How is cool ideas overall?

[pi_patrol]

I've been looking at their offerings and it seems too good to be true. How are their prices so low and you still get amazing speeds and it's claimed to be uncapped AND unshaped?? None of their competitors are offering the same and I'm not sure what's up? I'm currently with VOX. They're service ad speeds are great. I get what I ask for but pricewise cool ideas seems way too good to be true. Are people just going with Vox because they've been around for a longer time?

 

[ChilliPepper]

I have been with them for about 6 months now and they deliver as advertised on the box. Always super friendly and helpful. Only issues I have had has been with the actual fiber provider once. Have friends that are with Vox and they can not say the same, They have gotten messed around quite a bit.

I'm pretty heavy on bandwidth and have not been shaped, ever. I have happily recommended them to everybody I can.

 

[XperiAnce]

Excellent apart from Twitch.tv - lags to hell and back. Switching to Afrihost or Webafrica and it works perfectly.

 

[cyberbob1979]

Been with them since installed my Fibre in May (Vuma backend) - no hassles at all with torrents, downloads, streaming, gaming, dropbox, uploads anything...

It is pretty much what it says on the tin. Plus, the support staff were really professional. I couldn't fault them on anything

 

[DERoestorf]

I've been looking at their offerings and it seems too good to be true. How are their prices so low and you still get amazing speeds and it's claimed to be uncapped AND unshaped?? None of their competitors are offering the same and I'm not sure what's up? I'm currently with VOX. They're service ad speeds are great. I get what I ask for but pricewise cool ideas seems way too good to be true. Are people just going with Vox because they've been around for a longer time?

Joined them end of March. So far they have been brilliant. I tested their uncapped no shaping claim for 2 months (used 2tb one month and 1tb the next according to my PC, as they don't track your usage anywhere)

I sometimes get that on my PS3 the sound in netflix struggles when it is 5.1 sound, but I think the problem there is with the PS3 and not my 20/20 account.

 

[PBCool]

Excellent apart from Twitch.tv - lags to hell and back. Switching to Afrihost or Webafrica and it works perfectly.

@XperiAnce drop me a mail on paul at cisp.co.za to try and resolve this for you, we haven't had any other reported issues with Twitch.tv.

 

[cjh]

@XperiAnce drop me a mail on paul at cisp.co.za to try and resolve this for you, we haven't had any other reported issues with Twitch.tv.

I suppose +1 for active forum presence as well?

 

[SPiV]

Excellent apart from Twitch.tv - lags to hell and back. Switching to Afrihost or Webafrica and it works perfectly.

Can you switch between Fibre accounts? I want to try Afrihost or other providers to see if my problem persists...

The problem I have is that I've got a 100Mbps up and down Cool Ideas account on a TT Connect line and my downloads (Usenet and HTTP) are slower than they were on my 10Mbps ADSL line and less consistant. Speedtests always give me in the 90'sMbps.

 

[DERoestorf]

Can you switch between Fibre accounts? I want to try Afrihost or other providers to see if my problem persists...

The problem I have is that I've got a 100Mbps up and down Cool Ideas account on a TT Connect line and my downloads (Usenet and HTTP) are slower than they were on my 10Mbps ADSL line and less consistant. Speedtests always give me in the 90'sMbps.

Depends, but as far as I know, only Openserve allows that.

 

[f2wohf]

1 year with them and it's really unshaped and uncapped.

I've almost no issue, it was only slow when Seacom was slow.

 

[3WA]

I cannot say enough nice things about Cool Ideas. Great provider, great service, great uncapped.

 

[SPiV]

Thanks guys, this gives me a lot of hope. I'm sure we'll find the problem somewhere. I really like them, it's just that this slow speed is not normal, which is why I'm trying so hard to get it fixed.

 

[DERoestorf]

Thanks guys, this gives me a lot of hope. I'm sure we'll find the problem somewhere. I really like them, it's just that this slow speed is not normal, which is why I'm trying so hard to get it fixed.

have a look at your firewall, as well as a possible firewall on your router.

 

[Fluttershy]

Joined them end of March. So far they have been brilliant. I tested their uncapped no shaping claim for 2 months (used 2tb one month and 1tb the next according to my PC, as they don't track your usage anywhere)

I sometimes get that on my PS3 the sound in netflix struggles when it is 5.1 sound, but I think the problem there is with the PS3 and not my 20/20 account.

