just recieved an email from BT saying I have exceeded my useage by 7gb. However, unbeknown to them, i have now got a net monitor installed which shows i have only used 4Gb of my 5Gb allowance.I have written to BT and threatened them with legal action unless they can give me a complete rundown of my useage. of course they will ignore this as they and all the other broadband providers seem totally corrupt and indifferent to their paying users. Sorry to read of so many users being ripped off.

If your considering signing up with PIPEX broadband i urge you to read this first.
I joined online with pipex 14 months ago and was sent amodem and software to get me online.
However the software contained corupt files and caused irreversable damage to my pc.
I got in touch with pipex who gave me instruction on where to send back the equipment and i sent it back to them with afull account of the problem.
I heard nothing from them so after a month i got in touh again by email and waited and waited still no joy but they were taking the monthly fee.
I then requested a fefund as i had not been on line for even a min with them and i requested my account being cancled.
Still nothing and worse still my phone line was tiedto them so i was unabl;e to even register with another broadband service provider.
I have not the ability to speak on the telephone so i had to get both family and friends to ring the 0870 number(10p min) for customer services only they got no real help either if was answared it was call xcenter in inda or somewhere that the staff could neither speak nor understand english .
They calls allways ended with the call staff requesting that we should re contact pipex on an alternative 0870 number at an alternative time.
I wrote to them and emailed them over 100 times but the only response i got over and over again was a standard email reply requesting all my personal details ect for security reasons and at the end of evey email i was given an 0870 number to ring.
Each time i replied and explained i could not speak ect only to be sent the same request email back.
I sent a registerd letter by royal mail and finaly got a reply appologising for my experiances i was promised a refund of £78.92 with a promis it would be in my bank account by the 12th of April 2008 at the latest.
I waited and waited and nothing happend so i had to start the complaint again and the same thing happend standard email replies with no help just requests for my details and to ask me to call 0870 ect
Two weeks ago i lost my temper and told them how disgusted i was with theyway they could be so neglegent and yhat i considerd themto be nothing more than thieves and con artists preying on the vunerable as i was disabled ,partialy sighted and that the internet was my only pleasure ect.
I told them the upset had made me suicidal(which it did) and i told them not to rely anymore unless they wished to finaly sort the mess out as i now considerd what they were doing to me to othing less than torment.
Hooray i got a reply from someoneith an english name promising to pay me within 28 days that was last week iv not replied im out of energy with it all.
I will wait and see what happens but wont hold my breath.
I will keep you updated if or when i hear from them.
So pleased be warned apart from the money out of my account they have been taking for services i have never been able to use i had to buy a new pc and the cost of the calls has totted up to quiet a hefty amount over the last 14 months as well as the costs of having to pay another isp for dial up conection.
The cost to my health and sanity well il let you knowwhen i stop rocking in my chair

What can you say about Orange with THE worst unknowlegable 'technical support', the non-working sitebuilder
which NEVER works rendering webspace useless. Their customer service is shameful.

Very very poor indeed. And if anyone from orange is reading this all I can say is SORT YOURSELVES OUT YOU
SHAMEFULL EXCUSE FOR A COMPANY!!!

I wrote to Virgin about their inequitous contract (they can do anything they like and you cannot stop them) and their misleading advertising. They effectively replied "tough".

In their advertising they knowingly perpetrate what I see as a lie. They use the word "unlimited" but in their letter back to me they openly admit that they put the 5% of users that use the service the most on a "reduced" service. I am here to tell you that in my case that reduction was to ZERO. They give no warning of this. So, if you are one that 1 in 20 customers, they will effectively cut your service off, without warning. That clearly has nothing to do with "unlimited". There *is* a limit, it is just unknown for any given week. What is certain is that each week that limit *becomes known* and is applied without warning or consultation to 1 in 20 of Virgin's customers (customers or cattle?).

Where is the advertising standards aurhority? Aren't they supposed to protect us against lies like this. The advert reads "Unlimited"*

* There is a limit we just don't know it"

Absolute nonsense.

Don't think there is anythiung in the contract to help you and don't think Ofcom will help either. They are well aware of this and have done nothing.

With ISP's youare on your own and pretty well powerless.

I strongly recommend that you find a no contract ISP becuase they are all at it. the English language has been bid down to virtually zero.

There is no customer service at all. TISCALI is the worst broadband. They are very unprofessional so don't ever think of joining Tiscali.

We cancelled with orange and went to sky at the end of our contract .
Orange have continued to take the £19.99 a month . they have said this is their mistake but continue to do it . The chap in India seems hopeless and all this time orange are getting away with FRAUD

be aware Orange are committing FRAUD

Last December I migrated from Tiscali to Sky, that was the easy bit, its now April and I CONTINUE to GET BILLS and THREATS from TISCALI. They took money from my account in January and February, on contacting Customer Services they admitted they owed me part of January payment and the full February payment taken. It is now April NO Refund plus I have recieved Notice of a Court Summons for not paying my March Bill. I am fed up with countless calls to Customer Services who say account is closed and we owe you money which is then followed up by another threatening letter. I advise anyone to give Tiscali a BIG miss.

Here is a quote that supports my review of Virgin-noservice-Media just a couple of comments down.

According to Ofcom, 71% of broadband customers believe that they have an unlimited broadband connection. Yet a new study by uSwitch.com of the leading broadband companies shows the alarming reality: despite all claiming to offer their customers an ‘unlimited’ broadband service, each one would be prepared to restrict, suspend or terminate the service of customers who used their service ‘to excess’. Worse still, some companies said that they would be prepared to do so without prior notice to their customers.


That's Virgin. Scam. Game. Ripoff. Glitzy lies.

I just reviewed the reviews on this site and what stands out is that the UK ISP's fail us, constantly. There are SO few satisfied customers. I think it is simple; there has been a race to the bottom on quality. Yes you can can get cheap deals but NO you cannot buy quality, not for love or money. This is a free market in close to perfect commuincation and what does it deliver? Well, you know the brown stuff that comes out of the back of a dog?...

I have been put on the "capped list" and what this means is that between 4pm and 1am on weekdays and ALL WEEKEND I get effectively no service. How come? How come I pay £30 a month, but I get no service. How could that happen? It is simple, Virgin run an essentially inequitous contract.

As of about 6 months ago they unilaterally changed the terms and conditions of all their users contracts such that they can put you on the "capped list" without any notice at all. The capped list is a list of people whose service is downgraded from 8Mb to far less than .5Mb, and that means that even a static internet page will take 45 seconds, yes you read that right, 45 seconds to load.

So what is this list and how do you get on it? This list is made of the 5% of Virgin users who use the most bandwidth. That's it, if you are one of that 5% then, without notice, you are automatically put on the capped list and you will have effectively no service, and no recourse.

