Biscit/V21 problems today

My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to Ezee
DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait till
around 24th November for Netservices to request BT to free his line (which
takes approx 10 further days), allowing him to select another isp. This
according to http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_v_two_one.php.

Guess the question is, can he contact BT direct to request his line be freed
or does he have to wait till24th November?

And also, I assume Ezee DSL are to be avoided? I don't know what their
relationship with Netservices is, but I see they've worked with Netservices
on previous isp failures.

TIA.

Pete

"Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ejfbp3$97$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
> Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to
> Ezee DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait
> till around 24th November for Netservices to request BT to free his
> line (which takes approx 10 further days), allowing him to select
> another isp. This according to
> http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_v_two_one.php.
>
> Guess the question is, can he contact BT direct to request his line be
> freed or does he have to wait till24th November?
>
> And also, I assume Ezee DSL are to be avoided? I don't know what
> their relationship with Netservices is, but I see they've worked with
> Netservices on previous isp failures.
>
> TIA.
>
> Pete

My colleague has run into this. We have come to the conclusion Ezee are
a 'no go', but he has been told his line can't be released until 10th
December.

Kev

"Kev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:zIH6h.466$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:ejfbp3$97$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
>> Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to
>> Ezee DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait
.... snipped ...
>> Pete
>
> My colleague has run into this. We have come to the conclusion Ezee are a
> 'no go', but he has been told his line can't be released until 10th
> December.
>
> Kev

Kev,

Who told him 10th December? Or is that the same as 10 days from 24th
November, as they don't say whether they mean working days or just days.

It is a shocking mess. As usual, the punter pays the price. The mac code
thing is a disgrace - if your service is withdrawn you should get, at the
very minimum, an immediate mac code.

Pete

"Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ejfka1$ra$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Kev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:zIH6h.466$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> "Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in
>> message news:ejfbp3$97$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
>>> Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free
>>> to Ezee DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to
>>> wait
> ... snipped ...
>>> Pete
>>
>> My colleague has run into this. We have come to the conclusion Ezee
>> are a 'no go', but he has been told his line can't be released until
>> 10th December.
>>
>> Kev
>
> Kev,
>
> Who told him 10th December? Or is that the same as 10 days from 24th
> November, as they don't say whether they mean working days or just
> days.
>
> It is a shocking mess. As usual, the punter pays the price. The mac
> code thing is a disgrace - if your service is withdrawn you should
> get, at the very minimum, an immediate mac code.
>
> Pete

I'm not sure who told him the date, but he has put in complaint through
OFTEL? (or whoever you complain to nowadays :-D) about the mac code
situation - perhaps another 'complainant' might help ;-)

Kev

Kev

"Kev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:zIH6h.466$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:ejfbp3$97$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
>> Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to
>> Ezee DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait
>> till around 24th November for Netservices to request BT to free his line
>> (which takes approx 10 further days), allowing him to select another isp.
>> This according to http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_v_two_one.php.
>>
>> Guess the question is, can he contact BT direct to request his line be
>> freed or does he have to wait till24th November?
>>
>> And also, I assume Ezee DSL are to be avoided? I don't know what their
>> relationship with Netservices is, but I see they've worked with
>> Netservices on previous isp failures.
>>
>> TIA.
>>
>> Pete
>
> My colleague has run into this. We have come to the conclusion Ezee are a
> 'no go', but he has been told his line can't be released until 10th
> December.
>

Ofcom tofay told me by 6th December. Fast4 who I have been with for the last
few years I hope to migrate to but now I'm not so sure having read this
http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_fast24migration.php

"Kev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:lVI6h.10556$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:ejfka1$ra$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> "Kev" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:zIH6h.466$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>
>>> "Peter Boulton" <peter@data*no-spam*perceptions.co.uk> wrote in message
>>> news:ejfbp3$97$1$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>> My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
>>>> Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to
>>>> Ezee DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait
>> ... snipped ...
>>>> Pete
>>>
>>> My colleague has run into this. We have come to the conclusion Ezee are
>>> a 'no go', but he has been told his line can't be released until 10th
>>> December.
>>>
>>> Kev
>>
>> Kev,
>>
>> Who told him 10th December? Or is that the same as 10 days from 24th
>> November, as they don't say whether they mean working days or just days.
>>
>> It is a shocking mess. As usual, the punter pays the price. The mac
>> code thing is a disgrace - if your service is withdrawn you should get,
>> at the very minimum, an immediate mac code.
>>
>> Pete
>
> I'm not sure who told him the date, but he has put in complaint through
> OFTEL? (or whoever you complain to nowadays :-D) about the mac code
> situation - perhaps another 'complainant' might help ;-)
>

I rung ofcom to make a compliant but then was told about the situation with
netservices so did'nt seem much point I guess, sort of forgot really as the
guy from ofcom could'nt stop burbling on

Peter Boulton wrote:

> My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
> Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to Ezee
> DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait till
> around 24th November for Netservices to request BT to free his line (which
> takes approx 10 further days), allowing him to select another isp. This
> according to http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_v_two_one.php.
>
> Guess the question is, can he contact BT direct to request his line be freed
> or does he have to wait till24th November?
>
> And also, I assume Ezee DSL are to be avoided? I don't know what their
> relationship with Netservices is, but I see they've worked with Netservices
> on previous isp failures.
>
> TIA.
>
> Pete

As one directly affected, my investigations/ruminations to date:-

V21/Biscit's backup 0808 dial-up service and e-mail are still working.

