Changing broadband providers

[Misc]

I'm with shitty NTL as i've been for the last few years. Can i just cancel & join someone else? Who's the best one with the fastest speeds for around £18 a month?

NTL took a couple of months to install my broadband, something to do with not having the right plug in my flat, will the other provider just use that line?

Cheers.

[T1z3R]

your only other option for providers is gonna be BT phone line based adsl providers.

have you got a standard BT phone line in your house?
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duck my sick!

[Misc]

Why is this my only other option? Not to keen on BT with there limited usage.

[iooi]

What do NTL supply you with Cable ?

[Barry_M2]

[T1z3R]

as above. NTL give you broadband over a coax line that comes into your house and they are the only guys that do that.

if you want an alternative then you will need a BT line installed so that you can get an ADSL service through one of the many providers out there

personally id stick with NTL as your unlikely to get a comparable ADSL service IMO.
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duck my sick!

[Chriss]

Hi, if you currently don't use your BT line, then I'm almost 99% chance that you'll have to pay £124.99 connection charge for BT to connect your phone, which will enter you into a 12 month contract, at £11 a month for line rental.

If you want PM me your address, I'll have a look at work and confirm if you want.
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[Misc]

Thanks for the help everyone,

I don't want a phone, just the broadband, i'm sure it's got BT as everyone else seems to have it in the building.
Not going to stay with NTL as it's £18 for 2mb & i think it's pretty poor as you're always having connection issues.

[Stevie GooGs]

Stick with NTL m8, honestly BT are sh!T and if somthing is wrong you get to speak to Pakistatn which is a nightmare. I wish i could get cable up here as its much better than ADSL IMHO.
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Current: 2019 Yamaha T7 -> 2015 KTM Superduke R | 2000 Yamaha R1 Past -> 2009 KTM 990 SM -> 2005 kawasaki ZX10r -> 2000 Honda CBR 600 FY -> 2002 Honda XLV 125 Varadero
Bike Pics! -> My Photography Website

[The Tot]

I used to have 2MB DSL from NTL back at uni and was pretty happy at the package - 18 quid p/m for the internet and NO additional line rental fees. BT, you have to pay another 10 quid p/m for the line rental.

Also, beware when comparing speeds.

You may find that a 4/8MB DSL is quicker than a 8/16MB ADSL line, since ADSL bandwidth is measured using their spiked values - so essentially, you only ever get the maximum bandwidth for a certain period of time, seconds even. Also i'd be pissed off if i lived far away from an exchange. Signal attenuation and inteferrence will mean that a 16MB connection will degrade to something like 8mb bandwidth by the time it reaches your house. Hence, why my mate, a web developer decided to stick with NTL despite having the opportunity to upgrade to and 16MB.

The key is also in the name ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line - Download rate is not the same as upload speed - whereas on DSL it is - ideal if you're a web developer or do load of FTP transfers and such like.

NTL had the monopoly for students because it had a cheaper package for the same service. Mind you, broadband is such a domestic thing now that you'd hardly notice the difference in performance, in price yes - essentially the same as "what's the difference between N power and British gas??"
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[Chriss]

Misc: Doesn't matter about the building, it's done on *your* line. General little test you can do, plug a phone into your BT line, and see if there's a dialing tone, if there is, you might be lucky, if not, it's £124.99 for near certain.

Stevie Googs, sorry to hear you didn't have any joy so far. By the way, it's Delhi, India and not Pakistan.

Titz, I'm far from an expert, but I'm 99.9% sure that cable is still biased towards downloading. A 20Mb cable line is 20Mb down, and not 20Mb both ways. I'm willing to be corrected on that though. Just by technology though, fibre optics are better than copper cables for numerous reasons.
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[T1z3R]

currently Virgin (its not been NTL for a while now) offers 20Mb down and 768Kb up.
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duck my sick!

[NSR Mick]

[Misc]

Thanks everyone,

Even now, i'm trying to do a simple thing like logging into my account to see what the upgrades are like but apparantely my post code is invalid.
Wouldn't mind if they did faster speeds then 4mb as i had it a while ago & didn't notice any difference from the 2mb so downgraded again.

[Louise]

[Chriss]

[Jaloopa]

Virgin offer up to 20MB if you're in one of their fastest areas, but my experience with them is a bit shit. I used to have Telewest, which I loved. 2Mb line (slowest they offered) and it would actually download at 2Mbps or about 256kBps. In the new house we've got Virgin 20Mb, and speed tests haven't shown me more than 2Mb yet. Occasionally it does jump up for a few seconds, but overall it's slower than my GF's ADSL, and she's right out in the sticks.

Also, the Virgin digibox for their TV keeps crashing after being plugged in for more than about 2 minutes. (That's not an exaggeration. 2 minutes is a good time. You're lucky if you can find the TV programme you want to watch without turning it off and on again)
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mattsprattuk wrote: but at least the lifan could do like 104mph in 3rd gear

[T1z3R]

[GodzGift]

8mb ukonline = £20 @ 160 GB Download limit per month
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Bike Level: Amateur | CBT Passed

[Louise]

[Dragonfly]

[Chriss]

[Dragonfly]

for chriss.

