XLN Telecom and their crap broadband

(FTR and the Google archive).

We couldn't fault the phone side of XLN Telecom (it's good), but
the broadband when we signed up for it was awful. The speed
promised was "*UP TO* 8Mb broadband speed". Note the "up to" bit,
that's their disclaimer. Right from the start it crawled and that
was when it was working, which for the most part it didn't. When we
needed to use it we found we had to reboot the router to resync.
Many hours were spent on the phone with technical support trying to
rectify the problem, but in the end tech support said (admitted)
that the line length was too long and were surprised that we were
getting the speed/service at all. Our premises are situated in
South Woodford, London, not some remote village in the Scottish
highlands. Tech support said that the contracts department would
contact us to cancel the broadband side. Two weeks later after
waiting for someone to call, I phoned them and was told that to
cancel we would have to pay a fee of seventy pounds, because the
service promised was up to 8Mb. We grudgingly paid up to get rid of
their inadequate service and are now using a hsdpa modem on the 3
mobile network and achieving rock solid speeds of 2 to 3 times that
of XLN's. To add insult to injury it seems that we cannot use the
phone line for ADSL from another provider because when we ordered
broadband from XLN we entered in to another two year contract with
them.

Be sure to get XLN to test your line before ordering broadband from
them.

Peter Crosland wrote:
> "Jono" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
> > Dave wrote on 21/08/2009 :
> >> To add insult to injury it seems that we cannot use the
> >> phone line for ADSL from another provider because when we ordered
> >> broadband from XLN we entered in to another two year contract with
> >> them.
> >
> > WHy should that preclude you ordering adsl eleswhere?
>
>
> Because they have line rental unbundled from BT. This is always a bad move.

So it would seem.

(Groups restored for the Google archive).

XLN wrote:
> On Aug 25, 12:07*pm, Dave J. <requ...@freeuk.com> wrote:
> > In MsgID<MPG.24f93952f460f4b4989...@news.shared-secrets.com> on Sat, 22
> > Aug 2009 00:08:42 +0100, in uk.net.providers, 'Dave' wrote:
> >
> > >Peter Crosland wrote:
> > >> "Jono" <notha...@blueyonder.invalid> wrote in message
> > >>news:(E-Mail Removed) d...
> > >> > Dave wrote on 21/08/2009 :
> > >> >> *To add insult to injury it seems that we cannot use the
> > >> >> phone line for ADSL from another provider because when we ordered
> > >> >> broadband from XLN we entered in to another two year contract with
> > >> >> them.
> >
> > >> > WHy should that preclude you ordering adsl eleswhere?
> >
> > >> Because they have line rental unbundled from BT. This is always a bad move.
> >
> > >So it would seem.
> >
> > When I see comments like that I always feel I should stick up for
> > 'talk-talk' as they're split from BT and their broadband has been quite
> > adequate (esp given the price of the all inclusive 20UKP/month
> > rental/bb/landline-calls deal I'm on).
> >
> > No idea what customer service would be like, and I've never used their pop
> > server or web hosting, but for POTS plus a plain ADSL linkup they've been
> > fine.
> >
> > Similar quality for three other users that I've helped set up.
> >
> > uk.media.broadband snipped from group list.
> >
> > Dave J.
>
> Hi Dave,
>
> Thanks for the feedback. We?re always interested in what our
> customers think and concerned if you?re not happy with us.

Really? Someone should tell your disconnections department that;
they only seemed concerned with squeezing a seventy quid
disconnection fee out of us.

> Your line is on Opal LLU and is actually the Talk Talk network and
> your BB works in exactly the same way.

I think you may be confusing Dave J with me. Dave J seems to be
happy with the broadband he is using, but I'm sure he would not be
happy to have the broadband your company supplied to us.

> It?s the not only the distance from the exchange that affects your BB
> service, it?s also sometimes the quality of the Openreach line into
> your premises that can affect your speed.

I appreciate that. However, my complaint is that your company sold
us broadband without first checking that you could deliver it and
than charged us to cancel it when you couldn't deliver it.

> If you want to have ADSL with another provider on your line, I am more
> than happy to migrate you back onto the BT Wholesale network at no
> additional cost to yourself on this occasion.

That is "no additional cost" to what we have already paid, is it?

But we cannot guarantee
> the speed will improve due to the quality of the line.

Obviously.

> Give us a call and ask to be put through to me.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Sallyanne Hutchinson
>
> Head of BB for XLN.