Broadband & Value for money & Customer Service

[dashby]

I have noticed that various larger suppliers of broadband have a pretty poor customer service.

I was helping someone set up their BT connection after cancelling the contract with the first broadband supplier to offer free broadband forever, that lasted about a week then the bills started rolling in.

Anyway they went to BT got all equipment, I went round at the weekend to help set it up, there was an issue, contacted BT after all the security gubbins the phone was handed to me, I advised that I had everything plugged in where it was meant to be including filter, they advised that they would try to resolve the issue, come back to me in an hour.

They came back, there was a fault on line, be about a week, 3 weeks later they sorted it.

These companies have a captive audience cos they know we all want these latest things, but once they have our money they don't really care.

Trying to get your MAC Address when switching supplier is like trying to platt fogg.

BT updating the exchanges, if we were all with them for broadband you can guarentee they would all be updated for the fastest speed.

Prices are another thing

I have since found a supplier that will help when required, fairly fast.

Tiscali

what is everyone else's experience with suppliers?

[brian]

Too right - a lot of broadband companies are focused only on getting in customers with cheap offers, but offering little or no support.

Had bloody awful problems with BT - first time they got my address wrong and cut me off without notification (email would have been nice) but then they threatened me with court action for bills that didn't exist.

Second time BT didn't set up the line right and I had to wait two weeks for it to be set up. BT support staff are often poorly trained, too, though their actual hands-on technicians are great to talk to.

Best broadband service if you want customer support is Zen Internet - you pay a bit extra, but you can get someone on the phone within 30 seconds and they'll usually get you sorted out in a few minutes. Always recommended.

Zen Internet - Award-winning Internet Services, Broadband, Hosting, Leased Lines & Security

[lincsat]

I am with a small supplier for ADSL - Hi-Velocity, they used to have smashing support but a couple of the tech's left and the support went down the toilet.

An example, I picked up a virus and my PC was sending out spam e-mails so my connection was suspended, the head man phoned and left a message, so I phoned back and got some kid who insisted that my problem was an overheating router! When I finally convinced him to check the account, he put me through to the head man who reconnected me immediately when I confirmed that the virus had been removed.

I have tried a few providers over the years, Plusnet were good at one time. Demon were pretty good - even NTL when they first started broadband!

I recently setup a wireless BT router on another isp, BT lock some of their routers to BT customer, the solution to this is to flash the router with the appropiate firmware!

This unlocks it and you can use on ANY isp.

[Annabell]

I have just moved to BT as my last ISP was total rubbish, i have not had any problems with BT (yet) time will tell !

[alder191]

i have gone to orange, with a wireless livebox, unlinited, no probs, not like ntl who were restricting my 10 mb connection to 2 mb between 4pm and midnight as i was downloading to much even though my package was supposed to be unlimited lol

[Bandit1.3]

Hi i have been a telewest/virgin broadband + dial up customer from the very start and not had one problem + customer service has been excellent all the way even when i moved installed on the day i wanted and in the time i asked for . And they now offer broadband on a normal phone line if no cable in your area + no download limit .

[Annabell]

That sounds very good Bandit, worth remembering i think

[alder191]

i am quite happy with orange, free calls over the internet through the live box as well as unlinited access

[Annabell]

Never looked at orange alder but now its easy to get your MAC Code its worth looking around