SUPANET problems (merged)

MortgageMamma

Hi All

Wonder if there's anyone here who knows about this sort of stuff.

I took out a 12 month contract with supanet about 18 months ago, and two months back called them and asked them to upgrade from 512k to 2MB. They did this and I was quite happy. I've recently bought a laptop and needed to go wireless with both machines. I called them up and there was no free wireless router, I had to buy one. So I then saw a deal with bt which included a free router which I wanted to change to.

I called Supanet up and asked for a MAC code which they refused to give, they then told me I was tied into this contract for another 12 months! I was not told this on the phone when I upgraded so tried to dispute it but the customer service rep wasnt interested. I called again today to try and sort this and just received total rubbish on the phone. bad attitude from call centre. Since I have had no new hardware are they allowed to do this? I have not signed anything tying me into a new contract or verbally agreed to it.

What would happen if I just told them to stick it, changed BB providers and didnt pay?

Thanks in advance

a very stressed MM

mrJ_5

it was probably part of the terms and conditions of upgrading your connection, or within the overal terms that you are tied into - if your an exisitng customer, you should already be aware of the current terms

mattbass

They sneek in the 12 month contract when you upgrade your line. It sucks :mad: . I recently fell into this trap with pipex. Probably nothing you can do about it unless you pay the exit fee(pipex fee £60):eek:

DonnyDave

I think that you can just put this down to experience. I believe that BT is doing the same thing when you request an upgrade to ADSL Max (8Mb/s).

Having said that, what price are you paying with Supanet?

BT Broadband Option 3 "Wireless freedom" comes with a wireless router and costs £24.99 a month.

MortgageMamma

I'm paying 17.99 a month for 2mb and 10gb downloads. The wireless router will probably cost me about £80 as apparently I need some sort of a hub to go on it?

Its completely unacceptable that they don't state the tie in to you, or at least offer a renewed contract stating the tie in and a cooling off period. I'm going to report them to trading standards and see what happens.

vickyn_2

The wireless router will probably cost me about £80 as apparently I need some sort of a hub to go on it?

I've seen wireless routers kicking around for £40 these days, why would u need a hub?? If your laptop is already wireless enabled all you will need is the wireless router....

I can sympathise re Supanet, I was with them once and their customer service is appalling to say the least!

DonnyDave

MortgageMamma wrote:

I'm paying 17.99 a month for 2mb and 10gb downloads. The wireless router will probably cost me about £80 as apparently I need some sort of a hub to go on it?

If you have a new laptop, chances are it will be wireless enabled, in which case you will need just a router. If you want to have your desktop PC connected aswell, you will probably be best connecting it to the router with a network cable, assuming that your PC has a socket for it; modern computers do.

A router will set you back £60 at the most, so BT's 'free' one will cost you £7 a month over the price you are paying now. So all in all, assuming that you are happy with the 10GB usage limit with Supanet, you will be paying £84 for a 'free' router!

I also notice Supanet have a freephone customer services number; that's good in my book and to be commended with many of today's companies operating 0845 and 0870 numbers.

MortgageMamma

Donny is there anything I need to do with the network cable?

Yes I know supanet have an 0800 customer services number but thats only open during office hours. if you ring at night its an 0906 number staffed by lots of foreign people that can hardly speak a word of english let alone resolve an issue!

MortgageMamma

So let me get this straight..... actually is there anyone on here who could type a quick guide to setting up a wireless network between pc and laptop? It would make a great sticky at the top of the board.

Can anyone tell me which is a good wireless router to use? (with instructions included) and how to get the internet to run through the network cable (I do actually know what one of these is, I feel clever now lol)

DonnyDave

You will probably find that a network cable comes with the router. You plug one end into your computer and the other end into your router.

If you think of your router as a box that you connect to your phone line, you then connect your computers to it, allowing them all to access the internet. The connection between router and any PC can be either wired (using network cable) or wireless. So all PCs connecting to a 'wireless router' don't have to be connected wirelessly.

Is there an icon in the corner next to the clock with two monitors and a red X one them. When you hover your mousepointer over them, a message should pop up saying that the network connection is unplugged. If you have this, then you have what you need to connect using a network cable.

See the Techie Stuff section of the forums, there's sticky threads on common questions and threads on which router to get.

MortgageMamma

MortgageMamma wrote:

Hi All

Wonder if there's anyone here who knows about this sort of stuff.

I took out a 12 month contract with supanet about 18 months ago, and two months back called them and asked them to upgrade from 512k to 2MB. They did this and I was quite happy. I've recently bought a laptop and needed to go wireless with both machines. I called them up and there was no free wireless router, I had to buy one. So I then saw a deal with bt which included a free router which I wanted to change to.

I called Supanet up and asked for a MAC code which they refused to give, they then told me I was tied into this contract for another 12 months! I was not told this on the phone when I upgraded so tried to dispute it but the customer service rep wasnt interested. I called again today to try and sort this and just received total rubbish on the phone. bad attitude from call centre. Since I have had no new hardware are they allowed to do this? I have not signed anything tying me into a new contract or verbally agreed to it.

What would happen if I just told them to stick it, changed BB providers and didnt pay?

Thanks in advance

a very stressed MM

Just an update, I've checked my original contract with supanet and there are no clauses about recommencing the 12 month tie in period on upgrading your package, I've not signed anything or applied to upgrade on an internet site, so surely you would think I could migrate as I so wish??

Apparently not. Supanet operate on a "cease and reprovide" basis which means they do not give MAC codes, this means, once they have cut off my connection after my thirty days notice, I will have no broadband for approx 2-3 weeks whilst BT set up my account with them. Being self employed and working from home and relying on internet daily this leaves me with a massive preoblem, I explained this to supanet but they were not interested, they just kept repeating that I am tied into a 12 month contact and said no way on this earth am I getting a MAC code.

I asked to speak to a supervisor but noone would speak to me, so I rang ofcom, a regulator and mentioned it to their complaints department, they said I had to call supanet and request a manager to call me back, I did this, and after getting into another arguement with another member of staff it was left that no manager will call me back because the informaiton I have been given is correct. I asked for copies of the recorded calls to be sent and made them aware I am complaining to the regulatory and they are charging me £20 per conversation for this info.

I now have to give supanet 12 weeks to resolve my written complaint before I can escalate this to otelo, the telecomms industry regulator.

And the reason I have been given for all this hassle and rudeness from supanets staff? they do not subscribe to a voluntary code of practice which involves giving MAC codes. Beware if using these cowboys as they have got their claws into me now and left me in a situation where I probably won't be able to leave them

If anyones had a similar experience with this pathetic attempt of a company and actually managed to migrate I'd be grateful for some assistance here.

As it stands I;m tempted to cancel the direct debit so they cut me of but I expect they still wont release my line to another ISP,