Changing broadband providers??

Hi,
i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their current
provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they need a mac
address from them for the switchover to take place.

Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since it's
their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends should contact
tricali - who are beyond useless.

any thoughts?

"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
> i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their current
> provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
> Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they need a mac
> address from them for the switchover to take place.
>
> Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since it's
> their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends should contact
> tricali - who are beyond useless.
>
> any thoughts?

Yes, your friends must be stupid! There is nothing wrong with Tiscali
providing you stick to the acceptable user policy. Good service so far this
end. If your email was genuine I would tell you the procedure. I suspect
your friends are not telling the truth or you are not. Tell your friends
to come to this group and i will advise them directly. There is no point
speaking to you!
Tiscali are not useless, you trying to interfere and giving bad advice is
the problem here.

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 21:50:10 UTC, Paul <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their current
> provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.

I'm not surprised! One of the very worst providers, it seems.

> Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they need a mac
> address from them for the switchover to take place.

Just for information; it's called a MAC (or Migration Authorisation
Code). A MAC address is something totally different, and techie, and not
what you need.

The MAC allows the new ISP to do a quick changeover without (much) loss
of service. I believe that this is a problem with Tiscali because (a)
they use a slightly different kind of connection, so it's not a quick
switchover [something called Datastream rather than IPstream], although
that's supposed to be changing and (b) because they're useless.

Keep demanding a MAC but it may not help. Failing that, wait for Tiscali
to disconnect, then wait for them to free the line (could be a while)
and then connect via a new ISP. If desperate (and rich) get a new phone
line and put ADSL on that (has been done in desperation).

A separate issue is whether BT is the best choice, but that's another
story. Better than Tiscali anyway.

Oh, and paul.t is obviously a pillock.

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http://www.voipinside.net

on 15/01/2007, Paul supposed :
> Hi,
> i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their current
> provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
> Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they need a mac
> address from them for the switchover to take place.
>
> Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since it's
> their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends should contact
> tricali - who are beyond useless.
>
> any thoughts?

If the service is disconnected you wont get a MAC code. Just sign up as
a new customer.

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:14:38 UTC, ACDeag <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> on 15/01/2007, Paul supposed :
> > Hi,
> > i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their current
> > provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
> > Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they need a mac
> > address from them for the switchover to take place.
> >
> > Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since it's
> > their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends should contact
> > tricali - who are beyond useless.
> >
> > any thoughts?
>
> If the service is disconnected you wont get a MAC code. Just sign up as
> a new customer.

Good point. I missed that it's disconnected already.

<pedant>
MAC - not 'MAC code'
</pedant>

!!!


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The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.voipinside.net

Bob Eager wrote:
> On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:14:38 UTC, ACDeag
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> on 15/01/2007, Paul supposed :
>>> Hi,
>>> i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their
>>> current provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
>>> Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they
>>> need a mac address from them for the switchover to take place.
>>>
>>> Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since
>>> it's their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends
>>> should contact tricali - who are beyond useless.
>>>
>>> any thoughts?
>>
>> If the service is disconnected you wont get a MAC code. Just sign
>> up as a new customer.
>
> Good point. I missed that it's disconnected already.
>
> <pedant>
> MAC - not 'MAC code'
> </pedant>
>
> !!!
What both you guys have missed is the fact the Tiscali could hold a
flag on that line for some time, in doing so effectively blocking any
orders being taken.

There are procedures in place to get them removed if the old ISP is
tardy in doing so now though.

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:12:32 +0000, Bob Eager wrote:
<snip>

thanks for the replies, folks - much appreciated!

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 23:10:00 UTC, "kraftee" <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk>
wrote:

> Bob Eager wrote:
> > On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 22:14:38 UTC, ACDeag
> > <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> >> on 15/01/2007, Paul supposed :
> >>> Hi,
> >>> i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their
> >>> current provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
> >>> Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they
> >>> need a mac address from them for the switchover to take place.
> >>>
> >>> Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since
> >>> it's their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends
> >>> should contact tricali - who are beyond useless.
> >>>
> >>> any thoughts?
> >>
> >> If the service is disconnected you wont get a MAC code. Just sign
> >> up as a new customer.
> >
> > Good point. I missed that it's disconnected already.
> >
> > <pedant>
> > MAC - not 'MAC code'
> > </pedant>
> >
> > !!!
> What both you guys have missed is the fact the Tiscali could hold a
> flag on that line for some time, in doing so effectively blocking any
> orders being taken.

I agree. And I did say:

"Failing that, wait for Tiscali
to disconnect, then wait for them to free the line (could be a while) "

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.voipinside.net

It's the responsibility of the service provider (Tiscali) to provide a MAC.
Ofcom has announced that, from 14 February, ISPS will be obliged to supply a
MAC on request free of charge and that it will get heavy with any ISP
refusing to or dragging its feet on supplying a MAC. This wont, however,
help customers of an ISP that has ceased trading or people moving into a
house which has a tagged line.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
> i have some friends who are despirately trying to ditch their current
> provider, tiscali, so that they can switch to BT.
> Tiscali have disconnected their service, but BT say that they need a mac
> address from them for the switchover to take place.
>
> Who is it that would provide this? I would assume it was BT since it's
> their kit, but apparently not as they've said my friends should contact
> tricali - who are beyond useless.
>
> any thoughts?

On 15 Jan 2007, "paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Yes, your friends must be stupid! There is nothing wrong with Tiscali
>providing you stick to the acceptable user policy.

For all we know, the user might want BT Vision. Is that available over a
Tiscali connection ? (I don't think so, for now, anyway).


>Tiscali are not useless, you trying to interfere and giving bad advice is
>the problem here.

Over a number of years, Tiscali has been one of the few ISPs which was
regularly identified as not being willing to provide a MAC. Seems a
reason for some to consider them useless, even if their network is
OK for some users (I know of a couple of users, with no probs, and
in the past I was using the Tiscali network though they were not my
ISP, so I've never dealt with their customer service staff).