Has anyone else had a prob with these boneheads?

Basically i get my phoneline from BT and my broadband from Tiscali. At start of December the self contained lodger upstairs wanted a new phoneline so rang BT for one. So the boneheads automatically presumed I had moved out and sent a letter informing me I would be disconnected.

After at least 15 hours (no, i'm not exaggerating) on hold i finally managed to get through to them that we needed two seperate lines for two seperate lodgers - is it really that hard to get??? So i wasn't disconnected. Wooo woooo

Phew i thought.

But no. BT boneheads emailed Tiscali and told them i had been disconnected so my Broadband connection was then cut off - this i found when i tired to get it to work. So i rang Tiscali on 16 Dec. They said sorry and it would be reconnected in 48 hours. After 48 hrs I rang back again, the order had been cancelled???? So they said 7 working days - this was over xmas so it would be 2 Jan.

2nd Jan came - alas, still no internet. So I rang and they said it would be the 4th.... yes i went mad and was put through to a supervisor, who promised a phone call daily with the status and would be no later than 4th.

So, you've guessed it, no status update phone calls and got home tonight, still no internet.

But they say 48 hrs, so here's hoping.

BONEHEADS!!! :rant: :rant:

And incase anyone is wondering... the kind people next door have unsecured wireless so i'm using theirs :hihi:

Oh Tiscali..........yep I've had big problems with them.
To cut a long story short, I was paying thm for an 8 meg service and not getting 1. There excuse was that I was to far away from the exchange. Took Tiscali 8 months (no joke) to work out that the nearest exchange was actually where I told them it was.........over the back wall from my back yard!!!!

Oh Tiscali..........yep I've had big problems with them.
To cut a long story short, I was paying thm for an 8 meg service and not getting 1. There excuse was that I was to far away from the exchange. Took Tiscali 8 months (no joke) to work out that the nearest exchange was actually where I told them it was.........over the back wall from my back yard!!!!

how can you tell what service your getting ? i pay for 8meg but dont know hoe to tell the difference.
just clicked on something that says speed 576.0 kbps is that anything to do with it?

think all communication with concerns such as Tiscali,BT,Virgin Media,Aol,Sky etc etc; should be recorded so it can be presented in court eventually.
all these conglomerates seem to entirelly dismiss their customers once they've got them

I use www.seriouslyinternet.com or sales@serioulyinternet.com

I have had no trouble with it and I find it fast, up to 8 meg.

hazel

how can you tell what service your getting ? i pay for 8meg but dont know hoe to tell the difference.
just clicked on something that says speed 576.0 kbps is that anything to do with it?


Thats only half a meg :o


Go to www.speedtest.net. Ensure that np p2p software or other things that will take bandwidth and run the test. That will give you your speed

how can you tell what service your getting ? i pay for 8meg but dont know hoe to tell the difference.
just clicked on something that says speed 576.0 kbps is that anything to do with it?

The only real way to tell is to look at your line stats. To do this you would need to log into your router.

If you let me know what router you have I will advise how to do this.

You could also run a proper speed test via speedtester.bt.com

This will give us a clue as it tells IP profile, upload usually gives it away if you are on a fixed speed, rather than a rate adaptable, fast as your line will handle.

Helen

I hate Tiscali too! We were with them for a year and they did not take a direct debit ONCE. I rang to reset it on at least 4 occasions and we tried using both mine and the OHs bank details but they just didn't take the money, didn't call, email or even write then bunged on charges and cut us off.

How hard is it to get someone to take your money these days!

Thats only half a meg :o


Go to speedtest.net. Ensure that np p2p software or other things that will take bandwidth and run the test. That will give you your speed

Trouble with Liam is that it will only give you the speed. It could be that he is on an "up to 8 meg" service and the line is a long way from the exchange and only manages half a meg, it could also be that the ISP is congested or the line profile is low, hence why I am suggesting he logs into his router and gives the line stats.

Also speed tests can vary from one site to another depending on where their servers are and how busy the site is, the best speedtester site is the one that I posted in answer.

Helen

Trouble with Liam is that it will only give you the speed. It could be that he is on an "up to 8 meg" service and the line is a long way from the exchange and only manages half a meg, it could also be that the ISP is congested or the line profile is low, hence why I am suggesting he logs into his router and gives the line stats.

Also speed tests can vary from one site to another depending on where their servers are and how busy the site is, the best speedtester site is the one that I posted in answer.

Helen

Yeah your quite right but to a non techy it will give some sort of idea what speed is reaching the computer. Tested over a week or so it will at least give a little idea. Im not too techy so im sure the router setting would give a far more accurate reading.

What happened is that when BT where called by the lodger a PSTN cease was placed which even though you sorted it with BT the cease needs to be manually stopped.

When you speak to BT they generally don't know what these are, they stop ALL services on the line, therefore causing the broadband to stop as well.

Now, as long as the line was active when Tiscali tried to place the order it should have been done for the 23rd for you (if it was ceased on the 16th) sometimes it can take 48 hours for them to see the line if administrative work has been done by BT.

If the order was placed whilsts the PSTN cease was going through any order placed by Tiscali will be cancelled. Sometimes the broadband goes of 3-4 days prior to the cease completing. So by you calling them when its stopped, someone there didn't check, placed the order, gave you a date and you went away.

