Reply to: Nightmare with BT Broadband home move..

[Cowboy Bob]

www.aaisp.co.uk

Not the cheapest (cost vs value again!) but consistently top 5 of the remarketers. Got me broadband a couple of years back in a house where BT swore blind it wouldn't work since I was too far from the exchange. A+A persuaded them to set it up and find out, rather then debate the point. Also managed to swap me over when I moved house with no problems in rather less than BT's standard 5 working days.

I've had a similar situation with Zen - http://www.zen.co.uk - moved house, broadband re-connected no problem inside the standard 5 working days. They're also consitently voted in the top 5. Again, not the cheapest, but cost vs value applies here too. Phone support is English too, and you don't get muppets on the phone. I rang once about a complex Unix routing problem I was having and they handled it with no sweat. This was 1st line support as well.

[PRC1964]

Again, it's not the cheapest but Zen Business ADSL allows you a switchover period where your ADSL will work at both your old address and your new one so you can sort out any problems before you move.

We recently moved without any problems.

[messiah]

the residential service is super sh*t.

I'm going insane, the Indians got me to buy 3 ADSL routers to test it on my end with my two PCs.

One Indian got me to uncsrew the front panel to my telephone socket and attempt to plug in my router into the rear of the panel ... no no I said it will not fit !!!

The broadband worked for 3 days at my new home then on the day that BT Broadband told me that it was active via e-mail it failed and has been down for 14 days now...

oh well....

Got an Indian today saying to me "what if you unscrew your phone socket panel and attempt to plug in your router direct "

* sigh *

The Brits are no better, I got a paranoid half wit BT complaints/tech (?) Scotsman on Friday night who lasted 3 mins before I realised he was a lemon and refused to answer any of my questions, when I told him that I was putting him on speaker phone to tape him for quality purposes he replied "I do not give you my permission to tape this conversation, I am now closing this call and referring you back to the person who originated this complaint resolution call within BT" ...... so much for taping for quality purposes eh BT ??????? Keep the drunks off the streets of Glasgow why don't ya. ...

[messiah]

EXACTLY what I've been experiencing with BT Broadband over the past 2 weeks.

I use BT Business Broadband at 8Mbps linespeed. No problems although I've noticed there's a sort of line reset for 20s a few times a day. Sometimes, it doesn't occur at all for days then it's back with avengence. Quick Google and it seems it's normal for the line to find the best speed or something but this is supposed to stop after a few weeks. I've had the line upgraded months ago. A bugger for streaming and online gaming.

The Business helpline used to be extremely good - English speaking and no holding carousel. However, trying to call an engineer over to move the ADSL point recently was a disaster:

1. Failed to turn up
2. Turned up but thought it was a telephone extension job
3. Played the telephone carousel game from Bangalore to Britain and back.
4. On hold when line just suddenly terminated.
5. Having Indians on the line who have no idea what I want resulting in me going through the telephone carousel again.
6. Being passed from department to another department and then back to the same one
7. Being given a "special" number which, funnily enough is either unobtainable or goes back to the telephone carousel.
7. Pleading with one of the operators that I have neither enough money, time or Scotch to carry on with this conversation and "please, for the love of god, do not put me on hold again" while actually crying on the phone.

That last one seemed to work.

A month later I get the 2 minute job sorted. I took the guy's direct numbers.

I'm afraid this afflicts the business service as well. God knows what the residential service is like...

[Mordac]

Got a BT business line here and had no problems,

I have a client who lost 3 days business (and many 000's of £s) a couple of weeks ago when BT "upgraded" their line to 8MB. They also kindly switched them from static IP to dynamic, so all their email got bounced by spam filters, and they lost incoming as well. BT support couldn't have cared less. It was pure luck that we fixed it eventually - took out a new contract and the old IP was the first one available. They will be ditching BT and installing a new line sometime soon, and BT can shove their contract and their tulipty service where the sun don't shine.

[Ardesco]

Got a BT business line here and had no problems, even the guy that came out had no problems cutting the line outside and rerouting it from scratch to where I set up my patch panel.

