ZipBD (Sirius Broadband) 512kbps ISP Review
I guess this review is long overdue. Zipbd (I had the 256 kbps package) used to provide good service when I first joined in 2008. But not anymore. I upgraded to the 512 kbps package @ Tk 1,500 per month last month. Frankly, the upgrade process wasn’t as smooth as I hoped. I submitted a letter to Sirius Broadband office and they upgraded my connection after 1-2 days.
A Plethora of Problems
The main problem after the upgrade was that certain websites were not reachable (worldofwarcraft.com and even my very own gamersworldbd.com). They displayed connection timeout errors. I know what you’re thinking, and I tried every remedy. Disabling my firewall, clearing the browser cache, switching to different browsers with no success. Those sites were not down, I checked using GP Edge from my PC and it worked fine. I called Zipbd tech support but they couldn’t help either. This continued for 2 weeks or so and finally a technician came over. But he couldn’t find the problem either but said it would be fixed. I don’t know what he did, but after 2-3 days the problem was fixed.
But that’s not the entire story. The service is really terrible, I didn’t have internet connection almost half of the time. I usually leave the PC on overnight for big downloads, but I would often wake up to find that there was no connection and no download progress was made. The connection was out even for the past 3 days and I only got it back this morning (after threatening to cancel their service).
Saving Grace
Zipbd is not all bad however, the speed is good. I normally get download speeds around 45 KB/s in peak hours. You can also check the speed tests below (which were conducted around 4:00 pm). To know the speed in KB/s, multiply by 1024 and divide by 8, eg. 0.36 Mb/s = (0.36*1024)/8 = 46.08 KB/s.
Ping in online games is usually good, especially for servers in Europe/Asia. As you can see from the speed test below, pings are really high in North American servers (but I get around that by using a VPN connection from StrongVPN). At the time of this writing, Team Fortress 2 servers (Steam) in the UK had pings around 225-379 ms. YouTube videos also play well with no hiccups, however you have to wait for the video to “buffer” in other sites such as GameTrailers.com, GameSpot and IGN videos. This is because those videos made by using Corporate video production services Toronto are of a higher quality than others and require higher bandwidths.
I also like to point out that the customer support has been friendly to me. Not only are they patient but I told them to unblock the ports (so I could play online) and they did. However, I’m sad to say that I can’t recommend Zipbd/Sirius Broadband anymore. They have stopped all their video-on-demand services and their dedicated game servers are non-existent, which was one of the reasons I recommended them back in 2008. But in 2010? Not anymore. 🙁
Pros
(+) Good pings/speed
(+) Friendly customer support
Cons
(-) Terrible service/internet was down most of the time
(-) No extra features
Bottom Line
Zipbd/Sirius Broadband has gone downhill since 2008. Not recommended. Overall score: 4/10
Official Zipbd Site
Official Sirius Broadband Site
Jan 3rd, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Meh, Zip sounds shittier every day. I dumped that stupid ISP and took IS Pros. Constant speeds of 65-70KBps and all ports are open.
Jan 4th, 2010 at 10:54 am
@ Rajiv
Man, everyday I’m planning on switching to IS Pros. What is the initial set up fee? Btw, what happened to bdgamers.net?
Jan 5th, 2010 at 12:14 am
@The Gaming Wiz/Mushfiqur Rahman
thnx 4 the review bro,& what about wimax?right now qubee is offering 512 kbps in 2,250 tk.i hope it comes to ctg soon ! cus,i live in ctg…anyway my current isp is not bad also,i get over 40 kB/per sec download speed at off peak hour !(at midnight)
& the monthly service charge is 1,000 tk.But they took 8,000 tk from me for the initial set up fee ! & the good thing is their servers never go down ! not even in storm ! so, i don’t have to worry about the downloads,i just start the downloads at night & when i wake up i see the download is complete !
cus,specially i download xbox 360 games 4 my modded xbox 360 ! & the 360 games are not small in size also,they are like almost 7gb in averege ! & i just download 1 gb per night & at the 7th day i get the game !
Jan 5th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
@sng425
That speed is really good but I don;t know about set-up charges in Chittagong. When I subscribed to Zipbd in 2007, they charged me Tk 5,000.
Jan 5th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
@The Gaming Wiz/Mushfiqur Rahman
oh,i forgot to mention,i just recently changed my isp(sp-net to col)1 month ago.everything is fine.the download speed,browsing speed,buffering speed etc.almost everything.
But i can’t access xbox live from my xbox 360 since i got the connection.i have set up it perfectly on my 360.(ip add,subnet mask,default gateway,dns servers etc.)but still i can’t get access to xbox live.but my previous isp(sp-net) can access xbox live.i have played online through xbox 360 on my previous isp.but i don’t want to return back to my previous isp.cus,it’s download speed & browsing speed is just terrible ! & almost everytime their servers are down ! when i contact them they say their is a technical problem,it will be fixed in half an hour.& then when i contact them the next day telling them that i haven’t got the connection yet,one of their stuff just told me like this:oh my god ! you haven’t got the connection yet ! it shouldn’t happen ! i am checking it out right now.& then i finally got the connection,but only for 15 minutes ! after 15 minutes the connection is down again ! thats why,i don’t want to go back to my previous isp.but what should i do now?
ps: i want to play online in my xbox 360.& the only way of playing online in xbox 360 is xbox live.but as far as my current isp can’t access it.i am really confused what should i do now !
Jan 5th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
@ sng425
Run the Xbox Live network test from Console Settings>Network (can’t remember the exact place). Tell me what error comes up.
