Internet - expectations

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
eoinm
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Location: United Kingdom

Internet - expectations

Post by eoinm »

Hi

We run a property in quite a rural location and so have a restrictive internet allowance which we've so far managed to work within.

We leave a note for the guests saying that the internet is a capped service and so to please not use anything like Netflix or Youtube as this will use up the allowance quickly. We recommend it for email use and browsing which it should cope well with.

This has worked for three years with us occasionally having to renew the cap if we notice a guest is burning through it very quickly. This is not a problem although each renewal costs us money but we do not pass this charge onto the guests.

Today we had an angry guest tell us that the internet had not worked since the previous day and that this was really annoying. Incidentally we'd noticed this guest using the cap up really quickly and had already paid for one renewal without them knowing, because they'd reached the cap very early in their stay.

So they complain about having no internet since yesterday and I apologise and tell them I'll try and renew. Our ISP is weird and imposes a restriction of 2 cap renewal per 30 days (why?! - we're giving them money, but anyway...)

Again this is costing us money and we'd already been very accommodating for this guest allowing them stay with a pet whereas we have a no pet rule normally.

So, I manage to pay for another renewal and tell the guest about the cap and that it might take a few mins to come through but they should be back up and running soon.

They reply with an annoyed email about having to buy a data sim themselves and why had the internet run out when they were only using it for browsing. I replied saying that we had fixed the internet for them within 20 mins of being notified and that while I know it's annoying we can only address issues we're told about, and we do so as quickly as possible.

Given that I work in a job that deals with the internet every day and am familiar with how long this particular cap should last given normal use, I know this is not highly unlikely to be used up that quickly, but what can I say?

They seem happy now but how can you convey to people that whether they know it or not they're using far more than they realise? This person was annoyed at the outage but we had it fixed quickly once they told us so what more can we do here to advise people and stop having to repeatedly pay for overruns.
Joanna
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Post by Joanna »

Guests are getting used to having unlimited broadband at home and often assume that all Internet access is the same.

We do tend to assume that we'll be able to use Netflix on our iPads when we're away, at least in the UK.

My sister was recently complaining about a place she rented in Cornwall. They'd chosen it partly because it offered Internet access. But when they arrived they found that it was heavily restricted - no streaming, only a very limited amount of browsing per day. She's coeliac but hadn't done much advance research on local restaurants because she was expecting to be able to do it there. She did it anyway and then felt guilty that maybe she was using up the next guests allowance.

Until the infrastructure improves in rural areas I think your only option is to make the situation crystal clear at the enquiry stage so that people understand how it works and can prepare for it or go somewhere less remote. There's probably a way of presenting it as a positive - escaping the rat race and so on. It's all about managing expectations.
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
zebedee
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Location: yorkshire dales

Post by zebedee »

Sympathies eoinm.

We had exactly the same as you until earlier this year. At first, capped internet worked no problem, but then increasingly guests were using all the allowance before the end of the month, at the same time I was reading on this forum that people have more devices with them that are constantly updating (Facebook etc) even if the guests were not browsing, phones and IPad would be using up data just updating etc.

I had written in TCs and highlighted on all letters to guests that Internet service was very limited and problematic in the area(it was at the time).

We had one very unpleasant guest who was downloading complex maps (despite the provision of maps at the cottage). He had been told about the limited wifi when he booked fairly soon before his holiday but he was relentless in his complaints. We also paid out additional money for other guests to have the wifi provision extended.

