lack of service

[muddymart]

Weve been with our broadband provider for about 3 months, just after xmas we lost the connection, the isp provider were quite helpful and stated it was a bt fault,

they booked the bt engineer to come out, and this is the third time he's been out and still no service.
This is just a visous circle and im not getting anywhere, only slow(dial -up)

has anyone been in a similar situation, its been 23 days now,

thanks
Martin

[Range Rover Blues]

Yeap. I've had constant problems with my BT line since I've had the house.  Every time it rains/blows outside the line starts to crackly, rings intermitantly when no-one is calling, generally a PITA.

Joined that free (not really free) offer on the telly.

Now I have to tell them that the BT line is FUBAR, BT won't talktalk to me any more, even theough it's a BT engineer that comes out.

I think it's sour grapes in BT's part.

Anyway, having had every thing chaged, diplexer, cable into my house, cable under the street, circuit board at the exchange, box in my hall, diplexer again blah blah blah, the last guy found a short length of internal cable at the top of the pole betwen the diplexer and the junction box.  Crumbled like gromit's favourite cheese.

Been fine since, but now I've met every BT engineer in this region and none of them spotted it!

[rollazuki]

I was with T**cali  who (when doing line upgrades) completely knocked out me B/Band. then blamed BT. after a month I told em where to shove it and signed up for Tal*T*lk.  after 2 months...!....!....!   and finding out that the BT fault was in fact Tis*ali 'unbundling' my phone line, I eventually got B/Band back.


The moral of this story.......
Unless your current provider really pees you off, Id stick with them, it can take forever for the new provider to get set up and turn you back on!

[Guardian.]

WE ARE NOW WITH TALK TALK AND ITS CRAP, FOREVER DROPPING OUT, THERE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NON EXISTENT, I WILL BE GOING BACK TO BT ASAP.

[karlo]

I use Virgin, had no major problems at all been with them for about 2 years +, apart from bt at the first hurdle that said i was connected when i wasn't, eventually got an engineer out and he knew what it was straight away just needed putting on a thicker cable at the exchange plus no contract only have to give 30 days notice

[Drift]

My BB 10 meg is great with blueyonder for the last 18 months never had a problem  :D
Ste

[gords]

I use Eclipse Internet and have had exactly 2 problems since joining them about 4 years ago. Each of those were problems with their suppliers.

Their service is excellent, as is their customer service (in my experience).

[Lawnmower]

I had BT before I moved a few years ago, turned out the landline didn't always work, so phoned bt up on a saturday, by sunday lucnhtime engineer had been round twice and fixed it.

Now in diferernt house where have Telewest broadband/telephone/TV cable bundle. No problems at all really.

[SimonHarwood]

If you pay your BT Line phone call bill to another supplier, don't whatever you do move your line rental away from BT. If you do, you are stuffed if you have a line fault.

I had an identical line fault to my next door neighbour and BT came out and fixed it quickly, put a free divert for incoming calls to go to my mobile for the duration of the fault, and gave me an amount per day (can't remember exactly how much) that my land line was out of action to help cover the call costs.

It was a strange fault... one conductor from the pair had broken in the manhole in the street. The phone was dead as a dodo but my ADSL still worked fine.

My neighbours had transferred their line rental to T**kT**k when they were persuaded to pay them for their calls, and couldn't  get them to admit that a fault existed. T**kT**k even accused them of having the fault within their installation (note it was an identical fault to mine) and wouldn't check with BT if there was a line fault, and because they weren't paying their line rental to BT, BT Faults said "Sorry, since you are not our customer report it to the company you pay your line rental to."

It took weeks for my neighbour to have the fault fixed.

This is another example of government policy that is supposedly for improved choice that is only causing more problems for the general public.

[James.Harwood]

This is rather simple, you get what you pay for, http://money.uk.msn.com/mortgages/billsandenergy/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2617311

Free and cheep services are not woth bothering with, If you ever have TalkTalk come to the door tell them to go away and slam the door hard.  If this doesn't work introduce them to the dog.

It is true to say that with telecoms of any sort you get what you pay for.  Cheep = useless.

As Simon said don't ever move your line rental from BT (unless you are mad enough to use cable but that would be your fault).

Look at the service you require, 24mb is pointless, you will never as a home user need it.  

Tiscali are actually average to good, Pipex I rate as highly as TalkTalk, AOL dare i say it are very good (no i dont use them though)

All ADSL providors are good untill you have a problem and then you will find out which is worth using.  Currently there are only 2 i would recomend AOL (dare i say it) and madasafish (the proof foreign call centres can be good).

The laws regarding providers releasing your line has recently changed, can't remember exactly but htey have to release within 30 days (i think) rather than a reasonable length of time.

[muddymart]

well i rang eclipse up today, and explained i wasn't happy with there service and wanted to terminate our contract,no joy, no service , help? should i change isp's?

