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ADSL24 got bought out by Coms. Who are Coms? Today they managed to firewall all ICMP traffic leaving their network so it's not possible to ping or trace to anywhere. That's about par for the course for Coms, on any given day there will be some other issue, but it's besides the point given that speeds are averaging somewhere around 100KB/sec unstable to UK endpoints.
Obviously Coms is total garbage. But where did everyone else go? I've been looking at the 2014 ADSL ISP landscape and it looks bleak. It's as if ADSL24 was the last good ISP on the planet and it's just been bulldozed. I did find a nice broadband+phone package from XILO but they told me I can't have it because they don't know why.
I want to find another provider which offers unlimited ADSL + phone for £30/mo, no contract, no migration fee. Since ADSL24 was LLU everyone wants to charge me upwards of £40 to migrate which is an absolute joke. When I bought ADSL24 LLU I didn't think it would be a problem because I heard ADSL24 was good. And it was. I never imagined someone would destroy them from the inside.
Someone save me.
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Im still on coms. Apart from some packet loss ive not had any major issues. Ive PM'd DanComs to try and get to the bottom of the packet loss issue, he managed to sort the 3 day session issue out pretty quickly
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Post deleted by Retal2
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Register (or login) on our website and you will not see this ad.
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Having done testing I can confirm that Coms IS using traffic shaping to profile download speeds for non-HTTP services.
Here's a good way to see how much Coms is [censored] you over:
1. Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics
2. Run speed test
3. See what your HTTP download speed is
4. Observe that the following thee "streaming" tests yield 50% or lower than your download speed
Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Mar-14 03:21:22)
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hey - just tried this on my coms connection (BT I think) and get green ticks for everything. what do u see as stuff looks good to me?
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Just tried mine, My streaming speeds are within +- 0.4% of download speed. Very pleased with speed since quick response from Coms to adjust things. (not sure what) I was experiencing frequent short disconnections. Noticed on broadband quality monitor severe packet loss around 8pm for a couple of nights.Nowt much improved though not perfect, will keep an eye on it. So sticking where I am for a bit to see how service develops. The biggest problem is where to go , frying pan and fire come to mind.
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It doesn't really matter where you go. I've seen my share of bad ISPs and as far as that goes Coms is the pits. Just pick any of them with a short contract (1-3) months as these are typically confident of their service quality. It's the ones with 12-month contracts that are the cancer you need to steer clear of. Note Coms also inflicts 12-month contracts on new customers. Just imagine.
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Have you got a mac? If you aren't happy leave
Edited by bobble_bob (Sat 15-Mar-14 13:43:01)
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indeed - you pay your £'s, you make your choice....
Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Mar-14 16:12:29)
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>If you aren't happy leave
Since you seem incapable of basic reading comprehension you should note that the topic of this thread is where to move to. And yes I do have a MAC, thanks for asking.
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Possibly the wrong forum to ask, as the potential responders will have left. I suggest you try Which ISP
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Jesus I was only asking.
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Retal2 you are way off the mark saying that COMS are garbage. Yes there are certain things they need to sort out yet like the upload speed but in general they aren't too bad. In fact my download speed is faster than when with ADSL24.
So here's one ADSL24 user who has gone nowhere yet, I'll see how things progress
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Thanks for the useful link
I cant reproduce the same effect as you're seeing, is this all the time or only at certain times?
The results on my Coms ADSL connection were:
Download speed: 5400
Stream 1: 5472
Stream 2: 5368
Stream 3: 5231
I have also streamed 1 hour TV episodes in HD on iplayer without a problem.
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Replying to the latest post as the thread is getting convoluted, because:-
A few people are saying they have no real problem, including you Gari, but the issues seem only to be with LLU customers. Certainly earlier on we have at least one BT Wholesale based customer reasonably happy.
Is the LLU question being missed by non-LLU users?
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk | Domains,site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Plusnet UnLim Fibre (FTTC). Sync ~ 59.4/14.4Mbps @ 600m. - BQM
"Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant." - Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allergy information: This post was manufactured in an environment where nuts are present. It may include traces of understatement, litotes and humour.
