I write this post hoping that it will be helpful to someone. I actually wanted to send it as a feedback to UPC, but I think that here it might help some other user…
this is also why I put it in English rather than in my mother tongue.
I have been a happy UPC customer for years. I didn’t have much choice, because in my apartment there was just UPC, but actually it worked pretty well and I wanted to stay with them. Just had one issue in 3 years, for a couple of days… otherwise my connection always worked great even during COVID work-from-home peaks. Being a landline user, I also enjoyed a nice price on the mobile subscription, with a good (Swisscom) coverage everywhere.
After some years, I am moving to a bigger apartment and I asked to transfer my contract at the new address. The agent on the phone told me that UPC is not available at my destination, but I could have an offer from the “partner” Sunrise for 39 CHF as special temporary price (and *ahem* 24 months of commitment), with the Fiber connection at 10Gb/s. I say “ok sure, it’s much better than what I have now and it costs less”.
Between a meeting and another, I accept the contract they send me via e-mail in the rush (big error)… in the meantime I arrive in the new apartment and I see that 4G / 5G coverage is very poor inside, I tell myself “oh thanks god my fiber will arrive soon!”
Then today the surprise: I open my mailbox and find a parcel from Sunrise… I unpack it and what I find? a 4G/5G router…!!! I’m not kidding. I check desperately online and it seems that YES, in the T&C it is written that they have the right to send you a broadband solution (that you commit to use exclusively at your home address!!! even useless if you wanted to take it away with you).
The worst thing, is that it was written (small) in the mail they sent me, when I accepted the contract.
Now I guess that we don’t have the “délai de rétractation” as for most other European countries…
To add insult to injury, since I am not anymore a landline customer for UPC, they reduced by half the data I had on my mobile… and I can’t move to another carrier yet.
The cherry on top of the cake is that where I work, Sunrise doesn’t have a good coverage… while Swisscom yes (we even have the Swisscom antenna in-house).
So, when UPC mobile was based on Swisscom it was perfect. Now that for obvious reasons they moved to Sunrise mobile line, I have so few signal that it’s nearly impossible to get a phone call. Can use just Whatsapp over my company’s wifi…
So, to sum up:
- I had a good and reliable connection for a fair price - now I have 50Mb download / 3Mb upload and a 36ms ping… download would be sufficient (if I don’t think to the 10Gb/s promise… ç_ç I was even up to buy a new PCIe Ethernet card for my PC), but upload and ping are awful to have online meetings, upload stuff to OneDrive or play games
- My cellphone was working even on top of the mountains and I had enough data for my needs - now when I go at the office my phone is almost useless (nice when you use it for work as well!), with half the data
- I’m probably stuck for two years with this piece of … - I’ll go to express my frustration at Sunrise store but I guess they will just pat me on the shoulder
Key takeaways (I know they are the “basics”, but I really trusted UPC… I didn’t think they could have put me in this situation):
- Always read T&C, also that PDF written small that you might receive as attachment
- Don’t subscribe contracts with 2y commitment because then when it doesn’t work, it’s hard to move away
- If you are thinking of getting UPC for your mobile, check Sunrise coverage in your area…
- Avoid moving your contract from UPC to Sunrise… the good’ol coaxial cable is better than the 4G/5G they might propose you.
And to be clear, I live in GE… not like in a châlet on top of a mountain. My new neighbors have Swisscom cabled-connection at least. Not the 4G hotspots…
If anyone from UPC is reading: sorry for my rant, but I’m really disappointed, I trusted you and your support agents! “Je me suis fait avoir” because I trusted you. Your colleague on the phone told “FIBER”, and I asked “but are you really sure that I can have it, at 10Gb, at this address?”
“Yes sir”
Then I receive a 5G box (working in 4G mode almost all the time and with bad coverage), and it’s even my fault because I didn’t read that for your Sunrise fellows, fiber might be assimilated to 5G…
The only good part is that the 5G router is a nice decoration in the apartment, with its blue light below. But for 39.-/month, I could get better at IKEA.