So the obvious question is "how much do I have to download before I get on the list?" And that is where things get really silly, because there is no download limit, there is no actual number, all it is is if you are in that 5% you will have your service reduced to practically zero. But it isn't that they are witholding the information from you, no, incredibly, there is no way even for Virgin to know if you will be on that list because it has nothing to do with how much you download, it is just that they cut the service of the top 5% of users. That's it. So it a nonsensical game of poker. You will have no idea whether you are downloading too much - none - and neither do Virgin.
What is more, if you do get on the list you will not be notified - you will just get home one night and there will be no service. Inequitous? nonsensical? all biased Virgin's way? Yes to all of these, but there is not a thing you can do about it. All you can do is pay your way out of the contract. i.e. pay - for more no service.

I put all this to first their technical guy and he said "Yes, I think the contract is stupid and unfair". I then put it all to their Customer Serrvices person who said the same thing!

Virgin have all these sexy top line statitics but they cover up that they will cut your service without warning and with no predicatible numerical basis and they offer no recourse. But they will still keep taking your money.

Don't use Virgin.

Don't use Virgin.

Don't use Virgin.

Having left the appalling service of Virgin Broadband and constant disconnections I went back to AOL. Having used AOL for a number of years and being very happy with the service, I was only stolen away by cheaper broadband/cable and phone. So having had a terrible time with Virgin, I went back to what we thought was a better provider. All was fine until January this year, when they migrated all to a new server, since then I have had constant disconnection, failures to connect full stop and a heft phone bill to try and sort out. I was told no couldnt have my mac code unless i pay out my contract, i've spoken to numerous people who have difficulty with english and an irish customer service supervisor who couldnt tell the truth for toffee and said sorry cant do anything.! To this day I am still being disconnected about every half hour sometimes more, they have no idea why and i can't wait for the contract to end in May, I will be off like a shot and kiss them good ridance!

We signed up to madasafish Bband MAX & Talk Anytime a few months ago. A few hiccups at first on an older PC, none on a newer model.

Has saved us ££££££££££s in landline phone calls & cheap to call abroad too. B band has worked consistently - our first experience so little to compare it to speed wise - we're at the end of a long line too.
overall satisfaction? 9/10.
Feel free to use my referral code 4352394 on sign up to save yourself £10 on Bband & £5 on talk.

We signed up to madasafish Bband MAX & Talk Anytime a few months ago. A few hiccups at first on an older PC, none on a newer model.

Has saved us ££££££££££s in landline phone calls & cheap to call abroad too. B band has worked consistently - our first experience so little to compare it to speed wise - we're at the end of a long line too.
overall satisfaction? 9/10.
Feel free to use my referral code on sign up to save yourself £10 on Bband & £5 on talk.

rosie@triad29.com

rosieponder@verizon.net

Not only do they try to rip you off, they send your email out and you get a ton of junk mail.

The worst service ever! Am seeking advice from the ombusman OTELO. Have had numerous problems which haven't been resolved, threatened to cancel but would have to pay the full yearly contract, even though the service hasn't worked.

I use Orange Max get 6.5MB download over wireless, very rarely disconnected, if it disconnects it reconnects immediately. Massive 40GB download allowance and top dollar customer service. If you can't get connected with orange perhaps you should put your PC back in the box and take it back to the shop! Anytime I have had a problem, it has been of my own making. Good job Orange, saving me a fortune on phone calls too. Just dont fall foul of the FUP, 3 months at 500k download soon teaches you a lesson.

I am quite an experienced internet user and for a long time I used AOL (up until about 2005 from about mid 90's, i always found it a good program and a useful interface, then things changed, the AOL program was chewing up vast processor resources and to cut a long story short, i ditched 9and moved house).

I then joined up with Tiscali in 2006 and to begin with (up until early 2007 everything was good. Then I got the fateful letter saying that they were changing some line components or something and bam 56kps on a broadband line, after numerous calls (and I asure other former tiscali users will know what I mean by numerous, i ditched contract in june 2007. i then signed up for orange, i receieved the live box, but no connection for 3 weeks (went back to aol pay as you go dial up) so I sent the box back and told them to "have fun".
Now the breeze blows calmly across my internet use, I have no port blocking, open access between 5-8mb 24hrs a day. Madasafish, has consistently been awarded numerous industry accolades, it pays to read these and review everything you can. yes i gues they are a little pricey, but you pay for what you get. Customer service is fantastic, staffed based in the UK, dedicated technical experts, logical step process to problem solving (the only problem I have had since August last year is one that I (and Vista) created. Free Wireless router and they do a phone package if you like (including line rental). they have just been bought out by BT (oh noes!) but i have been assured that the staff and day-to-day running will remain madasafish.
And the final bonus, the best email address on the planet "whatever"@madasafish.com. (did i mention the free domain name? and website hosting?)

I have been with them since freeserve / wanadoo and now Orange (when they can be bothered to let me on). For the last few months their service has been complete cr@p, I'm lucky if they let me stay connected for ten minutes a session after which their server spits me off and I have to reconnect, this often happens thirty or forty times an evening, total frustration, the reports say "server connection reset" or "connection timed out" or anything other than "We have to many subscribers for the equipment we are using". The service is laughingly called Anytime when it really should be called TIME SHARE. Lately when I try to reconnect I get the report "Username or password not recognised" on contacting their (Un)helpline and going through a maze of options designed to keep you on their 10p minute line for as long as possible the ADVISOR? tells me to check that my username or password has been entered incorrectly - strange that it ALWAYS works at quiet times ie after midnight or before mid afternoon - same password same username I've never had to re-enter either. Come on Orange play it straight and send me reports which say "SORRY BUT DUE TO A LACK OF INTEREST IN OUR REVENUE STREAM/CUSTOMERS YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL SOMEONE ELSE LOGS OFF BEFORE YOU CAN HAVE A GO. MEANWHILE KEEP PAYING THE DIRECT DEBITS WE NEED YOUR MONEY" Apologies for shouting everyone but this really pi$$es me off, and they think we believe it??
Pete

iv just signed up with virgin media
they offered me £40.00 to buy a wireless router because the customer service was real bad i had complained to the manager and they have given me free installation and extra 30.00 to clear my phone bill

Following on from bugleboys review,i have been with AOL from april 2001,never had any problems with them till carphone warehouse/talktalk took over.Unlimited is what i been paying for,not anymore.My bandwidth is restricted to half a meg between 6pm and 11pm.I explained to them on the phone that this is when most people in our household are using the net and half a meg is a joke for 2pc's or more.It defeats the purpose of sending out routers.A joke,this will continue to happen unless we cut down on our heavy usage.They say heavy usage causes their network to slow down for all users,i say,improve it and give me what i'm paying for.

