 |
Karoo |
Karoo Starter Max
8Mb (160 times faster than a dial-up connection)
2GB monthly download limit
Free set up and modem
£14.99 per month
Call 01482 606101 for technical support.
- As part of its service, Karoo offers:
- Personal web space
- Free email address
- Anti-spam filtering
Karoo Max (Options 1, 2, 3, 4)
- 8Mb (160 times faster than a dial-up connection)
- Unlimited downloads
- Free set up and modem
- £16.99, £19.99, £24.99, £29.99 per month (for Option 1, Option 2, Option 3 and Option 4 respectively)
- Call 01482 606101 for technical support.
- As part of its service, Karoo offers:
- Personal web space
- Free email address
- Anti-spam filtering
Provider Information
- Karoo is part of the Kingston Communications group, offering internet access across the UK.
- Karoo is an ISP, providing fast internet access across East Yorkshire.
- They provide many Internet products and services for homes and businesses.
Visit Karoo for a quote.
» Click here to leave your review
Leave your review
KC are absolutely abysmal. They seem to have the attitude that because they are a monopoly they can treat their customers like shit. I've had the misfortune to have both my broadband and phone 'service' from these vipers. They have no respect for anyone... Anyway, problem solved as they can have what I owe at the rate of £1.00 per month. I'm well rid. I'd enter a nil rating, but not allowed to.
| Posted by AngryLion on the 20th July 2010 |  |
P*SS POOR SERVICE. OVERPRICED! K-CON! Not worthy of the 1 star rating i have to give.
| Posted by disgruntled on the 30th June 2010 | |
Paying for 8meg connection, get 1/2 meg. If i'm lucky. On a good day I sometimes ge1 meg but not very often. This ISP is havin a Laff at our expense.
| Posted by Dave Evans on the 24th June 2010 | |
I have never had any problems streaming youtube or Iplayer etc with Karoo. My connection is constant with very rare disconnections. The packages on this website are out of date, alot has changed.
Overall I find that Karoo is a great service provider with a great customer service team to boot.
Overall I find that Karoo is a great service provider with a great customer service team to boot.
| Posted by Gary on the 10th June 2010 |  |
Just a few comments about karoo customer service... I am an active member of the UK's biggest PC help forum and have been for 5 years now, computer active. It is also the UK's biggest monthly PC magazine, as stated in a previous post, believe me the grass is never greener on the other side. This is how the costumer service goes on ANY other isp, 'it's not our fault, it's BT, but if you want us to investigate for you there will be a charge' that's it, full stop. So you ring BT and they say 'check with your ISP as it's there contract with you, if you want us to investigate there will be a charge.' I have gone through a whole number of complaints to virtually every ISP on behalf of our members and the example above is quoted every time, that's if you actually get through and they can understand you or you them.
I have also spoken to karoo customer services a great number of times for friends family and my own contract with them, the service is second to none, believe me, it's a million miles away from the likes of Sky, and the operator has stayed on line with me until I was satisfied running all manner of tests and tweaks, raising the profile and lowering it to get the best sync per speed rates. I once asked BT to do this for a customer and they said yes, fine, have you got your credit card handy as there is a engineering charge of £98 for the first hour. So even though karoo is pricey, and sometimes it has issues, just like any other ISP, you would be totally shocked at the colour of the grass on the other side.
I have also spoken to karoo customer services a great number of times for friends family and my own contract with them, the service is second to none, believe me, it's a million miles away from the likes of Sky, and the operator has stayed on line with me until I was satisfied running all manner of tests and tweaks, raising the profile and lowering it to get the best sync per speed rates. I once asked BT to do this for a customer and they said yes, fine, have you got your credit card handy as there is a engineering charge of £98 for the first hour. So even though karoo is pricey, and sometimes it has issues, just like any other ISP, you would be totally shocked at the colour of the grass on the other side.
| Posted by ian on the 1st June 2010 |  |
Great speed for me 14mbps. The only problem is the price and the limited choice of internet in Hull. There is a limit of 20GB for about £25 a month (including line rental). It's very pricey but the speed is great.
| Posted by Tony Philopousis on the 31st May 2010 |  |
Karoo is honestly the worst ISP I have ever used. I have lived in 3 houses where we have called them out to set up and each time they have said that the phone lines are dead and will need to install a new one for £100+. In my current house there are 5 dead phonelines. I'ts ridiculous, they should stop conning their customers and there internet service is shocking at best!
| Posted by james on the 14th May 2010 | |
Moved to Hull a bit back. Never previously had ant issues with internet connections, and never before have I had to complain. So for me, this is a first. I must say, almost every night, we lose the connection and my son despairs at losing his games online. This is the worst service I've had. Obviously after reading the other comments, it's pointless complaining. Dongle seems only option.
| Posted by John Leonard on the 29th April 2010 | |
Just done a speed test... What a joke. My upload speed is now faster than my download speed!!! Had all I can take. Moving to mobile broadband as it's quicker, cheaper and more reliable. While I'm at it they can shove the phone service too!
| Posted by Bren on the 28th April 2010 | |
There is no words to describe how bad karoo really is, constant DC, can't play games cos of lag spikes, every time I phone karoo I got to wait 30 mins, then to get them to blame it on my side. I feel sorry for people living in Hull.
| Posted by Richard on the 23rd April 2010 | |
Am I one of the lucky ones ? I live about 6 miles from Hull City Centre and we pay for the top package. As I am writing this at 1330 hrs we are getting download speeds ranging from 5 to 6 meg. In the evening we don't usually get 8meg as stated by Kingston, but nearly always get around 7 and sometimes very close to 8 meg after midnight. So all in all I'm pleased with the service, also I have friends in West of the City who are getting up to 11 - 12 meg, obviously living closer to the exchange than me. But I agree the company could do more to provide better service to some areas. PS use a good router with high quality low loss cable.
| Posted by Mally on the 23rd April 2010 | |
It's quite simple karoo/kcom won't do anything about it! They have a monopoly. There is one way to assure they let it all happen! Everyone has a mobile phone so cancel your landlines, if you need internet then get a mobile dongle!!! Make them go bust! BT buy the lines = BT in Hull!
SIMPLES!
SIMPLES!
| Posted by Steve K on the 23rd April 2010 | |
Absolutely appalling. Download speeds are less than 512kb per second. If I had the choice I would go over to another company.
| Posted by Dan on the 21st April 2010 | |
What a price to pay for constant disconnections. Over the past 3months I'm lucky to be connected to the net for more than 30mins (Karoo says permanently connected). £16.99 per month for 20 gig, Talk Talk offer 24mg line 40 gig download £6.99, O2 20meg line Unlimited downloads £10. Whereas our offers we have none, were told take it or leave it so when my contract is up I think ill leave it KC. Another very annoyed Ex Customer (not that they're bothered) roll on a different Isp.
How dare they force us to rate there service cant they read
How dare they force us to rate there service cant they read
| Posted by Me on the 31st March 2010 | |
There's a lot of annoyed people here and as a former employee of KC I can see why. However, the grass is not always greener on the other side, just look at a few of the comments on the other sites.
As for competition coming in, that's pretty unlikely. There are about 70k internet customers in Hull and despite what gets posted here, a competitor would struggle to get above 50% of those. 35k customers in a socially, economically and educationally deprived area isn't a big draw for the likes of BT, Sky et al - they will have all done their maths and seen the majority of people here are most concerned about the prices charged. If everyone here wants to pay less than they do now, that's even less of a revenue pot available. And to those of you that think you'd get a better service from another provider, think again. Do you really think Sky went and laid brand new cables in BT land? Of course not. They simply rent BT cables, and if they came here, they'd rent the existing KC cables. If you've got a shoddy connection / line speed etc. due to cabling issues, that isn't going to be resolved by Sky. I'd still like to see competition in Hull but the most likely way that's going to happen will be next year when the license gets reviewed. Given the current economic climate, I can't see anyone else coming in to try and buy it up, unless BT decide to tie up the loose end that is Hull.
I was proud to work for KC for the first 7 years I was there and it does depress me to see what it's become over the past two or three years - a faceless company interested only in the bottom line. It's the main reason I left. Shame.
As for competition coming in, that's pretty unlikely. There are about 70k internet customers in Hull and despite what gets posted here, a competitor would struggle to get above 50% of those. 35k customers in a socially, economically and educationally deprived area isn't a big draw for the likes of BT, Sky et al - they will have all done their maths and seen the majority of people here are most concerned about the prices charged. If everyone here wants to pay less than they do now, that's even less of a revenue pot available. And to those of you that think you'd get a better service from another provider, think again. Do you really think Sky went and laid brand new cables in BT land? Of course not. They simply rent BT cables, and if they came here, they'd rent the existing KC cables. If you've got a shoddy connection / line speed etc. due to cabling issues, that isn't going to be resolved by Sky. I'd still like to see competition in Hull but the most likely way that's going to happen will be next year when the license gets reviewed. Given the current economic climate, I can't see anyone else coming in to try and buy it up, unless BT decide to tie up the loose end that is Hull.
