talk talk

krisbutler · 29 Sep 2007 at 17:31

i have 2 monthes left on my 18 month contract and its been hell scince day one i want to go back 2 bt but they say i have 2 pay 70 quid to leave early any one know of a way to get out free?

McBain · 29 Sep 2007 at 18:13

Not sure of a way to get out free, but the payment for leaving early should be either £70, or the remainder of the contract, whichever is cheapest - in your case it'd be 2 months of contract.

I'd ring them again because it sounds like the CSA you spoke to is giving you the run around. Quote the above to the different adviser, and you should be able to do it cheaper.

krisbutler · 29 Sep 2007 at 18:25

thanks for that i will do is bt the best and most reliable isp to go with as i supose its there lines so there customers get priority over other isps?

McBain · 29 Sep 2007 at 18:55

I was with BT for IPstream 2Mb, and then DSL Max 8Mb for over 5 years and only ever had it go down once. Even then it was fixed within 30 minutes.

You'll normally pay slightly over the odds for BT, but they're the focal point, so any other ISP needs to go through them to fix problems = longer lead times. ( with the exception of a few, Virgin Media for example )

krisbutler · 29 Sep 2007 at 19:39

ill definatly go 4 bt then im lost without the net

tolien · 29 Sep 2007 at 21:52

It depends what you're looking for - BT Retail traffic shape, especially at peak times, and their support's based in India. They're possibly better than TalkTalk, but that's not saying much.
Any issues with reliability will almost certainly follow you from ISP to ISP, and have more to do with your equipment, internal wiring and connection to the exchange.

McBain said:
You'll normally pay slightly over the odds for BT, but they're the focal point, so any other ISP needs to go through them to fix problems = longer lead times. ( with the exception of a few, Virgin Media for example )

Not even remotely true. BT Retail have to go through BT Wholesale the same as any other IPStream ADSL ISP, so the lead times are identical.
If there was even a shred of evidence that BTw were treating BT Retail preferentially, they'd get split away from the hive faster than you could say "equivalent access".

marc2003 · 29 Sep 2007 at 21:57

talk talk to bt? what's that saying about frying pans and fires?

McBain · 29 Sep 2007 at 22:10

tolien said:
Not even remotely true. BT Retail have to go through BT Wholesale the same as any other IPStream ADSL ISP, so the lead times are identical.
If there was even a shred of evidence that BTw were treating BT Retail preferentially, they'd get split away from the hive faster than you could say "equivalent access".

What's the lead time for BT Retail to BTW ? Also, when did BT Retail start to traffic shape?

I'm asking because I genuinely believed BT Retail had a quicker lead time than any other ISP ( that's perhaps these 'other ISPs' belief

). Also, during my time ( granted that ended in January *EDIT* this year ) I wasn't shaped once.

marc2003 · 29 Sep 2007 at 22:43

McBain said:
Also, during my time ( granted that ended in January last year ) I wasn't shaped once.

that's because no-one was on adslmax back then. a lot has changed since....

McBain · 29 Sep 2007 at 22:48

Oops... that should read January THIS year

tolien · 29 Sep 2007 at 22:59

McBain said:
What's the lead time for BT Retail to BTW ?

For?
There's probably published data for new installs, connected right first time, fault fixes et al somewhere, but I don't have it to hand.

I'm asking because I genuinely believed BT Retail had a quicker lead time than any other ISP

They don't - it's part of the crappy "BT line so have to go with BT for an ISP" myth that stops users finding a decent ISP.
BT Retail have the same interface to BT Wholesale as any other ISP.

McBain · 29 Sep 2007 at 23:01

tolien said:
For?
There's probably published data for new installs, connected right first time, fault fixes et al somewhere, but I don't have it to hand.

They don't - it's part of the crappy "BT line so have to go with BT for an ISP" myth that stops users finding a decent ISP.
BT Retail have the same interface to BT Wholesale as any other ISP.

For - faults?

That's fair enough, you learn something new everyday

As for BT being a 'decent' ISP, they were pretty much faultless while I was with them, they must've seriously gone downhill in the past 10 months.

marc2003 · 29 Sep 2007 at 23:20

for me, BT went downhill in march of this year. i don't think there were many people here moaning about BT before i started.

2 problems with BT right now....

1) the complete randomness of the throttling. light users can be throttled to death - it's barely faster than dialup even though you can have a perfect line/sync/ip profile. at the other end of the spectrum you have self confessed heavy users who download torrents/newsgroups 24/7 and their connections are fine.

2) the abysmal support. the ******** can barely speak english let alone understand someone else speaking it to them. reboot router/delete cookies/re-install windows is about the sum total of support you'll get from them right now. try getting a fault raised with BTw?

krisbutler · 30 Sep 2007 at 09:25

so whos the best and who isnt going to ruin my online gaming ?

at the moment it seems because talk talk dont have the bits in our exchange yet we are paying 10 pounds for a poor line
and as soon as peak time come on we get put on a crap pipe!