Jan 11th, 2010 at 12:50 am
@The Gaming Wiz/Mushfiqur Rahman
ok,mate.here you go.I’ve completed the test & telling you exactly what happened.I am starting right from the dashboard.System Settings>Network Settings>Test Xbox Live Connection.Then the test started & the Screen looks like this –
Test Status:
Network : Connected
Internet : Connected
Xbox Live : Testing
& then suddenly a red cross appears on the Xbox Live Testing bar.then an error comes up –
Test Failed
“there’s a problem with your connection.select more info for a description of the problem & how you can fix it”
Then i selected “more info” & something appears like this –
“Your console is connected to the internet but can’t contact xbox live.
turn your routter or modem off and back on,then wait 30 seconds.
have you restarted your router or modem?”
i don’t have any router.so,i turned off my modem & back on,then waited 30 seconds.
then i’ve selected “yes,i have performed this step.”
the test restarted.
again the same thing happened –
[Comment edited for brevity]
“Your console is connected to the internet but can’t contact xbox live.
your router or ISP may be blocking access to xbox live.
on your pc,go to your router configuration web page and make sure port 3074 is open on your firewall.if it is open,it may be blocked outside your home network.contact your ISP.”
as i’ve previously said,i don’t have a router.So,i don’t know is there a router configuration web page or not.what should i do now?
i have contacted my isp through phone on the customer support.it looks like they don’t even understand what is the problem.Calling them to my house may fix the problem.if they can do something to connect to xbox live.anyway,do have any solution?
Jan 11th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
@sng425
That is a common problem. Xbox Live uses port 3074 to send and receive data over the internet. Your ISP may be blocking this port for fear of virus attacks (another culprit is Zipbd).
Call your ISP and tell them to open port 3074. That should fix the problem.
Jan 11th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@The Gaming Wiz/Mushfiqur Rahman
ok,i will tell them to open port 3074.
Jan 11th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
oh yeah,i forgot to say thnx ! thnx 4 helping me out,Buddy !
Jan 11th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
@sng425
No problem bro. 🙂 That’s what Gamersworldbd is all about.
Jan 16th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
@Mushfiq,
I am running out of any broadband connection for almost a year. My previous was Grameen Citech- only good thing wes it wes dedicated- gotten constant speed- but why the connection wes lost- that’s a complete different story…
So, ya wouldnt recommend Zip at all? I want to know if they’re available in Mohammadpur or not…
Dedicated…so yummy… 😛
Jan 16th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
@Reza
Don’t get Zip bro! I would whole heartedly recommend it about a year ago. But not anymore. I can’t even access many sites still, chief of which is Digg. Plus, connection is not available all the time.
I’m planning to switch Qubee Wimax next month. Stay tuned for review.
Jan 16th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
Of course..I am scarce of good stable speed..and thought WiMax could bring some fresh new wave…eagerly waitin for your comprehensive review..:)
Jan 19th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
@ Rajiv
How much do I have to pay for IS pros?
Jan 19th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
@Nasif
I pay 1800Tk monthly for 512k (day) / 256k (night) package.
Jan 28th, 2010 at 11:09 am
i use 512kbps Qubee wimax internet and the speed i get is almost dedicated anytime and servers never go down and pay 2586.76BDT/month with tax.The speed depends on the signal strength though as i get full signal strength so the speeds are very good.
Jan 28th, 2010 at 11:59 am
@Rabbi
Currently using the Qubee 1 Mbps Wimax and it’s really good. Still on the demo, so review will take some time.
Jan 28th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
cant wait for the review….
Jan 29th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Qubee Highest Bandwidth test result on speedtest:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47023967@N05/4313430096/
Feb 5th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
mushfiq,
i agree with you. the last couple of months the service has been terrible. clients were offline for hours at a time but never more than 2 hours to my knowledge.
browsing had big problems. we were getting tcp errors on almost every page that we wanted to go. it took zip a white to fix that problem. now we hardly get the tcp error. browsing is pretty fast if you ask me. most of the pages that get updated regularly may appear slower but you don’t get old info like before.
as for the VAS that you’re talking about, zip made some big changes. the network is now much more stable. unless the fiber is cut, the connection never goes down unless your distro turns out to be a jerk and sells your mac to another client for extra profit (to use when you’re not home). as far as i’ve found out, the value-added-free-services will be back. the game servers will be online with new games also along with the old ones. vod is coming back but unfortunately not with updates. to fix that problem, zip has setup a ftp server which is accessable by all zip customers; whether you’re on fon or los. give customer support a call to find out how you can acess the ftp server. it apparently hosts 1tb of content, starting from movies, music, dvd9’s and software. even though the speeds of the ftp is capped, it provides you with offline content while your internet is downloading online content.
i’ve been using zip since 2003. i’m not much of a downloader but i do sometimes download movies and tv serials. earlier they would take a long time since p2p was capped. now i get almost full speed on p2p if i’m lucky otherwise its half my internet speed and thats not too bad. browsing is more improved. with the stint of bad service, zip has earned a bad name out there. but when the service is good, nobody can or will complain.
anyway, thanks
Feb 6th, 2010 at 9:16 pm
@smnh
Thanks for the insightful comment.
Mar 20th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Is there any other Wi Max we have @ Dhaka other then Qubee and Bangla Lion?
Mar 27th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
nope….well atleast not yet
Mar 27th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Dear ZIP subscribers, I am lucky to say that ur ISP is already dead because of doing illegal VoIP.
, Upssssssssssss how can u see this, u people are already dead ho ho ho ho hoh 😀
Apr 28th, 2010 at 1:27 am
ZIP was always the best ISP. Thats why people always talk about this ISP. THANKS to ZIP for their hard work. We wish u come back soon and shine us again with the help of ALLAH.
May 8th, 2010 at 1:50 am
😯 😯 😯 Zip is BACK 😯 😯 😯
