I'm with TalkTalk...

Iwas with talk Talk some years back Originally as Tiscali who where fine , then I moved to where I am now filled in all the moving data before I moved, got here and thought all was fine. Then about one month later was cut off (broadband) and when asking them was told bill wasent paid , confusion here as I had paid rang there accounts and yes I had paid ??? It turns aot the previous owner was also with them and they hadent paid talk talk dident take in to account a differnt name and account number. All was ok for a while then we kept getting cut off so decided to change and never had so much trouble Iwas going round in circles being passed from one person to another and when it came to change over date although we had been without broadband for 6 weeks they where refuseing to let the line go saying I was still under contract but the paper work I had it ran out over a year ago they eventually let the swap go but I would NEVER deal with Talk Talk again

 

It seems that everyone has different experiences. I am with BT, I have always been with them and I wouldn't change as I have always been happy with them. Other people tell a different story though!!

Val

 

Nope, I can honestly say that when I have had something go wrong BT have been excellent!!
my only complaint is that they do not employ English people to take the calls so consequently I always have difficulty understanding what the person on the other end is saying!!!! but apart from that, VERY good!!!

 

I'm with Plusnet, and am very happy. There have been a couple of occasions when I've needed their help, and they are just there on the phone. No sitting on hold for hours waiting to get through to Kevin in Mumbai. Just more or less straight through to someone in a UK call centre, quite possibly in their HQ in Sheffield. They're not badly priced too. The connection is a bit slow, but that might not be their fault, and its fast enough for me anyway.

 

Agree withVal, I'm on BT infinity package and in 5 years never had a problem.

 

Like clueless1, I'm with PlusNet and 'more than satisfied' with them. I found the speed an improvement when I first moved here - previously was with BT. I didn't really have a problem with them either - but I got one of those Energy Service Providers to do a comparison and PlusNet worked out cheapest for my circumstances. British Telecom were a 'little miffed' with me and told me that I should have asked them and they would have 'done a deal' for me as a long-established customer - pity they didn't tell me that when I first explained to them that I needed to discontinue their service when I moved out of my previous home . They told me to get back to them when my initial 12mth contract with PlusNet runs out ....................... so will hold them to it to see what they offer; THEN I'll speak to PlusNet and see how badly they want me to remain with them .

 

I think, but not sure, plusnet is part of BT (from what people say)

 

If folk are likely to want to move (or to be more easily able to move ... perhaps a worthwhile "insurance" to have in these times) you might want to have your email with Hotmail or similar (if you like the way that handles mail), or if you want an offline email system then my suggestion would be that you buy a domain name - YourName.co.uk or something like that. You can then have [email protected] rerouted (so called MX address) to [email protected] and then when you fall out with BT just change the MX routing to point to [email protected] instead ... all your chums will just carry on mailing you at [email protected] and you won't need to tell them to update their records ...

If you find a good domain name vendor you will be able to have [email protected] and [email protected] as well as [email protected] and so on ... and even unique names for logins on websites like [email protected] - then when some unscurpulous website flogs your email address to the highest bidder you can just set anything addresses TO [email protected] to SPAM.

 

No, its not, but like all broadband providers with the exception of cable ones like Virgin Media, they lease the lines and bandwidth from BT.

BT sells lines and bandwidth wholesale. The broadband companies by the leases, divide it all up, and sell it on retail to you and me. Apart from the line itself, a broadband company is many other things, the two main ones being a customer services firm, and an IT firm. It is no good leasing bandwidth from BT but then not having a good enough data centre to handle the traffic and get you out onto the wider network. Nor is it any good if you have to speak to Kevin and try to explain to somebody who doesn't really understand you, and is just following a script anyway, that you know its your router that's failed because you know a thing or two about computers and networks having made a living from it for years, and you've already tested every possibility using spare equipment before you called him (such was my experience with Sky and Virgin on separate occasions). When my router broke with Plusnet, here's how the conversation went:

Me: My router is broke.
Tech support: How do you know?
Me: Because even connecting directly to it with a cable, I still can't ping it. My firewall is turned off, and I can network via my phone acting as a mobile hotspot. My phone line is good because I'm talking to you on it.
Tech support: Ok, sounds like you've already checked everything I'd ask you to check, a new router is in the post.

When a similar thing happen when I was with Sky, I was on the phone for 4 hours, and at one point, just to satisfy the man with the script, I even took the phone socket apart and put it back together again, all before, 4 hours after I reported a failed router, Kevin said "I think your router is broken, would you like me to send a new one?".

 

I have been with Virgin cable ( since it was Telewest ) for broadband , TV and phone. Works pretty well 99.64 % of the time . The TV + box reboots itself every now and then but its no problem. Not sure how it stands up for price against the others , must do a cost comparison after xmas.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...tR8lKSyNl8m_xp_ECoFhHGg&bvm=bv.53537100,d.d2k

 

Oh dear. That's not good. I don't like BT.