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For those claiming that the speed test results are fine on Coms you should try it around this time, 9:30pm on a weekend when everyone is using the Internet. I get
Streaming Speed 1: 2989
Streaming Speed 2: 1409
Streaming Speed 3: 0
RobertoS makes a good point. For everyone claiming Coms is brilliant you should also state whether you're connected via LLU or BT equipment.
Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Mar-14 21:38:20)
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Retal2 you are way off the mark saying that COMS are garbage.
No, I'm spot on. What you mean to say is, "garbage is fine for me". Some people just use the Internet to browse websites, and for that, garbage will often suffice. The fact that Coms treats any non-HTTP traffic as evil by profiling it should tell the non-casual users to get the hell out of there.
On ADSL24, if I ever had speed or connection issues, I had the luxury of being able to say "this service I am trying to connect to has problems". I would not even have to consider for a moment that the issue was with my connection. Now I have problems every day with many services I use and it is invariably MY connection that is the cause. I no longer have the luxury of being able to rely on the quality and stability of my connection. THAT is why Coms is total garbage.
Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Mar-14 21:45:05)
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Retal2,
I have just (21:43) re-run the test.
I got:
DL Speed: 5399
Stream 1: 5480
Stream 2: 5413
Stream 3: 4359
Indicates a green tick for HD TV @ 3500
I am on TT LLU
Are you sure there isn't a problem with your line or exchange?
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Retal2 you are way off the mark saying that COMS are garbage.
No, I'm spot on. What you mean to say is, "garbage is fine for me". Some people just use the Internet to browse websites, and for that, garbage will often suffice. The fact that Coms treats any non-HTTP traffic as evil by profiling it should tell the non-casual users to get the hell out of there.
On ADSL24, if I ever had speed or connection issues, I had the luxury of being able to say "this service I am trying to connect to has problems". I would not even have to consider for a moment that the issue was with my connection. Now I have problems every day with many services I use and it is invariably MY connection that is the cause. I no longer have the luxury of being able to rely on the quality and stability of my connection. THAT is why Coms is total garbage.
Not just browsing as I do a lot of online gaming and have no probs. If you are talking about throttling of peer to peer stuff then you maybe right.
If you are into heavy useage of torrents then I don't blame COMS for throttling you, they are probably just freeing up more bandwidth for me 
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23:30:
Download Speed: 4136
Streaming Speed 1: 1437
Streaming Speed 2: 1031
Streaming Speed 3: 799
Proof
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I'm getting this
Download Speed: 12283
Streaming Speed 1: 10420
Streaming Speed 2: 12397
Streaming Speed 3: 12405
Not ideal but not too bad.
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Filthy torrenter reporting in at 23:45. Downloading at 650-850KB/s. Near enough line speed.
I have no real speed problems most of the time. The packet loss I get every so often worries me. I see the same packet loss when pinging Com's gateways from my VPS. Dunno if this was naughty of me but I set a BQM going to one of Com's gateways. Does this look normal?? http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/96048c299a0...
Being a bit more on topic, if I were to jump ship, I'd look at Xilo. With the fact that I only live here for another 3 months and that I'd have to cancel my line due to it being on Com's complete package, it doesn't seem worth it. I plan on gathering more data and then moaning some more on here.
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I wanted to switch to Xilo but they said they couldn't sell me the broadband+phone package for reasons known to nobody, least of all themselves. I found another attractive provider but they will only sell me broadband, no phone. It's really frustrating trying to find a provider that does not completely suck and absolutely not what I wanted to spend all weekend doing.
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When I enquired via their online chat, they couldn't tell me either but I think that's because my line's fully unbundled. Either that or they've decided that they've already taken on their fair share of ex-ADSL24 customers.
Sorry, just realised that I've made you repeat yourself!
Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Mar-14 00:18:00)
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It turns out that today their system WILL let me order broadband + phone, so that's nice. What isn't nice is that apparently my date of birth cannot be entered in a correct format so I still cannot place my order. For a moment there I thought I was home free. Why is everyone in the ISP industry so incompetent?
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I've just replied to your email.
The format shown on the order form is DD/MM/YY (http://scrn.at/image/0H041W3z3h0l) but you're entering as xx/xx/xxxx. If you enter as 6 numbers instead of 8 you won't have any such issue.
Matt
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I guess I was the incompetent one.