I was proud to work for KC for the first 7 years I was there and it does depress me to see what it's become over the past two or three years - a faceless company interested only in the bottom line. It's the main reason I left. Shame.
| Posted by Rich on the 10th March 2010 | |
ADSL2+ packages currently available offer very expensive options for the customer. Karoo should reconsider these and offer a little more flexibility. The included monthly download caps are miserly on the two cheaper packages. The only useful package is the most expensive. No doubt there will be some big bills and profit for Karoo.
| Posted by zygmunt on the 2nd March 2010 | |
Awful internet speed. Can't watch anything like the iplayer or youtube, far too laggy and slow. Absolutely appalling. If we weren't forced to have Karoo we'd have moved a long time ago.
| Posted by Richard on the 24th February 2010 | |
Not being able to have a choice is what really ticks me off the most about karoo, seeing as I am paying for 8mbps and when i do speed test, it reveals I max at about 3mbps on a good day. I'd happily pay more money to a company that is more reliable and has faster speeds. Bring Choice To Hull!
| Posted by Peter Robinson on the 17th February 2010 |  |
Well what can I say about K CON. It's rubbish service, speeds, so fast to take payment, not so fast to fix problems. And Jason Nicholson I notice you were saying about the 2mb testing, it's nice you had the chance to even get over 512kbps. The tech support is second to none but the staff at credit control just treat you like dirt. But then again they can get away with it, after all its use them or nothing, but now dongles are starting to get very tempting, 3mbps, 15GB limit for £15 per month from 3G, at carphone, I have moved to 3G and I have not looked back, I hope a lot of people move over to dongles and maybe just maybe, Karoo will think with there heads and not there wallets. It's upsetting that something we are support to be proud of, and I can't see anyone that supports Karoo besides the very few people that live on top of an exchange. So that's another customer who has left them for mobile internet. Let's see how long it takes Karoo to realize a competitor is here and is a realistic offer, 15GB is ample for most people and faster in most cases... WELL DONE 3G FOR OFFERING A GOOD SERVICE...
| Posted by Lee on the 27th January 2010 | |
I agree with Ralph, I would like to upgrade but my current package is unlimited and if I upgrade I would be limited to 10 GB per for the price that I pay now. I am not paying for the Top package as it’s still limited even if it does have a very high limit. Why should I pay around £30 a month for a limited broadband package from Karoo when I am a sky customer and could get there top unlimited package for £10 a month if I lived in BT land. So I am paying more money for a lesser package just because of my postcode.
| Posted by Rob on the 26th January 2010 | |
Here's an alternative: http://www.theonepoint.co.uk/hull-broadband
Also if you wish your partner to have access to your account those nice people at Karoo will charge you £10 for the pleasure.
Disconnecting regularly, can't compete online in games anymore (which was the main reason for this account), download speeds as fast as 28kb per second wow As soon as my 12 month contract's up I'm gone.
Also if you wish your partner to have access to your account those nice people at Karoo will charge you £10 for the pleasure.
Disconnecting regularly, can't compete online in games anymore (which was the main reason for this account), download speeds as fast as 28kb per second wow As soon as my 12 month contract's up I'm gone.
| Posted by A.Noyed Customer on the 18th January 2010 | |
Started with Karoo when it was unlimited downloads, probably a deal too good to be true, but the new packages are ridiculous.
The 10GB limit has been cynically set at a level where a modern family will frequently go over and incur the £1 per GB penalty, but not by quite enough to make it worthwhile going for the overpriced 75MB package. The service itself suffers few problems, but for the first time in 12 years I feel properly taken advantage of by this second rate company. Good job its a monopoly around here because they wouldn't survive a proper competitive market.
The 10GB limit has been cynically set at a level where a modern family will frequently go over and incur the £1 per GB penalty, but not by quite enough to make it worthwhile going for the overpriced 75MB package. The service itself suffers few problems, but for the first time in 12 years I feel properly taken advantage of by this second rate company. Good job its a monopoly around here because they wouldn't survive a proper competitive market.
| Posted by Martin on the 17th January 2010 | |
Have always been frustrated by the lack of choice - especially seeing the various offers from companies such as Sky and Orange that we cannot benefit from. Just wanted to post a warning here - I too regularly check my speed connection and got mine to speed up last night by updating the firmware on my wireless router (was about 2.2 now 4.9). The warning is that I was considering moving from the Karoo Max Option 2 that I am currently on to benefit from the ADSL2+ (and the supposed faster connections) - HOWEVER, moving from the Karoo Max to the new choice of three meant that my unlimited download would be lost. I felt that my usage would be no more than 10gb (turns out it's 16-18gb each month). To have no option between 10gb and 75gb traffic is ridiculous!!! So I am sticking with what I have (but would move to Sky in a heartbeat given the option). If you are still on an Karoo Max Option do tread carefully. The customer service person I spoke to was great and very honest with me. You can check your usage online at the karoo website (you'll need to login to your account with username and password). Roll-on choice in Hull (and surrounding areas).
| Posted by Ralph on the 27th October 2009 | |
Had nothing but problems with them, customer service is horrendous, the connection speed is poor to put it nicely. I pay for 8mb I don't even get 1mb, for the price we pay we should get a better service. To give them 1 star is too much.
| Posted by Rich on the 20th October 2009 | |
Poor Service, Poor Connection, High Priced, Low Quality. I download at 45bytes per sec and they charge me £16 a month for it. I complain they say its my fault wrong cable to far from the exchange, tidal waves an eclipse mars is in the wrong orbital plane. I despair still only 3 hours to get my Happy Talk Mp3. Argh now it won't let me post unless I rate their service and I don't see any minus ratings Ba..........
| Posted by Dis Gruntled on the 8th September 2009 | |
I too am a Karoo user, but am I the only one to say that so far after 8 years on Karoo I have nothing to moan about! Yes dial up was a pain staying connected, but since I have been on Broadband I have been a happy Bunny!
Yes I too got disconnected for file sharing though it wasn't me, it was a neighbour who got onto my network using my old PC, and was using Bit torrent to download a game, I had no idea that I was cut off I thought it was my Router, but after checking everything else I called KC and they told me I had been illegally file sharing. News to me! Well I just changed the router login password and that sorted the problem for me but I also had to sign a letter to say I would delete the file even though it wasn't me! That annoyed me as it meant I was admitting to doing something I didn't do, but I needed to get back online for My IT course. I am on the top karoo package and agree it is expensive, but It makes me wonder whether people on lower cost packages get more problems. Is this a case of getting what you pay for? Are they doing this to encourage people to upgrade?
Yes I too got disconnected for file sharing though it wasn't me, it was a neighbour who got onto my network using my old PC, and was using Bit torrent to download a game, I had no idea that I was cut off I thought it was my Router, but after checking everything else I called KC and they told me I had been illegally file sharing. News to me! Well I just changed the router login password and that sorted the problem for me but I also had to sign a letter to say I would delete the file even though it wasn't me! That annoyed me as it meant I was admitting to doing something I didn't do, but I needed to get back online for My IT course. I am on the top karoo package and agree it is expensive, but It makes me wonder whether people on lower cost packages get more problems. Is this a case of getting what you pay for? Are they doing this to encourage people to upgrade?
| Posted by Mark Rank on the 23rd August 2009 | |
I agree with a lot of the criticism here, but I really do praise the technical and engineering staff. As usual it's the top brass and the commercial side of the business who are hopeless, the technical side is excellent. And why do I keep getting broadband speeds of 500-750 kb/sec downstream and about 250 kb/sec upstream when it's advertised as approx up to 8 Mb/sec?? My speed has been constant for about 5 years I have seen no increase in bandwidth at all despite the rhetoric. I used to be a network engineer so I test my stuff regularly.
| Posted by Rick on the 26th July 2009 | |
I agree with the others Karoo is a joke, they say that they encourage others into the area but that's just rubbish as they overprice for their services. Why do I have to be punished just because I live in Hull? Now Karoo only have 3 packages! Yes just 3, lite, mid and pro. So now people like me who are still on Karoo Max are being throttled to hell out of it! At the minute I can't even get a 3rd of a GB/s speed! If this keeps up I'm going to Vodafone mobile broadband.
| Posted by Paul on the 7th July 2009 | |
Karoo is fundamentally no better or worse than any other ISP. The ONLY problem is the lack of competition. This affects their pricing and their attitude to customers. All of their packages are more expensive than any of the competition. Why on earth can you not get a Sky Satellite/Talk/Broadband Package? Not being able to get this has cost me hundreds of pounds in the last few years. Thanks KC. I hope all of your senior management have a heavy investment in KC shares in their pension funds. The tech guys are great, polite, helpful etc. But that has everything to do with the type of person Karoo need to recruit to do the job and not much to do with Karoo policies. Dealing with credit control or anyone else is a lottery. There are a number of staff who clearly learned their customer relations from the Gestapo. BT now service my village so I am going to give them a try and get my sky deal sorted at the same time. Surely it can't be any worse.......? PS The one star in the rating is for all of the long suffering KC tech guys - keep smiling!
