Icm Research

hi every 1 ive joined up to the icm research broadband panel & was wondering how long it lasts for ?

Thanx in advance

As in http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5256-want-to-help...

I think the research is likely to be an ongoing thing, as tracking performance needs to be done over a fairly long period of time to actually be useful.

Hi

I have also signed up, and have installed my box yesterday. Does anyone know if it is possible to view the results of the tests like on the SamKnows panel I've heard about?

Also does anyone know how much data this uses and whether it is likely to trigger the STM on the VM XXL package?

I have emailed ICM but not heard back yet.

Cheers

Dave

The one I've seen appears to be around 2GB a day, not privy to the algorithm used, so may be more, may be less.

I've had mine running last night, its been 10 hours since Install and its used 1.2gb of data...

@Andrew and j112
What ... ??????????

2gb a day?!

I have signed up to this but that usage seems pretty steep to me!

Also how do you claim the £25?

The company sends out cheques automatically within a couple of weeks of connecting the device.

The cheque goes to the address where the testing device went

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

The cheque goes to the address where the testing device went

To help pay for the excess GBs used.

I suspect similar mechanisms will come into play as used for SamKnows and the ISPA testing we run, in that some ISP's add extra GB where they have allowance mechanisms to cater for this.

Looking at the provider list they were after, most are unlimited anyway.

hmm how does this affect usability

i got my email asking me for my address etc so they can send me the device

The device tests every hour (mine does it at half past the hour) and interestingly they said it won't test if your using your connection but even when I'm downloading at full speed it still tests.

Although I've emailed them regarding wifi it appears there is no point in installing the antenna as wifi is disabled so it can't tell if your using wifi despite what the instructions say.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Although I've emailed them regarding wifi it appears there is no point in installing the antenna as wifi is disabled so it can't tell if your using wifi despite what the instructions say.

the instructions SAY
please do attach the aerials to the device this simply allows us to detect when you are using the internet and we will not run a test at the same time .

where does it say that you can use the device wifi or say anything about wifi ?? me thinks you should have gone to spec savers

Edited by deleted (Thu 28-Jun-12 19:35:22)

Thanks for the helpful reply,

How does attaching the antennas make it see that your using wifi and thus not run tests when It's been noted on here and on the sky user forum that it still runs tests even when your downloading or using your connection so something is clearly wrong with the software or the instructions are wrong.

In reply to a post by ste211270:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Although I've emailed them regarding wifi it appears there is no point in installing the antenna as wifi is disabled so it can't tell if your using wifi despite what the instructions say.

the instructions SAY
please do attach the aerials to the device this simply allows us to detect when you are using the internet and we will not run a test at the same time .

where does it say that you can use the device wifi or say anything about wifi ?? me thinks you should have gone to spec savers

I'm also on the test and have noticed that it always runs it's test while im using my connection, and yes I have attached the aerials and I only use wifi apart from my Sky Anytime+ which is connect via LAN - and yes it still tests when I'm downloading from that as well.

jack

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

In reply to a post by ste211270:

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Although I've emailed them regarding wifi it appears there is no point in installing the antenna as wifi is disabled so it can't tell if your using wifi despite what the instructions say.

the instructions SAY
please do attach the aerials to the device this simply allows us to detect when you are using the internet and we will not run a test at the same time .

where does it say that you can use the device wifi or say anything about wifi ?? me thinks you should have gone to spec savers

I'm also on the test and have noticed that it always runs it's test while im using my connection, and yes I have attached the aerials and I only use wifi apart from my Sky Anytime+ which is connect via LAN - and yes it still tests when I'm downloading from that as well.

jack

The above post if from me, I was logged in however it has posted as Anonymous for some reason.

ive had it running for around 2 weeks now ,on the day i set it up i emailed them asking a couple of things and to this date still no reply so i dont hold much of getting any cheques either

so it can stay unplugged till they can be bothered to reply

edit:fixed extra words and typos lol

Edited by deleted (Fri 29-Jun-12 00:45:45)

In reply to a post by Bapteeed:

so it can stay unplugged till they can be bothered to reply

could not agree more have emailed them myself twice still no reply

Same here, emailed last Friday and no reply - good idea about unplugging it - I'm gonna do that now, when they notice maybe they'll get in touch.

Thanks

Strange they seem to ignore emails seems a bit dodgy to me

One thing is for certain it runs it's tests when your using your connection, which of course is going to give false tests as it'll indicate there's conngestion when actually there isn't.

Mine is also unplugged

They emailed me back straight away at

[email protected]

Edit: I'm not plugged in just yet though

Edited by ukhardy07 (Fri 29-Jun-12 17:09:27)

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

They emailed me back straight away at

[email protected]

Edit: I'm not plugged in just yet though

that's the email I used still no reply. what information did they give you?? have also unplugged mine

Edited by deleted (Fri 29-Jun-12 17:34:42)

I was considering giving my details in order to get the modified router, but from the sounds of it I might not. Having said that, I did get a swift reply since I was concerned about my personal details and habits being sent as part of the study.

I've signed up for this, and they don't respond to emails unless you chase them up

I got the following response after asking whether it is possible to see the results of the tests.

"Hi David,

Apologies for the late reply!

We shall be sending out a newsletter email shortly in which we will share your broadband speed with you.

Many Thanks for getting set up,

Conor"

I thought it would be like the SamKnows one where you can check the results on line, I'm a bit disappointed that you can't do this.
I think the reason for the slow response from them is that the tester seems to be from a company called Epitiro, I've noticed the Email address on the leaflet was different from the ICM research one, seems to be a newvistalive.com address.
Mine also seems to be testing my connection while I'm using it.

Dave

I'm on two minds as to whether to connect it up or not..

EDIT: Ok I'm connected up now. Will see if the cheque ever arrives.