Sorry for the hijack, will tell you how they have fecked me up and it was their fault.

1.got connected signed contract for internet and was told i get free local calls package i agreed to with internet. Nice one,

2.got first bill noticed i wasnt getting free local calls after 6pm
3.called them was told i needed to have the phone hooked to the internet, fair enough why the hell wasnt i told this when i asked? then was told was using the wrong phone, communication lost not told this.
4.got connected, next bill more call charges for apparent free calls, rang again after many complaints about the first episode of not being told what phone to use and being charged, was told i had to register for them calls and the last person failed to tell me this few last month, was refunded for the two bills when i should have got free calls from the start.
5.payed bill a day before disconnection notice with credit card to ensure my lines where not disrupted, phoned them from the phone, guy asked me for disconnection fee, i wasnt disconnected i was speaking to him from the phone! that was ok he said and went on with immediate payment as they requested it as it was quicker and would be no disruption to lines and there wasnt.
6.got bill with disconnection fees on it, phoned shouted as i wasnt disconnected and was sent an emended bill.
7.internet phone and modem hanging up since the day they put the free calls on, disconnects and cannot use phones for a few mins, called several times for a line test was fobbed off. Had enough yesterday when i lost my booking slot by 1 min with tesco when waiting to rebook! rang a friend got cut off 3 times when you phone people it cuts off on answer with internet.
put through to 4 people who said it wasnt their department despite me sticking to the same story from the start on what phone i needed checked and gave its pacific number and was calling from it. got a lot of sorry thats not me you need to call btinternet, i did and they put me through to another lady,ok an engineer was gong to call me back. great, he phoned me bank on my other phone, i said this is not the phone i asked to be checked, then he said not his prob and he couldnt put me through or help! on the phone again to the same numb skulls put through to 8 Indians i couldn't understand and we where all getting quite pissed. Then he upgraded something on my settings which i followed his instruction and that was suppose to be the end of my problem.

Today the dam thing has hung up 3 times when i call someone, and the modem has clicked and gone off line every time.

They have done my dad out of free calls also for over a year now and he phoned several times and was not told he had to register like me. He didn't notice on his bills he was being charged and was paying for that package of free evening and weekend calls. Sorry i think they are a pack of cons, their communication is bad. few years ago i never had trouble with them and never thought this would happen. I know my next bill will be suspicious.
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All the breast.
Muzza on Binge:
He's too busy beating the everloving shit out of Lizzie to notice this thread has taken a turn down Drama Avenue and stopped off at the popcorn shop.

[Chriss]

Dragonfly, I agree, BT fucked up pretty bad.

Firstly, the evening and weekend calls, these are provided by a product called broadband talk, basically, VOIP (voice over internet protocol), and there's a few stages you have to go through to get this working. You need to have broadband working, then, sign up, if you're not automatically done so by the advisor who sold you broadband, after that, go to [url]bt.com/bbv[/url], sign in with the login details emailed to you, then plug your phone into your router, and make calls. However, if your broadband goes down, then to ensure you don't lose calls, and you don't have to change the phone around, it'll route the calls over your normal phone line, not the VOIP, so it'll charge you for calls whilst your broadband is down.

It's a load of fannying about, should be explained alot better than it is, but people don't seem to bother. I, personally, always give people the broadband talk, but never really use it as a selling point, it's hassle. For what it's worth, and that's not a lot, now, the home hub's automatically setup broadband talk.

Secondly, if you want to get out of the contract, and assuming you're 'aligned' (ie, get charged your broadband on the blue bill your phone bill comes on) and I'm not saying it'll be easy by any means, call the Customer Options Team on 0800 800 030, (option 1 to cancel broadband, off the top of my head). Tell them about the problems you've got, and how they're not providing the high level of service that you expected. They should say something like "I'm sorry to hear that, if I can fix the problem, will you stay", I'd always suggest saying yes at this point, mostly because they can be quite powerful when needed. If they can't fix the problem, then they'll normally let you go without penalty. Say to the customer options team that you're not willing to speak to the Indian call centre either, and ask to speak to a UK based one, as I'm sure there must be "communication issues". Can't be 100%, there always was a uk based centre, but we don't have direct dials for it any more. If there is one, then COT will know how to get through.

Biggest thing, with any complaint case, keep a diary of events. Then you can say "I called at XXX about YYY" etc.

If you have any other problems, give us a shout.
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[Stevie GooGs]

Plus your BT home hub needs to work.

Ive had 2 and had to go back to linksys.

Chriss
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Current: 2019 Yamaha T7 -> 2015 KTM Superduke R | 2000 Yamaha R1 Past -> 2009 KTM 990 SM -> 2005 kawasaki ZX10r -> 2000 Honda CBR 600 FY -> 2002 Honda XLV 125 Varadero
Bike Pics! -> My Photography Website