| Posted by Jim on the 7th May 2009 | |
Don't trust this company... They are the worst for customer service. I live in Hull and they have a bad attitude problem. I cancelled my home phone line and business broadband because the way they talk to you is disgusting. If I ran my business the way KCOM or as we call it K CON, I would be out of business within 6 months. Don't sign up to their broadband.
| Posted by steve on the 18th March 2009 | |
Strange to note some of the comments about Karoo disconnecting people for downloading files. I have been disconnected three times now, but not for downloading. My son was using a torrent program on his computer to download files. The reason given for disconnection was making a file available for upload. As far as I'm aware, Karoo don't care what you download as long as you don't upload it. Torrent programs always make any file you download available for upload. Simple rule: Don't use torrent programs. Don't get me wrong - I think Karoo are rubbish too. Overpriced, officious, bordering on nasty if you ever get through to credit control. Each time I've been disconnected now, I get a letter about three working days later (funny how you always seem to get cut off on a Friday night!). If they are that concerned, why not send me a letter first to warn me? You then have to send it to the Abuse Team (I think of them as the Self-Abuse Team - it makes me feel better) and wait a day or two to be reconnected during which time they are still charging me. Come on OFCOM - show your teeth!
| Posted by Rick on the 3rd March 2009 | |
to slow to adapt new technology, to expensive. ripping us off for years and years and allowed to get away with it. Local labour council, labour government, wonder how many of them made money from kc shares. i tell you it all stinks! Given a choice everyone i know would switch to another isp (alot of mates are getting them 3 dongles) and that may be the way to go for me too just need a bit more info.
| Posted by kevin on the 6th February 2009 | |
Well Karoo are getting worse they are now banning paying customers without a shred of evidence they are doing anything illegal.
A friend of mine wanted to download an evaluation version of power DVD 8. He went to there website but they seamed to have a problem with there downloads.
After a quick Google search he found an alternative download for it which was in the form of a LEGAL Bit torrent.
He then followed the on screen instruction which directed him to U torrent which is the software he needed to get his download.
U Torrent also failed to download power DVD 8 as it started the download and then just hung. He then managed to get the download from Power DVD’s site as they must have fixed the problem.
Late then next day Karoo cut him off. When he called there technical help line he was told it was because he had been sharing an illegal copy of power DVD 8. They where adamant that he was the one in the wrong.
He now has to sign a bit of paper from Karoo accepting a warning about downloading illegal software (EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT DO ANYTHING OF THE SORT) before they will re connect him.
So in summary Karoo have left him without an internet connection for a week for doing nothing wrong.
SHAME ON YOU KAROO!!!!!!!!
A friend of mine wanted to download an evaluation version of power DVD 8. He went to there website but they seamed to have a problem with there downloads.
After a quick Google search he found an alternative download for it which was in the form of a LEGAL Bit torrent.
He then followed the on screen instruction which directed him to U torrent which is the software he needed to get his download.
U Torrent also failed to download power DVD 8 as it started the download and then just hung. He then managed to get the download from Power DVD’s site as they must have fixed the problem.
Late then next day Karoo cut him off. When he called there technical help line he was told it was because he had been sharing an illegal copy of power DVD 8. They where adamant that he was the one in the wrong.
He now has to sign a bit of paper from Karoo accepting a warning about downloading illegal software (EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT DO ANYTHING OF THE SORT) before they will re connect him.
So in summary Karoo have left him without an internet connection for a week for doing nothing wrong.
SHAME ON YOU KAROO!!!!!!!!
| Posted by Paul on the 25th January 2009 | |
Since Singning Up For The New Broadband Package A Couple Years Ago I Have Had Nothing But Problems,Up To 15-20 Times A Night Disconnected Yet Pay For A 5 Star Service What A Joke,Sneering Customer Service Lack Of Care Or Interest Leaves A Bad Taste Then Told I Have To Pay For The Privalage Of Getting My Internet Connection Record..Disgusted With This Compant,Ripped Off I How I Feel,As For Entering A Rating On Here,That Too Is Misleading,I Dont Want To Give Them A Rating At All
| Posted by Andy on the 21st January 2009 | |
I've worked for them and can say quite confidently that they're not maliciously holding back on quality in order to line their own pockets, KC / Kcom / Karoo are just incompetent and not organised.
The company is run to an agenda set by middle managers and shareholder-fearing executives, unlike in the pre-IPO era when it was a truly hopeless marketing and sales organisation with no customer focus... but a whole load of very good engineers!
It is an awful shame that Kcom can't pull their finger out and work together with the city authorities in Hull and central government to take full advantage of the cities location, as a gateway to Europe and of the unique local network ownership. With good co-ordinated leadership from the city council and KC management this communications company could provide the technology foundation for Hull's regeneration as a technology centre and a truly modern interface with continental Europe.
This lack of vision and corrosive management style will ultimately lead to the breakup of KC and until that time residents and businesses in Hull will have no alternative to poorly performing fixed line voice and data communications and connections with other UK, European and world cities.
The company is run to an agenda set by middle managers and shareholder-fearing executives, unlike in the pre-IPO era when it was a truly hopeless marketing and sales organisation with no customer focus... but a whole load of very good engineers!
It is an awful shame that Kcom can't pull their finger out and work together with the city authorities in Hull and central government to take full advantage of the cities location, as a gateway to Europe and of the unique local network ownership. With good co-ordinated leadership from the city council and KC management this communications company could provide the technology foundation for Hull's regeneration as a technology centre and a truly modern interface with continental Europe.
This lack of vision and corrosive management style will ultimately lead to the breakup of KC and until that time residents and businesses in Hull will have no alternative to poorly performing fixed line voice and data communications and connections with other UK, European and world cities.
| Posted by Ian on the 10th January 2009 | |
Karoo's level of service and customer service levels have dropped dramatically over the last year. Currently, the broadband provision is unstable to say the least with services dropping out almost on a minute by minute basis.
| Posted by Andrew on the 9th January 2009 | |
Poor connection, never had anything else but had a more stable 56k connection. Get disconnected every few hours. Even had an engineer out to test the line and got the okay from them that it was not a problem at our end. Lovely.
| Posted by Matt on the 3rd January 2009 | |
Hi People,
Time to be honest about Karoo. I work in computing so I know what I am talking about. The speed is no different to any other ISP that offers 8Meg. It very rare you get the full speed unless you live very close to the exchange. Karoo customer service is appalling, there pricing structure is a appalling. I live in Beverley and there has been a fault on the local exchange since dinnertime Friday. Its now 5:30pm (On Sunday) and its still not fixed. There website says that all the services are ok but if you phone them they tell you that they are working on it. Karoo are one of the worst ISP’s around in fact there is an online petition to get sky broadband into hull (HullNet.co.uk). If you people want action sign the petition. Only together can we beat these idiots. Only when they are going bankrupt because they have no customers left will they stop look and listen.
Time to be honest about Karoo. I work in computing so I know what I am talking about. The speed is no different to any other ISP that offers 8Meg. It very rare you get the full speed unless you live very close to the exchange. Karoo customer service is appalling, there pricing structure is a appalling. I live in Beverley and there has been a fault on the local exchange since dinnertime Friday. Its now 5:30pm (On Sunday) and its still not fixed. There website says that all the services are ok but if you phone them they tell you that they are working on it. Karoo are one of the worst ISP’s around in fact there is an online petition to get sky broadband into hull (HullNet.co.uk). If you people want action sign the petition. Only together can we beat these idiots. Only when they are going bankrupt because they have no customers left will they stop look and listen.
| Posted by Paul on the 7th December 2008 | |
AWFUL !
I play online games, and i am constantly Disconnected Every single night for about 13 times around 9pm onwards, i went for 8mb and i came out with 2mb LOL, before i came to Hull i was with BT, ok there Service isnt top notch but i tell u this when u phone them they sort your problems out in the same day, i have never had any trouble with BT and Karoo is just a Disgrace, Day light robbery !
I play online games, and i am constantly Disconnected Every single night for about 13 times around 9pm onwards, i went for 8mb and i came out with 2mb LOL, before i came to Hull i was with BT, ok there Service isnt top notch but i tell u this when u phone them they sort your problems out in the same day, i have never had any trouble with BT and Karoo is just a Disgrace, Day light robbery !
| Posted by Richard on the 27th November 2008 | |
Having moved to Hull as a student coming from the Midlands KC is shockingly bad.
During peak times (well between 4 and 10pm) the connection halts. Yes, halts. No nothing, nada. You can load the karoo pages fine, but that is because they are on the KC network. But that's it. VERY annoying when trying to download research papers or other material. No wonder people think Hull is a hole. It could do so much better!
