I've had it with my phone supplier

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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:39 pm

It's been one thing after another. I'm very patient, but enough is enough.

I was many years with BT but was lured away by cheap calls and cheap frills.
I'm thinking of going back and signing up for this deal unless you know of anything better (anyone but talktalk that is Evil or Very Mad

):

British Telecom deal

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:41 pm

And it's my 3rd Eaterversary.

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:52 pm

I use Option 3 myself. As long as it works it's a great service. If anything goes wrong, then there's when your troubles start. Mine has been ok for at least 6 months now, but when I had my problems ( a faulty modem) it took them weeks to be persuaded that was the problem and to send me a new one.

On a differnt topic, HAPPY EATERVERSARY!!!!

happy crowd

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:55 pm

Congrats on your Eaterversary Smile

I had a cynical look at the BT offer and ended up bookmarking it. I like my current ISP most of the time, but I pay �23 just for the interweb thingy.

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:56 pm

I would comment about your phone but I am in America and do not have a clue about your system. I will say Happy Eaterversary though!

happy crowd

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:58 pm

Happy Eaterversary Windy beers!

go have a blast... get a new telecom provider... Wink

Trophy Videos · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:10 pm

Happy 4th Eaterversary, oldtimer!
That's about 40 USD for internet and phone? I wish I could see a deal like that here, if true. happy crowd

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:12 pm

Happy Eaterday Windy jump_4_joy

419Eater is my life Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Posts: 356

Happy Eaterversary! clapping

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:31 pm

Happy eaterversary Windy!!

happy crowd

Just signed up to O2- seven quid a month of 8mb and no cap!! ( or 10 quid for the 16 meg service)

All I need to sort out now is how to unlock the ADSL router/modem they supply for SIP Voip!

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:57 pm

Hi Windy. Happy Eater.
Go for it. It seems like a great price.
I just got my phone working again. It took a week and a half after my report to send someone up on the pole. I complained last summer but they had someone come by whilst I was not home and blamed my house wiring. This time I disconnected my house and had a phone wired directly to their wires. Listen, no dial tone. It took four phone calls, two hours on hold, four emails, a chat with an tech in India but I finally had my DSL line disconnected also. Just for fun and games, they tacked on two extra weeks. Parting shot across the bow. That's OK, I think I will dump the phone and go broad band phone also.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

Windy, I am also on BT Total Broadband option 3, I was going to try and get a different providor at one point, but decided to stay with BT, I have never had any problems since upgrading to Total Broadband, always on and always fast.

Happy Eaterversary Windy happy crowd

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:24 pm

Congrats!

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:53 pm

You can have it two ways :

1. BT provide your service. They own the exchange, cables, poles, manholes, vans, engineers, DSLAMs, the backbone network and pretty much everything else. They charge slightly more because the law makes them but they can support thier customers. They have a resilient and dynamic core network.

2. Johnny-come-lately-telecoms provide your service. They get everything off BT at wholesale rates and charge you a few pence a month over cost to supply it to you. They own nothing and rarely have anyone technical, preferring to outsource any maintenance to the lowest bidder. Any sort of problem costs them money and so they will be reluctant to do very much, preferring to blame someone else (usually BT and usually incorrectly) unless you can prove to them categorically that it's their responsibility.

Like the old saying, You get what you pay for...

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:11 pm

Happy Eaterversary !!!!!!!!

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 11:48 pm

Happy eaterversary!

On a lighter subject, I am glad I have my Verizon FiOs.

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:55 am

Thanks! on both counts everyone. Very Happy

At the moment my phone rings once (on it's own), but when I answer it just a dialing tone or occasionally if I'm lucky, a caller. If I try 1471 (to find out who rang) it will only give the last successful call made to us. We can make calls no problem but the line is bad.

This has been going on for over two months now but is getting worse. If someone does manage to get through they hear all sorts of noise on the line before we can answer. Then, after the call is ended, the phone starts the ringing us back on it's own thing.
If I'm on-line at the time it does this phantom ring thing, it cuts off my broadband connection, and it takes all sorts of maneuvers to get connected again.

Last week it started doing the ring once thing in the middle of the night, so now I have to disconnect the phone if I want a decent nights sleep.
I reported it four times before they got an engineer to call me. He asked me to take the cover off the junction box and plug the phone jack into that so he could run some line tests. That was two days ago and I've heard nothing from them since. Evil or Very Mad

@Scam Patroller, I was with them for years without any problems. Though a bit more pricey it was a good service. I only have myself to blame. That BT Hub thing might make my transition to Linux a possibility again, which makes it attractive as well.

@eamonn , You speak the truth.

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 11:56 am

Happy eaterversary mate! Very Happy

I'm with BT as well, option 2 I think. Never had any problems with it, and I never end up paying more than a few quid a month for extra phone calls. It's reliable enough.

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:58 pm

@windypops, is the fault worse in wet weather or when it's windy ? It sounds like a HR/Dry joint or maybe a contact of some sort.

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:12 pm

I had almost exactly the same problem. My phone would ring and I get nothing. I pick up the line and get no dial tone. Someone calling in got a constant ringing even if the answering machine picked up. The DSL worked like crap. I would have to reset the modem constantly. The people that they have working for the phone company have not a clue. If it rings, there is no way an extension phone could be off the hook. How could it be a wiring problem if I disconnect the house and still get no dial tone outside? The situation got worse when it rained. I even told them about the junction box that had been left open down the street and the blue tarp covering the phone connections on the pole since last summer. I've heard how bad the service is from the cable company but found out it was not true in this case. They wanted to come out the next day to connect my cable modem. I have not decided what VOIP modality I will use but my wired phone will soon be history.

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:15 pm

Happy eaterverary happy crowd

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:08 am

Little tale about a recently rebranded cable company, back in the days they were still NTHell (don't believe much has changed except the name, by the way). NTL sold my company a block of 10 consecutive phone numbers and we took the actual wires through BT. One of the numbers NTL sold us was a former NTL customer complaints internal number - boy oh boy did we hear some tales...people would rant to us (thinking we were NTL) about being on hold for hours, about botched bills and abysmal service before we broke it to them that NTL had mismanaged their call yet again and put them through to a completely unrelated (sports advice website) company. I heard NTL customers crying, really. Just to add incompetence to nonsense they sold 'our' (paid for) numbers to other companies, then ballsed up getting them back for us even though we'd printed stationery with our numbers on...

Why do I mention this? Go with BT - you hear moans about them, but nothing approaching the pits from some other providers. If you want cheap/approaching free inland and international calls on a real telephone you can use 1899.co.uk or 18866.co.uk (simple to set up online, then just dial 1899 or 18866 access code, get billed to your card - used them for years no problems quality perfect) and just Option 1 from BT.

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