SSE broadband feedback

Reaper wrote: »

Snipped.....
Don't go via the MSE links if you want to save money!

Instead go via

TopCashBack which is offering £50.50 cash back on this deal........

I got £52.50 from Topcashback on the basic deal today.

Rang EE to renew who said £132 upfront and £6 a month ( I'm with them on £2 a month), he wouldn't go below £3 a month. I told him to save the deal and he said ok but he'd ring back in a couple of hours (it was 11 am).

Guess what- no call back and I'm on they way to SSE, £144 a yr vice £168 and hopefully better than the abysmal EE service. ��

Contacted SSE as this seams a good deal but for some beware they do not offer a transfer of service meaning you could be without broadband for between seven and twenty one days.
I was happily with the Post Office so I could have BT Wholesale service levels without having to deal with BT Retail (I'm an ex BT engineer) unfortunately Post Office Home Phone Broadband moved their service over to TalkTalk LLU and with it my line away from the BT kit in the exchange.
Now when I search for availability of fiber I get an error on many web sites as my line is no longer on BT Wholesale.
On contacting suppliers it appears that the most competitive will only offer to cease my current line / number and purchase a new one from BT Wholesale. Hence the big delays in service and loss of number. I've contacted Ofcom and they have explained very clearly that it is the "Gaining provider" that needs to request a transfer rather than a cease. Unfortunately the most competitive ones don't.
Be aware switching to a provider that does not use BT Wholesale equipment can restrict your options in the future.

Tetra wrote: »

BT OpenReach does not serve Hull (while most of the country's telephone service was provided by the Post Office, then BT; Hull's telephone lines were owned by the local authority).

Does anyone know if SSE telephone service allows calls via short code to Over Ride providers?

Good question. I asked their help desk person a couple of weeks back before this latest offer and they could not give me an answer - in fact I don't think they understood the question. I tried to give an example but they were too young to remember 131 to call via Mercury in the old days. Lets hope someone already with SSE can answer this question.

paulwaiting wrote: »

Contacted SSE as this seams a good deal but for some beware they do not offer a transfer of service meaning you could be without broadband for between seven and twenty one days.
I was happily with the Post Office so I could have BT Wholesale service levels without having to deal with BT Retail (I'm an ex BT engineer) unfortunately Post Office Home Phone Broadband moved their service over to TalkTalk LLU and with it my line away from the BT kit in the exchange.
Now when I search for availability of fiber I get an error on many web sites as my line is no longer on BT Wholesale.
On contacting suppliers it appears that the most competitive will only offer to cease my current line / number and purchase a new one from BT Wholesale. Hence the big delays in service and loss of number. I've contacted Ofcom and they have explained very clearly that it is the "Gaining provider" that needs to request a transfer rather than a cease. Unfortunately the most competitive ones don't.
Be aware switching to a provider that does not use BT Wholesale equipment can restrict your options in the future.

paulwaiting - thank you for this information. Really helpful and explains why TalkTalk customers cannot access this offer online (and therefore via TopCashBack). It's annoying, but presumably we are now going back to a BT system. I guess that SSE must be covering the reconnection fee (which TalkTalk say is £130) as they definitely told me there was no connection fee (plus free router).

Historically, as part of the deregulation of Telecom's it was prescribed in law that BT must allow subscribers to have access to another carrier (call provider). As a general guide if your ISP is using a BT Wholesale product then by default the facility is enabled on your line. Personally I used 1899 for daytime calls by dialing 1899 before the number, which is why its called Carrier PreSelect. Now I'm on a Local Loop Unbundled (LLU) line thats not connected to BT Wholesale kit in the exchange I have to dial a 0808 number, a lot more expensive.
This was historically the case and as it was enshrined in anti competition law as an employee of any of the BT group of companies you could face a disciplinary leading to loss of your job and pension if you talked to anyone outside your part of the company about it.
This is also why there are so many problems with getting faults fixed as the anti competitive laws prevent engineers from the companies talking to each other. If a BT Wholesale engineer in the telephone exchange see's a wire broken off on the BT Openreach side of the connection at the exchange he's not allowed to touch it or tell any one from BT Openreach as that would in theory be an advantage for the BT group of companies to fix the problem quicker.