I have just paid the get-out-fee to orange broadband and I was with them a month; complete waste of money - awlful connection even tho the exchange is less than 300 metres from me. Going back to ZEN, best provider in the UK by far.
You get what you pay for

I've been with orange broadband since the day they bought out wanadoo, who once used to be known as freeserve. Both freeserve and wanadoo have been brilliant with their services. As far as I have experienced, yes orange experienced a few teething-problems when they had taken over, but all is sweet now!
Anon, the thing I liked most about Orange is they reward loyal customers. Unlike the £100s of pounds you say you've spent on setting up with orange, I can tell you that I have a WiFi modem and it didn't cost me anything. And, due to having an orange mobile contract...my broadband is free :-p
Sorry to gloat, but after reading how you felt about Orange broadband...I felt it appropriate to air my opinions too.
Nothing personal...just a difference of an opinion!

.....days without an internet connection, new BT phone line - day off work, hours trying to get connected, new router and cable - £100, hours on the phone to customer services telling us it was us! Finally they decided to check the line - orange and BT - low and behold this was the problem. Why didn't they do this first and save us precious time and money? Does anyone know how to complain to orange - I can't find the details anywhere. What a suprise.

I had only one problem when setting up talktalk and that was sorted out immediatly, recently due to service going down I have spoken to a few Asian operators and two Scottish. Remember folks phone lines have always been prone to going down.

For anyone signing up for broadband services with UW, my advice is this: If you're using wi-fi, then forget it! The download speed is WORSE THAN A DIAL-UP CONNECTION! Web-pages time out, file-downloads freeze and you have to re-boot the netgear router at least once per week. It's a constant left click of load-stop-refresh-stop-load and only then does the page load. Driving me bonkers! You're never disconnected but what bloody benefit is that if you can't surf the net without all this hassle? Totally browned off with it. A change is in the air. But with who?

Anyone using UW-Broadband.co.uk

They came top in which mag last month for customer satisfaction.
Anyone hear heard of them ?

I totally agree with tricia. Have also been with Demon for two years Have only been disconnected
twice which was rectified by the helpline resetting the password. More annoyed at paying for a
8Mbps service while I only get 1Mbps at best, but I am a long way from the exchange, so fee lucky
to get broadband at all.

talktalk have been great with me.When I needed advice they where to pleasd to help, and put me right. The language barrier was difficult to understand at times.I give them a ten out of ten.so far

no one ever seeems to mention Demon. I have been with them 2 years, never any problem with any of the 4 computers in the house connected to broadband.Not the cheapest but reliability is more important

I have been with Tiscali since April and all was okay until they sent me a letter saying they were upgrading lines so internet would be down for 2 hours. That was a month ago. I have made lots of calls on there national rate and premium numbers because internet is vital to my work. Lots of promises made by them but still no internet and they want me to continue making monthly subscriptions. PLEASE TAKE MY ADVICE AND AVOID TISCALI AND TELL EVERYONE ELSE TO AVOID TISCALI. Did you know that TISCALI BROADBAND is an anagram of SATANIC DRAB and SOCIAL BANDIT. They are devils and they rob you of your money like bandits PLEASE AVOID

BT...my worst nightmare. Okay, internet was completely fine whilst i first had the BT voyager router, BUT since they sent me a BT Homehub!!! in the post for free (wow thanks) internet is DIRE, intermittent, IF i can actually get on. Latency of like 40,000ms :S WTF!!! And yes i have changed back to the voyager, but the problems persisted, i ring up the bt helpline which is supposidly a uk call centre, well when the only words the recipitent can say are Hello, your name & number, and how can i help you IS NOT A UK CALL CENTRE MY FRIENDS!!! What is your problem sir? intermittent connections... *pause* What is your problem sir? i just told you! *pause* what is your problem sir? my reply to this was "P*** OFF" *hangs up* I mean jesus, talk about worst customer support i have ever received!!!!

The simple truth about Toucan is that they are not an Internet Service provider at all. They are a reseller for Tiscali. What you are buying is a connection to the Tiscali ADSL network. Toucan only manages the billing. This is fine providing that the service can be activated successfully. However, if there are problems, that's where it all goes wrong! Toucan are wholly reliant on Tiscali (and vicariously BT Wholesale) to fix your problem. Consequently, even simple issues can take weeks to resolve. Other issues such as the Fair Usage Policy, the chronic modem delays and the questionable technical support line are all just by-products of being a virtual ISP. If Tiscali is the third worst company on your list, just think how poor the service can be from a company that is re-labelling a poor product!!
Byron72 at 25th Mar 2006, 05:46PM

Virgin Media !!! You decide.Cut off five times tonight,should be 8 mb broadband at the moment showing 1.6 mb.System so slow every time I open a web page it times out.It seems all ISP's have bitten off more than they can chew,take the money and fingers up to the customer.

I've had broadband with NTL / Virgin for 6 months now and not at any point have i been able to get a connection two days in a row. I have made numerous phone calls to them and have even had their 'technical' guy ring me 3 times to sort it out and still no joy. It works when he's on the phone to me and then goes back to normal. They just keep telling me it's something wrong with my computer. I've since heard that they always have 10% of subscribers switched off because the servers can't cope - it's meant to be random but i think it must be me all the time. Crap!!!!

Tried Toucan Broadband and after 2 days realised they were crap. No service,No customer support. Tried to cancil but was told I would have to pay the whole year or they would send the debt collectors around to my house.When I needed customer service no one was available. Now I get a call from Toucan Billing every day.I am so pi**ed off with the whole lot I am taking legal action.I am also setting up a website to let everyone know the problems. If you have had problems with Toucan especially If you found the service so bad that you paid for a year but went with another ISP e-mail me at toucansucks@aol.co.uk

After ending a snotty email to my compamy broadband adminstrator, they decided to upgrade mt Teleworker account fron T/W 1000 (1Mb 50:1) to T/W pro max (8mb 20:1). Bt then mailed me direct to say it would be switched to the new service within 5 working days.
How suprised was I when 5 working days passed and my line still isn't switched over.
Just tested it again at 126kbps download and 240kbps upload...again...
Why do we get such pathetic service from ISP's in Britain?
How long can they get away with providing such shoddy services??
I can't think of any other service available where the provider could get away with charging full price for 10% of the promised service...