Connor also replied to me. Perhaps he's the only one manning the emails.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sun 01-Jul-12 02:53:25)

Isn't Epitiro the one that has a tie-in with tbbMeter?

I plugged mine in and it seems to be doing tests every hour on the hour regardless of the connection being in use which is no good as online gaming disconnects... I have unplugged it and will be asking them to collect it... what a pile of...

re usage, what's to stop a tester sticking the router into a separate VLAN port and throttling it's bandwidth to 512k? Nothing from what I can see...

Have sent emails to them no reply.
The instructions inform you that the Qss light should flash as well as the USB light when working this has never happened other night stopped the Internet working so disconnected the unit and informed them any one have any ideas.
Mike

Nothing really but as with all the different monitoring units reliable results depend on the end user using it correctly.

Any decent statistical analysis will make considerations for obvious outliers such as an 80Mb/s fibre connection continuously showing 0.5Mib/s.

Plus, they're designed to be plugged in and left alone by the average consumer, connected to default equipment supplied by the ISP left at default settings. At least that's what the instructions tend towards.

They're less than quick replying to emails....
Same here i.e. no Qss light flashing - ever - and no £25.00 cheque either!
I'll leave it on for a few weeks then bin it.

I got one and it seems to be testing the line. Tests are quite frequent and quite long as they are clearly showing up as spikes in ping on my BQM.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/e16082c1be6...

Ive just had an email off them , see if they reply this time

Hi There,



We have recently stopped picking up data from your Broadband speed testing device. We wanted to get in touch to see if we can get it up and running again.



It may just be that a cable has come loose, so it would be great if you could please check the set-up of the device.



The main thing to check is that the cable connecting your router to the device is plugged in to the Yellow port labelled �Internet� on the device.



If you need any help to get it set up again, or if you have any other questions, please reply with a number to reach you on and I can give you call to talk you through it.



Of course, you may just be on holiday - if so, have fun and we hope you will be plugging back in on your return!



Many Thanks,

Conor O�Kane

ICM Research

At least they've noticed (finally) if you do get a reply, ask them why it tests when the connection is in use - thanks.

Still waiting for a reply myself after 3 weeks now :/

Been in a month no cheque, also did a survey... when do we see the cash?

will do as i asked that in the email they ignored , quite anoying playing cod2 online and i get massive lag spikes due to the thing "testing"

I have told them i will bin it if they dont reply to my emails, They have till the end of this week

On the plus side it's a reasonable 3x3 MIMO Gigabit router.

Now if only I could figure out how to load the stock firmware onto it rather than whatever they have on it...

Might do the same.

Before plugging it in I was getting responses.

Since plugging it in I'm being ignored constantly. I've sent email after email asking the same thing.

Might bin it or at least try and hack it & see if the wifi's any good. Any ideas how to start on hacking the thing? I managed to telnet to it once.

If you ever find out please tell me. I've been trying to figure this one out for a while.

Since upgrading to 80mbps I've noticed that some parts of the house - despite having one bar from full signal only get 20mbps via wifi. This I'm sure would help

You can get a telnet on 192.168.1.1 after turning the device on and then pressing the QSS button as soon as the SYS light starts to flash, let go as soon as it starts flashing fast and then telnet in.

remember to set your IP to 192.168.1.2 with subnet 255.255.255.0

=== IMPORTANT ============================
Use 'passwd' to set your login password
this will disable telnet and enable SSH
------------------------------------------


BusyBox v1.15.3 (2012-06-20 12:57:06 BST) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

--------------------------------------------------
::: ::::::::::: ::: ::::::: :::::::
:+: :+: :+: :+:+: :+: :+: :+: :+:
+:+ +:+ +:+ +:+ +:+ :+:+ +:+ :+:+
+#++:++#++: +#+ +#+ +#+ + +:+ +#+ + +:+
+#+ +#+ +#+ +#+ +#+# +#+ +#+# +#+
#+# #+# #+# #+# #+# #+# #+# #+#
### ### ### ####### ####### #######
MKII ---------------------------------------------
product release v1.3
with
Backfire (10.03.1, r25408)
isposure (2.8.1.5)
SpeedTest (2.8.1.7)
root@(none):/#

The above post is mine,

All we need to do is follow this post firmware restore

Hope this helps everyone

Is it possible to put stock firmware on there then?

Yeah follow those posts then download official firmware and login to router via browser and update back to normal.

,mine is now fully working as a normal one

Is the wifi good on this unit?

It's matching the Billion 7800N at the moment, will test it better tomorrow but it's a great wifi repeater for upstairs!

Received the box this lunch time and linked up quite easily. QSS light is now flashing after about 50 mins but but with no detrimental effect on my speed as far as I can see.
Just wait for the wonga now hey?

Just to highlight we have no input on the actual testing, but based on personally having done 'customer surveys' before that are paid, then it is usually a slow process getting paid, and in this case would suspect they may wait until usable data has been produced.

Otherwise pay you all after a week, and you all switch the kit off.

Some mobile usage research schemes have used a retention payment system, to keep people using the system rather than a one off payment.

I dunno why People are thinking of flashing with stock firmware, at the moment they pay you £25 plus £5 for each survey questioner you complete, the router is worth £40, get the £25 do a couple of surveys then when complete maybe flash it, ya never know they may give ya the router to replace the superhub [censored] (on VM) after complete plus ya get £25 too, ya never know ya may get 4 surveys!

Maybe because they aren't getting replies to emails and the test device is testing when the connection is in use - something they say it won't do.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Maybe because they aren't getting replies to emails and the test device is testing when the connection is in use - something they say it won't do.

Also that testing seems to consume several GB per throw.

Do you know how/where I can see how much GB is being used during a test?
It does appear to be testing an awful lot of times during a hour.

Hopefully someone using it will answer that. I don't have one and don't know how it is connected.

