| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Internet connection in the UK Thread poster: Anna Lanave
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Anna Lanave 
Italy
Local time: 05:46
French to Italian
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Hello everybody!
I have a BT Broadband contract, I wish to ask to the UK residents their opinion on other companies providing internet services.
I need just a few hints in order to start evaluating other possible solutions for my 24h internet connection.
Thank you.
| | | | JPW (X)
Local time: 04:46
Spanish to English
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| Rad Graban (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:46
English to Slovak
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| Definetally not Tiscali | Feb 16, 2008 |
Whatever you do don't go for Tiscali even though they're apparently the most popular ISP in the UK. My set up box/modem packed up and I was told that they would send somebody to fix it in two weeks (!). When the day came, the engineer called me to inform me that they were out of set-up boxes and he wouldn't be coming. When I contacted Tiscali, they told me that it was true and all they could do was to put me on a waiting list till they got modems. I was raging - after two weeks without the broad... See more Whatever you do don't go for Tiscali even though they're apparently the most popular ISP in the UK. My set up box/modem packed up and I was told that they would send somebody to fix it in two weeks (!). When the day came, the engineer called me to inform me that they were out of set-up boxes and he wouldn't be coming. When I contacted Tiscali, they told me that it was true and all they could do was to put me on a waiting list till they got modems. I was raging - after two weeks without the broadband and telly, all they could do was to put me on waiting list. No, thank you. I switched to Sky and I'm very happy so far. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Orange - so far, so good | Feb 16, 2008 |
I've recently installed Orange Broadband and so far it seems fine. I pay £12 per month and also get free telephone calls at weekends. I don't know if this is the best deal available, but the important thing for me is that it works.
Best wishes,
Jenny.
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JPW (X)
Local time: 04:46
Spanish to English
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| Nice one Jenny | Feb 16, 2008 |
My earlier question about BT was a wee bit redundant, really, coz I'm having my own problems with them: I am now waiting MORE THAN THREE WEEKS for a phone line; can't even start to think about broadband 'til the line is in - and the reason? BT had me registered at a different address. In other words, I told them the address for the phone line, and they entered it wrongly on their system.
That's their fault. I had to cancel the 'wrong' order, and start over again (10 more days). All... See more My earlier question about BT was a wee bit redundant, really, coz I'm having my own problems with them: I am now waiting MORE THAN THREE WEEKS for a phone line; can't even start to think about broadband 'til the line is in - and the reason? BT had me registered at a different address. In other words, I told them the address for the phone line, and they entered it wrongly on their system.
That's their fault. I had to cancel the 'wrong' order, and start over again (10 more days). All they have to do is flick a switch down at the local exchange. And they charge £125!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BT = Bloody Thieves. Their mistake, and I'm paying a heavy price for it.
I have seen the Orange deal also, with inclusive line rental, this costs £24 a month I think, and it seemed attractive, but I have not had any feedback on it one way or another; so it's good to see someone giving it a (tentative?) thumbs up.
Anyone else got anything to say on Orange, good or bad? I'm damned if I want to stay with BT after all their clowning about. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rebecca Hendry
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:46
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
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| Cable or via the phone line? | Feb 16, 2008 |
At my previous address, I had cable broadband with Telewest (now Virgin), and never had any problems at all. Unfortunately I moved to a non-cable area a few months ago so had to change providers or use Virgin's non-cable broadband deal. I eventually went with Pipex broadband and have been very impressed with both the customer service and the internet speeds. You still have to pay the BT line rental (11 pounds), but Pipex also gives me "free" evening and weekend calls.
| | | | | Location, location, location | Feb 16, 2008 |
Can you get BT broadband in Italy?
And ireland?
Cool....
All I have to say about BT is that they are rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.
When I first moved to where I am now, last summer, I had to wait ages for a landline, despite notifying them about 2 months in advance, then broadband would not work owing to a fault at the exchange which took them a week to diagnose.
I recently decided to switch to a homehub which is the single worst piece of consumer equipm... See more Can you get BT broadband in Italy?
And ireland?
Cool....
All I have to say about BT is that they are rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.
When I first moved to where I am now, last summer, I had to wait ages for a landline, despite notifying them about 2 months in advance, then broadband would not work owing to a fault at the exchange which took them a week to diagnose.
I recently decided to switch to a homehub which is the single worst piece of consumer equipment in the known universe. Check out the BT forums. It won't work properly with Intel chips, reboots constantly, and so on.
And don't get me started on how difficult it is to understand anything their helpdesk team say. They DO try their best and some of them are excellent and knowledgeable, but...
Give Orange a punt, they can't be any worse. Welcome to Britain (why does anyone come here?) ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Pipex also good, I hear | Feb 16, 2008 |
Rebecca Hendry wrote:
At my previous address, I had cable broadband with Telewest (now Virgin), and never had any problems at all. Unfortunately I moved to a non-cable area a few months ago so had to change providers or use Virgin's non-cable broadband deal. I eventually went with Pipex broadband and have been very impressed with both the customer service and the internet speeds. You still have to pay the BT line rental (11 pounds), but Pipex also gives me "free" evening and weekend calls.