During peak times (well between 4 and 10pm) the connection halts. Yes, halts. No nothing, nada. You can load the karoo pages fine, but that is because they are on the KC network. But that's it. VERY annoying when trying to download research papers or other material. No wonder people think Hull is a hole. It could do so much better!
| Posted by James on the 19th November 2008 | |
Can't stand this network! Just to avoid using it, I've set up a contract for mobile broadband with Vodafone! £25 1gb of usage and a free laptop!!
| Posted by adele on the 15th November 2008 | |
The speed is poor, the customer service is terrible and the prices are criminal!
| Posted by Karoo Victim on the 12th November 2008 | |
Karoo lite mid and pro!, only 3 packages to choose is appalling, I detest karoo for having the monopoly over Hull, they say they don't stop anyone coming into Hull which is not true, I want sky with free calls and free broadband. The speeds are bad, the customer service is bad and karoo is really bad, virgin/sky/BT please please end our suffering.
| Posted by Karoo hater on the 2nd November 2008 | |
While the speed issues are a little unfair I have to agree with a lot of the stuff (i.e. getting 3Meg a second - this is common across 8Meg lines and they really shouldn't be advertised as 8Meg). The throttling is rubbish, the pricing is rubbish compared to some deals and it doesn't really feel they care about the customer base. And why would they, it's not like we can hop over to a better deal. The other day the net went down and I'd assumed I was disconnected again, the status page said there was connection issues (which had been fixed and to restart your modems - which of course didn't work) and the automated status line the guy seemed like he couldn't be bothered.
| Posted by Himsie on the 27th October 2008 | |
Used to be adequate, service always connected and it was very fast for downloads... However, they upgraded the network and changed the packages, if you pay more with tiny data limits then you can have the new ADSL2+ but if like me you stayed on the unlimited package, they now throttle the connection to almost dialup speeds unless it's early in the morning. Very frustrated now.
| Posted by Matt on the 23rd October 2008 | |
2.3 Mb on an 8 meg service - due to poor cabling to the house, yet I live close to an exchange. £20 a month, no bundle deal, generally a load of rubbish. Cable any day... but not any day soon. Instead of KC making Hull a digital beacon in the UK by investing all that money from share issues, shareholder got rich and users suffer. Look at the share price now... speaks volumes. Missed opportunity and shoddy business set-up.
| Posted by MrT on the 15th October 2008 | |
I personally dislike KC. We have no choice but to pay the over extortionate prices for speeds that they claim is up to 8Mbit, when we are lucky to only get 3 or 4Mbit. I think KC are scared to let other companies in because they know as soon as they do no one will stay with them and switch sides, I know I will be!
| Posted by Roy Holland on the 3rd October 2008 | |
Doing a speed test just now (3:14 pm) I got an average download speed of 3868Kbps which equates to just under 4Mb/s (that's 4 Megabits, not Megabytes). I have only had this connection for about 4 months but have not had any problems (except when the server went down completely and everyone lost their connection). I would like to see other companies come to Hull because then it may convince Karoo to get better speeds, equipment and service but overall I am very happy.
| Posted by Alan on the 16th September 2008 | |
Awful awful awful. For the price we pay for the internet alone, other companies offer faster broadband, tv and phone all in one nice package. You pay for 8mb connection, but you'll ever get half of that. You have no choice. While everyone else is enjoying many choices, you won't. I'd give them a 0 if I could. The big cats are laughing at us all, knowing they can charge what they like and do what they like and we have no choice!
| Posted by Marge on the 1st September 2008 | |
i have moved up from london therei had a choice and value money. had adsl2 for 20 per monh and no caps. now i have crap karoo,this isthe worst isp i have ever used love to get rid of these cowboys. i can tell you the grass is so much greener with a bt line. ofom has so much to answer for. how anybody can give crap karoo more than 1 star is a joker. here hopin they go bust and bt comes in
| Posted by marc on the 30th August 2008 | |
I am typing this on my iPhone as Karoo has now been down across the city for over 7 hours. When was the last time this happened in BT land - disgraceful
| Posted by mark mitchell on the 9th August 2008 | |
Karoo overcharge way too much for their services, taking advantage of their de facto monopoly status. When they do upgrade services/lower prices, this is not reflected in current users services. I have seen this on no less than two occasions and Karoo were not too bothered about helping. It wouldn't hurt for them to feel the heat from competition.
| Posted by Dan Atkinson on the 6th August 2008 | |
U knock karoo, it is not that bad, even if BT provided it they would use same exchanges so u would get same speed. You people don't understand how ADSL works. If you did you may be more understanding of the laws of physics limiting the technology, but never mind the ill educated will always moan. KC is open to other vendors but who wants to come to Hull anit a huge money pot for them is it? I would like to see you change to a different ISP and then watch as you moan again as the same system by another operator provides same results. Fibre is the only solution, start moaning for that then we will get somewhere.
| Posted by Paul Barron on the 22nd July 2008 | |
On an 8mb service i get .2mb at peak. That is 20k/s. I only get 800k/s at 4am. The internet is only really usable in the small hours. Karoo are truly the worst ISP in the country. We have no choice in Hull, it is a disgrace. Complete and utter digital divide.
| Posted by Mark Willcocks on the 5th June 2008 | |
I've been Karoo for around 10 years now I think and in that time their service has gone from okay to pretty poor. I pay £25 for supposed 8mbit line (why they advertise this, I'm not sure). I'm not that bothered about speed but the fact everything is throttled. Try and search for a server on something like steam and the whole net grinds to a halt for about 5 minutes, which is nice. A friend of mine says things may change though as Kingston may have to open the doors. Here's hoping. Also, the tech support it rubbish. They tell you it's your problem (reset, reinstall etc). But in the end it was theirs (they had forgot to turn me on at their end... after 6 hours trying to figure it out). Woo. At least they don't have massive random characters for passwords anymore.
| Posted by PinkSpider on the 19th April 2008 | |
New services - more expensive - downloads capped - no alternative - no free sky broadband - no hope - forsaken by BT - ripped off - p***** off.
| Posted by paul on the 4th April 2008 | |
Since I was with karoo, about 5 years now, I have been satisfied with the service. In 5 years I have noticed that it has only dropped a few times but with one call to tech support it's resolved! When I first got onto karoo, there was a few teething problems, my computer became full of spyware and this is purely due to the faster speeds. If there was only one thing I could recommend, it would be to get the router rather than modem; this has improved my speeds amazingly!
| Posted by James Smith on the 21st March 2008 | |
Reply to Post by Simon Rose on the 13th February 2008:
Actually having one ISP run an entire city is not such a good thing. For one there is no competition to drive down there prices and two they have no need to keep ahead of anyone else, resulting in a poor QOS. Down in London BT are currently beta testing a new 100MB/s (yes you read that correctly, 100MBytes not 100Mbits) service with a guaranteed speed of 20MB/s. And this will be at the same rate as Virgin's and BT's 20Mb/s lines. This is all made possible by a new datacentre that is just coming online (runs solely on fibreoptic cables).
Now I realise that London has a high business application level that require such high speeds, but Karoo have only just (start of this year) begun trialling 20Mb/s broadband. And customers are still only reaching between 8Mb/s and 12Mb/s.
No offense but all you have done is use a google search and found a blog written by somebody else and tried to voice there uneducated opinion on here.
Without competion there is no need to stay infront. This works for living creatures and buisness's
Actually having one ISP run an entire city is not such a good thing. For one there is no competition to drive down there prices and two they have no need to keep ahead of anyone else, resulting in a poor QOS. Down in London BT are currently beta testing a new 100MB/s (yes you read that correctly, 100MBytes not 100Mbits) service with a guaranteed speed of 20MB/s. And this will be at the same rate as Virgin's and BT's 20Mb/s lines. This is all made possible by a new datacentre that is just coming online (runs solely on fibreoptic cables).
Now I realise that London has a high business application level that require such high speeds, but Karoo have only just (start of this year) begun trialling 20Mb/s broadband. And customers are still only reaching between 8Mb/s and 12Mb/s.
No offense but all you have done is use a google search and found a blog written by somebody else and tried to voice there uneducated opinion on here.
Without competion there is no need to stay infront. This works for living creatures and buisness's
| Posted by James Seddon on the 12th March 2008 | |
Karoo are so awful, it's not funny. 8 meg connection, option 4 = £30 per month. Great I thought, then was horrified to see a download speed of 20kbs off usenet. Disgusted with it. What's worse is when you see the various sky and virgin packages that include TV channels, phone calls, broadband and mobile calls all in for less than we pay Karroo for the worst broadband service imaginable. How can this kind of monopoly abuse be allowed in this day and age?
| Posted by Mike Platten on the 12th March 2008 | |
I'm amused by all of this. I live and work in Hull and London. And do you know what - you lot all make Hull seem full of moaners. Karoo is OK. Not great, but OK. If you want to know real carp, try BT. Or try Talk Talk. Or try Sky. Sure it looks cheap, but the service and support is unbelievably bad. Free laptop from Orange? Try getting one. No stock - and if you're lucky, and get one, you're stuck with a crap contract and terrible service for the next two years. Lucky you.