Mine seems to be using up to about two Mbytes per day.

Richard

Oops - I meant Gbytes of course!

Richard

That's 1.5 times my allowance, on Plusnet. As long as it's not a 31-day month, in which case it exceeds it.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

That's 1.5 times my allowance, on Plusnet. As long as it's not a 31-day month, in which case it exceeds it.

You have a 40GB limit? I guess that box is using 60GB/month - that is a lot.

My usage, including my Samknows box, last month pushed 55GB upload and download on my BE connection.

I suspect this ICM testing outfit is nowhere near as competent as Samknows is, and perhaps should only be used on unlimited connections.

Edited by jchamier (Fri 13-Jul-12 18:14:13)

The issue is what line speed does the person have.

Ballpark figures, with no idea how they apply to ICM

Assume 50Meg connection, downloading for 10 seconds, that is 63MB per test. 10 seconds is a reasonable length of time, but a link that runs at 80 Meg will use proportionally more.

On a 50Meg to use 2GB means only testing for 32 minutes a day, so it may be someone did not do their sums very well, i.e. went for a test every 2 hours without realising how much data this would use.

The fun starts when you are testing 300 Meg and faster, as you need 200MB or more to get even a reasonable idea.

I asked about the amount used and received the following reply in an email:

"We became aware of this and realised that some users may incur Usage penalties as a result of having the device installed.

To avoid this, we have entered into an agreement with your ISP, whereby we provide them with your phone number and they will in turn adjust your Fair Usage Policy. This means you will not receive any excess charges as a result of being on the trial."

So if you are on a limited package then you 'ought' not to be charged for excessive usage. (I wonder if that will work?)

Has anyone received any money or a report on speed yet?

Richard

Hmmmm. FUP is not the same as Allowance. Maybe they mean that as well, but I wouldn't bet on it.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The issue is what line speed does the person have.

Interesting numbers - it means a service such as BT's 40GB version of Infinity that can reach 40mbps speeds, might find they use a lot of their allowance in speed tests. Virgin's 100mbps service obviously is much worse.

Yes, the assumptions might have been everyone is on ~15mbps or less and they forgot about FTTC and cable - quite possible if the project was stalled for a long time before going live.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Interesting numbers - it means a service such as BT's 40GB version of Infinity that can reach 40mbps speeds, might find they use a lot of their allowance in speed tests. Virgin's 100mbps service obviously is much worse.

If you have concerns about data usage, please do contact ICM about it. We raised this with them before and the usage depends slightly on which ISP you're with etc.. They can address any specific queries.

I appreciate some of the comments about lack of responses from them. I will take this up with them.

seb

I emailed them on the 9th of July and the 1st of July. No response to either.

That's 14 days of being ignored now. It makes me fed up.

The lack of response (even an acknowledgement of receipt of an email) does seem very unprofessional. Makes you wonder how seriously and efficiently they are running this project.

The one response I did get from them did not address two of the three questions I asked. I almost withdrew then, but gave them the benefit of the doubt. If I don't get something positive from them soon I will definitely pull the plug.

ICM Research is meant to be a well-established and recognised organisation, isn't it?

Richard

Hmmm. Well Richard:
1) I got no response to my last email.
2) No reference from them regarding test results
And finally, no money!
C'est la vie, I suppose.
Cheers, Les.

I've had no reply since I got the unit, this week I took the plunge and flashed it to a normal router. If they want it back they can have it but it poor service to give an email address as the only point of contact and then pick and choose who you reply to.

At least Seb is going to take this up with them, must be embarrassing to be associated with ICM.

Yes, I suppose we'll see what Seb gets from them. As an aside - what did you use to flash the box they gave us? Cheers, Les.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1...

its funny how they can email saying the box is no longer sending data to them but they never reply to either email addresses

They did respond to my emails UNTILL I plugged in. I was getting responses within 2 minutes.

They said from plugging in you get a cheque in around 14 days. Not seen mine yet & it's been longer...

From the second of plugging the device in I've had no response to any message there onwards.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sat 14-Jul-12 19:49:32)

I appreciate some of the comments about lack of responses from them. I will take this up with them.

seb


Still no word on lack of response?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Still no word on lack of response?

Sorry.. been busy.. I did get a response but need to send them a link to this thread

seb

This test unit would use way over my monthly allowance of 40 Gb of data. I was assured by Collen O'Connor at ICM Research that I would be allowed extra free data from my ISP to cover for their testing. My ISP at the highest level deny that. Also, I notice that the payments promised on completing the tests have changed from "£s" to "points"! Somehow I think what is going on is not above board.

In reply to a post by Harry179:

This test unit would use way over my monthly allowance of 40 Gb of data. I was assured by Collen O'Connor at ICM Research that I would be allowed extra free data from my ISP to cover for their testing. My ISP at the highest level deny that. Also, I notice that the payments promised on completing the tests have changed from "£s" to "points"! Somehow I think what is going on is not above board.

where does it say it being in points ? they ahevnt said anything to me about payment im getting annoyed at them

Hi Harry,

In reply to a post by Harry179:

This test unit would use way over my monthly allowance of 40 Gb of data. I was assured by Collen O'Connor at ICM Research that I would be allowed extra free data from my ISP to cover for their testing. My ISP at the highest level deny that. Also, I notice that the payments promised on completing the tests have changed from "£s" to "points"! Somehow I think what is going on is not above board.

Can you drop us an e-mail on [email protected] with your ISP details and who told you that? Depending on which ISP, we might be able to try and speak to them ourselves..

seb

The change from £s to "points" was in something I picked up on the WEB somewhere, but I can't remember exactly where now. I didn't take careful note because I had already dismissed hope of ever receiving anything. My advice is don't bank on making a living from them.

