Tiscali woes, what can I do except leave SL forever?

The Gadget Show are behind the curve on this. PC Pro magazine has been covering the Broadband Scam in the UK for the last 3-4 months at least. www.pcpro.co.uk - basically, the best option is to change ISP, and the best ISP according to the PC Pro reader-compiled survey is Zen Internet: www.zen.co.uk - survey top marks, three years on the trot.

(obligatory disclaimer: I write for PC Pro, so some of these statements are inherently biased. The results of the survey, however, are much less twisted...)

Welcome to the wonderful world of British Telecom. Some parts of it are still related to the old "GPO Telephones", and they view Ethernet and computer networking as a recent and ill-mannered upstart...

Except that it does. BT have a long and uncomfortable history of downright lying to subscribers over service availability. There was a famous case of a woman in Tipton who phoned BT and caught them at this; it's documented on The Register's website. You have to be very firm with them to escape their clutches and get a proper, well-engineered 2nd-tier provider connection.

We signed up last November for Tiscali's 2Mb unlimited with smart talk (free UK anytime phone calls) and we have a folder with all our details that we got as part of the package.

On it there is a contact email address given which is broadband at tiscali dot co dot uk and there's also a phone number but, since this is an old package (since superceded) the phone number might not be applicable.

Anyway, I've emailed them detailing my concerns and am awaiting a reply. If anyone else wants to email them, the address above is as good a suggestion as any.

Additionally, if anyone wants to test their broadband line, try Dan Elwell's Broadband Speed Test (just Google Dan Elwell and you'll get the website). The free version doesn't allow you to save any info but for ten UK pounds / fifteen US dollars you can register (unlock) your copy and that give you lots more options to save data and send it to Tiscali or your ISP. It works anywhere in the world but the list of ISPs is UK based.

Elfrida

I'm currently with Namesco, where in addition to getting no more than 2mbps connection speed (out of "up to" 8mbps), terrible bittorrent performance and rubbish customer service, you get an IP address that is registered as being for the Czech Republic. Joy.

Thankfully I'll be moving back home in a little over 3 weeks, where I have Virgin's cable internet (previously Telewest Blueyonder) which is good. A solid 2mbps with no fluctuations or any throttling or download limits like with Namesco.

I hate ADSL internet.

according to wikipedia MAC is
"In computer networking a Media Access Control address (MAC address) or Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA) or hardware address or adapter address is a quasi-unique identifier attached to most network adapters (NICs). It is a number that acts like a name for a particular network adapter, so, for example, the network cards (or built-in network adapters) in two different computers will have different names, or MAC addresses, as would an Ethernet adapter and a wireless adapter in the same computer, and as would multiple network cards in a router. However, it is possible to change the MAC address on most of today's hardware, often referred to as MAC spoofing."

This is the way I have always known MAC, never heard of the other meaning you put there

That is the only MAC I've ever heard of... maybe it has different meanings in different countries or something? I don't know where either of you are located so... dunno

I am from Canada, now located in the USA and both those countries use MAC as the same meaning as the one I quoted

I'm USA..maybe because Tid is UK its different? (tiscali is UK right?)

I really have never heard of that definition of MAC though o.o

same here, never heard MAC being used that way hehe

not sure where Tiscali is

Yes Tid, changing ISP's is tiresome but it might be the only solution. Im with BT on the unlimited package, costs about £25 a month but Ive never had any problem with them and Im logged in 24/7

No there's a code we get in the UK, it's not the Mac address of your network card, it's so companies can pass you around DSL, this doesn't apply to cable.

I agree it's confusing for those who know what a mac address traditionally means.

What is a MAC code?

"A Migrations Authority Code is issued by your current ISP (internet service provider). This code is used then to authenticate the migration request from your current ISP to your new ISP and makes migration between providers much simpler and quicker. You should not cancel your account with your current ISP as it may result in broadband being cancelled on your telephone line. This would make it difficult for you to transfer your service and you would need to order broadband from scratch. Let the ISPs do it all for you. Your current provider may even try to entice you with a free upgrade to keep your business"

Explanation taken from:
http://www.broadband.co.uk/changeprovider.jsp

I think this must be unique to the UK communications system.