Don't believe me? Instead of blindly looking at Karoo pages on sites like this, have a wander onto the other providers who you so want to be able to choose from and see what their customers say. Guess what? They are all moaning too. Ahhh - but WE CAN"T CHOOSE you say. Good old KC won't let anyone else compete. Rubbish. If you care to investigate, KC's 100 year monopoly ended in 2002, since then, anyone is free to come in and offer services. And guess what again? No-one wants to. Because there are too few people in too big and area, so the costs don't stack up. As for using KC lines, other operators could do this, using the Wholesale Line Rental price, which is regulated for the whole industry by OffCom. So stop whining like babies. Open your eyes - it's not perfect but then nowhere else in the country is either. It's a bit expensive I'll admit, but the grass isn't greener. Believe me.
Don't believe me? Instead of blindly looking at Karoo pages on sites like this, have a wander onto the other providers who you so want to be able to choose from and see what their customers say. Guess what? They are all moaning too. Ahhh - but WE CAN"T CHOOSE you say. Good old KC won't let anyone else compete. Rubbish. If you care to investigate, KC's 100 year monopoly ended in 2002, since then, anyone is free to come in and offer services. And guess what again? No-one wants to. Because there are too few people in too big and area, so the costs don't stack up. As for using KC lines, other operators could do this, using the Wholesale Line Rental price, which is regulated for the whole industry by OffCom. So stop whining like babies. Open your eyes - it's not perfect but then nowhere else in the country is either. It's a bit expensive I'll admit, but the grass isn't greener. Believe me.
| Posted by Simon Rose on the 13th February 2008 | |
Can I switch over to BT? I live in Beverley, I would like to take advantage of offers from other providers, karoo don't offer anything half decent.
| Posted by Lisa Crouch on the 27th January 2008 | |
Would not bother getting, all ways down, but the people of Hull, England have to be with them. If I could choose 0 then I would. Poor service.
| Posted by Jack Porter on the 23rd January 2008 | |
I got broadband for my ps3 gaming; sometimes it plays fine, other times server problems. Is this down to kc? If so thanks karoo, take my money and don't deliver a decent service.
| Posted by Tony Palmer on the 20th January 2008 | |
Karoo really irritate me, I didn’t really no much about the whole broadband internet thing as I was new to it all, I asked KC whether or not I would be able to play Xbox live through Karoo broadband. There reply was a big fat no, not even a proper explanation just that they do not support it. So I asked my friend and he said yes they do, got Karoo broadband got it set up and bobs your uncle it works. Unfortunately the speed it works at it is poor compared to other Broadbands which is really annoying, which causes a lot of connection problems, just wish we had a choice of others apart from KC'S Karoo.
| Posted by A Stellar on the 17th January 2008 | |
I am not satisfied with this company because we are always without the Internet. As I am always going in there to ask why it doesn't work and they can't properly help me in any way, have to keep phoning them by mobile - which costs greatly. The rest of us are Chinese and we don't know what happened or why... please can someone help us so we can study and chat with our families at home.
| Posted by Yanyun Liu on the 16th January 2008 | |
I think KC and it's Karoo internet is a total sham and well over priced for what I call aging speeds. What should be at this stay and age 8meg broadband and isn't baffles me completely.
They go on how they provide every home in Hull with fast speed internet well of course you do. You don't even let other companies like BT or Virgin offer packages and if they do (which I don't know) will still wouldn't get top speeds. Because they'll be using your aging phone line system oh and let me tell you this there servers are not even based in Hull.
My college lecturer has told me there in Beresford or somewhere like that not Beverly. And your internet connection is sent there then to KC then back to there and to your home. What the people of Hull need is what this country is supposed to have freedom of choice. We should have the right to be able to get our internet and calls from another company.
They go on how they provide every home in Hull with fast speed internet well of course you do. You don't even let other companies like BT or Virgin offer packages and if they do (which I don't know) will still wouldn't get top speeds. Because they'll be using your aging phone line system oh and let me tell you this there servers are not even based in Hull.
My college lecturer has told me there in Beresford or somewhere like that not Beverly. And your internet connection is sent there then to KC then back to there and to your home. What the people of Hull need is what this country is supposed to have freedom of choice. We should have the right to be able to get our internet and calls from another company.
| Posted by D Collinson on the 4th January 2008 | |
Can I just clarify something, they give you the quoted speed in Mega BITS per second, NOT mega BYTES, there is a very significant difference in these 2 Mb (megaBit) and MB (megabyte), there are 8 bits in a byte, so divide the 8mb by 8 and that's your speed in megabytes. Yes, that's right 1MB per second, so, if you are getting 1024 kb per second you are getting it full throttle. My max speed is 714kb a sec but the speed is very erratic and depends on what time you use it, late at night (well after 12) through to about 11 am the next day is the best time to download. To conclude, they give you the BIT speed to make it sound better (it's like saying 100 pennies instead of just saying 1 pound). Anyway just to clarify 1 other point karoo is abysmal, the service is terrible and very overpriced.
| Posted by Rich on the 3rd December 2007 | |
It's not about speed, it's about choice, we should be able to make up our own minds who we go with. There is a company about to launch ADSL in Hull but they need names of people who are interested. It's very costly to bring in a service to Hull because of KC charges, but the hull people need to stick together.
| Posted by Hoping For A New Company Soon on the 30th November 2007 | |
I have been doing the broadband speed test from The Gadget show and Karoo, although advertised at up to 8mb, never got above 1030 download and 250 upload.
| Posted by Dave Stockdale on the 16th November 2007 | |
I have had karoo for some time and I have not really had a problem with it. I was hoping that I may be able to get a bt package with the tv/movies or even sky's package as I am on a tight budget . Maybe if Kingston Communications rented the line to the other national companies at the same price it rents to its customers then other companies would take advantage and then Kingston would have to offer a better service. They took away Kingston tv through poor take up, maybe they should have a rethink and see if there is a similar offer they could give for phone tv and broadband.
| Posted by Rebecca Hanna on the 8th November 2007 | |
Fair latency wise, not bad for gaming. Unless you lose connection to the rest of the world (happened for entire area Karoo services - for most of a 72 hour period). Customer services are rude and generally ill advised. Was switched onto the "5 meg profile" despite agreeing with the representative that my line was very good. This is probably because I enquired as to why the service is so poor for the money, when compared to the rest of the country. Was given a rude answer along the lines of "this is Hull, not the rest of the country". KCOM provide internet services for the rest of the country too under the name eclipse? Pushing many many educated people away from Hull with their (option) 3rd world services.
| Posted by Mark on the 3rd November 2007 | |
Just wanted to add my comments about Karoo. I have recently changed to the max service and on the first few days it was great - after that I am getting under one meg on what is advertised as an up to 8 meg service. I have questioned this and only got a response of "that is all you should expect at that time of night". Well Thanks Karoo! - Just wish you would add that to you advertising claims and then we would all know where we are. The people of Hull can't make a comparison, as they are they have to go with karoo, but so many seem unhappy with a service that does not deliver what it promises or suggests - just seems very unfair and a bit of a con. But who do they answer to? I have been an unhappy customer for over 20 years - and god forbid - a mac user too. If you want the internet in Hull you have no choice, if ever another service provider dare to venture into Hull, I do believe the majority of broadband users would change over. I see the latest broadband user satisfaction results rank karoo as bottom again - does that not matter to you karoo? The important thing is not having a choice if you live here - so with this in mind I strongly recommend karoo as the only supplier of up to (but usually nowhere near) 8mb broadband in the Hull (or if you are unlucky) surrounding area.
| Posted by Simon Thompson on the 16th October 2007 | |
Come on you lot, although I agree that Kingston Com or Con should allow other Broadband suppliers in Hull I have never had problems with drop outs or slow download speeds and we have a permanent connection. The last time I rebooted my server etc it had been connected for over 30 days without a disconnection. Get someone to sort your servers out.
| Posted by Carl on the 16th October 2007 | |
I am on Karoo option 2 and have been since June this year.
Like everyone else my speed goes up and down like a yo-yo,and as for the 8mb, well I am lucky if I get 600kbsps when downloading, but this is all that I can hope to get according to a member of the Karoo tech team, and this speed was obtained from a download on the Microsoft site.
Most of the time my download speed is between 20 and 300 kbps,and I have never had anywhere near 1mb, never mind 8.
This mob are ripping the people of Hull off, and the broadband connections they offer are a scandal.
The sooner KC are forced to open up to other providers the better it will be for everyone in Hull.
I have started the ball rolling with a solicitor who deals with human rights issues, for the human rights act states that everyone has the right of choice, but KC are not giving me that choice because they refuse to allow other companies into Hull.
Once they start getting my solicitor's letters, let's see how they like them apples.