Meanwhile, another beautiful speed test on Coms even after midnight.
The 0 results seem to occur when the packet loss is so bad that the connection fails to even be established.
Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Mar-14 00:55:09)
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Same. Infact my streaming speeds were faster than my download speed. Not sure how that happens
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I'm on their LLU package and can also confirm I've been having issues since Tuesday. Every night from roughly 6pm until 10:30pm, my connection would practically be unusable for anything other than browsing. My connection would drop briefly for say 5-10 seconds then be as normal again and it would repeat this like once every 1-2 minutes making streaming, downloading, gaming impossible from those times.
In Coms defence, their support seemed helpful when I rang them up and hopefully it's an isolated issue or otherwise I'll be migrating away too very soon.
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Why would you defend them just because "their support seemed helpful"? Their support is anything but helpful. They just tell me "we think your speed is great!" because they look at what speed I'm synced at and assume that's the actual speed I am getting. They also tell me things like "we can't find a problem". Obviously I must just be imagining it, so they close all my tickets. Such helpful support.
Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Mar-14 14:16:29)
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Ive PMd both the reps on here and they have got things sorted very quickly for me. They seem alot better at getting things done than customer support
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Bobble_bob makes a fair point Retal2 - why not pm coms?
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Why would I seek support through a third party website? If there's really people here who work for Coms they're welcome to fix their network at any time. They don't need my permission.
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Its often quicker thats why. Plusnet have reps here, so do Xilo plus many more ISPs. Its just another way of communication as phone can often be the slowest depending on who deals with you at the other end
Like i said ive had a few issues dealt with very quickly via the reps on here
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Because you get the movers and shakers, not the first-line support. Usually on these forums somewhere above second line.
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk | Domains,site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Plusnet UnLim Fibre (FTTC). Sync ~ 59.4/14.4Mbps @ 600m. - BQM
"Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant." - Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allergy information: This post was manufactured in an environment where nuts are present. It may include traces of understatement, litotes and humour.
Edited by RobertoS (Sun 16-Mar-14 19:30:34)
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Just further proof of how mismanaged Coms is. They'd rather place their (competent?) support personnel in charge of damage control on a third party website instead of supporting customers properly through their own system.
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Wrong.
It's how all the bigger ISPs work. First line are for telling people where the on/off switch is, or which wire goes where, and many similar mundane things. Only at a tiny (5-man staff?) ISP do you people who can kick back-sides and get things done that aren't in the script.
Coms seem to be somewhere in-between those extremes. Paul is not techie, but gets things fixed. The other guy may be - I can't remember, but also gets things fixed.
I'm not saying you aren't having big problems, but don't let it cloud your judgement when advised by several people on the best way to get them sorted.
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk | Domains,site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Plusnet UnLim Fibre (FTTC). Sync ~ 59.4/14.4Mbps @ 600m. - BQM
"Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant." - Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allergy information: This post was manufactured in an environment where nuts are present. It may include traces of understatement, litotes and humour.
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Were did they all go? Prolly BT, Sky, Talktalk and Virgin like everyone else.
ADSL24 didn't bail out because of small player growth...
Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Mar-14 20:21:20)
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I think whatever issues you have with streaming speeds isnt something with coms. A few users on here have posted results showing their streaming speeds are fine, and ive just done a test now and everything looks ok
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> Were did they all go? Prolly BT, Sky, Talktalk and Virgin like everyone else.
Why would they? If ADSL24 customers were inclined to pick from the big players they wouldn't have selected ADSL24 in the first place.
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I don't think that he seeks help Bob, he just wants to whinge and moan. He's got his MAC so I don't know why he's still here.
If Coms were as bad as he says, then these forums would be full of complaints.
Sure, Coms have had problems, the 12dB profile, 3 day disconnects, the black Saturday of slow speeds and packet loss, the DNS issues .. but I don't experience any of them now.
I have just tried the BBC iplayer test once again and included the date and time with the results to show that it was just now.
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Can't scroll within a screenshot  .
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk | Domains,site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Plusnet UnLim Fibre (FTTC). Sync ~ 59.4/14.4Mbps @ 600m. - BQM
"Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant." - Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allergy information: This post was manufactured in an environment where nuts are present. It may include traces of understatement, litotes and humour.