[James.Harwood]

Try hassling BT about it, it is more likely their problem.

Saying that , if eclipse have a free phone or locall number, hassle them like mad, relentlesly, and always ask for the next person up the line of command than you actually get.  

If it is a BT problem then you may have to wait for Eclipse to contact them. this normally takes time due to pocket billiards.

Good luck

[muddymart]

BT have been quite helpful when they've been to the house, and always rang me to let me know what is happening,but for the last week , we havent even had an email from eclipse and out bill for this month on 0845 calls is already £40+

[Bulli]

im with AOL and must say i have never had one fault in 4 years...not down time no hassel.

I work in data and telecoms. 24 meg is a pipe dreamat the moment. If you lived in the exchange and tested the line at 4 in the mornign assuming you lived 10 miles from anywhere in the north of scotland you just might see that speed. Contention is the problem, which really is BT's little secret. Most services are contended at 50-1 . That means the advertised speed is shared between upto 50 users. downloading is fine but upload speeds take a real battering.Not to mention the distance from the exchange limits the service you are CAPABLE of receiving.
Try running a speed test. adslguide are good. I have upto 8MB and have never seen faster that 3.1, which it rated as awesome....shows what the average is.
1meg is perfectly adequate for the home user. most businesses who rely ont he net still use crappy adsl connection and cant see the value of an upgraded service. I have a symetrical 5MB connection at work and its dream like, so quick its faster than my laptop can realy use.

That said i have just quoted a business for a 50MB symetrical solution..errr lets just say its not cheap.IN korea the average household connection is over 60 meg.....i wish!

[winchman]

I have been with blueyonder since the day they started very happy with it.
Had the odd billing query but generally all works fine.
Few friends have moved to others but all not happy.

[Guardian.]

T@@K T@@K, DONT BE AFRAID MATE -----'TALK TALK'------ THATS WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY, THEY ARE CRAP, THEY DID SAME TO ME SAID THE FAULT WAS WITH MY EQUIPTMENT, IM HAPPILY PAYING THE 'FINE' FOR LEAVING -------'TALK TALK'-----------BECAUSE THEY ARE SO BAD.
HAVENT GOT A PROBLEM WITH HAVING A PROBLEM, ITS JUST WHEN THEY ARE NOT INTERESTED AND THEN TURN IT AROUND, I COULDNT DO THAT, AND WOULDNT WANT TO EITHER.

[thermidorthelobster]

My dad uses Tiscali and has no end of problems with them.  The line goes down most weeks, and he spends endless hours talking to Bangalore to try to get it sorted out.

I'm with Zen;  excellent service, highly reliable and very responsive, although I'm paying about double what some people are.  I'm occasionally tempted to move, but then when I hear how useless the budget providers are, I decide to stay put.

[ian_s]

unless you are mad enough to use cable but that would be your fault

i know a lot of people who use cable, me included, and think it rocks
i have had one fault with my broadband in about 3 years, and that was fixed in one visit.
i cant see why cable has such a bad reputation

[thermidorthelobster]

i cant see why cable has such a bad reputation

If it's NTL cable, it's because they are the most awesomely dreadful consumer organisation ever.

I speak as somebody who spent FIVE DIFFERENT DAYS waiting for them to come round to fix a fault, and they didn't keep a SINGLE appointment, even when I rang (and held for an hour) to confirm the day before.  It took me months to get broken broadband fixed;  I have the whole thing documented somewhere, but I tend to avoid it due to the risk of flashbacks and psychological damage.

NTL were so bad that when I moved house, I checked in advance that I wasn't going to be stuck with NTL again, otherwise I wouldn't have moved there.  If an asteroid wiped out their head office in the middle of the night, I'd crack open the champagne.  Telcos in general are pretty abysmal, but NTL take incompetence and stupidity to a whole new level.

[Yoshi]

Well the thing to be wary of is people like tiscali who offer the unlimited broadband.  Its not unlimited, if your a high user they put you on a restricted line during peak periods, i was getting slower speeds than on dial up with them, thankfully i managed to get them to terminate the contract  by threatening to get trading standards involved as their was no mention of their fair usage policy on any documentation i got before they swtiched me on.

AOL are great for broadband, the only thing that lets them down is their own software, but if you have a wireless setup you dont need to use their software.

I am with BT and get 6mb when i do the adsl line test.  I am going to try Sky Broadband next and see what thats like.

[muddymart]

well after 3 engineers, £40 pounds worth of calls to 0845 numbers, and several dial up emails, im back online, even better i pick my disco up tomorrow !! hey hey

[muddymart]

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO CHANGE THE SETTINGS SO PICTURES CAN BE SEEN ON WEBSITES
OR IS IT JUST M/C FORUM
I GET A BOX WITH THREE LITTLE COLOURED SYMBOLS IN IT.

cheers!!