In reply to a post by Harry179:

The change from £s to "points" was in something I picked up on the WEB somewhere, but I can't remember exactly where now. I didn't take careful note because I had already dismissed hope of ever receiving anything. My advice is don't bank on making a living from them.

not the money issue for me its the lies (not run while you are using the net) & the cant even bother to reply to a simple email , as others have said in this thread it seems to be good untill u actually use it

In reply to a post by Harry179:

This test unit would use way over my monthly allowance of 40 Gb of data. I was assured by Collen O'Connor at ICM Research that I would be allowed extra free data from my ISP to cover for their testing. My ISP at the highest level deny that. Also, I notice that the payments promised on completing the tests have changed from "£s" to "points"! Somehow I think what is going on is not above board.

Hi Harry,

This is Conor O'Kane from ICM Research. Seb has directed me to this thread today. I appreciate some of you have concerns which you have posted here, apologies if we have been slow to address them. So I've signed up to try to address some of these issues which have been raised and hopefully reassure you all.

The usage of the device as some have already noted is dependent on the speed of your connection. The faster the connection, the greater the data usage. As they also correctly noted, the majority of ISPs operate with unlimited usage and the majority of panellists will have no problems with their ISPs. The panel has been in operation for some time now and from the experience of longstanding panellists we do not anticipate any problems for you by the usage of the device.

Where issues did arise for some panellists on particular ISPs, we were able to come to an agreement whereby we could have their Fair Usage policy amended at the billing stage by supplying their phone number to their ISP. This has been working successfully for over six months for 450 plus paneliists and in the few cases where a charge was received due to an incorrect phone number, we covered the cost. Please be assured, if you have supplied the correct phone number you will not receive excess usage charges.

Obviously it would not be a sustainable project if the device was causing our panellists to incur charges each month!

Should you ever receive any warnings about charges from your ISP please get in contact with us as your ISP's customer services may not be aware of the FUP changes. It does not appear on the account details which come up when they try to assist you.

The points payments you reference are for our earlier recruits, our newvista panellists. I think some of you were supplied with an early version of the instruction leaflet which may have referenced them. They are paid with newvista points as members of an existing panel we run. Anyone recruited through ThinkBB will be paid by cheque. If you have not received your cheque yet and you are set up then the next batch is to be sent out at the end of this week, with the rest to go out next week.

You should also be receiving an update on your speed reading in the next few days if you have not had one yet, if you are successfully connected.

Again, apologies if we have been slow to respond to your queries, we will try to get back to you on the other issues raised here and any outstanding emails in the next few days.

Many Thanks,
Conor O'Kane
ICM Research
[email protected]

Is there any news on why the device tests on every hour without fail even when I'm using my connection?

The instructions say it won't test while I'm using the connection, have also emailed regarding this 4 weeks ago with no reply and have since unplugged the device until it can be explained.

I have stopped using the box as it gives me lag all the time while gaming and now no money just points no thanks but this is just a waste of time imo.

Hi Epyon,

Anyone who signed up through ThinkBroadband will receive payment via cheque. Only newvista panellists signed up months ago were paid with points. The next batch of cheques is being issued today, yours may well be among them.

We are investigating the issues which several of you have reported with testing causing lag issues on your connection. If you could send me an email with some more details on how have connected the device that may help to identify the problem. Should you no longer wish to participate in the trial then we are happy to send you a pre-paid envelope in which you can return the device.

Many Thanks,
Conor
ICM Research

Hi conor

how can it cause massive ping/lag spikes just by testing ? i can max my connection out up and down and my ping to my regular game server never goes over 80 yet when your box is "testing" i get ping spikes up to and over 400 ?

ive sent you several emails all have had no reply , even when you emailed me i got no reply !

Hi Bapteed,

I have asked that this be investigated and will try to get an answer for you - is the issue only affecting you when you are online gaming? It is not an issue that I have had reported to me so far (perhaps we haven't had a lot of COD players on the panel up to now). It may be to do with how your home network is set up as the device is designed to work with fairly simple home household arrangements. If you could send me some more details on your setup, how you have connected the device and how you in turn connect to your Playstation/PC etc we may be able to help configure your set-up so as to avoid this issue. As a stop gap solution, you could power down the device whilst online gaming if this is the only activity being affected.

Many Thanks,
Conor

yea its just on cod 2 doesnt seem to affect anything else , i have bt infinity 2 with the HG612 modem and HH3, PC is connected to the gigabit port on the hh3 and the device is connected on port 1

Hi Bapteed,

We would recommend that you connect your PC to one of the devices ethernet ports, this should allow the device to detect when you are using the connection. You should have no appreciable loss of speed on your PC but the device should then be able to detect when you are using your connection on the PC. Hopefully this will solve the problem, please drop me an email at [email protected] if you find it does not and I'll see if there's anything more we can do.

Many Thanks,
Conor

Hi Les,



Thanks very much for connecting up our Broadband speed testing device. We now have over 1300 devices reporting from all over the UK, providing speed data on the speeds of each of the main ISP�s and see how their different products perform. Your data is a great help to us, thanks for getting involved.



As promised, we plan to provide a monthly update on your own particular speed data though we may be able to do this a little more often.



The average Download and Upload speeds that your device recorded over the last seven days was



Download Speed = 61.38 Mbps



Upload Speed = 17.09 Mbps



If you have not already received your incentive cheque, it should be on it�s way to you very shortly.



Many Thanks,

The ICM Broadband Panel







No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5141 - Release Date: 07/19/12

My error. jJust noticed I'd not logged in - so the letter from Conor O'Kane was posted by me, and not anonymous!

hi connor , yea i had it set up like that for a few days thats when i noticed it so tried it how it is set up now which made no difference

ill try it again tonight and see how it goes

Edited by deleted (Thu 19-Jul-12 18:54:27)

Hi XXXX,


Thanks very much for connecting up our Broadband speed testing device. We now have over 1300 devices reporting from all over the UK, providing speed data on the speeds of each of the main ISP�s and see how their different products perform. Your data is a great help to us, thanks for getting involved.



