50M Options for cancelling broadband?

djxput · 19-10-2011, 11:27

We recently upgraded our VM account to
tivo tv large, phone, 50 meg speed (dl at 50 uploads less then 1) ... (and were told that the 100 meg speed would be available soon 1-2 months and along with 10 meg upload).

I live in the croyden system (surbiton) -
and needless to say upgrading appears to be a big ? ... it keeps getting pushed back and most likely will be sometime in 2012 probably april or later.

This isnt acceptable for me; the main reason we upgraded was so I could game and call my family/friends in the states. And upload speed determines the quality of both of these.

So - what can I do to cancel; its been over 30 days; think its been 2 months~ since we upgraded.

We can get bt infinity in our area (wondering for those that have it in the croyden system what its like) we live in surbiton (which is far away from croyden ... but thats what system we are on).

I just got off the phone with VM and I was told
I only had 2 options
- cancel and we'll have to pay the ramining months (like that makes sense) - so have to pay 11 months he said and not use it?
- or downgrade to 10 meg and only save from 56 to 42 a month ... which isnt much.

any suggestions? or info

thanks

**Chris** · 19-10-2011, 11:31

It seems to me that the CSR gave you an accurate picture - there's nothing wrong with your service and you are outside of the period in your contract when you can cancel without penalty. If you want out, you will have to pay your way out.

Or are you finding that you can't do gaming or internet calling?

I have no experience of online gaming, but I had a perfectly good Skype call with someone in the US last week on an ADSL connection with about 2.5 meg down and less than 450k up.

Nopanic · 19-10-2011, 11:35

There isn't really any reason for VM to "let you out" of the contract.

As above, you haven't got an issue with your service and I would be surprised if they released you based on you not being happy with a future service having not been deployed yet.

Don't think there is much you can do.

djxput · 19-10-2011, 11:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

It seems to me that the CSR gave you an accurate picture - there's nothing wrong with your service and you are outside of the period in your contract when you can cancel without penalty. If you want out, you will have to pay your way out.

Or are you finding that you can't do gaming or internet calling?

I have no experience of online gaming, but I had a perfectly good Skype call with someone in the US last week on an ADSL connection with about 2.5 meg down and less than 450k up.

Well from what I have read upload speed has to do with voip and gaming ... and I get from .4-.8 usually ...
and most 90% of the calls I try to make for them I sound like all garbeled and computer sounding etc ...
I usually can hear them fine which makes sense since dl speed is decent.

I dont know what they can do without making the upload speed better ...

Nopanic · 19-10-2011, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by djxput

Well from what I have read upload speed has to do with voip and gaming ... and I get from .4-.8 usually ...
and most 90% of the calls I try to make for them I sound like all garbeled and computer sounding etc ...
I usually can here them fine which makes sense since dl speed is decent.

I dont know what they can do without making the upload speed better ...

You need to look more at pings and jitter I believe. An upload of 4Mb is plenty to play any game or VOIP..

Quite a few people on here with more network knowledge than me can offer better ..

djxput · 19-10-2011, 11:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nopanic

You need to look more at pings and jitter I believe. An upload of 4Mb is plenty to play any game or VOIP..

Quite a few people on here with more network knowledge than me can offer better ..

my upload is .4-.8 less then 1 mb ... atm its at .77 and for me its the best time of the day (croyden system is not upgraded to the 50/5 its 50/1 (or less then one) and upgrade plans are in the distant future to the 5 meg upload.

thanks for the info thou

AndyCalling · 19-10-2011, 12:20

Upstream for 50meg service in areas not upgraded yet should be 1.5meg I believe. Seems like something is wrong. What are your power levels and SNR at?

djxput · 19-10-2011, 12:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by AndyCalling

Upstream for 50meg service in areas not upgraded yet should be 1.5meg I believe. Seems like something is wrong. What are your power levels and SNR at?

not an expert with these things but this is what I see

downstream channel power -1.4 and -1.6 snr 39.6 and 39.9
upstream power 43.5

kwikbreaks · 19-10-2011, 12:57

I'm sure I've seen complaints about Croyden before and given it isn't upgraded yet it's quite probably in a bit of a state which would explain the less than stellar upstream.

0.7Mbps is ample for VOIP as people were using it on the old fixed speed ADSL connections which only ran at 256k and there must be millions who only have 448k on current ADSL.

As Nopanic mentioned what can cause problems is jitter and excessive pings. Probably the biggest killer would be packet loss. Even then decent software or better still dedicated hardware will overcome some pretty awful connections. Last week my 50Mbps was absolutely abysmal yet the boss didn't moan about the quality of the phone when she spent half the night on it (as per profile I use Vonage which comes with dedicated hardware). Talking to the USA will involve long pings anway just because of the distance and that isn't VM's fault - blame <deity of your choice> for constructing the universe that way.

====edit====
Do you only have 2 downstreams? I thought 50 had a minimum of 3 but ready to be corrected on that.

Nopanic · 19-10-2011, 14:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by djxput

my upload is .4-.8 less then 1 mb ... atm its at .77 and for me its the best time of the day (croyden system is not upgraded to the 50/5 its 50/1 (or less then one) and upgrade plans are in the distant future to the 5 meg upload.

thanks for the info thou

I didn't spot the . on my phone, in that case we have an problem

djxput · 19-10-2011, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

I'm sure I've seen complaints about Croyden before and given it isn't upgraded yet it's quite probably in a bit of a state which would explain the less than stellar upstream.

0.7Mbps is ample for VOIP as people were using it on the old fixed speed ADSL connections which only ran at 256k and there must be millions who only have 448k on current ADSL.

As Nopanic mentioned what can cause problems is jitter and excessive pings. Probably the biggest killer would be packet loss. Even then decent software or better still dedicated hardware will overcome some pretty awful connections. Last week my 50Mbps was absolutely abysmal yet the boss didn't moan about the quality of the phone when she spent half the night on it (as per profile I use Vonage which comes with dedicated hardware). Talking to the USA will involve long pings anway just because of the distance and that isn't VM's fault - blame <deity of your choice> for constructing the universe that way.

====edit====
Do you only have 2 downstreams? I thought 50 had a minimum of 3 but ready to be corrected on that.

have 3 downstreams; the 3rd is exactly the same as the 2nd listed ...

also no panic - as far as upload speed do you recommend anything in regards to this?

Nopanic · 21-10-2011, 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by djxput

have 3 downstreams; the 3rd is exactly the same as the 2nd listed ...

also no panic - as far as upload speed do you recommend anything in regards to this?

To use it to cancel you need to have reported it and given then chance to sort it.. Get it logged.