BT change of tariff causes ADSL cease

I helped a friend set up ADSL on a BT line that he used for business. He's
retiring, so the phone line will no longer be used for business.

Yesterday (Sunday) the ISP informed me by email that BT was cancelling the
ADSL service. As soon as their office opened this morning I investigated,
and found that the reason that BT had ceased the provision was the change
from a business to a residential tariff for the phone line. I think this is
a really dirty business practise on the part of BT. Is this something that
I should refer to OFTEL ???

I doubt that the ISP has any control over this, and they have offered to set
up a new service with the attendant activation charge.

If I have to pay a new activation charge I might as well go to a new
supplier. Can anybody suggest a supplier who has achieved a re-instatement
of service in these conditions?

TIA

-- Graham J

Graham J wrote:
> I helped a friend set up ADSL on a BT line that he used for business. He's
> retiring, so the phone line will no longer be used for business.
>
> Yesterday (Sunday) the ISP informed me by email that BT was cancelling the
> ADSL service. As soon as their office opened this morning I investigated,
> and found that the reason that BT had ceased the provision was the change
> from a business to a residential tariff for the phone line. I think this is
> a really dirty business practise on the part of BT.


You forgot to mention the termination fee of £18 or so that he didn't
agree to when he signed up (or is business bb different?)

They gain a few pennies in the short term but build up a lot of bad
will. I'll never use them again if I can help it.

"Bill Hook" <anon@-.-> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Graham J wrote:
>> I helped a friend set up ADSL on a BT line that he used for business.
>> He's retiring, so the phone line will no longer be used for business.
>>
>> Yesterday (Sunday) the ISP informed me by email that BT was cancelling
>> the ADSL service. As soon as their office opened this morning I
>> investigated, and found that the reason that BT had ceased the provision
>> was the change from a business to a residential tariff for the phone
>> line. I think this is a really dirty business practise on the part of
>> BT.
>
>
> You forgot to mention the termination fee of £18 or so that he didn't
> agree to when he signed up (or is business bb different?)
>
> They gain a few pennies in the short term but build up a lot of bad will.
> I'll never use them again if I can help it.

I should emphasise that the ISP was not BT - only the line rental and calls
were supplied by BT.

Curiously the ISP has not charged a cancellation fee and has issued a credit
note for the unused part of this month's rental. In this respect they have
been scrupulously honest.

But do other ISPs suffer the same way at the hands of BT? It seems quite
unreasonable that BT should cancel a service with practically no notice when
there is no obvious technical reason why it should be necessary to do so.

Clearly if all other ISPs suffer in the same way there is no point in my
recommending a different ISP.

My friend is completely non-technical and will not understand why his
apparently inocuous action of changing tariff should break his ADSL service,
and cost him a further fee to activate a new service. I cannot give a
logical or sensible explanation, so can only report what BT have told the
ISP.

-- Graham J

"Graham J" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:497db471$0$11934$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I helped a friend set up ADSL on a BT line that he used for business. He's
>retiring, so the phone line will no longer be used for business.
>
> Yesterday (Sunday) the ISP informed me by email that BT was cancelling the
> ADSL service. As soon as their office opened this morning I investigated,
> and found that the reason that BT had ceased the provision was the change
> from a business to a residential tariff for the phone line. I think this
> is a really dirty business practise on the part of BT. Is this something
> that I should refer to OFTEL ???
>
> I doubt that the ISP has any control over this, and they have offered to
> set up a new service with the attendant activation charge.
>
> If I have to pay a new activation charge I might as well go to a new
> supplier. Can anybody suggest a supplier who has achieved a
> re-instatement of service in these conditions?

OK so I need to look for a new ISP. It would be nice to have:

- Static IP;

- Monthly contract;

- Reasonable download limit say 5GB;

- Download volume monitoring - via a browser add-on, for example;

- Line parameter monitoring to show BRAS profile and the like.

Others here have recommended Idnet, but I can't find answers to all these
questions on their website.

And most obviously: a robust attitude towards BT in the face of any
arbitrary withdrawal of service.

--
Graham J

In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:47:31, Graham J wrote:

>It seems quite unreasonable that BT should cancel a service with
>practically no notice when there is no obvious technical reason why it
>should be necessary to do so.

Any change to an account will mean ADSL disconnection - from business to
private, change of name of account-holder, even a change of phone number
do to having abusive calls.

I agree it shouldn't be necessary - but it's the way BT accounts are
administered it seems.

It's just possible an ISP such as AAISP may be able to bypass the system
in some cases, but I wouldn't bet on it.