Speed is fine and no downtime yet. I don't expect it to be a bed of roses forever but i've had much worse, just never touch NTL ever (and since they bought out telewest i would be dubious of them as well

[Mordac]

I can't believe anyone's still using BT. I thought we were supposed to be a bit technically savvy? BT have by far the worst network, the worst customer service (if they have one at all) and the worst Indian tech support line you will ever encounter (it's appalling even by the low standard of Indian call centres).

[malvolio]

Who?

Please eludicate for the uneducated...

www.aaisp.co.uk

Not the cheapest (cost vs value again!) but consistently top 5 of the remarketers. Got me broadband a couple of years back in a house where BT swore blind it wouldn't work since I was too far from the exchange. A+A persuaded them to set it up and find out, rather then debate the point. Also managed to swap me over when I moved house with no problems in rather less than BT's standard 5 working days.

[hyperD]

I use BT Business Broadband at 8Mbps linespeed. No problems although I've noticed there's a sort of line reset for 20s a few times a day. Sometimes, it doesn't occur at all for days then it's back with avengence. Quick Google and it seems it's normal for the line to find the best speed or something but this is supposed to stop after a few weeks. I've had the line upgraded months ago. A bugger for streaming and online gaming.

The Business helpline used to be extremely good - English speaking and no holding carousel. However, trying to call an engineer over to move the ADSL point recently was a disaster:

1. Failed to turn up
2. Turned up but thought it was a telephone extension job
3. Played the telephone carousel game from Bangalore to Britain and back.
4. On hold when line just suddenly terminated.
5. Having Indians on the line who have no idea what I want resulting in me going through the telephone carousel again.
6. Being passed from department to another department and then back to the same one
7. Being given a "special" number which, funnily enough is either unobtainable or goes back to the telephone carousel.
7. Pleading with one of the operators that I have neither enough money, time or Scotch to carry on with this conversation and "please, for the love of god, do not put me on hold again" while actually crying on the phone.

That last one seemed to work.

A month later I get the 2 minute job sorted. I took the guy's direct numbers.

I'm afraid this afflicts the business service as well. God knows what the residential service is like...

[lukemg]

Signed up with BT for BB just last week. Previously with Euro1net - who wents norks up. You can find grumbling about every BB supplier, it's not an exact science at this stage, it's a patch up on the back of the existing phone system. When it's been in as long as that has it will be routine.
Problem comes when you are reliant for business/work etc, any delay becomes a big issue, for most people it just means they have to dust off their mags...

[oraclesmith]

I use BT Business Broadband and it's OK. No problems so far. They do an Openzone £5 a month deal too, which is very useful.

[TheMonkey]

2 things here.

1. Why the hell would anyone want broadband via BT? (excpeting that the cables and core service is provided by them of course)

1. They CAN if you're using the business broadband, have you connected the same day.

2. It's easier to manage all your infrastructure through one provider than have lots of little ones to deal with (prime example - where i'm working - avaya core, 4x cheap diallers with different companies, 2x isdn, 4x pots, 4x adsl load balanced from zen, alarm). Fecking nightmare.

[quickweb]

2 things here.

1. Why the hell would anyone want broadband via BT? (excpeting that the cables and core service is provided by them of course)

2. Have Telewest actually dug new cable? I thought they wouldn't ever dig any more.

[Troll]

A friend has just moved 200yds up the road. They contacted Telewest for BB and phone. Telewest phoned them 2 days n4 the move to say "sorry the cable doesn't go that far up the road, if you can wait 2 weeks we'll dig it up"

now thats service !

Feckers wouldn't lay a cable down my (longish)drive even though there is a cable manhole adjacent to the entrance, suppose that's what comes of not living in a street

I was tempted to hire one of those mole type thingys and do it myself - don't even know what cable you'd use -fibre optic?

[MrsGoof]

A friend has just moved 200yds up the road. They contacted Telewest for BB and phone. Telewest phoned them 2 days n4 the move to say "sorry the cable doesn't go that far up the road, if you can wait 2 weeks we'll dig it up"

now thats service !