I got Orange Broadband through my mobile phone contract. I paid an exra £5 for their livebox wireless router.With that comes a new landline number and all calls go through the router. We have had to have two phones in the house (I kept my original BT landline ) due to the amount of time the livebox disconects itself. It goes of every few minutes in fact I'll be suprised if I get this posted ! The internet goes down along with the phone. If I ever needed it in an emergency then then someone could well be dead waiting to get a line to call an ambulance. When it's not working you get an engaged tone. I have spent many a time calling customer services only to go through to a call centre over seas where I can't understand them and they can't understand what I'm trying to explain. In fact whilst talking to them I get cut off regularly! It's got to a point that if I'm sending an important e-mail and I don't want to lose it I check the phone to see if I have an engaged tone if I do I wait until the line becomes open for me to send it.
So my advice don't use Orange unless you like sitting on the computer all day waiting for the the livebox to work.

I've just had BT Teleworker 1000 connected and the download speed is pathetic. I use Speedtest.net to measure linespeed. I get a consistant upload speed between 200-240Kbps but the download speed is usually around 80-160Kbps. Twice I have tested it at 330kbps but this happens rarely. Appalling service. I will be requesting that my company (a major Outsource IT provider)cancel this useless service and I will choose my own ISP after reading as many current ISP reviews as I can find. Do BT really think customers will put up with a service that rarely works to 10% of it's promised performance?

TECH SUPPORT REQUIRES THE CUSTOMER TO HAVE A DEGREE IN ASIAN? LANGUAGE. STILL NOT ABLE TO ACCESS E-MAIL AFTER A MONTH, CONTINUAL TIMIMG OUT/INTERNET ACCESS PROBLEMS.
WHY OH WHY DID I MAKE SUCH A STUPID MOVE? BUT THERE AGAIN IT SEEMS "PROVIDERS" ARE MUCH THE SAME-CON ARTISTS!!!ARE THESE PROVIDERS NOT REGULATED???

was on orange, that was good for me, never got disconnected and even though it was quite slow its still better than TalkTalk which im on now..has anyone actually had a good broadband experience ? Im looking for a new isp

If you cancel orange broadband make sure you cancel the direct debit too, these jokers will carry on charging even after you have moved to another provider. When you challenge them about it they claim they've done nothing wrong.

I got the MAC code from Orange without any problems on the 12 February and gave it to Sky the same day, my broadband changed to Sky on the 23 February and I started paying Sky from then, now I find Orange have carried on collecting 17.99 monthly, I wish I had cancelled their direct debit! After contacting them they have agreed to refund back to 5 April as that is when BT say the line was changed, despite me being on Sky Broadband since 23 February, these jokers still owe me money!! and they threaten you with a 100 pound charge and bailiffs if you say you will hang on to their equipment until you get your money back!!!

Avoid Orange Broadband like the plague!!!!

If you leave them don't forget to cancel that direct debit!!!!!!!

BT sales scum conned me into signing up to total broadband package. Below is letter of complaint i have sent:

I was recently contacted on numerous occaisions by BT sales staff asking if I was interested in broadband. I was undecided at first but decided to switch after 4 or 5 phone calls from sales. My line was tested 2 or more times and I was told that the line is capable of 6.5meg which I thought was acceptable (though not perfect) for the price. However, now I am in BT’s clutches I am told my line is only capable of 2meg.

I questioned sales staff (and manager) about the fair usage policy as I am a heavy user and was told it doesn’t apply to me and does not even exist. However, now I see it does and it definitely does exist!

I also questioned staff whether or not technical support phone calls are free, not in Indian call centres and based in Britain. I was assured they were free and British call centres. However, now I find it’s a premium rate number and in india!

When I asked about free wireless Xbox adapter offer, the manageress promised me that I was entitled to this offer, even if I did sign up over the phone and then go to Xbox website and give my details-reather than directly through xbox website. I received a letter 22/05/07 stating that I am not elegible and my code is invalid for the offer.

Since day of activation (04/05/07) I have faced nothing but problems including constant disconnections were I have to continually unplug home hub to reconnect and speeds that are as bad as my previous ISP, which I was paying £15 for. I have contacted technical support on numerous occaisions only to be repeatedly told useless advice which I’d already tried.

As you can see everything I was told by sales is untrue and I have been falsely led into signing up to your services. In plain English – I was conned. I expect a reply and the above issues to be resolved within ten working days or I will have no choice but to cancel my contract without paying any remaining period of the contract."

I recoment that no-one in britain uses broadband - until bt and other providers in this country can sort their act out.

Just great!

I had difficulty's moving from Talk Talk.
UW-Broadband now working fine.
Real person on the phone, actually called me back when I sent a message.
Recommended.

where do i start?? had been with wanadoo for years. initially unlimited dial up then broadband, when i got the broadband they let us keep the dial up for free-all was fine. moved house last year and welcomed by orange-who eventially got me connected to broadband but took away the dial up. i tried to get wireless via internet but a problem with my account???? not money they just hadn't put me on the system properly-which took a month to find out. have now been waiting 8 months for wireless and it still hasn't happened (hours on hold, and hours repeating the same story to different unhelpful people). whilst all this was happening i tried to get the mobile + broadband £35/per deal. But low and behold miraculously, my credit rating wasn't good enough. even though i had just bought a house, and gone through all the usually credit checks for utilities etc. and was already a orange customer. and one with no credit problems either!!!! stay clear its not worth the hassle.

I went live on 3rd may - phone line ok but no broadband - customers services do not understand your problems,do not return calls and keep you waiting for eons - in frustration have cancelled and am going back to BT. MY ADVICE - STEER CLEAR

Virgin just cuts you off several times a day and if its a busy period you cannot get back on line. Many attempts to get this sorted with \virgin have just failed. Stay away!

Avoid sky at all costs,package looks great value but beware it comes at the cost of customer services.None of them have any idea whats going on and in my case they terminated my service after 2 weeks for no reason(they gave usual excuses bt etc)and 4 weeks later im still waiting to be reconnected.
Without doubt the worst company i have ever dealt with and im not alone.

Been BT forever - When ever they launch a new product they slow down the old to push you into the new service. Watch it happen. I have seen it since low speed modem linked services.

Try getting on BTYahoo games or mailing right now (May 2007) - If you can get on it may only be once that day. Who do you tell? I need someone to express my true feelings about their service - How do I do that and get a response?

Bye bye BTYahoo its gonna be soon.........very soon

This has to be the worst service ever used, I been having problem with Tiscali broadband speed since I join them back in September 2006. Took out Tiscali broadband Max, which supposes to be the fastest 8mb speed broadband they have, but that is all lie and making others fool, the actual speed is 2mb or under. The customer service is anther nightmare the call centre is in India, I been calling them nearly every week regarding the problem instead of fixing it they keep sending me new modem which I lost count how many modems I have received from them. At first, I thought I was the only person facing the problem, but when I found out from my other 100s or more colleagues who I work with were all having the same problem, now I am finally asking Tiscali for the MAC code. So BEAWARE

Possibly the worst BroadBand provider I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. Told them I was moving house in early February and, as of 1pm today, they still haven't got round to connecting me. Every time I have wasted 30 minutes of my life calling the indian call centres, they always say the same thing - it's a fault with BT and we will have you connected in 7 days. They have been saying this since March! Avoid at all costs...