Like everyone else my speed goes up and down like a yo-yo,and as for the 8mb, well I am lucky if I get 600kbsps when downloading, but this is all that I can hope to get according to a member of the Karoo tech team, and this speed was obtained from a download on the Microsoft site.
Most of the time my download speed is between 20 and 300 kbps,and I have never had anywhere near 1mb, never mind 8.
This mob are ripping the people of Hull off, and the broadband connections they offer are a scandal.
The sooner KC are forced to open up to other providers the better it will be for everyone in Hull.
I have started the ball rolling with a solicitor who deals with human rights issues, for the human rights act states that everyone has the right of choice, but KC are not giving me that choice because they refuse to allow other companies into Hull.
Once they start getting my solicitor's letters, let's see how they like them apples.
| Posted by Bob on the 11th October 2007 | |
Yeah, I do agree the only reason I got the 8mps package is to play games online without lag, but surprise, surprise it still didn't work. And they also cut your connection off if you download things with license, something off kazaa or limewire for example, but they still charge you. Over priced but we have no choice...
| Posted by Matt Rudd on the 19th September 2007 | |
I upgraded to the Max Opt 4 and now download and upload speeds are slightly faster (not much though). I think it's more about the fact the faster the service, the more we get latency and lots of it... The service is very poor for the cost.
| Posted by J Smith on the 19th September 2007 | |
ALL Karoo customers should NOW get together and create an online petition to present to our member of parliament and the trading standards bureau. Maybe the monopolies commission too?
I only get 19% of my expected bandwidth at best; it’s usually worse than this!!!
If that is the best they can do then I should only pay for the bandwidth I actually have available; therefore I should only pay 19% of my monthly subscription charges, that would be much fairer and I’m sure EVERYONE out there would agree with this? - So what can we ALL do about it NOW. We (Karoo customers) must unite and pull together as an online community otherwise our complaints will fall on deaf ears or even NO ears at all! Can anyone suggest how we might go about achieving a satisfactory result?
F.Y.I. I wrote to watchdog; maybe we all should?
HERE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/contact_index.shtml
Thank you for taking the time to write to BBC Watchdog...
Because we receive so many emails, faxes, letters and phone calls, we are unable to respond personally to each and every one. However, your correspondence will be read by our research team and if we are able to pursue your complaint, a researcher from the Consumer Unit will contact you.
Once again, many thanks
The Watchdog Team
I only get 19% of my expected bandwidth at best; it’s usually worse than this!!!
If that is the best they can do then I should only pay for the bandwidth I actually have available; therefore I should only pay 19% of my monthly subscription charges, that would be much fairer and I’m sure EVERYONE out there would agree with this? - So what can we ALL do about it NOW. We (Karoo customers) must unite and pull together as an online community otherwise our complaints will fall on deaf ears or even NO ears at all! Can anyone suggest how we might go about achieving a satisfactory result?
F.Y.I. I wrote to watchdog; maybe we all should?
HERE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/contact_index.shtml
Thank you for taking the time to write to BBC Watchdog...
Because we receive so many emails, faxes, letters and phone calls, we are unable to respond personally to each and every one. However, your correspondence will be read by our research team and if we are able to pursue your complaint, a researcher from the Consumer Unit will contact you.
Once again, many thanks
The Watchdog Team
| Posted by Paul Staples on the 19th September 2007 | |
I have been with karoo for about 9 years now and i have to say this "Karoo is crap". I have just found out that for my £30 a month 8mb broadband in which i have had for 9 months only can achieve speeds of under 1mb in my area... Thanks karoo. I would recommend that all Karoo customers with option 4 check there line speeds.
| Posted by Dave Bell on the 13th September 2007 | |
I pay £24.99 a month and have yet to attain anything near 1mb - I am lucky to get near half of that. I moved to Karoo when they put in all new cable on our village estate - what they didn't tell me was they connected to the old wiring coming into the village!! All in all a substandard service for a premium price. Despite the hassle I am about to change back to a BT line and feel so sorry for those in Hull itself who have no choice but to continue to be provided with such a poor service at an extortionate price.
| Posted by Graham Dixon on the 12th September 2007 | |
Karoo what a load of...
I moved to Hull from Doncaster where I had Telewest broadband proper DSL @ 1mb and that's what I got - no faults, no drop outs. Come to Hull you got no choice, it's Karoo or sod all. Well I thought I would give em a go, tried for the 8mb (no chance) tried for 2mb (still no chance). Karoo say lines are bad down my side of Hull (WELL SORT EM OUT) settled for 1mb (guess what NO CHANCE), spoke to em again. The reply was "there's a lot of noise on your line we will drop it to 620k" but I'm paying for 1mb!
Engineers come out at the wrong times and now my 620k connection is failing. I'm getting pings of 140ms to UK sites!
Tracert shows some weird stuff. And my phone line is all crackly. What a waste of time this company is!
People in Hull lose out on so many great offers like Oranges £14.99 a month 2mb and a free laptop! I don't see Karoo doing that.
Cheers Karoo.......
One more reason not to live in Hull.......
I moved to Hull from Doncaster where I had Telewest broadband proper DSL @ 1mb and that's what I got - no faults, no drop outs. Come to Hull you got no choice, it's Karoo or sod all. Well I thought I would give em a go, tried for the 8mb (no chance) tried for 2mb (still no chance). Karoo say lines are bad down my side of Hull (WELL SORT EM OUT) settled for 1mb (guess what NO CHANCE), spoke to em again. The reply was "there's a lot of noise on your line we will drop it to 620k" but I'm paying for 1mb!
Engineers come out at the wrong times and now my 620k connection is failing. I'm getting pings of 140ms to UK sites!
Tracert shows some weird stuff. And my phone line is all crackly. What a waste of time this company is!
People in Hull lose out on so many great offers like Oranges £14.99 a month 2mb and a free laptop! I don't see Karoo doing that.
Cheers Karoo.......
One more reason not to live in Hull.......
| Posted by Jason Nicholson on the 10th September 2007 | |
Have read this thread with a degree of interest and hopefully a more neutral standpoint. As someone who for reasons I won't go into here has 2 Karoo DSL accounts and one BT DSL account due to where I now live I hopefully can offer a less biased point of view. I have been with Karoo since day one, yes they have had their problems as has every other ISP in the UK it is a developing system and as such will always be fraught with people having problems. Going back to Karoo momentarily, I have had problems with both my residential and business service. With the residential service however I don't believe I've lost service for many many months and even then only briefly. With my business service I believe it is based on Karoo having a special offer about to happen. For example, out of nowhere you will have a dropped connection, it comes back, but then no DNS, so you have to reboot. This will continue for several days/weeks, until you check on Karoos website and lo and behold 'Special offer- move to Business broadband MAX for only £29 a month instead of £49 for the first 6 months (Hypothetical example but you get the gist!). Offer stops, dropped connections stop! as if by magic, being the sort of person that gives everyone a chance I make an assumption that maybe it's the high take up of the offer that is weighing the system down, doubt it but it is possible! Now to BT!, well I did go with Orange 8Mb max (They all say Max as they cannot guarantee you will get this!, read the small print!!), I checked with BT for my max linespeed and was quoted 6.5Mbs, fine I thought, and although I should really have in hindsight chosen BT I didn't, I chose Orange, BIG MISTAKE!! £23 per month 2Mbs MAXIMUM! and a curious additional 0845 phone number that uses VOIP (sound quality unusable!). When I decided to Move house within the village, same phone number literally 10 doors down, Orange said that will be 3 weeks minimum to move your line! I asked them to do it. It never happened! After 8 weeks of patiently waiting, nothing. Had to cancel. Decided to try BT, Modem/phone came within 2 days, service within a week! excellent. Or so you think! Customer service is worse than Karoo. My box lasted less than a month then lost its wireless ability! (It's well documented) had to wait a further 3 weeks for a replacement (BT aren't just in Hull centre so you can't just go and collect your replacement!).
Back to Karoo, yes a lot of people moan about Karoo me included now and again, but I think generally they're all about the same across the UK. Plus I don't recall anyone moaning when Karoo where experimenting with the 2Mbps service and seemingly giving it free to people only subscribing to the 512K service. Seems people only moan when they 'think' they are being abused. Overall Karoo is more reliable than my electricity supply, my mobile phone reception and my Sky TV box. So stop moaning people, if you 'feel' that you aren't able to get the best on offer ask to go down to the package that suits your connection, not moan about having to pay for something you cannot possibly receive.
