Tesco Internet Phone Service Stopping -April 27th 2010

fattony

I already have an account with sipgate and a local number assigned to my account, I just preferred tesco pay as you go option. Problem with 0845 number is it puts people off simply because its outside the free minutes allowance with mobiles, bt and virgin media.

I'm concerned that if tesco say they can't do anything and we all find new numbers, what if say sipgate decide to stop the service in 6 months time again we'd be looking for either a new number or provider.

I would loved to have used skype but they dont have any numbers within my local area code which forced me to use sipgate / tesco.

Lets just hope tesco sort something, surely another voip company would love to take over the existing customers already signed up and paying!

Fittzy

Not impressed with Tesco on this issue. Very poor response to my enquiry. Call centre (three tries) read from prepared script - "I know nothing at present - we are looking into it" ! Very poor Tesco ! :mad: So I rang OFCOM......

Apparently if you ask a SIP / VOIP provider to request the number from Tesco - They have to port the number. This is what OFCOM have said. I have lodged a formal complaint against TESCO with OFCOM - apparently this sets wheels in motion for you to request the number and if Tesco refuse or "drag their feet" Then OFCOM will invoke anti competitive practice rules. You should get your new VOIP provider to check with OFCOM via their Regulatory Affairs Team (which are all required to have by OFCOM) :T

We all need to lodge a formal complaint with OFCOM - contact 0300 123 3000 or 020 7981 3000

Mugabe_2

spoke to ofcom myself to clarify some things regarding this.... they confirmed to me that there are different laws in place regarding voip numbers and normal landline numbers. at present tesco can not port numbers to or from there current voip service.... guy i spoke to said tesco have been in touch to see what is possible with regards to making this happen for customers as at present there is nothing in place for this to happen.

tuff titties if there is nothing that can be done but i just hope they can sort something !

fattony

apparently voicehost can port tesco numbers, Im in the process of filling in the forms

croggyboy

There's still the matter of the phone itself, Tesco are offering refunds on handsets bought after 27th December 2009 but surely this cancellation means the phone itself is no longer "fit for purpose" as it only works with the Tesco service, so we are all entitled to a refund whenever we bought it? as long as it is within the time (is it a year?) in the law.

fattony

Have to give voice host a plug, Adams help and guidance has been great, the voice host account is free to set up so you may as well port the number so you can continue using it.

tonyintenerife

Hi all, I have had my tesco internet phone more or less since they first started it and it was brilliant until recently when the service started playing up a bit. When they announced that they were packing in I was gutted. I own 2 DP450 base stations and 3 phones all tied to the Tesco network!

I came across Voicehost.co.uk and they have successfully helped me to unlock the DP450 and are now in the process of porting my number across to them. Brilliant response times and the support guys really seem to know their stuff unlike the tesco support team!

Tony

bunking_off

The numbers are allocated to Freshtel rather than Tesco, who are just a reseller of the service. The way that number portability works in the UK, calls are sent to the original provider ("rangeholder"), then routed onto the new one ("recipient"). If the rangeholder no longer exists, the calls can't be routed, game over. As Freshtel are leaving the UK market, the Tesco numbers can't currently be ported as there'll be no rangeholder. Ofcom looked at changing how portability is implemented a couple of years ago, but it was appealed and within the last couple of weeks they concluded their re-analysis and found the change didn't cost in.

Tesco are currently trying to find another provider to take on the number range as a whole, but one complication is that it is shared by other resellers so any initiative would have to be collective. Time is also against them as every telecoms provider would have to update their network to reflect the new rangeholder. The process for this is usually 6 weeks+, if Ofcom don't lean on the industry as a whole.

Tony, I would be very surprised if voicehost don't give you backword on porting the number because as far as I'm aware Freshtel had no porting arrangements in place.

Fittzy

Time to complain to the top man - Sir Terry Leahy - Now everyone should complain to get some action Terry.Leahy@uk.tesco.com

I had spoken to the Tesco internet phone team on four occasions since the original email including today; and have had the same response “we know nothing more and will let you know when we hear something” I have also tried in vain to contact a senior manager / Director within Tesco to move things on a bit. Moving through treacle seems to be apt here or being passed from pillar to post.
This is totally unsatisfactory. The service will be cut off on 27th April - 12 days time. Many people are in the same position (60,000 customers, I'm told) – we can’t get a response for making arrangements to transfer our phone number. Many of us have these numbers on contact and business cards. This will be disastrous for some. It will impact on business and personal lives.
I will on Tuesday next week be using my media contacts; to inform a range of media sources, Press, TV and Internet as to this ridiculous and outrageous behaviour of Tesco in the way it treats its customers.

YOU NEED TO COMPLAIN AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD email Sir Terry Leahy ASAP. Terry.Leahy@uk.tesco.com

Mike_Rawlins

I have had some E-mail dialogue with Tesco Internet Phone over the past month since I had notification that the service was closing.

I have published all the E-mails on my blog (search google for "shafted by Tesco)

When I asked for compensation for the business cards I had printed in March they started quoting T&Cs at me.

Interestingly, part way through my E-mail exchange with Tesco the tescointernetphone[@]tesco.net E-mail address changed to cerb4[@]freshtel.net if I were cynical I would say that Tesco are already trying to distance themselves from from this mess.

Having read up it seems that Tesco users are pretty much left up the creek without a phone.


I have asked them to give me details of their 'reasonable efforts' as outlined in (f) of 4.2 of their T&Cs which should be interesting.

One thing that I couldn't find on the quick glance through the T&Cs is anything telling me that I can't transfer my number, in 2007 OFCOM introduced a mandatory code of conduct

I am not allowed to link to the document but if you go to the OFCOM site and add consumeradvice/internet/voip/voip/providers/ after .uk/ you will see it.

have a look at the last point "The provider must inform you about your ability to keep your number if you choose to switch providers at a later date."

I am not going to let this go away, we have 5 days in which to make a lot of noise and ensure that the Tesco brand is associated with this poor level of service.

Anyone with me?