TalkTalk feedback needed; good and bad

Heinz

raclarke4567 wrote:

NOW the 1877 prefix is cancelled and no substitute offered other than transfer to TalkTalk. No advance notification from TalkTalk BEFOREHAND. tried to use Sunday to speak to elderely parents in Spain and message stating I was not "registered". IE not that service had been terminated.

Although there are cheaper options (see the MSE International CallChecker, I use www.18185.co.uk for my calls to Spain because they are so reliable (I can only recall one case of a poor connection in the past 18 months - and we phone at least once a week).

Ip/minute and no charge if I don't get through is cheap enough for me!

lythaby

Just thought i'd add my thought, although not a TalkTalk customer, I deal with ISP connections, with another ISP. We have experienced delays on commissioning new adsl customers and getting installs. Recently i got an email from the ISP we sell through saying.......

"Dear Channel Partner,

We have been advised by BT that we can potentially expect delays in the allocation of engineers for new installations of DSL services and fault visits. These delays are affecting all ISPs across the country. BT are actively recruiting to address the resource issue however in the short term we we would advise partners to quote an average installation time for ADSL services of 5-10 working days but warn clients there are potentially delays from BT. We would advise all channel partners to wait for confirmation that the service has been installed before dispatching your engineers to your clients sites.

The shortage in engineering resources is largely due to a massive increase in DSL orders from a few ISPs who are now offering free DSL although BT have not officially confirmed this. We will advise you if the situation changes"

Just thought it may open the debate up a little, as this would really take the heat off TalkTalk, i think the reason why TalkTalk has been identified as having problems, is due to the volume of customers they've already signed up, and the ones that are still waiting are in areas that BT can't cover.

smuglet

Slighly off track, but Pipex Homecall / Pipex have simialr problems.

I opted to upgrade to Homecall 6 months ago on the basis of getting my broadband upgraded to 8mb.

6 Months on nothing has happend. on top of that you get different stories everytime you manage to speak to anyone, and are charge from Homecall and Pipex... effectively increasing what you were paying.

They say when it does happen that Pipex (broadband not homecall) will refund the overpayments... do I have confidence that this will happen?

We shall see.

Stuartli

t8769 wrote:

Yes its cheap, yes its shyinny and new and very attractive.

But it is slow, sometimes 30% slower than other providers./QUOTE

Apart from the odd occasion I consistently get 1.8 to 1.9MB connection speeds with TalkTalk (about right for a 2MB service) and I'm online for most of the day and evening.

Speed checks are done regularly using http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

Just done a test and download speed returned is 1873.6Kbps and upload speed is 241.7Kbps (both excellent).

One of the main advantages of TalkTalk is that on operating costs alone I save £14.99 a month on the former Tiscali subscription and £4 to £5 a month phone calls with One.Tel; that's only a fraction short of the £20.99 monthly fee to TalkTalk for broadband, free UK and many overseas phone calls and line rental...:-)

I did initially have some problems with TalkTalk, but contact with the chief executive eventually resulted in a long telephone conversation with a TT representative at its HQ, followed by repayment of the original £29.99 connection charge (now dropped I believe) and a £20 goodwill payment - these were credited to me via the monthly direct debit mandate.

As a footnote, anyone considering joining TT should opt for the £9.99 phone package section, otherwise you will lose the free overseas calls to 28 countries just for the sake of saving £1 a month.

Thankfully TT's acquisition of AOL appears to indicate that it will not switch all its operations to the brand - I've vowed for years never to let an AOL broadband service anywhere near my computer system.

Stuartli

tonygre wrote:

Seems to be common for people to have a connection speed of 2.2Mb ??.

If you are referring to the panel appearing above your connection icon with this "speed" you are misinterpreting it.

The "speed" detailed is not your connection speed but the maximum speed of which your line is capable - it will show 2.2MB even if you only have a 512kbps or 1MB service.

When I had an ADSL modem rather than a modem router and LAN, my connection "speed" was listed as 2.3MB.

mistapike

I signed up on day of release, and I was set up pretty quickly and efficiently. What I did find however, is that my connection frequently dropped, and after some hunting find out that by making certain configuration adjustments (primarily to my PC's MTU setting) I could overcome this - but this is definitely not something the non-technical should try, and trying to get assistance from Talk talk technical support was a dire experience.

However, all remained well for a while, until last week, when I was "local loop unbundled (LLU)" which is something EVERY talk talk broadband customer will go through - which is the process which increases your connection from say 1 or 2mb (1mb in my case) to the 8mb (or similar). Since then I have found that 75% of the time I have been unable to connect to the internet at all, and when I have been able to connect the performance has been intolerably slow. I have also seen on other forums dire warnings of what would happen through switching to LLU. I have been unable to get through to talk talk support to report this, as their message simply states "all are lines are busy" and then cuts you off whenever I have rung.

The suggestions from the technically knowledgeable, seenms to be that Talk Talks basic infastructure (routers/servers etc..) is old and undersized, hence the high levels of connection drops/slow connections many customers seem to suffer whenever any sort of peak usage may occur. This will only get worse as more users go live of course...

So BEWARE LLU EVERYONE !! - and Martin - I think you will find that the "appalling delay and response to getting setup" problem will shortly shift to being more of an "appalling quality of actual service" problem.

Stuartli

bbb_uk wrote:

Hi Bogman,

To check this I'd visit TalkTalk's site and they'll probably confirm this and/or visit SamKnows (that you link to) and enter your BT landline number and postcode.

Once you click on 'check' then on the left click on 'LLU xDSL' and it will display companies that have or will be getting their LLU equipment in your exchange that you're connected to. TalkTalk entry (if it exists) will be listed under Carphone Warehouse as opposed to TalkTalk and it may display it exists or when (if known) that TalkTalk will be available in your area..

Samknows can/may list that TalkTalk (CPW) is or has installed its LLU equipment in your exchange, but you should also look if there is an RFS (Ready For Service) date provided.

My local exchange is supposed to have CPW's LLU equipment already available from August 31, but I won't be switched to it until next February according to the TT website...:-(

Stuartli

mistapike wrote:

However, all remained well for a while, until last week, when I was "local loop unbundled (LLU)" which is something EVERY talk talk broadband customer will go through - which is the process which increases your connection from say 1 or 2mb (1mb in my case) to the 8mb (or similar). Since then I have found that 75% of the time I have been unable to connect to the internet at all, and when I have been able to connect the performance has been intolerably slow. I have also seen on other forums dire warnings of what would happen through switching to LLU. I have been unable to get through to talk talk support to report this, as their message simply states "all are lines are busy" and then cuts you off whenever I have rung.

It may take 10 days or more for the service to settle down.

You can find an explanation here:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/qanda.asp?faq=radsl

Bigwullie

:rolleyes: I signed up in June for the FREE upto 8Mb Broadband,phone line active in July,so far so good. BB active in Sept NOT free £10. NOT 8Mb but 2.2Mb.BT offered 6.5Mb to stay with them. All in all still cheaper than BT.

mattsaze

I signed up in June and was promised Broadband in August. They didn't tell me I needed a MAC code until I called them. It turned out that it was going to be a real problem connecting with Talk Talk as I had an issue with LLU (or something) on my Tiscali account.
Anyway the person I spoke to (John at Warrington office) was so helpful I couldn't fault him at all and going from asking to cancel everything I agreed to the basic package without broadband. Tiscali agreed to up my connection speed after threatening to cancel ;-) and lower my subscription so I'm not far off the Talk Talk deal anyway. BT are such a bunch of rip off merchants IMO that I'm satisfied with this Money Saving deal.