed for the 12 month contract that I had to take to get my service from Pipex go (upto 8mb but only 2 for some reason) to Pipex Max (upto 8mb, but allowing me 8mb).

Anyone got any ideas what to do, as there clearly spinning me a yarn with the fluctuation thing, as I've never seen such stable speed results.

[UltraMagnus]

seriously... you expect an ISP that implements such a ludicrous traffic shaping policy as pipex to be reliable. IAL

[TiG]

A stablisation period usually does occur over a few days after connecting a ADSL Max Circuit. So thats not rubbish.

Putting a complaint in writing with these companies usually helps too. Mainly because complaints in writing usually allow you to raise it to Ofcom if you get the unfortunate situation of being billed 12 months when you view them falling short on their contractual requirements to provide a improved service.

TiG

[peterb]

It does take 10 days after activation for the line speed to stabilise, but if you are not getting a higher speed after that time, you have cause for complaint - either for Pipex to escalate the problemto BT, or threaten to cancel the contract as they have failed to deliver - but I would give them time first.

[icanhazburger]

Thats the key thing here, 'stabilise', I expect that, but its not changed at all after 7 days, theres nothing too stabilise, its the same old speed it always has been.

[icanhazburger]

Well it seems I'm still on a 2meg profile, if pipex can get bt to sort it before the ten days is another matter entirely, atleast I got someone who decided to look into it properly though. And they gave me a month free.

[usxhe190]

it might be a stuck profile

[streetster]

i've just changed from 2mb to 'upto 8mb', seemed to be activated on tuesday (was connected at 8192kbps), but still 2mb line speed, reconnected @ 8000, still 2mb... now connected @ 7xxx, still 2mb... guess i'll wait 10 days and see what happens

[icanhazburger]

Well my ten days is up, and my bt speed tester results are still

IP profile for your line is - 2000 kbps
DSL connection rate: 448 kbps(UP-STREAM) 7680 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 1807 kbps

I've spent the last few days telling them this means I have a stuck bRAS profile at 2meg, and they said they wont do anything till after the ten days is finished.

When I phone today, if they suggest I spend another few days doing more speed tests, I'm going to unleash ten days worth of frustration at being fobbed off with excuses when I've told them theres clearly a problem beyond there apparent reasons.

edit : Well I got through to a lovely support techie who restored my faith in pipex customer support a little by listening to the fact I was not going to run more speed tests when I already could tell her the results, and has logged the fault with BT who should hopefully change my bRAS.

[Instinct]

More often than not the fault allways lies at BT if your plugged into a BT line...
Pipex and such are simply resellers that have to bow to BT's control >< Hence why they have to insist that they wait for the 10 day period to finish before they can log a fault with BT.

I was with pipex for 3 or 4 years on a fixed service, that was completely sound and I dont have a single complaint. However I cannot comment about their up to 8mbit service. I have now changed to Virgin Media simply because my BT line was so long I could not get much more than 1mbit

[icanhazburger]

They phoned me back and I had an answering machine message asking me to take 6 speed tests at various times of the day then phone them back, I told them speed tests are pointless as I know what the result will be to within 0.1mb

I rang them back though, explained this, the guy said he needed six results, so I just gave him 6 random figures around the 1900kbps mark, he knew full well I'd just plucked them from thin air, but he did not seem to mind, and he said he'd ask BT to reset my bRAS profile 72 hours he seems to think, we'll see.