BE?

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I'm not a particularly techy guy, so when it comes to an ISP, I tend to pick the ones with pretty offers. Until now this has turned out well, but this time I chose virgin - apparently I should be grateful for my 250ms latency to UK CSS servers, and downstream of about 40kbps. I've only been connected with them for just over a week, so I'm still within my cancellation period (i reported being dissatisfied about 4 days ago!!)

I've been reading about BE, and I was wondering if anyone can recommend them, or a similar alternative - I love the idea of 24Mbps down, 1.3Mbps up, but I'm a pretty big gamer so having a reliable connection is important. Can I trust these guys, or is Branson going to be buying them soon?

Thanks

 

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yeah, BE just need a BT line as far as I'm aware. try sticking your current landline number in there, and it'll probably tell you what you need to do if you're not currently eligible.

edit: FYI: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

 

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Yeah i need to get a BT line, but that doesnt really matter as i dont care about my current VM one as i hate it so much its crap.

oh, don't even get me started on VM - they have a preset helpdesk email, and I'm damned if I'm paying a pound a minute to talk to one of their drones who'll inevitably not even help me. their customer service so far has been disgusting, and once I've d/c'd from them, I'll be reporting them to OfCom for their terrible service

 

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checked on BE's website, and I can get their service in my area - ever tried cancelling a virgin service? not easy.

 

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Hey up,

If you have had the virgin contract for quite some time, you wont be able to get shot of it until the 12 month period is up.

I was cursing because i was told i could get virgin in the flat i moved into, but then virgin them selves said i cant even though a neighbour has it lol.

Glad i didnt now from what i have been hearing.

BE. love it. best isp i have been with since the free dial up days lol

i've been connected since last friday, but I logged a fault the monday after I signed up, and if I'm not mistaken, there's a statutory 14-day cooling off period with any agreement signed, so if they make a fuss, I'll get the solicitors involved - it won't be the first time I've had to - damn ISPs!!

 

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There is no general 14 day cooling off provision, there are specific provisions for agreements written under the consumer credit act and for insurance products for example but nothing that automatically gives you 14 days for an ISP contract.

There is the Distance Selling Regulations though and although they only give 7 days and in the case of Services the period ends when the service begins, there is a loop hole that means if they didn't tell you about your rights under those regulations then you could still use them.

You'll need to consult the T&Cs though to make sure they didn't include any mention of those rights in there.

So no easy exit there but you can always fall back on 'non-performance' if they have not delivered what was argreed.

yeah, even though it's been like 9 days now, I logged a fault after 3, and they're definitely not providing the service I paid for, so I should hopefully be ok - I'm just glad I got in touch with their customer support team last week otherwise I reckon I'd be out of luck

 

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interesting - from the virgin media client area:

If you wish to cancel your Vigin Media Broadband service, you'll need to give us 30 days notice of your cancellation. Whilst we don't tie you into a 12 month contract (unlike most broadband providers), we do reserve the right to apply a £50 cancellation charge if you joined on or after the 7th June 2005 and you wish to cancel your service within 12 months of activation. This charge is necessary due to the cost of activating your broadband service.

seems like their persistent phrasing of everything being a 12-month contract is rubbish - you're subject to a severance fee if you cancel before 12 months, but there, they specifically state that there's no contract!!

 

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yeah, it's just a BT line - when I cancel with Virgin, I'm going to try and get an MAC rather than full on cancel it because it'll probably just take longer! I can't wait until this is all sorted, it's been driving me mental

 

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Just so you can get a rough idea, I'm with ukoffline and my cable length is 2km, I sync at 15mb (can sync at 17.5mb but I had the noise margin raised)

that's great, thank you. my distance is 1.6km as the crow flies, so I could probably be looking at those speeds too!

 

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well, that was pretty painless - Virgin Media just cancelled our service with 5 days to effect, and BE seem to think that we can expect 10Mb, which is totally fine with me!! oooh, excited to maybe get some decent service!!

It's really annoying that companies put all of the staff with decent customer service skills on retentions! it's too late by then!!

 

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Really? Ive been ringing them, and all i get through to is people from asia that i cant understand, and when we said we wanna cancel they cut off?

just fyi (even though you're a dirty thread hijacker!! ), the number I called was 0845 045 0709, and it was about 6:30pm - was on hold for about 8 minutes, and the guy was incredibly helpful - I was just lucky that we've been with them a very short period of time.

refer them to this link: https://client.virgin.net/cancellation/number if they get funny, as that's the source of my quote above, basically stating that you're not tied to a 12 month contract. I think it also helped me telling them about all the technical problems I've had, all the dropping in service, and that I'm generally incredibly unhappy with their service, even after only a week of having it! I will also be writing to Ofcom to complain about the terrible quality of the ADSL and the customer services, and if you're unhappy, I urge you to do the same.