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I'm convinced you follow me around
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>I don't think that he seeks help Bob, he just wants to whinge and moan.
Where did I ever state I want help with my Coms connection? Again, if you do not fail at basic English reading comprehension you will understand that the purpose of this thread is to seek alternatives to Coms. It is not about giving Coms more chances.
Not only have I obtained a MAC code but I've already used it to place an order with Xilo/Uno/whatever it calls itself officially. We'll see how that turns out on Monday because my order has been placed on hold pending investigation due to ordering via a foreign web proxy since Coms was suddenly unable to display the Xilo website while I was trying to place my order despite it not being down and despite all other websites displaying perfectly fine.
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Lol that's funny about Xilo website not loading, I was having problems loading it too earlier when I went to give it a look. Also I'm pretty sure there is traffic management in effect... torrent speeds of around 130kbps while steam is downloading at my usual download speeds of around 950kbps as of 10:49pm
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I've not even been migrated to Coms yet...
Over a month after my "migration date"
Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Mar-14 23:03:40)
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Sounds plausible. Traffic management is not really a surprise & a lot of isp's do this sort of thing. I'd rather have a good streamed / gaming experience over torrent speed, which can just tick along in the background.
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Yeah but I'm fairly certain I was told at least two times that my service wouldn't be effected in any way. before my migration in both email and letter. To be fair this is the first time I've experienced this so maybe it's a one off but can understand the need for it at peak times providing it's not like this 24/7.
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If you use Windows, blue screens are not really a surprise. That doesn't mean it's not wrong. One of the most damaging things Microsoft has done to the computing industry is lowering consumer expectations. People start accepting poor quality software because they become used to it. You're contributing to the problem by accepting an ISP that manages your traffic for you.
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Actually to be fair checking the letter no mention was made of traffic management however it did say in writing there would be no changes to my usage allowance which is a flat out lie seeing as it's capped at 1000gb and they use a FUP. Granted I doubt I'd ever manage to get anywhere near 1000gb but the FUP bothers me enough to probably request a MAC code.
Edited by deleted (Mon 17-Mar-14 00:00:27)
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1000gb? Do you mean 1000 GigaBytes? Or a mere extremely restrictive 125GB?
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk | Domains,site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Plusnet UnLim Fibre (FTTC). Sync ~ 59.4/14.4Mbps @ 600m. - BQM
"Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant." - Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Allergy information: This post was manufactured in an environment where nuts are present. It may include traces of understatement, litotes and humour.
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Again, if you do not fail at basic English reading comprehension...
Well, there's no need to hurl insults at me , we all have been trying to help you but it seems we're wasting our time. I won't contribute any more. I hope you have better luck with your next ISP.
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Ive had no throttling of usenet at all today
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I got in touch with Xilo to find out why I didn't receive the call regarding approval of my order today whereupon I discovered my order has already been approved even though I have received absolutely no notification to this effect. So while, on paper, it looks like my application was rejected what has actually happened is the exact opposite. Apparently. I have to take their word for it. I can't log in to their system yet and they didn't respond when asked when I can expect my broadband service to be switched over. So now I have to sit tight and wait for who knows what the [censored] to happen.
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fingers crossed for u
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You should be able to login to our system - do request a password reminder just in case you don't know what the password is.
I advised billing would be in touch on Monday, before there was even chance to review this you had sent a further contact chasing this to which we did reply with stating the order had been checked and validation completed.
Additionally, we sent a further email to you at 1:09pm giving an order update and we're waiting to hear from you how you wish to proceed.
Do get in touch via the portal or let me know if you cannot login and I will send you a new password validation email.
Matt
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After resetting my password because it obviously wasn't good enough the first time around, I find the following message: "We've attempted to process your order for broadband but i'm afraid the product selected not possible."
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Yes! Finally! I am free! Amusingly I get half the ping response times to Coms that I did while I was actually on Coms. It's the same technology and the same hardware on my end but suddenly I'm connected to a real Internet pipe and it already feels worlds apart.
Data actually transfers at a *consistent rate* even when measured every second, with very little variance, regardless of protocol. It really only takes a few minutes to spot the difference between a quality ISP and a hack job.
Edited by deleted (Thu 27-Mar-14 00:30:31)
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