Back to Karoo, yes a lot of people moan about Karoo me included now and again, but I think generally they're all about the same across the UK. Plus I don't recall anyone moaning when Karoo where experimenting with the 2Mbps service and seemingly giving it free to people only subscribing to the 512K service. Seems people only moan when they 'think' they are being abused. Overall Karoo is more reliable than my electricity supply, my mobile phone reception and my Sky TV box. So stop moaning people, if you 'feel' that you aren't able to get the best on offer ask to go down to the package that suits your connection, not moan about having to pay for something you cannot possibly receive.
| Posted by Dave on the 29th August 2007 | |
I recently moved to Gilberdyke from Brough and had the option of going with BT or Karoo, it's a new build and has lines for BT and Karoo installed. I had been with Karoo while I was in Brough and never had any major problems, but I'd thought I'd give BT a try, well after waiting about 30 mins on the phone I gave up and rang Karoo, one thing you can't complain about, at least when you ring Karoo your not waiting 30 mins just for somebody to answer. I'm now in Gilberdyke, but even though it's further away the connection is even better than when in Brough, my router gives 8064kbs without many CRC's. Oh, yes. Like somebody has already mentioned, don't use the USB Speedtouch they give you, it's a load of rubbish, ADSL routers cost peanuts nowadays. Btw currently Karoo are having Internet Gateway problems, but hopefully will be sorted out 02:00 Wednesday. Hardware sometimes breaks so you can't complain too much as long as it's sorted out soon. So I'll give 4 stars, but deduct 1 if not sorted out on Wednesday...:)
| Posted by Keith on the 28th August 2007 | |
I recently moved to village outside of Hull from another village just outside of Karoo range. Before I was with BT line and using pipex paying £20 a month for unrestricted 8mb and getting 8mb speed! Before I moved I called Karoo stating what speed can I get in "walkington." Oh sir, you're lucky,you will have a digital box on your street meaning you will get up to 8mb, no problem. Ok, so I pay my £19.99 a month, get adsl activated and max speed I get is 2mb with 60 acc huge loss! - router is direct to phone line in a 20 year old house. So I call Karoo asking what's the problem... Oh well your exchange is in Beverley over 5km away. So you won't get 8mb! Um ok ... so like you put a digital box in my previous village trying to tease customers from BT! So when are you going to put a box in Walkington? Oh never sir.. what's the point!! This is on the day when they are having routing issues meaning 80% of the net is unreachable! Joy oh joy...
| Posted by C Whit on the 27th August 2007 | |
Wow, the last post sounds just like the guy I had on the phone from Karoo blaming everything but the fault of the service.. Hello, wake up, the service needs an overhaul not excuses why it doesn't work.
| Posted by Kaz on the 27th August 2007 | |
Very happy Karoo MAX Option 3 customer here.
I have friends who often complain about the Karoo service and with me being involved in IT they often ask me to help.
They are always mentioning the speed. Here are a few tips I give them:
Anyway, I have a wired router and never have any issues at all. I agree that the 8mbps roll-out had problems and download speeds suffered. But, I have always found the service to be top notch.
Bring on another ISP, I can guarantee all these problems people are having will not go away.
I have friends who often complain about the Karoo service and with me being involved in IT they often ask me to help.
They are always mentioning the speed. Here are a few tips I give them:
- Telephone extension cables often reduce the speed and quality of ADSL.
- Having any device plugged into a hard-wired telephone socket without a filter causes disconnections, slow-downs etc.
- Wireless is not provided by Karoo. Karoo provide an ADSL connection to your socket. If you have wireless and the wireless is disconnecting but the router is staying connected to Karoo, then Karoo cannot control this. Wireless is a pain and interference can cause a real problem. We have all had this issue with a video sender or a cordless digital telephone before.
Anyway, I have a wired router and never have any issues at all. I agree that the 8mbps roll-out had problems and download speeds suffered. But, I have always found the service to be top notch.
Bring on another ISP, I can guarantee all these problems people are having will not go away.
| Posted by Bash on the 26th August 2007 | |
I am on Option 3 and never get above 2 MB. I have seen people on Option 2 with faster connections than I get ! I have never had a router from them or been offered one, as when I upgraded to Max I was upgrading from 1MB and never had a modem from them or nothing. I think the service Karoo provides is very poor.
| Posted by M Cross on the 26th August 2007 | |
What a load of nonsense, I have wireless and the modem is about 1 inch away from the telephone line and not far from my pc. I get disconnected all the time, at least 3 times a day and it's very annoying. Karoo what are you doing? It's only like this because you know people don't have any other options! Let more providers in or you scared you will end up with only the stupid customers?
| Posted by Rikki Foster on the 24th August 2007 | |
I have been Karoo Max Option 4 and since the day Karoo
started 8mb connect. Upgraded from the 3.4 mb connect.
For months from 8mb's roll-out I was pulling my hair out
with frustration... So tempted many times to dump 8mb's
connect in favour of the old reliable 3.4mb's.
Many, many calls to Karoo-Tech solved nothing, but was
lucky 1 day many, many months ago, got in touch with a
tech who clicked something at their end and my Internet has been Full Speed ever since.
HOWEVER, Karoo have been up to something since Sunday 12 August and even though I paid full whack OPTION4, I've watched my speeds go back to Option 2 rules, ie, restricted through times of day - full speed after midnight until 8am or something..
Called workmates who I know are also with Option4 and they were also restricted. However, the VERY DAY I was goning to call Karoo-Tech to complain - 16 Aug 07 - connection has now gone back to normal..
I am a happy customer, but having gone though so many problems in the early days of 8mb roll-out.. I get all panicky when something goes wrong.. I do not want to go through calling Karoo-Tech every day.
Added Note, I bought a netgear router and that solved a lot of problems for me connection-wise, as opposed to the USB speedtouch modem. Nice to see Karoo on max4 option now give you for free the same Netgear Router (as I learned from workmates who just got connected).
Appears you get some blue 1 port cheap router if you go Option 1 to 3.
Hmm, a router is better than a speedtouch USB modem any day.
I followed silently for months this thread.. Thought it about time I replied with my experiences of Karoo, SO BAD, not-so-bad-now :)
started 8mb connect. Upgraded from the 3.4 mb connect.
For months from 8mb's roll-out I was pulling my hair out
with frustration... So tempted many times to dump 8mb's
connect in favour of the old reliable 3.4mb's.
Many, many calls to Karoo-Tech solved nothing, but was
lucky 1 day many, many months ago, got in touch with a
tech who clicked something at their end and my Internet has been Full Speed ever since.
HOWEVER, Karoo have been up to something since Sunday 12 August and even though I paid full whack OPTION4, I've watched my speeds go back to Option 2 rules, ie, restricted through times of day - full speed after midnight until 8am or something..
Called workmates who I know are also with Option4 and they were also restricted. However, the VERY DAY I was goning to call Karoo-Tech to complain - 16 Aug 07 - connection has now gone back to normal..
I am a happy customer, but having gone though so many problems in the early days of 8mb roll-out.. I get all panicky when something goes wrong.. I do not want to go through calling Karoo-Tech every day.
Added Note, I bought a netgear router and that solved a lot of problems for me connection-wise, as opposed to the USB speedtouch modem. Nice to see Karoo on max4 option now give you for free the same Netgear Router (as I learned from workmates who just got connected).
Appears you get some blue 1 port cheap router if you go Option 1 to 3.
Hmm, a router is better than a speedtouch USB modem any day.
I followed silently for months this thread.. Thought it about time I replied with my experiences of Karoo, SO BAD, not-so-bad-now :)
| Posted by David Ramsay on the 16th August 2007 | |
Since November last year I have had my connection dropped several times in the evening. The help desk did the usual and blamed by router, so I replaced it and had the same problems. I work in Beverley and we get the full 8Mbps rate - it's fantastic but at home I get 3.1Mbps. At home it is really frustrating that my connection keeps dropping every evening. I have made several complaints to them over the past year and it's only this week that someone has said I will get a visit. If others had an option, I wouldn't recommend Karoo to anyone. However, a year ago I would have said they was the best in the country.
| Posted by Neil Waddy on the 28th July 2007 | |
I cannot agree with all the above adverse comments .. I upgraded to Karoo Max in March of this year and regularly receive 7.1 Mbps - on occasion I have reached 8.0 Mbps. I paid for an additional phone socket at the start so that my pc is connected directly to it - possibly this is why I have had no problems.
I also find Technical Support helpful when I have had occasion to use them.
So what is the problem!!
I also find Technical Support helpful when I have had occasion to use them.
So what is the problem!!
| Posted by Annette Dexter on the 15th July 2007 | |
The problem you may be having is, you need an ADSL2 modem for it to work properly with 8meg.
I have Karoo 512 currently which is at 60kbps down and 30kbps up.
Im upgrading to 8meg as the price is similar.
I have Karoo 512 currently which is at 60kbps down and 30kbps up.
Im upgrading to 8meg as the price is similar.
| Posted by Adam C on the 29th June 2007 | |
Ok I am also one of the unlucky ones and don't have a choice, but Karoo, but 8megabite.. will never happen in a download regardless of who you are with, as when downloading it is in bites.. and 8 bites = 1 bit.
So when downloading, in theory it should be 8/8 so 1meg (1024/kbps). But in practice this won't be the case all the time, due to distance, heavy traffic at server or even your own street as it's the only option (to have Karoo that is) everyone that has internet on your street will also be using the same server as you.