--
Jim Crowther

In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:04:02, Graham J wrote:

>OK so I need to look for a new ISP. It would be nice to have:
>
>- Static IP;
>
>- Monthly contract;
>
>- Reasonable download limit say 5GB;
>
>- Download volume monitoring - via a browser add-on, for example;
>
>- Line parameter monitoring to show BRAS profile and the like.
>
>Others here have recommended Idnet, but I can't find answers to all
>these questions on their website.
>
>And most obviously: a robust attitude towards BT in the face of any
>arbitrary withdrawal of service.

AAISP fits the bill perfectly I should think! Just a happy customer.

--
Jim Crowther

On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:04:02 UTC, "Graham J" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> OK so I need to look for a new ISP. It would be nice to have:
>
> - Static IP;

As many as you want - no extra charge.

> - Monthly contract;

Yes.

> - Reasonable download limit say 5GB;

Limits from 1GB upwards but only counted 0900-1800 Mon-Fri. Otherwise
100GB, and unlimited 0200-0600.

> - Download volume monitoring - via a browser add-on, for example;

Web pages with lots of stuff.

> - Line parameter monitoring to show BRAS profile and the like.

Likewise.

> And most obviously: a robust attitude towards BT in the face of any
> arbitrary withdrawal of service.

Very robust!

You just described AAISP....pretty well exactly.

--
Bob Eager
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

Graham J wrote:
> "Bill Hook" <anon@-.-> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Graham J wrote:
>>> I helped a friend set up ADSL on a BT line that he used for business.
>>> He's retiring, so the phone line will no longer be used for business.
>>>
>>> Yesterday (Sunday) the ISP informed me by email that BT was cancelling
>>> the ADSL service. As soon as their office opened this morning I
>>> investigated, and found that the reason that BT had ceased the provision
>>> was the change from a business to a residential tariff for the phone
>>> line. I think this is a really dirty business practise on the part of
>>> BT.
>>
>> You forgot to mention the termination fee of £18 or so that he didn't
>> agree to when he signed up (or is business bb different?)
>>
>> They gain a few pennies in the short term but build up a lot of bad will.
>> I'll never use them again if I can help it.
>
> I should emphasise that the ISP was not BT - only the line rental and calls
> were supplied by BT.

Sorry! - I see I didn't read your OP thoroughly enough.

>
> Curiously the ISP has not charged a cancellation fee and has issued a credit
> note for the unused part of this month's rental. In this respect they have
> been scrupulously honest.

Yes definitely not BT

On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 20:04:02 -0000, "Graham J" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>OK so I need to look for a new ISP. It would be nice to have:
>
>- Static IP;

AAISP give you as many as you need for no additional charge.

>- Monthly contract;

And this.

>- Reasonable download limit say 5GB;

Well I only have a 1GB limit in peak times (09:00-18:00 Mon-Fri). I have
never been over this.
I use on average 20-30GB non-peak with no additional charge.

1GB is about £17.50
Expect to pay about £3 a month extra for each 1GB included in peak time
usage (so 5GB would be about £30).

>- Download volume monitoring - via a browser add-on, for example;

Yes, they have this but the ability to monitor individual IP addresses
seems to have been lost recently (I am not missing it too much).

>- Line parameter monitoring to show BRAS profile and the like.

Yes you can see this. Plus all requests to BT are available in
near-enough real-time.

>Others here have recommended Idnet, but I can't find answers to all these
>questions on their website.

I have no experience of Idnet but have heard good things.

>And most obviously: a robust attitude towards BT in the face of any
>arbitrary withdrawal of service.

This is AAISP. They will hunt them down long after other ISP's may have
given up the chase. Not sure they would be able to help with your
current issue though.

I am approaching 5-years with AAISP and although I have considered
moving a few times I have never done so (the grass never seems green
enough on the other side of the fence).

--
Thanks
PAJ

"Mortimer" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) et...
> "Jim Crowther" <Don'(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed) nvalid...
>> In uk.telecom.broadband, on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:47:31, Graham J wrote:
>>
>>>It seems quite unreasonable that BT should cancel a service with
>>>practically no notice when there is no obvious technical reason why it
>>>should be necessary to do so.
>>
>> Any change to an account will mean ADSL disconnection - from business to
>> private, change of name of account-holder, even a change of phone number
>> do to having abusive calls.
>>
>> I agree it shouldn't be necessary - but it's the way BT accounts are
>> administered it seems.
>>
>> It's just possible an ISP such as AAISP may be able to bypass the system
>> in some cases, but I wouldn't bet on it.
>
> Stpuid question, but why does Oftel allow BT to do this? How can it be in
> anyone's interest except BT's for BT to be allowed to levy an additional
> activation charge? What is the point of having Oftel if they don't act
> against companies that do this?

OK so how do I take this up with OFTEL ??

-- Graham J