In the end we paid the have high speed unlimited broadband supplied earlier this year, even though we are still under contract (and cannot get out of the contract) on the limited Sim we had. I cannot tell you how much stress has been removed so the extra cost has been worth it.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Unlimited internet contracts are pretty cheap in the UK so if you can sign up for one I'd do that. Here in Spain it's a different story. Internet services are comparatively expensive and actual internet connection options variable depending upon location. Rural properties such as mine don't have telephone lines so even ADSL is out of the question let alone fibre optic. The only options are WiMax if you can get 'line of sight' or mobile, which is what I have. No chance whatsoever of unlimited data so I have the same issues with a whole month's allowance being chewed up by inconsiderate people within the space of one week. So have a Google for the best deals on unlimited internet and ditch your restricted service.
Dusty
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Post by Dusty »

I am afraid that peoples view these days is that internet access is free and unlimited and for the younger generation an absolute necessity, which is why we installed expensive routers so that guests could use the internet in the gites without standing in the windows (or in one particular instance, outside our house where the wi-fi in installed). Rather than being an added extra peoples expectations is that it will be available and will get cross if its not. So I would suggest that you look for a way to be able to remove the cap, it may be cheaper in the long run than having to pay for top ups.
ianh100
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Location: Sherborne Dorset

Post by ianh100 »

Hi Eoinm

Are you on a satellite or similar service? We get just 1MB of broadband on our phone, we can get unlimited internet at low cost, it will just about run Netflix.

We are still waiting for a better service but as it will need the BT cabinet to be moved it will take a long time if ever. The council offer us a subsidised satellite service, I think it is £30 for 10GB. Our guests are managing over 30GB a month on 1MB so satellite could cost us a fortune.

We do warn people it is rural wifi. We get the odd comment that the WiFi could be better. I am tempted to point out that the WiFi I have installed is absolutely excellent, its just the piece of wet string that BT connect to my WiFi that is causing the problem.
Marks
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Post by Marks »

Casscat wrote:Here in Spain it's a different story. Internet services are comparatively expensive and actual internet connection options variable depending upon location. Rural properties such as mine don't have telephone lines so even ADSL is out of the question let alone fibre optic. The only options are WiMax if you can get 'line of sight' or mobile, which is what I have. No chance whatsoever of unlimited data.
Really?

I live 'in the sticks' so no landline or fibre optic. I have a little dish on my roof pointing at a repeater station on a ridge about 3km away. I get a steady 12Mb down and 4Mb up, 99% uptime and unlimited data. 33€ a month inc IVA and 7 day a week customer service, they don't go home at 1pm on Saturday morning like some ISPs here.
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

Marks wrote:
Casscat wrote:Here in Spain it's a different story. Internet services are comparatively expensive and actual internet connection options variable depending upon location. Rural properties such as mine don't have telephone lines so even ADSL is out of the question let alone fibre optic. The only options are WiMax if you can get 'line of sight' or mobile, which is what I have. No chance whatsoever of unlimited data.
Really?

I live 'in the sticks' so no landline or fibre optic. I have a little dish on my roof pointing at a repeater station on a ridge about 3km away. I get a steady 12Mb down and 4Mb up, 99% uptime and unlimited data. 33€ a month inc IVA and 7 day a week customer service, they don't go home at 1pm on Saturday morning like some ISPs here.
See my reference to 'line of sight'. I have no line of sight so cannot get what you describe. Certain of my neighbours can due to their position, but I cannot. I did subscribe to this type of service (via a company called Internet Directo here in the CDS) and it was only €19.99 per month for unlimited and with no minimum contract, but I had to get them to take their kit away as it just didn't work for me. My only option is mobile internet and all the providers in Spain have pulled their unlimited data contracts off the market :(
Marks
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Post by Marks »

My ISP has installed mini repeaters to help bounce the signal around into difficult to reach areas. One of my friends about 5km away from me has one on his roof and it supplies an excellent signal to about 20 houses in a dip that cannot see the main repeater that I can. There are ways around it for those ISPs prepared to put the effort in :wink:
Some guests just need a sympathetic pat. On the head. With a hammer.
akwe-xavante
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Location: East Yorkshire

Post by akwe-xavante »

Satellite Broadband - not as expensive as you think and if you add a draytek router to it you have a great deal of power to manage usage in a variety of ways to make sure a monthly allowance is not exceeded.

