DazV

Waited 6 WEEKS for BT to turn up and install the broadband.

Engineer calls me Tuesday at 8.30am to let me know he's on his way (the first time anyone from BT bothered to call me in 6 weeks)

Engineer turns up, installs ADSL, tests, etc..., 15 minutes.
I try and login with username and password...REJECTED.
Engineer tests line again, FINE.
Engineer attempts to login using his details, FINE.
Engineer attempts login with my details, FAIL.
Ring their tech support, and get passed to possibly every department in the building as nobody knows how to solve the problem.
Leave it with them for 48hrs as they recommend.
Call back 48hrs later, still not fixed.
Will ring back tomorrow if problem persists and UNLOAD SOME FURY.

-DV

[This message has been edited by DazV (edited 12 July 2001).]

Lee

heh heh. look what I've had to put up with the last week :

1. Computer connects quickly and with no errors, but no traffic can be transmitted/received
(ie ping'ing servers returns no reply)

2. USB Modem flashes the 2nd LED and reports that the line cannot be initialised.

3. Computer dials but we get "Error 721 - the remote computer is not responding".


Tue 5th 10AM - Problem 2 - ref 7593319
Wed 6th 6AM - service restored
Friday 3PM - Problem 3
Friday 6PM - service restored
Sat 9AM - Problem 3 - whole of sat
Sun AM - still no access.
Sun 12:30 - service restored.
Sun 15:54 - problem 3.
Sun 11:15PM - service restored.
Mon 9:30 - problem 3 (was okay from 8am)
Mon 5:30 - service restored.
Mon 18:41 - problem 3.
Mon 22:24 - service restored.
Tue 10:12 problem 3.
Tue 12:20 service restored
Tue 2:30 problem 3.
Tue 5:30 service restored.

thur 13:25 problem 3.
thur 15:00 service restored.

ChrisB

Erm, does it work something like this...

You order ADSL from the ISP of your choice, be it BT OpenWorld, Demon, AOL, Freeserve etc.

They order the circuit from BT Ignite (even BT Openworld). Hence, nobody really deals direct with BT Ignite other than the ISP.

ChrisB.

mutant_matt

Guys,

I've got a few friends who have the same probs - I've got a cable modem which is fast and very reliable and a fair few friends in the same boat also .

I would recommend a switch if you have an operator who can supply this service.....

Matt

ptholt

I've had adsl for over a year now, i had probs when it was first set up, but its been fine for ages.

If you've bought it direct from BT you can get compensation for any downtime between Mon-Fri so give them a ring and give them some grief.

Unfortunately those that didnt buy direct from BT but from another isp (demon, pipex, f2s etc) face a battle to get any compensation as they have the contract with BT not you.

Jonathan Witts

Hi guys

The ADSL service in the UK is currently run by BT Wholesale. They supply the same service to BTopenworld, AOL etc. OFTEL ensure that they all get the same (crap) service from BT Wholesale. We will soon see competitors to BT Wholesale when we get the local loop undundled and more third party DSLAM's. BT Ignite supply some of the backhaul and support for BTopenworld. Hence if there is a problme BTopenworld have to talk to BTignite or BT Wholesale to sort out !!!

Jon

DazV

Problem solved after initial install (4 days ago)

Had another engineer turn up today to check the line, despite me telling them the problem the problem lay elsewhere.

Anyway, after the engineer decided the problem lay elsewhere I got back to head office for the 10th time and asked them to check their end AGAIN.

Women calls back at 5pm today, apologising that the account hasn't been set up properly.

What pi$$es me off is that it took them 4 days to realise this.

Last laugh on me - I pay them £40/month for a 'single user' account - but I intend to share that same account around 10 people in the building.

HAH!

Lee

well we had an engineer in who has confirmed that our end of the deal is setup and working fine so the problem is at the exchange.

They've found faulty line (sp?) cards and replaced them. Naturally this has not helped me one bit - the line is still up and down like a *****'s draws (sp2?)

I could not see the point of ordering from anyone other than BT as it just confuses the matter.

BT do NOT do compensation. However if you have grief they may make a "good will gesture". Be damned sure I'll be after a hefty gesture

JackClark

Before I go out and order this service, anyone got *anything* good to say about it?

DazV

Jack,

I've got both ADSL and Cable now, and the cable is perfect and cheaper and went in without a hitch thanks to TeleWest / Blueyonder.

Lee

People on cable stop harping on about it it's of no use to us if someone says "yeah this is the dogs danglies and costs nothing" if we can't get it in our area !

Jack..there are good things about it. I had it installed (quickly, no probs) for a month with zero problems.

remember though.. you'll always hear the bad things in abundance and never any good comments.

DazV

Jack, don't listen to Lee - he says he has really fast web servers, but they're really i386's in disguise

Out of Cable & ADSL, ADSL offers the lowest contention ratio (less people sharing your local circuit) so should be a little faster on average. ADSL uses either a USB modem or ethernet hub depending on your package.

Cable is cheaper, but as Lee says, isn't available everywhere, and simply needs a network card in your PC to plug into.

-DV

PS: Someone mentioned a while back that BT OpenWorld's SMTP server wouldn't send emails from a NON-BT account, which I thought was strange...

I've tested this and that person's statement is wrong, the SMTP server sends anything you like.

Lee

their smtp service does send emails from anyone@anydomain...when its working of course

naturally i use my own smtp

the big nark with BT is that they use a transparent web proxy. This is in a permanent state of knackeredness it would seem. Interestingly other adsl isp's trialled the idea and ditched it. Now BT are under fire for doing the same. The concept behind web proxy/caching is good, but its putting your eggs in one basket. A better method would be to allow an open port 80 but provide a proxy *if* people want to use it.

druddle

i would seriously look into cable modems (i use ntl). although i had some teething problems (connection put in but 10 days until cable modem arrived !!!!), i am well pleased with it.

and another thing, if the ntl website tells you that digital cable/cable modems are not available in your area then dont believe it. it still says my road is not available, but i have had both for 10 months now !!!

dave

Christian_Driver

I've got ADSL through Freeserve. I originally signed up with BT Openworld, but they were so useless I didn't take up my installation with them...

I've been up and running for about 9 months now, and haven't really had any problems. The service occasionally goes down for a few hours, but I have heard that this is simply BT messing around with the exchange...

I was a little disappointed with my download speeds initially - to somewhere like Microsoft I was only getting about 10kps using a standard "Save As" download through my browser (more like 35kps if I used a download manager that supported multi-threads). After a driver upgrade to my Alcatel USB modem, I now consistently get 55kps at peak time and up to 62kps when the US is quiet.

Summary: Good product (for me) - just a few niggles. BT are useless, so if you have any problems don't expect a quick or efficient response (expect to be put on hold and bounced around 2 or 3 departments).

Cheers,

Christian