As promised, we plan to provide a monthly update on your own particular speed data though we may be able to do this a little more often.



The average Download and Upload speeds that your device recorded over the last seven days was



Download Speed = 102.4 Mbps



Upload Speed = 4.87 Mbps



If you have not already received your incentive cheque, it should be on it�s way to you very shortly.



Many Thanks,

The ICM Broadband Panel

Hi Conor,

I've not been gaming to see any lag issues but the device indicates it is testing (QSS light flashing) whether I'm downloading or not.

My Thinkbroadband BQM shows the ping spikes caused by the testing at regular intervals all day long. If I'm downloading they still occur.

All my internal ethernet connections are cabled into the tester and then the tester into the Sky router so it should be seeing the line as in use.

Hi there my download test results are around 69 mbps

I know 100% that they are skewed by the way it's testing

All 6 of us use wifi and it seemingly doesn't notice when we're online and tests regardless
This definitely brings the speed down

Not very accurate really. I'm not overly impressed with it.
Tbf how the hell can it detect when were using the wifi?

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 19-Jul-12 19:55:50)

Exactly one of my questions in my email over 4 weeks ago, with no reply.

The device tests regardless of if you are using the connection or not, so the results with show as congestion when your downloading.

The wifi is a joke, just by attatching them they claim to be able to "detect" your using wifi and promise not to test. wifi is disbaled, telnet into the router and it shows you this!

My test unit came without any aerials but when I asked about that the question was ignored (not that I use wireless much anyway).

However, when I had three devices plugged into the unit it totally ignored that they were in use and tested regularly anyway.

I have since connected them back into the Homehub as I was concerned about what the tester was doing, and just plugged the tester in as another device. It still tests whenever it wants but doesn't seem to delay my usage including large downloads and IPTV (HD) streaming.

Richard

Hi Ukhardy07,

I can tell you that you have had some fluctuation on your connection recently. You first began posting and your connection steadily reported a speed of around 75Mbps. Then for around 7 days your connection ran at about 68 Mbps and has since recovered for the last 3 days to 75 Mbps. This dip in performance could well be due to work being done at the exchange or network in your area. We have obviously tested the accuracy of the devices and whilst they are never going to be 100% accurate, they are very close to it. One of the more interesting aspects of the trial is the study of these differences in reported speed and actual speed, whether they are long lasting and indeed whether the customer notices or is troubled by them! I hope that explains your results for you a bit better.

Many Thanks
Conor

HI Conor

Thank you for your team email with the speeds on it, but are you going to set up a website for us testers to log in to check our own speeds live, only asked because we could have 3 weeks of bad speeds and the last week of very good speeds, which you send up the average speeds. or on the email put the average speed for each week

With Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

That is something we have been beginning to discuss recently, whether it would be possible to provide live data to individuals. Its not something I think will happen in the near future as there would be quite a lot of set-up entailed to make it secure, and create log-ins etc

What we can look into is providing more regular email updates, every few weeks if possible and perhaps provide a monthly average and weekly average score. If you have particular concerns about your speed in a given week, please email us and we will try to look into it for you and confirm if you've had a dip.

Many Thanks,
Conor

Thank you for the reply. if the website idea is sometime off (or see if samknow's will help with the setup), what about sending out a quick poll asking testers when they want email's sent to them (unpaid of cause) or update the router firmware to give us the stats.

I don't understand WHY i get no replies from them. I have emailed them 5 times now and received NOTHING back. Why do i feel i have been sold down the road. I can see that the unit is working and it seems to test every hour on the hour.

thinkbroadband Broadband Quality Monitor

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Jul-12 20:45:17)

Same here, no replies via email or even on here.

Obviously communication isn't their thing, they want our data but don't like questions.

In reply to a post by optiplex:

I don't understand WHY i get no replies from them. I have emailed them 5 times now and received NOTHING back. Why do i feel i have been sold down the road. I can see that the unit is working and it seems to test every hour on the hour.

thinkbroadband Broadband Quality Monitor

I have just checked my spam folder and there replies to my mails have been automatically classed as spam by my mail program. I seem to have had the standard reply mail that everyone else has received.

Edited by deleted (Sat 21-Jul-12 07:44:56)

i got a reply from my email & a cheque arrived yesterday so im sorted now

ive been told it will be running for around 4 months

Has anyone worked out the cost of the electicity for the router for 4 month?

Depends on the router, your electricity supplier and the tariff you're on, but probably less than a fiver.

(A typical router will use 10W or less, over 4 months that's about 30 units- check your electricity bill to find the cost/unit)

Probably no more than a tenner.

I was accounting for a wireless router (not checked this thread).

Shouldn't matter- if the router power brick is rated at (say) 12 volts, 1 amp then the maximum power is 12 watts. Simples

I got my cheque ... not sure what to do with those old fashioned things ... perhaps I'll e-mail and ask for a bank transfer.

Hopefully mines waiting for me when I get home in a few days!!

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Hopefully mines waiting for me when I get home in a few days!!

Did you ever get your cheque?

I Didn't, NO cheque, NO report emails
Looks like it's time to switch OFF as there is no point of continuing this survey at my expense!!!

Hi,

I have signed up to this as well and have the router.

I have tried to connect it as specified but it just caused horrible issues.

It would take no count of my usage and would interrupt my viewing of videos with it's testing. I thought it was supposed to wait until I was not using my connection?

Hi There,

Can you please get in touch with me at [email protected], then I can check if we are getting your data. I don't know how recently you connected our device but if it's been for a few weeks and you have not received a speed update or your cheque it may be that we have not been picking up your data and we may need to check how you have set up the router.