The order would then be cancelled as soon as it was ordered "duplicate order in place".

Not sure where getting it back online in 48 hours came from, a BT order takes 5 working days MINIMUM. Sometimes it can complete earlier however its not guaranteed.

Keep at Tiscali, however they may try and charge you to get it back online, its classed as a new connection. Every ISP has different charges. Make sure you check it with them.

Good luck and hope this makes it clearer for you

Yeah your quite right but to a non techy it will give some sort of idea what speed is reaching the computer. Tested over a week or so it will at least give a little idea. Im not too techy so im sure the router setting would give a far more accurate reading.

Agreed, it does give some basic knowledge.

Router stats give great info thou, and really do help troubleshoot...

SNR Margin (dB): 13.0 7.0
Attenuation (dB): 35.0 26.5
Output Power (dBm): 12.5 19.6
Attainable Rate (Kbps): 4768 1020
Rate (Kbps): 4416 832

above is an example from a line we have.

Attainable rate is the key, so this line tells me around 4 meg down and 832 up (832 because it is a premium line).

Helen

Attainable rate is the key, so this line tells me around 4 meg down and 832 up (832 because it is a premium line).


Wow 832kbps on the up

Even business users where I work only get 400 ish.

Wow 832kbps on the up

Even business users where I work only get 400 ish.

Probably because not many folk are aware that you can buy premium broadband, and not all ISP's sell it.

We, along with a few others, offer bonded broadband as well, where you bond lines together to give double, triple, quad the upload and download speed, but there you are getting into a real specialised area!

Probably because not many folk are aware that you can buy premium broadband, and not all ISP's sell it.

We, along with a few others, offer bonded broadband as well, where you bond lines together to give double, triple, quad the upload and download speed, but there you are getting into a real specialised area!

Which ISP??

Which ISP??

Thought my profile might have given this away!

adsl.southwitham.net and www.wireless.southwitham.net are my websites.

With bonded you obviously need more than the one telephone line, you are literally taking two, three, four lines, all with ADSL on them so it can become expensive, a specialised market, more for those who are looking at alternatives to leased lines.

The technology behind it is sharedband.com which we have been using for over 18 months.

The upload of the line I posted is just an ordinary single line thou, on a premium broadband service, that gives greater upload and priority at the exchange.

I though BT wholesale could only offer 50/1 contention for domestic regardless of how much you pay

I though BT wholesale could only offer 50/1 contention for domestic regardless of how much you pay

When IPStream was first launched it was available in two versions. IPStream Home had a quoted contention ratio of 50:1 and IPStream Office had a quoted contention ratio of 20:1. BT stopped using contention ratios to describe IPStream in 2006 and started using a description of ‘Expected End User Experience’ instead.
In general actual contention depends on the ISP and how much they oversell their own network. Bottom end market ISPs sell their capacity many times over. With Datastream and LLU the service provider controls both the local loop (the line between the exchange and the end-user) and the virtual path (the leased line from the exchange to the SPs network). Consequently they can decide how many end-users share an amount of bandwidth, and this is where the contention ratio comes in
Premium can be demonstrated to maintain a higher throughput than Standard when contending multiple lines on the same (small) exchange. We run a mesh network and have multiple lines on the same exchange and have seen this. This is only relevant for congestion at the exchange or in BT's network
http://tinyurl.com/2tps9j

The only real way to tell is to look at your line stats. To do this you would need to log into your router.

If you let me know what router you have I will advise how to do this.

You could also run a proper speed test via speedtester.bt.com

This will give us a clue as it tells IP profile, upload usually gives it away if you are on a fixed speed, rather than a rate adaptable, fast as your line will handle.

Helen

just looked at my router on the underside it says thomson speedtouch 330 is that an help ?

Yep, it's what we call the frog, here is the site that will tell you how to get into your router and get the stats, and if you post them then I can advise on what you could expect on the line.

http://tinyurl.com/jdway

If anyone is getting slow speeds, when looking at router stats, and doing speed tests, it's also worth making sure your exchange is not on red alert

http://tinyurl.com/2ylduw

Oh Tiscali..........yep I've had big problems with them.
To cut a long story short, I was paying thm for an 8 meg service and not getting 1. There excuse was that I was to far away from the exchange. Took Tiscali 8 months (no joke) to work out that the nearest exchange was actually where I told them it was.........over the back wall from my back yard!!!!

I do agree that Tiscali are far from the best ISP, but in this case the fault was with BT, if the phone number goes then there is nothing for the broadband to run on!

The phone number never went though! That's why I don't understand! :mad:

Yep, it's what we call the frog, here is the site that will tell you how to get into your router and get the stats, and if you post them then I can advise on what you could expect on the line.

http://tinyurl.com/jdway

If anyone is getting slow speeds, when looking at router stats, and doing speed tests, it's also worth making sure your exchange is not on red alert

http://tinyurl.com/2ylduw


The congestion checker doesn't do anything when you put any phone number in!

The congestion checker doesn't do anything when you put any phone number in!

You're dead right, umm strange, try Nildram's instead

http://tinyurl.com/vdnkp