land line & broadband internet

Edinburghlass_2

As regards TalkTalk Option2, the free evening and w/end calls is only free for a year provided you take the TalkTalk line rental unlike their previous offer where you kept your line rental with BT.

TalkTalk have now barred the use of 1899/18866/18185 for their line rental users.

mhendo

Thanks Edinburghlass, I thought that was the case but couldn't find the info on TalkTalk's site.

*!*HIBS*!*

mhendo There are many different ISPs out there whose customers experience a range of bad problems and can range from different variable factors, such as bad connections (e.g. Tiscali), billing (e.g. Ntl) or service (e.g. Bulldog) etc. Sometimes the bad experience can be hit and miss, you might be lucky not to have experienced any, othertimes you might get the full whack! Yes a simple search on the adsl forum or a google search may get the result that you may want, however you don't find many forums/websites that you see customers/people praising companies for doing so well.

It is probably safe to say the company that you would recommend for broadband, I (and many others) would find comments that are negative towards them. My comment about overcharging was just a warning to check your bills in general, no matter what product/service that you pay for. They only overcharged me £3 but it was sorted out immediately after ringing them up and was credited in my next bill. (Perhaps I should have mentioned this in my 1st post):doh:

Yes each person have their own opinion and in your case you wouldn't recommend TalkTalk, wheras I would.

"They claim to be "unlimited"" Yes it is unlimited. They don't have a capped usage like other ISPs do, such as ntl, BT etc..

The "crippling throtling especially P2P downloads" is not necessarily due to the isp in question it may have a few different factors involved, i.e. the contention ratio, the time of day when downloading, the amount of people downloading from the P2P sites, whether there is maintenance or upgrades on the system etc..

"Being a 12 month minimum term contract, once you're with them you're stuck" I know what you mean, but you can leave TalkTalk anytime you want, however you must continue to pay them the amount each month until the contract finishes the minimum period, just like with contract mobile phones for example.

I use TalkTalk as my CPS, not line rental and I have not noticed anything wrong so I can't comment.

mhendo

I agree, everyone will have their own good & bad comments about every ISP out there - I was just throwing in a different perspective about TalkTalk as I know a number of people with them that find/found the service very bad - I thought this was key, as I personally know approx 10 people with TalkTalk and all of them rated the service badly. This wasn't meant to be an attack against your post as it seems you've taken it; its just another view

I thought the info about TalkTalk's problems would be particularly of use to the OP, as he/she suggested they download at least 30GB a month - this, to me, suggested they may be using P2P and therefore the info I've just supplied about TalkTalk may be quite relevant.

In reply to your comments though...
"They claim to be "unlimited"" Yes it is unlimited. They don't have a capped usage like other ISPs do, such as ntl, BT etc..
Well, no they don't need to have a cap if they throttle or traffic shape so heavily (or whatever term they dream up for it), stopping people from using P2P services in any useful way.

The "crippling throtling especially P2P downloads" is not necessarily due to the isp in question it may have a few different factors involved, i.e. the contention ratio, the time of day when downloading, the amount of people downloading from the P2P sites, whether there is maintenance or upgrades on the system etc..
Well, if people on a non-TalkTalk connection (on the same exchange as a TalkTalk customer) can download things at a perfectly normal speed, and other BTw IPstream customers too then I think thats pretty conclusive that it is the ISP restricting something, or not having enough bandwidth in their own network.

"Being a 12 month minimum term contract, once you're with them you're stuck" I know what you mean, but you can leave TalkTalk anytime you want, however you must continue to pay them the amount each month until the contract finishes the minimum period, just like with contract mobile phones for example.
Well, that is not normally an option for people - most would feel stuck in that contract, as paying the rest of the term as well as a new subscription is not sustainable for some people.


I would recommend people stay away from annual contracts if possible, as the market is changing quite a bit at the moment so they should keep their options open for new & better products.

P.S. I note you say you don't see people singing and dancing about their good experiences much in forums - however, I'd recommend using ADSLguide's "Compare" facility as that shows the results of votes submitted by customers on a monthly basis as that should show a good idea of an ISP's performance against its competitors.

Rex_Mundi

I had a look at how Talk Talk customers are rating their service.

I compared Talk Talk along with three of the most complained about ISPs in the UK, (Bulldog, E7, and Tiscali). I also included Zen in the comparison to show how the customers of the best ISP in the UK rate their company.

For Decembers ratings 1227 Talk Talk customers voted for their ISP. They have terrible ratings in speed, reliability and customer service. Their score compares alongside three of the most complained about ISPs in the UK at the moment. This doesn't give this company very much of a good recommendation at all.

Have a look HERE for the comparison.

*!*HIBS*!*

Yes I do agree with you that if they are going to be using P2P then your comments regarding this use are useful. The OP didn't say whether they were going to use P2P, just that they needed 30GB and it could be because they could be working from home and be sending/receiving lots of files or whatever and this would amount to the high usage required.

Regarding your comment about the exchange, in some cases it might actually be the local exchange that is really busy and not able to handle the volume of data being sent over its lines. If there are lots of P2P users connected to that same exchange and downloading lots of data, BT might impose some form of restriction so that the BT exchange doesn't become overloaded and unable to manage with the traffic.

In their FAQs it does mention about the use of P2P and how it tries to please all its customers regarding the bandwidth available. If there wasn't any form of traffic management using their existing systems, it will mean that some customers will be happy and others not, resulting in an overworked system and they would need to upgrade early. For example people using P2P might enjoy the fast downloading times but those just browsing might suffer and will have to wait a while for pages to load up (even though it's supposed to be broadband), resulting in a dissatisfaction in customers and potentially not recommending them to others.

It would be easier and cheaper for them to restrict the bandwidth instead of spending money to upgrade their systems to be able to handle the huge volume of traffic required of its customers.

Regarding early termination, I know that some people are not able to take out more than one subscription at a time, just like having more than one contract mobile phone at a time. I was just pointing out that there is an option to leave (for those really unhappy), but you will be liable to pay the remaining charges until the contract is completed (they have to factor this before deciding to leave). In my opinion I would just continue to use the service, as I still have to pay for it anyway, otherwise the company gains as they have my money and they have less traffic to handle. That is why you have to decide before you take out any contracts to see if you can afford to keep to them. If not, then don't go for it!

Yes I agree that the market is constantly and to stay from annual contracts if possible but sometimes there are deals to be had on contracts (not now though). However just think if when you finished your contract and you see a deal that you like you can haggle with your current provider to get a better deal! Yes Virgin is one of those that "doesn't have a annual contract", this would suit some people and not others. I am sure that some people can cope with like 1 or 2mb broadband capped/uncapped usage and if they want more then expect to pay for it or enter into a contract.

Yes the ADSLguide's "Compare" facility does show a few users (compared to the overall total number of subscribers) and shows a range of opinions (not necessarily different people), but this information (can be fudged, not saying this might be the case but more of a possibility) should be used with other information before making a final decision.