Many Thanks,
Conor

Hi There,

I've checked our system and it seems we have not picked up any data from the device so far, so there may be something quite simple wrong with the set-up.

If you can email me at [email protected] with some details of how you are set-up, then I may be able to help you resolve the situation.

Thanks,
Conor

Yep my cheques here now

Left the router on 24/7 pretty much

In reply to a post by ConorICM:

Hi There,

Can you please get in touch with me at [email protected], then I can check if we are getting your data. I don't know how recently you connected our device but if it's been for a few weeks and you have not received a speed update or your cheque it may be that we have not been picking up your data and we may need to check how you have set up the router.

Many Thanks,
Conor

I sent you a mail (10/08/12) as requested, then get no response!!! as many others on here are reporting, mail had opening line:
Re: Anonymous, Fri 10-Aug-12 12:21:27 (Think Broadband forum.)
Am I missing something here?

In response to your post if I were at ICM & sent out a unit then got no data, I would be following up on that issue (yes/no)?,

My unit (the second now as 1st was faulty & returned) has been running for over a month now 24/7 & due to lag, page freezing & disconects (LED fashing Orange) I am sure the unit IS sending data whether I am useing my connection!!! or not.

I expect the issue to be resolved within the next few days as of then the unit will be switched OFF.

Studio51

Hi Studio51,

I've found your email from the 13th, unfortunately it had been directed to my junkmail.

We are still not picking up your data, which either means there is something wrong with the set-up, a cable in the wrong place etc, or the device is defective, or it may be incompatible with your router. I will try to give you a call to check through your set-up and see if we can resolve your issue.

Many Thanks,
Conor

Rec. call from Conor yesterday (Thank You),
Issue has now been resolved, turns out ICM had wrong MAC add.

Thanks again.

Had my box for time now.

The broadband monitor shows the substantial busrt of data used once per hour by the device. The box saturates the link long enough that it shows up.

Been a bit of a pain, streaming seems to be being interrupted by the unit,

The kids have been watching iPlayer quite a bit over the summer, and we get buffering problems, or if we are unlucky dropped connection that seem to coincide with the timing of the tests.

Anyone else find the testing router crashes a lot and if you have any thing connected to it's LAN ports you loose connectivity.

I need to switch things around (again) so that the testing box is the last thing on my LAN...

Would be nice if this issues could be fixed though, as I actually need the extra LAN ports or I need to get a separate switch.

I can see it on my thinkbroadband quality monitor.

That said I've never noticed it actually working. Seems invisible to me and doesn't interfere with streaming or anything.

I'm wondering if you have only 2Mbps upload?

I have noticed it crashing a few times. Mine has turned off and on by itself quite a few times.
Other than this no issues. Never had the ethernet side of things crash but I only had one thing connected. I now have changed that over to a wifi connection too (so nothings wired anymore).

Definitely isn't the best firmware in the world though. I have found it tests even if the ethernets in use so you might as well just wire the ethernet devices in before it anyway.

It also seems oblivious to any wifi usage.

Just connect it up lastly as you say. Don't make it a permanent part of your network (ie need the ports etc) as the device isn't yours and the test doesn't last forever. Not sure if we keep the equipment at the end.

Even when i had 10mbps upload i could not do anything when it was testing overall a buggy waste of time imo.

One has to wonder, with all this instability or misbehaviour or whatever, how accurate or useful any results are. By that I mean does its testing actually work properly even when it seems to work, and is the data they receive then properly analysed?

Well I had a look at how I could plug it in without anything using a LAN port on it. I can't so it's not plugged in any more and will most likely stay like that. After all I'm not getting anything out of it now, no interesting data to look at and I've had it plugged in long enough for the initial £25.

I'm not going to get a switch just so I can have it plugged in, already got too much clutter around my TV and no free plug sockets either! (well I got one now that's unplugged but I'd need two to have a switch and it plugged back in)

Well a second month has gone by and I guess there ought to have been a report by now.

Last month I had to request mine as there was apparently a problem with the distribution list.

Anyone had a speed update recently?

Richard

Nope.

Hi Guys,

Your speed updates have now been sent out. We are planning to do these updates fortnightly going forward.

I see a few of you are still having some issues with interference on your connection - if you have, please do get in touch via email with as much detail on your issue and how you are set-up as possible. I know that some of you have some more complex set-ups than the typical home broadband user and we have been able to help some of you resolve your interference issues by adjusting how you are connected. The majority of the panel have not experienced any issues with their connection, our apologies if yours has been affected. Should you no longer wish to take part in the panel, do get in touch so that we can recover the device from you.

The data we get from these tests is actually very accurate, we've tested this on a number of different lines of varying speeds and it is one of the most accurate testing systems you'll come across - we wouldn't be running this exercise otherwise. Thanks again for your continued help on the project.

Many Thanks,
Conor
ICM Research

Just got my update... I'm not really bothered about it though. I know my connection works well I don't need an update on that really.

The only thing I have noticed is that this device is quite intense when testing. Only really noticed this the last few days.
If I run a speedtest whilst this is testing it can go as low as 4Mbps and literally bounce from 60Mbps to 1Mbps and all over the place until it stops testing. It's like for some reason this device takes priority even though nothings hard wired into it. Perhaps it downloads via multiple threaded downloads?

It has a very similar effect to running a torrent with 200+ connections.

If that's the case it's not really a fair representation. Congestion at a local exchange is often covered up by multiple threaded downloads whereas a single threaded download can be slow.
When Sky had backhaul issues at the start of this year a multiple threaded download covered it up wheres iplayer etc wouldn't even work.

Interestingly I have an average of 75Mbps and there have been 7 people using the BB this past week. Not sure how the average is calculated but if they're taking figures when we were all using the net surely my result would be much lower. It definitely tests whilst we're using the net though.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Tue 28-Aug-12 17:04:23)

Are these boxes still collecting any information? I've not see the QSS light flicker with any kind of regularity (if at all) as it did?