So really should be getting 400kbps-600kbps during the day (as that's when most people will be using it), but at night or early morning (really early) should be getting 650kbps+.
But yes, the service does tend to be below par, but even still there are some companies out there that are a lot worse and the bigger companies will have more problems due to more customers, least when Karoo goes down it gets fixed quite quick. When I was at uni earlier this year, the subscriber that I was using (had no choice cause was in halls) went down and didn't come back on for days.
So when downloading, in theory it should be 8/8 so 1meg (1024/kbps). But in practice this won't be the case all the time, due to distance, heavy traffic at server or even your own street as it's the only option (to have Karoo that is) everyone that has internet on your street will also be using the same server as you.
So really should be getting 400kbps-600kbps during the day (as that's when most people will be using it), but at night or early morning (really early) should be getting 650kbps+.
But yes, the service does tend to be below par, but even still there are some companies out there that are a lot worse and the bigger companies will have more problems due to more customers, least when Karoo goes down it gets fixed quite quick. When I was at uni earlier this year, the subscriber that I was using (had no choice cause was in halls) went down and didn't come back on for days.
| Posted by Karoo customer on the 19th June 2007 | |
The service is rubbish. It's the only ISP serving the Hull area, so customers have no choice. However, the broadband is dire. I'm on option 1, having changed from the 1 meg rapid time. Occasionally I will get higher d/load speeds, but on the whole it's slower than I had previously.
Today it's incredibly slow... 700-800k - rather less than the 8 megs advertised. I'm wondering if Karoo have a fault at the moment, because the service is so much worse than normal.
Today it's incredibly slow... 700-800k - rather less than the 8 megs advertised. I'm wondering if Karoo have a fault at the moment, because the service is so much worse than normal.
| Posted by B. Young on the 18th June 2007 | |
The new 8mbs connection is obviously capped on karoo's newserver to a toal of 30 Kb/s and to a toatal of 60 Kb/s using another news server.
Trading standards and Advertising standards should be interested, well I'm complaining anyway
Trading standards and Advertising standards should be interested, well I'm complaining anyway
| Posted by Nigel Greenwood on the 8th June 2007 | |
This really is a feeble company. I started at option 3 but could only get less than 200KB when I was paying for 8. They blamed the distance that I live from exchange ( 5 Miles). I've dropped to option 1 . Now newsgroups are squeezed to a standstill. 30 KB !! Don't waste cash on the top option - the service is rubbish whatever you pay.
| Posted by Bks on the 2nd June 2007 | |
Here's a good laugh if you subscribe to karoo.
On the 3rd of this month my computer was hacked by them, files and folders were accessed and when I rang and presented verbal evidence even the techie employed by them agreed that I had been hacked by a California based company that they use to "monitor traffic" to "protect against piracy"
I have a meeting with them shortly and if I don't get honest answers to several questions it's only about a 500 yard walk to the offices of the Hull daily mail.
Watch this space.
On the 3rd of this month my computer was hacked by them, files and folders were accessed and when I rang and presented verbal evidence even the techie employed by them agreed that I had been hacked by a California based company that they use to "monitor traffic" to "protect against piracy"
I have a meeting with them shortly and if I don't get honest answers to several questions it's only about a 500 yard walk to the offices of the Hull daily mail.
Watch this space.
| Posted by Rob on the 10th May 2007 | |
I agree. Total crap. I upgraded from 1Meg RapidTime to Karoo Max option 4, which I assumed would be a massive improvement. After a week at 1.9Mbps I called them, only to be told that this was the maximum I could get because I was a long way from the exchange. Not only that, but I should be thankful because some people can't get broadband at all !! They never cease to amaze me with their incompetence and cheek.
| Posted by Mat on the 10th May 2007 | |
I upgraded my internet connection to Broadband Max Option 2. What a joke. Although I haven't had problems with the speed of the connection, I have had the service being constantly cut off, even during non-peak times eg after 11pm.... I would not recommend anybody changing to Broadband Max, you cannot notice any difference in internet speeds (mine is not any slower before, but not faster either) and the service gets cut off randomly which is very frustrating when you are in the middle of downloads/ Instant messaging etc.
| Posted by Hayley on the 26th April 2007 | |
Karoo broadband max is absolutely tosh. It's the worst service I've ever had. Come on Karoo, take a leaf out the other major broadband service providers, their going up to 20mb soon and we just got out of the dark ages and go to 8mb. If you can't provide the service, let in other service providers that can.
| Posted by Kaz on the 24th April 2007 | |
i am on option 1 and my speed is around 400k a sec all day untill 6 then after 12 can download round at 850k
| Posted by Karl on the 21st April 2007 | |
Sorry to disagree with you all, but I'm now on the option 3 and it works great, no disconnection problems at all.
I do come across many systems that have not been set up correctly, therefore getting problems. Also with wireless, as I'm sure most will know, you do have to have a reasonable continuous signal, and line to get a decent speed. Maybe I'm lucky, I can download at around 550 / 650kbps which is about right as you will never get the full 8mb.
Maybe I have got it wrong ??
I do come across many systems that have not been set up correctly, therefore getting problems. Also with wireless, as I'm sure most will know, you do have to have a reasonable continuous signal, and line to get a decent speed. Maybe I'm lucky, I can download at around 550 / 650kbps which is about right as you will never get the full 8mb.
Maybe I have got it wrong ??
| Posted by Dave Medley on the 19th April 2007 | |
Agree with all of the above - it's rubbish. Constantly slowing up and disconnecting. The only advice they've ever given me is move my router nearer the phone socket. If it happens to be in a different room I can pay to have it moved. I think they should get an engineer to bring the service I am paying for up to scratch.
| Posted by A Tear on the 1st April 2007 | |
Constant dis-connections, bad customer service, blaming your equipment and software and phone line! Come on Karoo you are running out of excuses aren't you! Let's start a users revolution! More Broadband for HULL!!!!
| Posted by C Brooks on the 29th March 2007 | |
Rubbish............... i recently upgraded from 512kbps to an up to 8mbps, never had such a crap connection, on and off, on and off all the time and connection speeds of 288kbps absolute Rubbish. COME ON OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS FORCE KC OUT
| Posted by Rich on the 26th March 2007 | |
kc are having a laugh........I upgraded from the 1 meg a month ago and its been slower than ever.what used to be a ok service is now just a pain,Its about time kc gave people in hull a choice or are they to scared of the competition.
| Posted by Lawrence Rodnicki on the 16th March 2007 | |
Do not get Broadband Max im stuck in a contract where im not even getting 1 meg, my speed is 288 mbps, it has been for last week, i was on package 3, but a technician told me i could only reach 1,8 meg as my highest because karoo had my details wrong....Now package 1 and not even half a meg! Dont get
| Posted by L, Oscar on the 14th March 2007 | |
I have the basic 8mbps service from karoo and it very rarely reaches a speed over 2mbps i'd love to change to the new talk talk service £21 per month for 8mbps broadband and unlimited uk calls. When will Hull get the choice to use other telecom services instead of being monopolized by KC "NOT FAIR"
| Posted by Dave on the 14th March 2007 | |
Do not get broadband Max! I get slow speeds, and the srvice is capped 6pm - midnight. I can only download 20GB a month on a fair use policy, and i run a webserver, ftpserver and game server... They blame your hardware with the problem, even though they supplied it! We are stuck to karoo, and i wish i could leave. They refuse Static IPs unless you are at option 4 - Not even available to buy!!!
| Posted by Adam Lonsdale on the 27th February 2007 | |
Never in my life have I received such shoddy customer service . My upgrade to 8mb has caused more problems than it's worth. I wish I'd not bothered.
| Posted by Mitch on the 17th February 2007 | |
Karoo Broadband Max is a bag of rubbish...the service is capped from 4.30pm till Midnight everyday so all you can really do at high speeds is browse the net......wow!!!!I believe Karoo have brought out this service far too early, so early in fact, they cannot cope and do not have the correct hardware to offer such services.I'm on Option 4, the most expensive, I download at about 3mb maximum, although the karoo speedtest page states usually between 6mb and 7mb.I was previously on the 3mb which was better then this package, I could download at the speed I was supposed to and didnt have to wait till midnight to download.Rating: 1
| Posted by Captain Cornelius on the 6th February 2007 | |
What a joke this service is.. We moved to Karoo's high speed broadband service, (package 3). Since doing this so-called up grade the service has become pathetic. Karoo like blaming my own computer hardware. I am unable to have an; all day anytime (unmetered) service with Karoo, I have not got the choice to move to another ISP unless i'm preparred to pay by the minute. I was with AOL through Karoo a long time ago, but the all day anytime service with AOL was discontinued. While I was with AOL everything was perfect, as an internet service should be..
| Posted by P. Smith on the 24th January 2007 | |
dont do it..i know they have the monopoly in hull and we have no choice however it is only usefull if you just surf the internet, newsgroups are throttled and any problems with the service is automaticaly blamed on your hardware
| Posted by Darren Genther on the 30th December 2006 | |
