Internet Access: The Cheapest Way To Dial-up Article Discussion Area

Former_MSE_Archna

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Internet Access: The Cheapest Way to Dial Up Article

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Guy_Wise

Thanks for an interesting and useful article.

I would just comment on Fast4, where you say:-

Feedback on its service is moderate, with some reported problems at peak times.

Just to point out that after the collapse of e7even, thousands of people were left stranded, looking for dialup accounts. Many must have joined Fast4 (a thread on Adslguide has over 7,000 hits). Not everyone would have signed up, of course, but many did. These were only temporary accounts while people looked for a new broadband provider. Many have already moved on, so the situation should be easing rapidly.

Just to give a balanced *feel* to the post , i also posted this elsewhere

Edinburghlass_2

Welcome to any new users coming into the forum after reading Martin's updated article in the email today

If you have any queries please don't hesitate to ask. The MSE mantra is there is no such thing as a stupid question.

You'll find boards on Home Phones and also Mobiles to help with all your telephony queries

RaspberryFool

Previous discussions on this topic (e.g. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=849108&postcount=11) advocated using German ISPs and Call1899 to connect to them. The advantage (at the time) being that calls to German landlines were free apart from a 3p connection charge. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. However, with Call18185, calls to Germany are only 0.5p/minute - so it is still pretty cheap. Calls to other countries are also charged at 0.5p/minute if one can find a suitable ISP there.

Subscribers to any call providers that offer inclusive international calls (if there are any other than TalkTalk) may also find this method useful. However, I expect that if they are paying that amount of rental each month, they would probably go for one with free broadband!

ecogeorge

Have used fast4 for 2 yrs but recently had serious trouble with email and internet access. Helpline is national rate number only available in office hrs (who's home then !)
After finally getting through I find that all users registered before oct 05 are now owned by a company called biscit.com. They took 3 direct debits instead of one last month !!!!
Could not get through on helpline but email to them resulted in refund.
Fast4 accepting new customers but beware phone no. to contact them is 07801 number !!!!!!!!!!!
Suggest we ditch fast4 and biscit.com and find alternative, recommendations appreciated.
rgds George.

Marl_2

I have been with Fast 4 for the past three years.
Last Thursday I could not access my email!so thinking I had a computer problem wiped and formatted my computer got everything up and running still no joy.Telephoned their helpline no one there!!!!!!!!
Tried again Monday this week got through to an engineer who informed me that the outgoing server had now been changed to biscit!!
So to cut a long story short I had to ring the help line four times before it was sorted.
Thought it strange I was only getting new emails,then dicovered that mail sent to me since last Thurday had been bounced back to the senders.
:mad: Talk about customer care
Why didn't they inform customers of this change over?
It would have taken one email to let their cunstomers know of the change.
I am now thinking of switching to http://www.zazizam.com/signup/un_home2.php any one with them? good bad experiences appreciated.

Marl_2

Just been on zazizam sign up page.
Got asked to enter an email name.guess what it was speed-mail.co.uk
Is this another branch of what used to be fast4????????

Geoffo_M

Marl wrote:

Just been on zazizam sign up page.
Got asked to enter an email name.guess what it was speed-mail.co.uk
Is this another branch of what used to be fast4????????

I asked the same question in a previous message and got the answer that it is all part of the same organisation, and I should avoid.

I'd welcome a recommendation for an ISP that can be trusted. Most of them will only take credit/debit card which I find suspicious. I tried DMC dial today. They won't accept direct debit, when I phoned their support line, I got voicemail twice, the website offers "Do you want to speak to someone online" and it always comes up with "No-one is available".

I don't want another fast4/biscit experience!

ecogeorge

After last post and loss of email from fast4 - now biscit.com I have lost the will to live in contacting fast4/biscit - always engaged or no. not available.
In desparation I signed up to zazizam.com as my new ISP. Despite correctly taking my credit card payment the connection does not work !!!
I have been unable to contact the customer service no. - continually engaged!!!
I am now fighting the credit card company to refund payment as the service has not been supplied !! more hassle !!
I too have noticed that the isp dial up tel. no. is the same as fast4 !!
Today email function has returned but missing emails people say they have sent me.
Moral --- fast4 / biscit service cheap but appaling customer service.
Zazizam service - disgusting -AVOID.
Who should we use ????
rgds George.

cratchit

I've had monies taken every two weeks by V21 and can't get a response, from e-mail, telephone can I just cut off my account? I was taken across to them from Fast4, I use dial up and am not very computer literate. What can I do to get some response? I've left messages and telephone number on biscit website, V21 website and Fast4 website, nobody has contacted me. Anybody know a low priced dial up reliable website to switch to?. I was only paying £4.99 with Fast4 and got weekend telephone calls as well. I understand carphone warehouse broadband/telephone offer is good, but am worried about all the problems people had when they signed up, has this been sorted out now or is it still a minefiled, ie: paying to sign up and then not getting any access. I only really need dial up connection but would like to cut the telephone BT charges as well.

jr0

Fast4 (now owned by v21/biscit) seems to have quite a strange way of charging customers. Their billing of "monthly" charges tends to happen a lot more frequently than once per month. I have had several problems that I had to correct with the customer service department. A friend of mine had been charges 15 times the monthly charge within 11 months (by debit card) and no refund has been provided. She had to report a fraud for the bank holding the debit card (a wise thing to do!).

Internet discussion forums also are full of complaints about people with monthly contract suddenly transferred to an annual contract. When I tried to cancel my contract, I was informed by Biscit that the cancellation was not written in the correct Cancellation Form and not acceptable! I have no idea where the cancellation forms can be found, but I will just have to report them for the credit card fraud department...