Hi Sauronator,

The devices are still collecting data yes, we have recently dialled back the level of testing though, so it my be flashing less regularly than it was.

If you'd like to drop me an email I can confirm if we are still getting your data for you,

Many Thanks,
Conor

Has anyone had the fortnightly update that Conor said we would be getting (see the post on 28th August)?

Richard

I think I've misplaced my cheque. Didn't cash it in. Any chance of a replacement or should I search around?

I've had a few emails with results now the latest being on 20th Sept.

Download Speed = 75.26 Mbps



Upload Speed = 17.1 Mbps


Never see these speeds in reality with any speedtests though.


Thats not on my Virgin line btw, its on my BT 80/20 FTTC line

Edited by BuckleZ (Wed 03-Oct-12 03:36:05)

Hi ukhardy07

Please have a look for the cheque, if you can't find it, please drop me an email and I will look into having it replaced for you.

Many Thanks,
Conor

Well, its all gone quiet again (just over three weeks since the last report).

All I have had so far is the average download and upload figures which are almost the same each time (and match what I get on speedtest.net anyway).

Must be time to disconnect the box and see if I get any reaction. It certainly hasn't provided me with any detail about the speeds I am getting at various times of day.

Richard

Quiet on the reporting and testing front. My TBB BB quality monitor is showing the unit is testing twice a day compared to once every hour a few weeks ago; not sure how reliable that's going to make the sample though!

hi today my testing device did something weird it turned itself into a fully functioning router ?

its coming up as a TL-WR1043ND & its sending out a unsecured wireless net connection i only discovered this by noticing it as a connected device in my virgin superdud

is is broken or is this intended ?

Mine has done the same, had to reset network today and its a standard router --can login and change settins--Think ICM must have reset it to a standard router somehow.

Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the lack of information recently, we had it confirmed that the panel will not be renewed a few weeks ago and so we have been working out the best way to wrap things up for you.

We have begun to send out a firmware fix which takes off our testing software and returns the device to factory settings so it can be used as a router. I know quite a few of you were interested in holding onto it at the end of the trial, this should mean you won't have to do any tinkering to start using it.

The device should download this automatically if your device is correctly connected. We were not sure how soon this hotfix would be ready which is why we hadn't let you know in advance.

If you do not wish to keep the router, please send us an email and we can send you a pre-paid return envelope in which you can send it back to us for re-use.

Many Thanks for your participation in the trial,
Conor
ICM Research

Hmmm,
so it wrecked my network today, turning itself into a dhcp server, dishing out Ip addresses with routes to nowhere.
It was already back in its box before I saw here the trial is over.

Don't know...

But it seems the device I have hasn't been testing my line for a while now, since 16th Oct to be accurate.

I've had no e-mail so had assumed that the testing had come to an end.

I didn't hear the fat lady sing?

Ah .. yes it broke my network too .... took a while to work out what the heck was going on.

At least I now why.....

How can we tell when the router has been re-flashed?

Thanks,

Richard

In reply to a post by barnpiece:

How can we tell when the router has been re-flashed?

Thanks,

Richard

you can access it on 192.168.1.1 username = admin pass = admin

Thanx to Conor & icm research for the free router

Edited by deleted (Thu 01-Nov-12 14:29:21)

In reply to a post by martsmall2:

Thanx to Conor & icm research for the free router

yes, many thanks. They could have easily taken a different route and claimed them all back.

Can't get onto mine. Might just bin it...

So was there any point in this whole thing? Will we see some interesting results published?

Indeed, seems like a few speed test emails is all we'll ever have. Nothing that we couldn't have got by using our existing kit! Oh well, the incentive cheque and the free router has made me a happy bunny, just need to get home and secure the wi-fi and switch it into a new AP .

Not very impressed with this. My phone and network disk stopped working because of the new dhcp server. The least they could have done is send out a warning email first.

Thanks for letting me know, mind you only found out when i installed windows 8 and it kept coming up with x.x.1.100 not my normal ip

Realised this morning that there was an unsecure TP Link router broadcasting in my wireless connections list, I thought who would be stupid enough nowadays to use a router without security, then after checking it out further I realised it was the test router from ICM. I am furious to think that I have been broadcasting my network to everyone and their dog, not only that but the fact that you can gain access to the Sky router as well by being connected to the TP Link. Only by looking on here and another forum did I find out that the testing has ended. Why the hell were no warning emails sent to advise people that they would be resetting the router back to factory firmware.

A warning email would have been nice-correct.

True, but now have dd-wrt firmware on mine. so a nice free router and £25 not bad for a few months

Hi all,
I am now confused Conor said we could keep our routers, but today got a email from ICM saying they want the routers back. so do we have to send them back or keep them

Reading the post, which may or may not have been their official position sounds like there was an option to keep the router if you wanted to.

If someone wants to forward me a scan of the letter I can see exactly what it says, and we can perhaps chase for a clarification, particularly for those who might want to hang onto the router.

Also sounds like we have to pay for the return postage and then they'll refund us later. Not too keen on the sound of that tbh.

In reply to a post by bbincupar:

Also sounds like we have to pay for the return postage and then they'll refund us later.

I'm far from being a lawyer so I stand to be corrected, but I don't think they can insist on that.

It's their property, supplied as part of a trial which would involve you in zero expense, if they want it back that badly they can either send you the parcel equivalent of an SAE or they can arrange for its collection by a courier or similar.

As I said a scan of the letter and I'll take a gander and we can chase ICM collectively

Andrew,

I've sent you a PM with the details.

Here is a copy of the email i got

"Dear Panellist,

You should have received an e-mail from us to let you know that the Broadband panel closed at the end of September. Apologies if this is not the case.

