It's good to talktalk

I just encountered a bit of a problem with my connection and sent the
broadband support team this message-
***************************
Query : I'm getting worrying 'outages' on this broadband connection now.
It's been getting worse over the last week to the extent that it was off
more than on yesterday. The modem tries repeatedly to log on, but can't get
past initializing, then after hours of this, as if magicaly, it logs on
again. (I now appear to be paying £20 a month for a 50% 512K line)
I wonder if someone could tell me what's going on, or check the connection
and get back to me.
Many thanks in advance
****************************
Here's their reply, and this isn't the auto response, that came first -
>Thank you for your email.
>Please accept my apologies for the delay in reply.
>I am afraid we are unable to assist in this matter as your free technical
>support period of 14 days has come to a close.

Oh dear so now they have my money it would appear I can get the service
sorted out by a premium phone line or go stuff myself.
I just thought people should be aware of the kind of service to expect for a
mere £20 a month.
Come back SKY TV all is forgiven.

H.

You say "the modem tries repeatedly to log on, but can't get
past initialising, then after hours of this, as if magically, it logs
on
again."

What exactly do you mean?

When your connection is lost does an LED on the modem start flashing?
If so it means your modem is losing synchronisation with the equipment
in the exchange (DSLAM) and CPW can do very little about it themselves
other than giving you another modem to try.

BT may be able to do something, but the approach will have to come via
your ISP.

However, there are things you can do yourself to try to improve the
situation. Tell us about what phones and filters you have connected to
your line.

Try disconnecting all your phones faxes Sky box etc. and just have the
modem connected to the line.
Is it OK when you do that?

Are you a long way from your local telephone exchange?
Are your neighbours able to get ADSL without problems?

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

On 23 Jul 2005, "Graham" wrote:

>BT may be able to do something, but the approach will have to come via
>your ISP.

I think that's part of the reason for the post... 14 days seems a pretty
restrictive amount of support, when some problem crops up months later
than the service was activated. Support on Premium Rate numbers is a
rather nasty aspect of any ISP operation, and one I'd recommend users
avoid, wherever possible. Peter M.

--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4> - Happy to save cash with Plus.Net!!

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:44:37 +0100, poster <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 23 Jul 2005, "Graham" wrote:
>
>>BT may be able to do something, but the approach will have to come via
>>your ISP.
>
>I think that's part of the reason for the post... 14 days seems a pretty
>restrictive amount of support, when some problem crops up months later
>than the service was activated. Support on Premium Rate numbers is a
>rather nasty aspect of any ISP operation, and one I'd recommend users
>avoid, wherever possible. Peter M.

Support from ISPs:
A geographical number - you will be very lucky on that one!
I don't think any provide an 0800;
Very few have 0845;
Most seem to be 0870
There is a sprinkling on 09

So apart from the obvious 09 ones, is your recommendation to seek out 0845
support services irrespective of the quality of the Broadband service they may
provide? In my book it is the whole spectrum of how the ISP is in the market
place, not solely the telephone number you might need to contact them on.

What you have to watch quite closely is that maximum prices set by OFCOM for
call charges only apply to BT; secondary providers can charge what they like
for 08 and 09 calls which can be as high as £5 a unit!

David Bradley

David Bradley wrote:

> What you have to watch quite closely is that maximum prices set by OFCOM for
> call charges only apply to BT; secondary providers can charge what they like
> for 08 and 09 calls which can be as high as £5 a unit!
>
> David Bradley

And in that context this might be found useful:

http://www.magsys.co.uk/telecom/codelook.asp

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:27:39 UTC, David Bradley <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 14:44:37 +0100, poster <us-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >On 23 Jul 2005, "Graham" wrote:
> >
> >>BT may be able to do something, but the approach will have to come via
> >>your ISP.
> >
> >I think that's part of the reason for the post... 14 days seems a pretty
> >restrictive amount of support, when some problem crops up months later
> >than the service was activated. Support on Premium Rate numbers is a
> >rather nasty aspect of any ISP operation, and one I'd recommend users
> >avoid, wherever possible. Peter M.
>
> Support from ISPs:
> A geographical number - you will be very lucky on that one!

I'm lucky, then! OK, it's a 'premium' ISP, but...

--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

> Support from ISPs:
> A geographical number - you will be very lucky on that
> one!

We (only) have a geographical number for support.

Ray

--
Ray Bellis
Technical Director
Community Internet plc
http://www.community.net.uk/

On 24 Jul 2005 15:27, David Bradley <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>A geographical number - you will be very lucky on that one!

Metronet, Claranet, Eclipse (well it was, who knows for the future)...
but not open all hours under the sun, where someone working shifts may
want to phone for assistance when the problem is detected, eg 23:30 or
even 04:30... Some ISPs are open 24x7 though for most, I suspect there
would still be a problem reaching some departments over the weekends.

>I don't think any provide an 0800;

AOL

>So apart from the obvious 09 ones, is your recommendation to seek out 0845
>support services irrespective of the quality of the Broadband service they may
>provide? In my book it is the whole spectrum of how the ISP is in the market
>place, not solely the telephone number you might need to contact them on.

Well, it's a combination, of not a premium rate number (for me an 0870/0871
would still be acceptable, so long as I got someone able to assist, rather
than be left listening for an extended period), and flexibility to get an
answer "out of office hours" because many people want some help when the
connection is down, not Mon-Fri 0900-1730 (when they may be unable to be
at the PC and make the call, so they cannot do anything that is asked of
them by staff).


>What you have to watch quite closely is that maximum prices set by OFCOM for
>call charges only apply to BT; secondary providers can charge what they like
>for 08 and 09 calls which can be as high as £5 a unit!

Have you any examples ? The only numbers I would expect to be at high cost
500p/minute would be to satellite phone services, hardly something that's a
likely number to dial for tech support :-)

--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4> - Happy to save cash with Plus.Net!!

poster wrote:
>> I don't think any provide an 0800;
>
> AOL

Recently announced that they were going to withdraw their 0800 service line