Bizarre name for an average broadband provider (Madasafish)

Member Name: markos9

Product:	Madasafish
Date:	11/09/09 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable speed and I negotiated a good price.

Disadvantages: Service outages!

Madasafish is a terrible name for a broadband provider. So why did I join? Well, I didn't actually; my old provider, IC24.net was taken over by Madasafish so I joined by default. Thankfully, I was able to keep my old e-mail address!

I have been a customer of Madasafish for over five years now, so have a lot of experience with their performance, support, and customer service.

Price wise, they're not too bad. Eight Mb broadband is available for £14.65 per month, with a 5Gb download limit. They have other, more expensive packages, with greater download limits; these are of course more expensive.

--- Speed ---

As with many broadband providers, their maximum speed is at best, an 'optimistic' target for them to aim for. At off peak times, I usually get around five Mb, at peak times, it's about four Mb. I do find this misleading, but Madasafish are no worse than other providers in this respect.

Having rubbished their maximum speed claims, I actually find the performance more than adequate. Most of my internet use is surfing the web and pages load almost immediately (usually). There is not enough lag to complain about the page download speed. On occasion, I do experience slower than normal download of pages, but this may be due to the internet rather than the provider.

--- Reliability ---

This is not one of Madasafish's strong points. I suffer an interruption to service about once every two months. This usually lasts around an hour, but was once about a day. The breakdowns usually happen of a weekend and I find I can't log on when I get up in the morning. For a company that boasts of 'Award winning broadband', I find this a bit poor.

--- Support ---

The online support service is excellent. There is plenty of advice to help you to resolve problems, and a service status page accessible from the home page that gives information on service interruptions and planned maintenance (useful if you cannot connect to the internet using Madasafish and are wondering if it's your computer or the service provider at fault: if you can find a computer to connect to the internet somehow, of course!).

For connection problems, a full suite of settings for the various packages is given so that users can check whether their computer is set up correctly.

Unlike some other companies, Madasafish have telephone support as well as online support.

The online support works via a 'ticket' system. Raising a ticket generates a support request for the team (basically an e-mail generated from the website). After raising a ticket, the user is given an estimate for how long a reply will take. This service is ideal for non urgent queries.

When I have an access problem, however, I like to talk to a person who can help me resolve my issue immediately. I have only used this service a couple of times; both times, getting through was the biggest headache (getting to talk to an advisor can take a long time!). Once talking to the support person, I found them able to help me quite quickly. Telephone support is not free, but is available 24hrs per day, 365 days per year.

--- Customer Service ---

I had occasion to use the customer service department when I found a cheaper broadband package from another provider. In this case, it's necessary to contact the existing provider for a 'MAC code'.

I requested the MAC code from Madasafish and was almost immediately contacted by a customer service representative about why I was changing.

I had a couple of conversations with the representative; I found her helpful and pleasant. As a 'longstanding customer' I was able to negotiate a deal that matched the deal I was planning to switch to, saving £5 per month (it's a shame that as a longstanding customer, I was not offered this deal without asking!).

--- Conclusion ---

Madasafish are a long established, reasonably big player in the broadband market. They do not 'stand out' from the crowd, however, being more expensive, but not faster or more reliable than the competition.

They do offer a reasonable service for a reasonable price. Having negotiated a really good deal, I'm prepared to stay with them until a better offer comes along.

As a general tip; if you've been with your current provider for a while, have a look on the internet for a better broadband deal. Contact the provider for a MAC code (you're under no obligation to use it and it will expire after a certain length of time). It's likely that in today's competitive market, your provider will be prepared to discount your broadband price package to keep you.

Summary: There are worse broadband service providers out there.