I am able to see my usage from the client area. http://i.imgur.com/oLD8Bpg.png

 

[SPiV]

have a look at your firewall, as well as a possible firewall on your router.

I checked. It's all open. It's also the router that Cool Ideas pre-configured and gave me to use.
Just can't see how I'm getting slower speeds on my fibre line, on the same apps connecting to the same servers that my old ADSL line was getting. Downloads are over Usenet and HTTP.
Even downloads to my Xbox One are slow.
It's not the wifi, because I'm getting at least 60Mbps download and 90+Mbps upload on a speedtest... which I'd be happy with.
Even when I try to stream Plex over the internet on many different friend's fibre connections, it's constantly pausing.

 

[Fluttershy]

I checked. It's all open. It's also the router that Cool Ideas pre-configured and gave me to use.
Just can't see how I'm getting slower speeds on my fibre line, on the same apps connecting to the same servers that my old ADSL line was getting. Downloads are over Usenet and HTTP.
Even downloads to my Xbox One are slow.
It's not the wifi, because I'm getting at least 60Mbps download and 90+Mbps upload on a speedtest... which I'd be happy with.
Even when I try to stream Plex over the internet on many different friend's fibre connections, it's constantly pausing.

What I would try is connecting your computer directly to the ONT and dialing your connection from there. The router I got from Cool Ideas is only OK, so maybe it is your router.

 

[SPiV]

What I would try is connecting your computer directly to the ONT and dialing your connection from there. The router I got from Cool Ideas is only OK, so maybe it is your router.

I've tried that. The only thing that speeds up is the speedtest download speed (from 60Mbps to the 90sMbps, upload remains in the 90sMbps). All other downloads run at the same speed (between 6-8Mbps)

Hoping that it's just a setup issue and nothing with Cool Ideas.

 

[SPiV]

Also, I've got a Belkin N450 router and range extender. The router is connected via LAN to the Cool Ideas router and the range extender is only connected over the 5Ghz band to the Belkin router. The Cool Ideas router only runs on the 2.4Ghz band which I found maxes out at around 30ishMbps.

Connected via LAN cables to the range extender are the PC and Xbox. I get about 60 down and 90 up on the PC on a SpeedTest, which I'd be happy with. But that same connection can't pull down a HTTP download (e.g Ubuntu) faster than an average of around 7Mbps, with bursts up to about 9Mbps.
Edit: Tried that same download with the PC connected directly to the Cool Ideas router with a LAN cable and no change

 

[DERoestorf]

Also, I've got a Belkin N450 router and range extender. The router is connected via LAN to the Cool Ideas router and the range extender is only connected over the 5Ghz band to the Belkin router. The Cool Ideas router only runs on the 2.4Ghz band which I found maxes out at around 30ishMbps.

Connected via LAN cables to the range extender are the PC and Xbox. I get about 60 down and 90 up on the PC on a SpeedTest, which I'd be happy with. But that same connection can't pull down a HTTP download (e.g Ubuntu) faster than an average of around 7Mbps, with bursts up to about 9Mbps.
Edit: Tried that same download with the PC connected directly to the Cool Ideas router with a LAN cable and no change

So some questions. Who is your fibre provider? And what are you paying for?

From what you are saying, you are paying for a 100/100 line?

Now on fibre, if you are paying for a 100/100 line, you should be getting that on speed tests, so that shows that there is already a problem somewhere. I know I get on my 50/50 line, 52mbps up and 51mbps down.

as for the downloads, are you not confusing megabytes per second with megabits per second?

 

[SPiV]

So some questions. Who is your fibre provider? And what are you paying for?

TT Connect.

From what you are saying, you are paying for a 100/100 line?

Yup, that's right

Now on fibre, if you are paying for a 100/100 line, you should be getting that on speed tests, so that shows that there is already a problem somewhere. I know I get on my 50/50 line, 52mbps up and 51mbps down.

I'm getting it on speed tests, but downloading from the same places (e.g. The Xbox Store) is slower than my 10Mbps ADSL used to be

as for the downloads, are you not confusing megabytes per second with megabits per second?

I wish. I'm getting less than 1 megamyte per second download. Usually between the 500kilobytes per second to 800kilobytes per second range. Switching over to my ADSL and my download rate is faster (1.1 megabytes per second and more consistant).