Warning re Talktalk "free" broadband and existing users

Talktalk have recently started to offer "free" broadband with one of their
phone packages.

What they do not make clear, however, when you are signing up for their 18
month contract, is that certain ports are either blocked entirely or
restricted.

*This also applies to existing accounts, paying FULL price!* (i.e. mine
)

For gamers, this means that Steam - the most popular online game content
delivery system in the world - doesn't work.

It also means you can't use bittorrent etc.

They advertise themselves as "gaming friendly" and proceed to disable the
most popular single player games (Half Life, Half Life 2) and the most
popular multi player games (Counter Strike, Day of Defeat etc.).

The games may work if your Steam account is up to date, but Steam cannot
update and so, if you use Steam then it *will* stop working with Talktalk.

Moral: you get what you pay for and anyone interested in using their PC for
games or (legal) file sharing should not use Talktalk.

I am contacting trading standards next week re: their "gamer friendly" false
claims.

"Steam" thread discussing this is here:

http://snipurl.com/steamthread

"Schrodinger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsdq7g.359614$(E-Mail Removed) m...
> Talktalk have recently started to offer "free" broadband with one of their
> phone packages.
>
> What they do not make clear, however, when you are signing up for their 18
> month contract, is that certain ports are either blocked entirely or
> restricted.
>
> *This also applies to existing accounts, paying FULL price!* (i.e. mine
> )
>
> For gamers, this means that Steam - the most popular online game content
> delivery system in the world - doesn't work.
>
> It also means you can't use bittorrent etc.
>
> They advertise themselves as "gaming friendly" and proceed to disable the
> most popular single player games (Half Life, Half Life 2) and the most
> popular multi player games (Counter Strike, Day of Defeat etc.).
>
> The games may work if your Steam account is up to date, but Steam cannot
> update and so, if you use Steam then it *will* stop working with Talktalk.
>
> Moral: you get what you pay for and anyone interested in using their PC
> for
> games or (legal) file sharing should not use Talktalk.
>
> I am contacting trading standards next week re: their "gamer friendly"
> false
> claims.
>
> "Steam" thread discussing this is here:
>
> http://snipurl.com/steamthread
>
>

I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole either. In our local shop's window
they've got big stickers saying 'free broadband for life'. No smallprint on
them or anywhere else in the window. I made a few enquiries in the store,
they promised me 8 meg broadband speed but it's not free in our area cos
they're having to piggyback on some other broadband company and it's gonna
cost me an extra £9.99 p/m. I asked if they could guarantee the 8meg speed
in this area and was told 'yes'. I told the chap he was talking out of his
bum as our exchange will only handle 2meg at present and it will be a long
time before it'll be upgraded! He also told me there was no minimum
contract! He also mentioned it was an unlimited service but had a 60 gig cap
per month!

Netty wrote:
> "Schrodinger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> newsdq7g.359614$(E-Mail Removed) m...
>> Talktalk have recently started to offer "free" broadband with one of their
>> phone packages.
>>
>> What they do not make clear, however, when you are signing up for their 18
>> month contract, is that certain ports are either blocked entirely or
>> restricted.
>>
>> *This also applies to existing accounts, paying FULL price!* (i.e. mine
>> )
>>
>> For gamers, this means that Steam - the most popular online game content
>> delivery system in the world - doesn't work.
>>
>> It also means you can't use bittorrent etc.
>>
>> They advertise themselves as "gaming friendly" and proceed to disable the
>> most popular single player games (Half Life, Half Life 2) and the most
>> popular multi player games (Counter Strike, Day of Defeat etc.).
>>
>> The games may work if your Steam account is up to date, but Steam cannot
>> update and so, if you use Steam then it *will* stop working with Talktalk.
>>
>> Moral: you get what you pay for and anyone interested in using their PC
>> for
>> games or (legal) file sharing should not use Talktalk.
>>
>> I am contacting trading standards next week re: their "gamer friendly"
>> false
>> claims.
>>
>> "Steam" thread discussing this is here:
>>
>> http://snipurl.com/steamthread
>>
>>
>
> I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole either. In our local shop's window
> they've got big stickers saying 'free broadband for life'. No smallprint on
> them or anywhere else in the window. I made a few enquiries in the store,
> they promised me 8 meg broadband speed but it's not free in our area cos
> they're having to piggyback on some other broadband company and it's gonna
> cost me an extra £9.99 p/m. I asked if they could guarantee the 8meg speed
> in this area and was told 'yes'. I told the chap he was talking out of his
> bum as our exchange will only handle 2meg at present and it will be a long
> time before it'll be upgraded! He also told me there was no minimum
> contract! He also mentioned it was an unlimited service but had a 60 gig cap
> per month!
>
>
Carphone Warehouse used to be good, fair and knowledgeable. Not any
more. I have moved our mobiles away from Fresh and landline away from
TalkTalk. Don't expect any service. A letter to the chief exec didn't
even get an acknowledgement (but they did manage to cash the enclosed
cheque whereas they had totally fouled up direct debits repeatedly).