Plus Net is a good ISP. Yes, they have had some bad times, but compared with some of the other stories on here. I've been with BT (I'm even a share holder) would not use them again. Looking at the poll, does not give them much of a rating, but I won't change.

WHAAA! over 6 weeks without broadband connection and the india-based tech 'support' dept keep fobbing me off with apologies, unfulfilled promises and keep putting me on hold. The r now blaming BT and BT r saying its not their fault. Never again with Tiscali

STAY AWAY FROM TALKTALK, It's been six weeks since order accepted, the landline hasn't even gone live yet, had numerous phone calls,cost a fortune with 0870 numbers, different story everytime, a number of go live date has been given, nothing happens. Broadband is even remote, one story was that broadband will go live 21 days after the landline switch. Nobody cares, and you have absolutely no one to turn to. they don't even have a complaint telephone number.

tried to up grade my tiscali broadband december last year to 8mb from 512 still not working spent many hours talking ti india call centre which is a total waste of time and money spent £33 pounds on calls to them and customer care in Scotland when you get through to them they tell you its only for billing.Was told there was no customer complaints department which is untrue i found the number through yell.com via other numbers (0207087 2000) if you call this number you must stay online to the end when it tranfers you to switch board then ask for customer complaints.I am constantly told someone is working on my upgrade but cannot say when it will happen first date i was given 8-1-07 still waiting, so now i have my mac code and leaving tiscali , they have no interest in the customer had have no idea about customer care KEEP AWAY.

To many problems to Quote. Many to do with paynment of monthly charges - Miss interpreting my requests over the phone - over charging for services I never requested which put my bank account in the red which incured bank charges for 4 months. I`ll be glad when this is cancelled & my contract finishes Plus this has put me right off using the internet ever again..

Pipex broadband promised me on 21st February that I could receive broadband in my area. They sent the modem, charged me for it and a month's subscription. BT had to become involved to tell them that there was no way they could get a broadband line into the village before Pipex would accept that I was not simply incompetent (how many times do I have to be asked what the modem lights are doing?!?) and that there really was no way broadband would ever be a possibility. They have told me 3 lies about when the refund which I think I am entitled to would arrive, but which they call "a goodwill gesture". They haven't provided the service and think it's just goodwill to refund? Err...breach of contract, sale of goods, provision of service? The whole broadband contract thing needs to be sorted out - why should customers be tied into contracts before they even know if they can receive the service? It is so frustrating talking to their "customer care" (who simply don't care) - as noted by other posters here, you never get the same person twice. One or two people do at least sound as if they care, even if they can't do anything for you - but the majority could do with a good few weeks in customer care and politeness school. Yeah ok so it's just one little customer who's not important - but one who will post on here and hopefully put a few more people off.....!!!

STAY AWAY FROM TALK TALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! gone live on 28th feb, and still can't access internet. You can imagine what i am going through...phone calls, promises,new deadlines and all that.....absolutely rubbish!and the funny thing is i dont know where to turn to...

I transfered my broadband connection from waitrose to tesco and it has been hell from day one, I was supplied with 2 usb modems and install disks, 48 hours after I signed up with my migration code, nice gift but of no use to me my mac does not use usb to connect to the web.

15 days later my connection to waitrose was cut and I had to call tesco for their net settings for my router, fair enough they get a person that knows about macs to call me back and together we set up my router for use with tesco.net, when I still could not connect it was discovered my line was not yet activated and it was not activated for another 72 hours.

Having (I feel) been overcharged and got an unsatisfactory answer from the initial 'customer services' person, I used the webmail report to ask for their ADR (formal reporting of complaint) procedure, 21 days later I'm still waiting for more than an (unreplyable to) auto confirmation, having chased it after 14 days, I'm still awaiting a responce to that chase!

AOL now have a fair usage policy, but won't tell me what it is !!!! it's since they have been taken over by Talk Talk....

I have received now my first bill.. yuppiii! for what?? No service at all, about £100.00 worth on calls from my mobile to BT BroadbandTalk to only get diverted to other numbers. I think I have spoken with all their helpdesks. Please be aware. And if you have cable... Don't even go there.

Free wireless router with Voice-Over-IP ability for cheap calls
HA HA HA what a joke!!!!!!!!!!!

It must be the worst nightmare ever.
If you hate anybody tell them to go to orange.
I joined on the 22nd.
I have spent 20min to half and hour on the phone every day for the past week.
And I am still not connected.
I have been instructed to unplugged that live box a million times . They took their payment on the 28th of march its the 14th of April but still no service was provided.
Every technician you talk to has a different story. I just cant anymore. I run an online business and left AOL because they are not business friendly. But with them I had no problem for over 2 years.
I'm stuck and cant get anything else until they cancel my contract. Lol what contract I want to know?
Trish

im using be, the speed is ok. but the sevice lol, i think someone had same feeling of me. im hope aol or bt can get a high speed broadband.

been with tiscali since Nov 06. Been trying to leave since Nov 06. Service is crap. Cannot contact them by e-mail or fone. Service is interupted several times a day, which tech support dont see a problem with! Then I get flagged your being a heavy USER.
That was last straw for me. They obviously dont want a 'heavy user' so gave me my MAC code yippee. So Im off to pastures new and happy surfing I hope.

Hope you read this and take notice. Wouldnt like to see others getting tied down with what is such a poor service.

AFTER SEACHING THE FACE OF THE EARTH I found the customer service address that so many people have been looking for.
The reason why no persons letters have ever been replied to are because NTL/VIRGIN MEDIA GIVE FALSE ADDRESS for customer service on web. try concord buisness park, Threapwood rd, wythenshawe, manchester m22 0ey be quick or they will move again if they have not already

I think uw-btoadband.co.uk is a con just look at the web-site

Same experience as others since Virgin joined up with NTL. Am supposed to have 8Mbs. 9am-5pm
might be true. I did speedtest.net check (says my supplier is NTL) and got 6570 kbs at 9am and 5429 at
4pm with latencys in 30-37ms.
But after 5pm forget it! Upload drops to around 100-300 kbs and latency 200-300 Still same just before
midnight. Just waiting for my MAC and I'm gone.

Worse that useless is my opinion!!!! Here are the problems:

- *Crap*
- Cuts-off atleast 10 times a day (mostly during busy hours)
- Customer Service, Don't even bother!!
- It took me 30 minutes to make them say 'I will send you the MAC code' When I wanted to change providers
- Fails to Connect Half the time, especially during the evening

Good points:
- However speed is OK
- But, Unlimited even though is says it has a download limit.