Elfrida

Cable companies have not heard of the SW of England, as it is merely the place that millions of people go on holiday to every year.

All those of you with BT - surely they are very very expensive? 8Mb and 40GB costs you ... ? The Tiscali service I get which - SL bandwidth throttling and way less than the advertised 2Mb aside - has been fairly reliable up to now, costs me £14.99 a month. I don't believe BT will even spit on their hands for that?

Having said that, I found out tonight that Tiscali's UK phone number (avoiding India) is 02070 872000 - so [evil smile] I want everyone to phone in and complain tomorrow. Let's jam the switchboard and make them wish they weren't born...

That was what I found confusing too-we don't have anything like that in Germany either-as I said, you just quit one ISP and go to another, no hassle. I still wonder why you couldn't keep your email address tho-as I said, I was with Tiscali in Germany for a while (way back in modem days) and actually used several ISPs at once back then, I just quit all of them but they let me keep the email addresses.

I pay less than £20 a month for BT 8Mb and unlimited bandwidth. Thats an introductory price and it goes up after a few months, but I don't mind. SL and the net are my main source of entertainment and for a service that has always been reliable I don't mind paying the extra bit.

But alas its not totally unlimited, no unlimited package is, read the small print. There is a FUP clause and once you go over that BT will drop your line speed dramatically. And I believe BT FUP is 8gb a month and that is not a lot if you use SL on a regular basis. Once they start to reduce your speed it will drop sometimes to nearly dial up.!!!!!

All unlimited packages whoever it is from, Tiscali, Virgin or BT, Pipex all of them, THEY ALL HAVE FUP CLAUSE so beware of them. I stayed clear of them and went to adsl24 and I pay just under £20 a month for a 30gb peak and 300gb off peak, per month, and have never used this amount, and am on SL an awful lot.

If you read my earlier post:



BT's fair usage policy seems to be more liberal than many of the others. There is an 8Gb package, but it's not the "unlimited" one. You go read the small print.

Nisa Im with BT Unlimited and have been for over a year now. Im in rural Somerset and get no problems at all, Im logged into SL 24/7 and can run all sorts of other programmes for downloading without any bad effects...limewire etc.
And to the OP, you only ever get what you pay for, I think BT Unlimited costs about £25 a month...thats a couple of pints of stella a week

Surely you drink scrumpy down there?

I am also in rural Somerset but I do know for a cert its either option 1 or 2 and you most definately do get fupd and I believe you have to then downgrade. I know others who have experienced the same. I am not saying this could apply to you but others it most certainly has and not just in Somerset but other parts of the country.

And what I was trying to say is Tiscali is the worse for fupping people and dropping line speeds.

Ok then, I guess my next question is this - if I'm on SL like 6 or 7 hours a day, 6 days a week, how much will I be downloading on a monthly basis? I rarely clear cache, so I'm guessing that saves me some downloading, as it can grow to 2.5 GB and must provide some of the content without having to download it.

I want to be able to check I have exceeded what they class as FUP before I go in all guns blazing. I don't use P2P or bittorrent software, so apart from occasional iTunes purchases I'm not exactly a heavy user. But maybe SL uses up more than I think it does?

I was told yesterday by AOL that from now on (long story short) my "unlimited" broadband package was being subject to limitation under an unfair "fair usage" policy.

Doublespeak at it finest.

They did however give me links for where to complain to the Regulator and also this link which has a 'Broadband Download Monitor'. I havent' tried it yet, but will, and put the link here for anyone interested:

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/fair-usage-broadband.html

EDIT: UK too

OK Tidd here is my usage for my last full month and I use sl around 7-8 hours a day.

I used 19.53 gb in peak and 6.70gb in off peak

Peak is from 8am - 10pm and off peak 10pm - 8am and all the weekend. that is adsl24 of course.

so approximately 26 - 27gb a month this consistent useage with Tiscali will get you fupd. An off month of this no but consistent use ( like every month for 6 months) will get you fupd. As I said before my package with adsl24 is 30gb peak and 300gb off peak and will never use this amount. But the line is constant with a brilliant speed of 6.5mb on my line as its capable of 8mb.

Hope this helps you with a guideline.

And dont forget its not just d/l .............. upload is counted in your useage too.