"Netty" <netty@???.com> wrote in message news:e3lff7$d9m$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Schrodinger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> newsdq7g.359614$(E-Mail Removed) m...
> > Talktalk have recently started to offer "free" broadband with one of
their
> > phone packages.
> >
> > What they do not make clear, however, when you are signing up for their
18
> > month contract, is that certain ports are either blocked entirely or
> > restricted.
> >
> > *This also applies to existing accounts, paying FULL price!* (i.e. mine
> > )
> >
> > For gamers, this means that Steam - the most popular online game content
> > delivery system in the world - doesn't work.
> >
> > It also means you can't use bittorrent etc.
> >
> > They advertise themselves as "gaming friendly" and proceed to disable
the
> > most popular single player games (Half Life, Half Life 2) and the most
> > popular multi player games (Counter Strike, Day of Defeat etc.).
> >
> > The games may work if your Steam account is up to date, but Steam cannot
> > update and so, if you use Steam then it *will* stop working with
Talktalk.
> >
> > Moral: you get what you pay for and anyone interested in using their PC
> > for
> > games or (legal) file sharing should not use Talktalk.
> >
> > I am contacting trading standards next week re: their "gamer friendly"
> > false
> > claims.
> >
> > "Steam" thread discussing this is here:
> >
> > http://snipurl.com/steamthread
> >
> >
>
> I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole either. In our local shop's window
> they've got big stickers saying 'free broadband for life'. No smallprint
on
> them or anywhere else in the window. I made a few enquiries in the store,
> they promised me 8 meg broadband speed but it's not free in our area cos
> they're having to piggyback on some other broadband company and it's gonna
> cost me an extra £9.99 p/m. I asked if they could guarantee the 8meg speed
> in this area and was told 'yes'. I told the chap he was talking out of his

> bum as our exchange will only handle 2meg at present and it will be a long
> time before it'll be upgraded! He also told me there was no minimum
> contract! He also mentioned it was an unlimited service but had a 60 gig
cap
> per month!

Well, it is "unlimited" until you've reached 60 gig )

(kim)

"Schrodinger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsdq7g.359614$(E-Mail Removed) m...
> Talktalk have recently started to offer "free" broadband with one of their
> phone packages.
>
> What they do not make clear, however, when you are signing up for their 18
> month contract, is that certain ports are either blocked entirely or
> restricted.
>
> *This also applies to existing accounts, paying FULL price!* (i.e. mine
> )
>
> For gamers, this means that Steam - the most popular online game content
> delivery system in the world - doesn't work.
>
> It also means you can't use bittorrent etc.
>
> They advertise themselves as "gaming friendly" and proceed to disable the
> most popular single player games (Half Life, Half Life 2) and the most
> popular multi player games (Counter Strike, Day of Defeat etc.).
>
> The games may work if your Steam account is up to date, but Steam cannot
> update and so, if you use Steam then it *will* stop working with Talktalk.
>
> Moral: you get what you pay for and anyone interested in using their PC
> for
> games or (legal) file sharing should not use Talktalk.
>
> I am contacting trading standards next week re: their "gamer friendly"
> false
> claims.
>
> "Steam" thread discussing this is here:
>
> http://snipurl.com/steamthread
>

My VPN access to my work stopped overnight when we switched to talktalk.
Completely dire service - was down for 5 hours this afternoon.

"Graham Moore" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

>
> My VPN access to my work stopped overnight when we switched to talktalk.
> Completely dire service - was down for 5 hours this afternoon.
>


Where abouts are you? My "service" was down from when I got in at 4pm till
around 7pm today.

Norman

my broadband was down all yesterday afternoon. My attempts to call
customer services and the technical support line were wasted since the
system is undoubtadly clogged up with all the thousands of new
customers trying to get free broadband. So this morning, I managed to
find a number for the carphone warehouse and called to say cancel
everything, my phone and the broadband. A nice young man tried to
persuade me to keep the phone and went on and on and on about how much
money I was saving. I told him that if it only cost me £1 a month it
would still be too expensive because a crap service is worth nothing at
all. And to think I migrated from NTL to talk talk, which, of late has
become far far worse.
Now they are arsing about refusing to give me a MAC number and making
life generally hard. Its nice to feel so wanted, but they should have
considered the effect of millions of new customers, on their existing
ones.
Talktalk has been struck dumb!

"Norman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Graham Moore" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>
>> My VPN access to my work stopped overnight when we switched to talktalk.
>> Completely dire service - was down for 5 hours this afternoon.
>>
>
>
> Where abouts are you? My "service" was down from when I got in at 4pm till
> around 7pm today.
>
> Norman

Hi Norman,

I post by my proper name, so I don't want to be too specific, I'm in the
southeast, about 20 miles west of London...... and it went down for almost
that exact same time.

To make sure we're not bitching about a non-talktalk problem, anyone else on
any other isp have a similar issue yesterday?

Cheers!

G

"pammyT" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) ups.com...
my broadband was down all yesterday afternoon. My attempts to call
customer services and the technical support line were wasted since the
system is undoubtadly clogged up with all the thousands of new
customers trying to get free broadband. So this morning, I managed to
find a number for the carphone warehouse and called to say cancel
everything, my phone and the broadband. A nice young man tried to
persuade me to keep the phone and went on and on and on about how much
money I was saving. I told him that if it only cost me £1 a month it
would still be too expensive because a crap service is worth nothing at
all. And to think I migrated from NTL to talk talk, which, of late has
become far far worse.
Now they are arsing about refusing to give me a MAC number and making
life generally hard. Its nice to feel so wanted, but they should have
considered the effect of millions of new customers, on their existing
ones.
Talktalk has been struck dumb!



Eeek!! I am about to call them later to cancel my BB too as my year is up
and I am paying £26 a month for this! Yesterday, calling the new 0871 tech
support number but being cut off each time was the last straw. (cost me
about 1.50 in total) I couldn't care that "all our agents are busy dealing
with the new offer". If I call a tech support line I expect to speak to
someone in tech support not a sales bod. I don't think there is even a
service status page on the website?

Norman

Now they are arsing about refusing to give me a MAC number and making
life generally hard. Its nice to feel so wanted, but they should have
considered the effect of millions of new customers, on their existing
ones.
Talktalk has been struck dumb!
===============================

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