Certain broadband things are still working, e.g. an @home I'm running
is still able to send and receive work units.

The V21/B support forums are all blocked, even for read-only, though
someone has managed to post something today.

V21/B say they won't continue billing, which is a relief as I signed up
for a 12-month contract.

V21/B say to ask NetServices for MAC codes, but the NetServices page
says they can't supply them.

The V21/B website says they are still in business and can provide
services via another supplier (but they would say that, wouldn't they
:-).

According to V21/B the MAC codes can be used to migrate to V21/B's
"superfast broadband" services, but http://www.v21.co.uk/migration/
doesn't ask you which one you want to migrate to. As it happens, I
applied to change to one of them a few weeks ago following the notice
that seemed to be saying (prophetically it seems) that V21 packages
were being closed down and we had to choose one of Biscit's. My change
is shown as in progress but presumably V21/B won't be able to get MAC
codes to complete it, so I don't know whether this will get me out of
the present hole or not.

My main gripe with V21/B is that they haven't sent an e-mail explaining
what's going on. Since unless you dig deeply the only information comes
from Ezee's web page, it's really in their interests to do so a.s.a.p.

I've dithered about signing up with Ezee, but wondered whether it was
some sort of elaborate scam. It's now looking like a "novation", and
having been dropped in deep legal doo-doo by one of those some years
ago, I'm wary of having it happen again.

Ezee's price doesn't seem to be too bad, though higher than V21. Their
information on what the packages do is rather sparse, e.g. are the
"business" packages unlimited, and can you have one for home use? They
seem to have more services than we are offered on the web page we now
get, one of them a bit cheaper, but presumably you have to pay the
sign-up fee as it's not one of the migration offers.

My biggest headache is that my boss is livid that I'm likely to be off
broadband for several weeks (I'm a homeworker). Being Swiss, he can't
understand why these things take so long to sort out in the UK, nor why
this kind of thing always happens to me and not my colleagues.

Chris

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
>
> Peter Boulton wrote:
>
> > My friend has been hit by NetServices withdrawal of connectivity to
> > Biscit/V21. Seems like the options are either to migrate for free to Ezee
> > DSL, on a 12 months contract at a higher monthly rate, or to wait till
> > around 24th November for Netservices to request BT to free his line (which
> > takes approx 10 further days), allowing him to select another isp. This
> > according to http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_v_two_one.php.
> >
> > Guess the question is, can he contact BT direct to request his line be freed
> > or does he have to wait till24th November?
> >
> > And also, I assume Ezee DSL are to be avoided? I don't know what their
> > relationship with Netservices is, but I see they've worked with Netservices
> > on previous isp failures.
> >
> > TIA.
> >
> > Pete
>
> As one directly affected, my investigations/ruminations to date:-
>
> V21/Biscit's backup 0808 dial-up service and e-mail are still working.
>
> Certain broadband things are still working, e.g. an @home I'm running
> is still able to send and receive work units.
>
https://proxify.com/

https://www.mail2web.com/cgi-bin/login.asp?lid=0&il=1

The situation is now being resolved. See
http://www.netservicesplc.com/pr_v_two_one.php and
http://v21status.biscit.net/index.php Summarising:-

On 24th November NetServices gave instructions for termination of V21
connections.

On the same day, Biscit announced that they will reconnect free of
charge you via a Biscit server if you e-mail them your V21 ID.

Meanwhile. NetServices have temporarily reinstated V21 customers'
broadband connections, free of charge.

Hopefully, the transfer to Biscit will be fairly quick once BT do the
disconnection, but I'm not betting that we won't go to the end of BT's
looooong connection queue.

Chris

On 25 Nov 2006, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>On the same day, Biscit announced that they will reconnect free of
>charge you via a Biscit server if you e-mail them your V21 ID.

If you are without service, you might prefer to consider other ISPs as
there was some change in the T+C put into place by Biscit - apparently
(I'm using Eclipse, and have never been near V21 or some of the others
that Biscit now own)... Someone posted back in October about changes:

The V21 website now sports Biscit T&C's in place of the
previous V21 terms. Under 6 Term and Termination
it includes something about a £70 termination fee and £35
for a migration code. Was Previously £30.

I believe the old terms used to include a clause allowing
them to amend the terms with either 7 or 14 days
notice by posting the amended terms on their website.

http://portal.v21.co.uk/index.asp?exec=terms

If you are a V21 customer now may be a good time to leave.
I assume you will still have a limited time to reject the
terms and get out of your contract for free.

Anyway, for those who want to go with Biscit service, 'good luck' :-)

--
Change to DSL Max the way I did: switch ISP <http://www.dslmax.info/>