In order to close this panel completely and send out final payments please could you all do the following:

a) Unplug The Router: Your router has been re-set to factory settings so please ensure that you un-plug the router from your network to ensure that the privacy of your wireless network is maintained.

*** IMPORTANT: If your router remains plugged-in, there is a potential risk of other people accessing your wireless network. For this reason we strongly recommend you un-plug the router ***

b) Return The Router: In coming weeks you should receive a return envelope addressed to ICM in which to return your router to us. Please note that the postage will be paid by ICM upon return to us, and your return bag should be accepted at any Post Office

Regarding payment of any outstanding incentives, we will ensure all people who have been successfully connected for the duration of the Panel will be paid by the end of January.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for help with this project


Regards, the Broadband Panel."

I think the return post will be free post but it's the way it's put down.
also
the bit where it say's
Regarding payment of any outstanding incentives.

does that mean they will pay us again if so what?

They may be in the process of sending out bags to return routers in.

the router works fine wired and wireless with the default or dd-wrt firmware which i but on and turned off the superhub wireless

Edited by deleted (Fri 30-Nov-12 17:40:48)

On the payments, I think it means they will do a final check to see if anyone is owed any money, and will get the cheques sent out.

@pcoventry

Yes they are gigabit ports also the wan port is gigabit and upto 300 wireless if that helps
Thanks for the reply Andrew

if no one wants there 1043nd im more than happy to pay postage for it, reson being friends on virgin too and gets terriable wireless so like me he would like to run hub in modem mode, if anyone was thinking of throwing it away.

I took Conor at his word and appreciated it being turned into a full router with stock firmware over the 'net.
It's now running dd-wrt and is central to my network.
I won't be returning it but it would be good if Andrew could get confirmation that the latest email is wrong.

If they want to get' funny' over it I think some users might have an issue with ICM making the access point a open access hotspot for weeks before warning people...

Edited by deleted (Fri 30-Nov-12 18:02:39)

have you got the you tube link please ?

Just had the email saying we want it back after they said we could keep it, The word SOD off spring to mind, I had a open net work for days and found people connected to my router because of them flashing the router and NOT telling me they had left it wide open to everyone.

In reply to a post by optiplex:

I had a open net work for days and found people connected to my router because of them flashing the router and NOT telling me they had left it wide open to everyone.

How very unlucky you have been. You must live in a very populated area, as it's extremely rare for "people" to connect to an open modem. A person perhaps, but even then you were unlucky.

My area is a nightmare of wireless routers and it has student houses on the road as well. I bet they had a great time on the torrent sites because ICM flashed my router and left it wide open to every tom,dick and harry to connect to. I cannot believe they say you can keep it and then decide they want it back. [censored] up in a brewery springs to mind.

I've just received this email this afternoon. And I'm glad they did email me as the last time I received an email report from them was on 20/09/12. I've noticed that their router has been open on my network for weeks now and was about to contact them about it. Needless to say I unplugged it immediately. I'm sending it back to them when I receive the jiffy bag.
I got the impression that they would be monitoring for longer than this going on the few (two months) speed data results I got back. Last time they said I would be getting them more regularly.
Oh well. I hope they got enough of the info they required. Especially with how up and down my Orange Home Broadband now EE has been the past year.

Have you noticed any bad effects on your usage?

thanks alot

i dont have that router , mine is a linksys wrt160NL

I have a student house next door

It coincidentally flashed last month when they had just moved in...
They obviously thought they had got lucky but I immediately noticed a giant slow down...

Well far as i am concerned they can sod off there not getting it back after they said i could keep it.

Sorry for the stupid question but have you put your SH in modem mode? If not the TPlink is getting a local address from the SH.

If you do have it in modem mode I think what happens is the virgin network sees the mac address of the router and registers it with a new IP address. If I have changed my router in the past (downstream of the SH in modem mode) the IP address from virgin always changes and hardly ever does at any other time.

In modem mode I don't think your SH should have or show an IP address as the config changes completely.

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

Yes I have and it's all working well.

Your right. If I remove the device and plug into the working port on the SH I get my old IP address.

as i turn my machine and the SH off every night I don't think theres a point in me running a TBB monitor so it's not a factor.

It's working well though. Very well indeed!

Untill they make your day and demand it back

Edited by deleted (Tue 04-Dec-12 18:09:32)

Hi Andrew any update from Icm about the routers

Thanks

In reply to a post by data0003:

Hi Andrew any update from Icm about the routers

Thanks

I had this in my mail today

Dear *******



Apologies for this - the person who administered the Broadband Panel has now left ICM and I’ve just picked this up. On Friday I sent an email to all who I assumed hadn’t been contacted to let them know about router return. Of course if you have already arranged to keep the router then this is absolutely fine. Thank you for getting in touch – and apologies for any inconvenience



Regards, Neha Patel

ICM Research

How do we get OpenWRT on this thing?

Go to www.openwrt.org and follow the installation instructions. Having used dd-wrt for many years and trying to use openwrt on the 1043ND when the trial finished I went straight back to dd-wrt. dd-wrt has a more user friendly interface so if you're not used to customised firmware I would start with dd-wrt and see if that does what you need. You can always change to openwrt afterwards if you don't like dd-wrt..

i flashed my router with dd-wrt and found the wireless speeds to be terrible, speedtest.net on my galaxy s2 said 11 meg when i get 28 meg on my dir-655, though speedtest.net on my pc with either router says 104 meg download with both routers saying 9.7 meg upload

I've decided I might as well put this WRT160NL to use instead of gathering dust.

Is it possible to flash the original Linksys firmware back onto these? If so how?

Hi mart

it is now finished has been for a few months now

Mine got bricked when they flashed it (or perhaps they didn't flash it).

Any ideas how to get it working?

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1...