Whilst the technical service has been OK the Finance department are totally incompetent. Despite having been provided with a Direct Debit since July they have not yet managed to properly activate it. To add insult to injury their Credit Control section (which is part of the Finance Department) makes contact with ne to say that I am not paying and the service will be discontinued. I have sent numerous e-mails, letters and made phone calls have had no effect.

I am with Toucan and their customer service is an utterly miserable experience. It has to be said that with broadband providers its not a question of who is the best! its who is the least worse. What a damning indicement of the industry.
Now back to Toucan. 1) You spend ages getting through. 2) they want you to call their miserable call centre in India (I feel sorry for these people ) on a premium rate line and where language/technical differences actually make things worse. 3) I am technical contractor and advised them that the problem lied within the BT circuit. They would have none of it and would not co-operate in determining this problem. I found it to be the BT socket however, who has responsibility for this. When I was with BT it was theirs and any faults from the BT point back to the exchange was dealt by them. Toucan did every thing possible to avoid expenditure on a service call. Now I'm left with a very iffy broadband service ( clearly its working at this time ). I tried to pinpoint Toucan on circuit responsibility they said I could chane the BT socket myself. I asked them for written clarification on this point and no one was prepared to do this. They are all the PITS.

I signed up for broadband and talk any time in November and was told it was all set up for mid December.All i got was the broadband and for three months i have phoned and E-mailed several times a month.Finally on 14/3/07 they tell me that because my phone is with the Post Office they can't provide the phone.I wish they had told me in November.

Having signed up to Pipex broadband in November 06, my package arrived in December 06. At todays date March 07, I am no further forward than I was in December. I am cancelling my contract because they seem incapable of sorting out why I cannot connect. They blame BT, BT say there is nothing wrong with the line, and I am piggy in the middle. They even advised that it must be my PC. Smacks of desperation if you ask me. I am sure that they have lots of satisifed customers. unfortunately, I'm not one of them. I am currently looking for another provider.

Colin
Thank you, Thank you Thank you!

I don't know who you are Colin but I read your notes on this forum about a week ago recomending UW-Broadband.co.uk.

Well what a breath of fresh air. They are everything Colin said and more.
A real person on the phone helped me through the signup on there website.
He told me that it may take 14 days to get up and running.
5 days later I was on line.
Now that's what I call service.
Thay have also taken care of my BT phone bill using something called LLU.

Highly Recomended
Why arn't thay on the list to the left.

Already had landline and free evening and weekend calls with TalkTalk when they announced their free bradband package in April 2006. No problem getting Mac code from previous ISP provider (DEMON) and changed made in May 2006. Some minor problems whic were easily and quickly sorted until 21st February 2007. Have not been able to send or receive emails.After many phone calls, the most recent on 1st March, lasting 45 minutes, I got them to admit that the fault was in their equipment and programming.It shoewd as a security error and to contact the administartor on noreply@opaltelecom.co.uk. I have written a letter of complaint giving them 14 days to correct the fault. As Paul Lindsey says the standard of service is very poor and every operator I have spoken to did not know what had been done or said previously.
Had no problems with Demon. Will change back to them even though it will be more expensive.

I have been with Freedom2Surf aka f2s for about 4 years and I am more than happy with the service. Basically, it just works. Setup from memory was done in minutes and it is very reliable. Ok, it's not the cheapest by todays standards but you get what you pay for.

Now to Talk-Talk. My mother has got this and has been off-line for about 2 months. She is on her third modem which still doesn't work. Everyone I have spoken to says she has a line fault but they refuse to admit it. They have said they they will charge her £65 to come out. With the amount she has spent on phone calls to their so called help line, she could have paid and got a decent ISP.

Ever since Virgin media group took over NTL/Telewest it has been nothing but disasterous, broadband speeds are up and down quicker than a hookers knickers, painfully slow seek times when browsing and when playing online based games...forget about it!! latency due to the ridiculous speeds, i am supposed to have an 8mb connection and have run tests for them to tell me waht i already knew that my DL speed is between 50-150kb's and UL speed is non exsistant.

GIVE TELEWEST BACK THE SERVICE THEY KNEW HOW TO PROVIDE. Mr.Noobend Branson

My experience with this outfit has been like an episode of the Benny Hill
show , there seems to be problems in every department so much so that i became an expert in problem solving myself , because they seem incapable of sorting the simplest things out. Getting a go-live date means anything up to 3 months or more and you probably wont get a modem or start up disc
until you leave after banging your telephone off the wall in anger and
frustration at trying to get an english speaking voice that doesnt speak
in monotones and read off a cue card. When you order something that it is
claimed only takes 2 weeks to connect then anything after that represents
a breach of contract and that should be law because they are making a mockery of the word SERVICE because they cannot provide it.
I will not go into the full details because i could write a book but since
i was cut off by Talk talk twice by there own incompitence i have experienced being unable to connect through other service providers because they gave me the wrong mac code . I am now going to go back to
BT because it seems like the only solution since they have the main exchange and can do everything including make the tea , everyone else is
really going through the BT system ,so i may as well try the organ grinder
and get rid of the monkey .

What a joke Orange is, I moved up to 8 meg broadband and was promised at least 5 meg download speed. I got 6 meg for two days and have been stuck on 130 kbp/s since. Foreign call centers with so call techs who read from a standard list and always finish with the promise of a line test cost me a fortune at 50p per minute and never fix the problem. Customer services who inform me they will send in the baliffs to get a payment of £100 + if I cancel due to their breach of contract with me. I'd have been better off staying with AOL and they were cr4p.

Tesco broadband are awful.My modem stopped working so i rang them to get a replacement, they did no less than THREE tests on it and were meant to call ME back each time...they didn't so i had to keep ringing there enquries line till i finally was told my modem had a fault on it....7th of feb this year i was told they'd send a new modem out....guess what, i had to phone time and time again to be told the same thing till i recieved modem yesterday feb 27th!!! Not only have i spent alot of money having to chase them up on the test results/modem....ive also been unable to get broadband since jan 26th till feb 27th AND they have taken out the £17.97 monthly fee!!! Well they certainly WONT be getting away with it! Steer clear of Tesco they are useless!!!!

In reply to the last review I was put on Tiscali's heavy user group but with me it was from 11 pm through to 6 pm (19 hrs)for 9 days on 56k modem speed.After continued emails trying to tell them they had made a mistake each automated reply quoting their fair use policy I wrote to there Head office with all the details and guess what..they switch me to heavy user group 6 pm to 11 pm.No appologies or explanation.I have informed them that I am changing my ISP at the end of the month and cancelling my direct debit.If they object then I have six pages of proof of their bad customer support and service which will be going to Ofcom.

i have 8mb plan, and i use it to download some stuffs, after several times mistake, they move me to stupid heavy user group 6pm-11pm every day, during that time, i cant open website, msn messenger drop off every 5 mins, i email them several time, no reply, except stupid auto reply!!, i m doing ebay business, you can imagine how much i lost, Poor tiscali, never used it, never!!!! they will drive u mad!!!