IT is my business and I work for many businesses inc guest houses, hotels and campsites etc. I find that if you offer WiFi / Internet access then it has to be reliable and as fast as possible or you have problems with complaints. If you don't offer WiFi / Internet Access and you make sure your customers are aware of it in advance then it's not a problem
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

akwe-xavante wrote:Satellite Broadband - not as expensive as you think and if you add a draytek router to it you have a great deal of power to manage usage in a variety of ways to make sure a monthly allowance is not exceeded.

IT is my business and I work for many businesses inc guest houses, hotels and campsites etc. I find that if you offer WiFi / Internet access then it has to be reliable and as fast as possible or you have problems with complaints. If you don't offer WiFi / Internet Access and you make sure your customers are aware of it in advance then it's not a problem
The problem with satellite broadband that I've encountered so far is that it's capped, and a reasonable allowance is very expensive.

I followed your previous suggestion and got a Draytek router and I can now manage my limited available bandwidth of about 1.4M and share it across our three properties so that one set of guests can't use it all for streaming and reduce everyone else to a crawl. So far so good.
akwe-xavante
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Post by akwe-xavante »

I don't get it eoinm living in a rural location does not come with a restrictive internet allowance!? You'll get a slow speed yes but no service provider will cap your allowance because you live in a rural area unless you have a satellite service. All satellite services are capped regardless of whether you live in a rural area or not.

You can purchase a service that has a restrictive allowance, insofar as you agree to an allowance for a fixed Very low or certainly a low monthly fee, or you agree only to access the service within restrictive hours of the day. I know no service provider that restricts the number of times an allowance is lifted in a given month either.

Can I ask which service provider you are using and the service you have purchased, Satellite, ADSL, Mobile or Fibre?

Guests won't care about an allowance or whether they use it up all in one go or not.

We now have Microsoft's Windows 10 Operating system downloading and installing very large updates far more often than ever before. iCloud services running permanently. People browse the net and consider YouTube to be browsing however the video content is streamed and can contain a great deal of data. Many devices are now moving large amounts of data back and fourth in the background without the owner of the device realising it.

If your accounts monthly allowance is capped, its capped because you probably chose to cap it to reduce costs. You can get ADSL broadband un capped with line rental inclusive for £22 a month!

All the big service providers are dumping capped products and offering broadband for as little as £2 & £3 a month when you sign up for a line. BT quietly dumped all caps on capped accounts recently doing away with them altogether.

Internet access down the phone line either ADSL or Fibre is so unpopular now that so many people have gone mobile and have cancelled their landlines and broadband services. Over the next couple of years I see ADSL and Fibre prices tumbling and even becoming permanently free when you rent a landline.
ianh100
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Post by ianh100 »

@Greenbarn. Do you find that the limited bandwidth shared across 3 properties is enough? We get similar SLOW speed but currently pay for an independent line for each property (They are semi detached).

Based on the government broadband messages I bought Draytek hardware to allow me to share a single line but really don't feel it fair to ask guests to share such a poor service.
akwe-xavante
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Post by akwe-xavante »

To block Windows and Apple device updates and therefore greatly reduce data downloading and bandwidth hogging block the following within your routers settings.

Windows Updates:
crl.microsoft.com
download.microsoft.com
download.windowsupdate.com
ntservicepack.microsoft.com
office.microsoft.com
officeupdate.microsoft.com
stats.microsoft.com
update.microsoft.com
v4.windowsupdate.com
windowsupdate.com
windowsupdate.microsoft.com
wustat.windows.com

Apple & iOS Updates:
mesu.apple.com
appldnld.apple.com

Depending on the router used you may have to add either http:// and or https:// at the beginning.

Doing this prevents any device from downloading device updates which can be several gigabytes in size sometimes. In September 2016 (So far) Windows 10 has updated twice both updates have been over 2GB in size each, that's 4GB per device so if you have two Win10 laptops updating that's 8GB! Apples iOS 7 upgrade is just over 1GB per device.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

akwe-xavante wrote:To block Windows and Apple device updates and therefore greatly reduce data downloading and bandwidth hogging block the following within your routers settings.
Some of these updates may be security updates which should be installed asap. Allowing a device to connect to the internet but not be secured may not be a good idea.
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