A close friend of mine installed Pipex a few months ago and says he has had no problems, and I think it's cheaper than Orange.
Best wishes
Jenny
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Jenni Jelse
Sweden
Local time: 05:46
English to Swedish
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| Virgin / Zen | Feb 16, 2008 |
I have Virgin, mainly because we don't get any tv at all without cable. It works well now, but I had lots of problems when I got a wireless router from Belkin. Now I've bought another router (Linksys) and it works.
Earlier I was using Zen, which was expensive but wonderful. Great customer service, though the only times I had to contact them was when I'd done something stupid myself - there were never any problems with the actual service.
| | | | Daniel Bird
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:46
German to English
| BT and Homehubs | Feb 16, 2008 |
Although BT/Yahoo is working OK for us in general this comment from Charlie above:
"...I recently decided to switch to a homehub which is the single worst piece of consumer equipment in the known universe..."
is 100 per cent spot on. Worse than that, the Homehub is dangerous, since the mere idea that something as simple as a wireless router can be made so inadequate as said hub could actually paralyse a human being's reason. And the fact that it is supplied free makes i... See more Although BT/Yahoo is working OK for us in general this comment from Charlie above:
"...I recently decided to switch to a homehub which is the single worst piece of consumer equipment in the known universe..."
is 100 per cent spot on. Worse than that, the Homehub is dangerous, since the mere idea that something as simple as a wireless router can be made so inadequate as said hub could actually paralyse a human being's reason. And the fact that it is supplied free makes it even worse - the UK becomes another cheap landfill for an incompetently designed import unfit for its target market. Sorry I forgot - WEEE regs mean that landfill is out of bounds for this toxically talentless piece of non-equipment.
By the way, does anyone out there even know what a BT Hubphone looks like?
Rant over and have a great weekend and don't say the warning signs weren't there.
Peace
DB ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:46
Russian to English
+ ...
In memoriam
I agree with Rad Graban about Tiscali. I was with them for a short while after they took over my previous ISP. Their help line (which under the other people had been free) charged a high rate for time mostly spent listening to music while on hold, and their advice was never any help anyway. I also had no end of trouble changing my old account details to their new ones. So I left them for a better one which unfortunately was not offering broadband when I wanted it, so then I had to switch aga... See more I agree with Rad Graban about Tiscali. I was with them for a short while after they took over my previous ISP. Their help line (which under the other people had been free) charged a high rate for time mostly spent listening to music while on hold, and their advice was never any help anyway. I also had no end of trouble changing my old account details to their new ones. So I left them for a better one which unfortunately was not offering broadband when I wanted it, so then I had to switch again. On the advice of my computer dealer, I went to Eclipse - www.eclipse.net.uk - and have been quite happy with them ever since. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Robert Tucker (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:46
German to English
+ ...
I'm currently switching from Lixxus to Be broadband. The Lixxus service was quite reliable but Be now offer 24MB download, 1.3MB upload, unlimited usage for £18 a month (Lixxus 8MB download, £13.99 to £17.99 a month depending on usage). Be also supply a four port wirelees router included in their package.... See more I'm currently switching from Lixxus to Be broadband. The Lixxus service was quite reliable but Be now offer 24MB download, 1.3MB upload, unlimited usage for £18 a month (Lixxus 8MB download, £13.99 to £17.99 a month depending on usage). Be also supply a four port wirelees router included in their package.
Contacting customer and technical enquiries at Be, it sounds like their service centre is in India – just hoping they are reliable.
Lixxus no longer offer "home user" packages:
After 3 years of offering a Broadband service to the general public Lixxus will no longer provider any new consumer grade Broadband services.
Instead Lixxus will now concentrate entirely on it's business grade Broadband and managed services from home workers through to small, medium and corporate sized businesses ...
Before Lixxus I was with Metronet who were also quite good once they got sufficient bandwidth. They got larger and their service less personal while I was with them but the service was still good. ▲ Collapse
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Anna Lanave
Italy
Local time: 05:46
French to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Charlie Bavington wrote:
Can you get BT broadband in Italy?
And ireland?
Cool....
I specify that I am currently in London.
| | | | Anna Lanave
Italy
Local time: 05:46
French to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
I wish to thank everybody for contributing to this discussion. I am reading and... learning.
Internet service providers are the same everywhere... unreliable.
| | | | Anna Lanave
Italy
Local time: 05:46
French to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Charlie Bavington wrote:
Give Orange a punt, they can't be any worse. Welcome to Britain (why does anyone come here?)
It would take a long time to tell why.
Let's sum up and say that there are pro et contra. Is this answer fair enough?
Anna
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