I signed up to orange in nov 2006 for up to 8 meg package. Up now I have never got a decent speed. Actually i only get a pathetic 100k. Customer service is crap and I can't even get a line test with them. Advice Orange broadband is a scam and best avoided.

First of all let me tell you all about a crap ISP called Supanet, More like Sh*tynet . I was on a 1mb package deal and then upgraded to a 2mb deal . But after my contract was due thought I go to someone else with a faster speed, But then I get a email asking me if I stay for a futher 12months period they would give me 8mb , wow I thought better the devil I know I thought . So I signed up for a further 12 months . Its now SH*T slow sometimes going down to 0.786mbp slower then its ever been . I spoke to Gandi in india and he blames BT for a fault on the line , But its been checked and the restriction on my speed is been setup by Supanet .
Big Con cant wait to break contract even if I just pay the charges . I think some one should give us subsribers some legal back up any other Country wouldn't put up with this CR*P elsewhere .

CONNING ISP SUPANET SUCK'S

Tiscali are not a good service provider. When you call to discuss the issue, the administrator may falsely accuse you of swearing when you have stated, "this is pretty poor service!" Oh dear. Do find an alternative supplier who can ensure superior upload and download speeds for the same charges, there are many available and often charge less than Tiscali.

I have used this company for 2 years now and i find them fantastic.
I think because they are growing slowly they have the time to give a super
customer service. I have never seen them on any comparison site. A friend at work
told me about them. Take a look at www.uw-broadband.co.uk there site is a bit
complex but the service is fantastic.

Do not even think about going with Tiscali if your a regular downloader.I am only on 1mb broadband which even in off peak times they can not supply the banwidth and if you get put on the Fair use policy they will drop you down to an average of 40 kbps and sometimes down to 24 kbps which when your web pages keep timeing out(yes I do mean kbps)and that gives you 4 kbps download speed which is lower than 56k modem.There customer services have no idea how to solve the problems as every email is an automated reply.Read there Fair use policy and it is back to front.Tiscali keep signing customers up but they can not supply the bandwidth you are paying for.KEEP WELL CLEAR OF TISCALI.

I started Broadband services (Home option 1) with Eclipse in July 2006. Things were very fine till the end of Jan 2007 when I noticed connection failure. Always it was showing error 721. I tried to contact tech support three times to wait for minutes together. They adviced to do many permutations and combinations to get connected and finally they sent me a new modem thinking that there might be some modem problem. Modem came bit late. With the new modem again same problem. When I tried to contact the Tech support team then again waited to listen to the 'music'. Then wrote an email. Got reply from them to contact them again on the phone. Tried to contact on 17th Feb 2007 at 1210pm to wait for more than 30 minutes to hear 'music' and sorry message from the other end. This is DISGUSTING.
The internet speed is good when it works but tech support is PATHETIC!!. Tech support is free but this is the way free services come to you. I would not recommend Eclipse to any one.

I waited the usual 2 months to get connected. Initially the service seemed good. Speed was never faster than 2.2mgs. The trouble started when I was away from home for a 2 month period and tried to access my email from a friends computer. It is not possible to do this. I phoned Mr Dunstones dedicated team 30 times to try and download my emails and got a different answer from each member. One even suggested that I turn off my firewall as this was the problem. Technicl support team in India needs radical training to be able to cope with daily complaints. I tried writing and after four letters got an acknowledgement only to tell me to phone customer services. I replied saying that, that was to stressful hence the reason for using snail mail. Have been unable to download remotely for 2 months. It costs dearly to phone customer services and the ammount of time spent on the phone and writing letters does not make for a free broadband service. STAY AWAY.

My experience: The worst company I have ever come across!! Words fail me. They are technically ignorant, they leave you without service but still take your money through Direct Debits. They say they will phone back but don't. You can't escalate complaints. They take no action. In my opinion they are no better then a criminal extorsion racket. If you want to try and switch provider they give out false Mac codes. Arrrghhhh! Aviod at all costs!!!!

I would just like to point out, I have been with Tiscali Broadband for 3 years now. During this time, I Have NEVER had ANY problems At All. reliable service, good download speed, I Can't comment on the telephone service, but that is because we have never had to phone them. I Paid 14.99 A Month for 1MB Broadband, however we recieved 2.3MB ! I would reccomend tiscali to anyone, absolutely fantastic !

I am looking for a isp but I am really concerned after reading all these reviews.
Could we have a page of positives please. IF THERE ARE ANY

I have been with Pipex for about 8 months. I was reasonably content until recently. They took 191 pounds out of my account in ONE GO, without so much as sending me a - "oops we're so sorry our billing is useless and we forgot to take the direct debits" email. I actually begged them for weeks when I just got the service to take my bleepin money but they just couldn't manage that. Now I have requested for a breakdown of the charges by phone, fax, email and registered mail but it is simply impossible to get an answer from those infidels. I think I'm going to cancel the service anyway, screw the 191 pounds. PIPEX SUCKS - PIPEX C'EST LA MERDE - PIPEX IST GANZ SCHEISSE - PIPEX IS KUT

Talktalk were hopeless at providing correct setup info because I opted for wireless rather than their standard ISDN modem and I got continually confusing and misleading instructions. Even got the welcome letter this week after going live almost two months ago! However, once up and running, I have no complaints and their package seems by far the cheapest as we get free UK calls as well as broadband. Could do much better for delivery of service, but once online, I have no problems.

I've been with bulldog for 2 years before i leave UK one year ago. I normally cut the contract within the policy rules....and guess what, bulldog still send me some bills on a service they cut !!
I don't even live anymore in UK until today as I come back, and thy continue asking me for money !!!

Lousy customer service !! Illegal billing for unprovided services !!!

THE WORST EVER I HAD

In 3 months of trying, I have never got the wireless router to work, despite many hours on the phone to AOL. I have now given up and gone back to a wired connection. I have been conned by AOL. I upgraded from AOL silver to gold because I wanted/needed a faster speed and wanted a wireless connection, but I have now noticed within 3 months that AOL silver has the same speed and free wireless router that I upgraded to! I am now conned into paying £11 per month more than I needed to.

AOL service has recently got very bad. The online chat help is off-shore and the staff seem unable to understand what I am talking about. My main concern is the AOL Gold price which compared to most others is very expensive. Also telephone help is now on an 0870 nmuber! Today, my business websites are unable to forward email onto my AOL account from my domain host as AOL in their wisdom are now BLOCKING all email forwarding! My response is to get a free HOTMAIL account to forward my domain name emails onto and get another Broadband supplier!!!

I have yet to get my BT Broadband connection to work. Ringing their helpdesk (offshore of course) is the most pointless and frustrating exercise you can ever undertake. Emailing from the BT website is equally pointless

Avoid BT Broadband like the plague

I used to be with Wanadoo broadband who then became Orange or Orange bought them out. Since I changed my package from £17.99 a month 1Mb wanadoo to 2Mb £14.99/month orange the connection has been awful. I have done a few broadband speed checks to find that my connection has been giving me a lazy 100kbs rather than a 2mb connection. I'm getting really hacked with Orange, my suggestion is leave them alone!!

I have been with pipex for roughly 3 years now and cant wait till they dissconnect me on the 26th!!.. First off I was with them for the 512mb for 19.99 per month.. Had no problems what so ever with them! Connection never went down and never ever had to phone them up, everything ran so nicely! Well up until I upgraded to the pipex max!! (33.99 per month) What a load of poop!.. Max is meant to be (upto 8mb) BUT due to me being TOO FAR away from the exchange could only get 1.5mb! Which was ok by me.. 2 weeks after being on the max the trouble started! I was only getting speeds of just over a dial up connection!!!!! This was so pathetic and annoying! so after days and days of phoning them up, going through troubleshooting and them not knowing what the problem was i cancelled!! was sick of the usual crap where they blame BT and BT blame them.. Worst mistake i ever did was deciding to upgrade.. Stay away from Pipex if you can as they are poop!!

What a hassle.. I will be without service for upto 21 days... why it baffles me when they both use the same LLU (after all easynet is owned by sky).

anyone else had issues

I ordered PIPEX broadband, according to PIPEX I was able to receive 6MB. This was my worst experience ever! I told them that I use Skype to keep intouch with my family abroad and Skype doesn't work well under 2 MB. When I checked the speed on the internet I had 0,8 MB! Very far from 6MB. It took 2-3 min and it froze alot when I was trying to read the news. Terrible bad service and customer service. I have sent them recvorded letters, the last 14th dec. I still today haven't had a reply to anything.

the connection on ntl broadband is good but the service is the worst ive had except bulldog, i called them to sort things out about a bill query, there tell me everything is sorted but ive had 4 more letters from them still asking for money i don't owe them, i think the diffent depatment dont tell each other whats happening, for a communications company there don't seem to communicate very fell.

been with ntl ages thought there broadband was slow most of the time and was thinking of changing but reading these revievs i dont think i'll bother could be going from the frying pan into the fire .i've never had any realy bad problems with ntl and billing is fine .so i think i'll stay put for now till these cowboys out there sort themselves out

Mail Service is complete crap and has been so for the last 3-6months, You contact them and are informed that, yes we have a capacity problem and we are trying to do something, but nothing happens. I now have customers contacting me that their mails are being rejected. I have had to provide an alternative address, this is the start of saying by by

Bulldog crap service. been restricting my service as their finance dept have not allocated the payment taken on my card to the invoice. As such I was disconnected for at least 10 days. Are there any legal actions v/s this as I am a teleworker and the restriction of my braodband restrict my online sales and this earning less income?

The telecommunication regulations have a provision for customers to claim a full month's subsciption for every day that a service provider fails to make an installation or fix a fault. You can claim upto £600. You will be surprised what you can find out if you read the regulations.

I am an apathetic person who doesn't like change. It just takes too much effort. Appart from week-ends (when you really do want your internet) the NTL connection is good. Always get on line when the USA is asleep!
If however you have problems you are on the merry go round of wrong numbers, 30 to 45 mins phone queues and end up with someone in India who is technically good but finds customer communications a challenge.
So nothing out of the ordinary. But when on 23rd Dec said techie booked an engineer call out for me for 28th Dec (because he didn't know what was wrong with the connection), he told me that if I were not at home on that day, they'd charge me £10. OK - I can live with that. On 24th Dec the connection came back unannounced (Christmas is after all the time of gifts and miracles). I called India again, quoted my call out reference number and waited patiently while they struggled with a user unfriendly system to cancel my call out.
Whyever did they bother?? I got a call in the office on 27th Dec (!) saying that the engineer was outside my door and that they were now going to charge me £10. At this point my apathy disappeard!

Folks - if you want to chose a provider, go to their website and see how easy it is to contact them. Go on try! If you can find a postal address for your provider, I suggest you are relatively safe with their customer service because you can send them recorded delivery letters. This is the only message they will answer to, because you can give evidence in court that you have contacted them!
Guess what, NTL does not have a postal address on their website, so I sent my recorded delivery complaint to their Accounts Department because NTL does not give a postal address. (Thank God for cheques - once they go we will never find the blighters)
2007 will be NTL free for me, with dial-up or the Internet Cafe until I have read every "lost mail in the wilderness" about a prospective provider. Happy New Year to all who are still looking.

Stay away from TISCALI, Unlimited Broadband my A**E, They restricted me between 11pm and 6pm the next day when I was meant to be restricted between 6pm and 11pm and when i sent an EMail to the complaints dept it took 6 days to reply and the reply was SORRY WE CANT HELP YOU !!!!! Crap Service ... STAY AWAY

My first ever broadband connection has taken a looooot of patience. Signed up in september with talktalk, live-date set initially as 4th of november, then changed without warning or reason to end of november, didn't receive modem and username and password ten days before the live-date - assuming the very last day of november - i called and was told that it would now arrive three days from the... hm-hm... still not known date. In the mean time I kept receiveing messages about letting them know about my Mac code. Each time called and told them I never had broadband connection. Called at the end of november to ask why nothing had turned up yet, was hit again with the question: Have you provided us with your Mac code? Came up that nothing was on its way yet. Was told: "I am happy to inform you that your broadband connection should be live within two weeks and we are now sending your modem and username and password." Could not answer why all this had not been sent already - if I hadn't called, it still wouldn't. After all the fuss I made, was told that they would try and speed things up so that I could get everything up and running in 7-8 days - this was after I demanded to talk to someone in charge - the person i was talking to turned out to be the one!!!! Gave me customer services e-mail address to put my complaint in writing, I wrote, threatened to consider their lack of response a breach of contract, never got e reply whatsoever.
One week past - nothing done! called again, they found it surprising that I had been told my connection would have been sped up - had to wait till mid-december. Promised to refund two months of broadband charges made for unprovided services. Had to be patient till 14th dec, live-date.
Date arrived - set everything up, link light on modem not solid, called to be told that signal may not have gone through yet, wait another couple of days. It is now 22nd dec, signal still moody - I am making the most of it while i can, writing this.
Live-date arri
live-date arrived, set everything up (