Are XLN any good

whatatwit

I have just moved my business line and calls to them.
Majority of my calls are incoming, very low user for outgoing calls.
So far so good....touch wood.....the changeover seemed to go smoothly and I have received my invoice....
Talk Talk were a nightmare, I had to phone several times in the beginning to get my invoices, they took the payment each month, just no bills. Sorted eventually, but still hassle.
No experience of broadband with them.

jhp

whatatwit wrote: »

I have just moved my business line and calls to them.
Majority of my calls are incoming, very low user for outgoing calls.
So far so good....touch wood.....the changeover seemed to go smoothly and I have received my invoice....
Talk Talk were a nightmare, I had to phone several times in the beginning to get my invoices, they took the payment each month, just no bills. Sorted eventually, but still hassle.
No experience of broadband with them.

Did they mention the rolling contract.They catch out a lot of SME who forget to cancel on this one.

"This agreement will have the duration specified on the application form that you sign, (minimum 1 year, Total Business 2 years) and will be automatically renewed on an annual basis unless and until either of us gives the other written notice of termination at least 42 days before the relevant anniversary"

Recent thread about them here:http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=535228

Ros_Callander

Thanks all.....I appreciate it.:T:T

I'll make sure and watch out for that rolling contract.

We run 2 businesses - my hubby is a self-employed IT Support Engineer, and I have 2 websites - one my own and one a multi-artist website.

The reason we went with BT for the Broadband was that my husband has had lots of experience of his customers being batted from Internet Service Provider to BT and back, when there's a problem - each claiming it is not a fault with their side, but the other's responsibility. Since we run the 2 websites and have a duty of care to our member artists, we felt that it was a priority that any problems were dealt with promptly - so felt that if both the line and ISP were with the same company (i.e. BT) then they would have to deal with any problem and couldn't blame it on the other side.
Thats one of reasons I am still a little reticent about changing, despite the obvious extra expense involved - sometimes you have to apportion value to "intangible" things.
I'd still be interested to hear about anyone who has been with XLN for a while - especially with their Broadband service?
As with most (?all?) unlimited Broadband packages, there's usually a condition "subject to fair use policy" - and it's very difficult to get a definitive explanation out of some of these companies as to what constitutes their "fair useage policy", being (obviously) quite a heavy user, it's a concern. So does anyone have any experience of this with XLN?

The only saving grace (as far as I can determine at this point) is the fact that they offer the first 2 months as a "trial period" where you are not locked into the contract (still have to pay :rolleyes:), so I if we do decide to go with them, then I think I'll stay hooked up to the Internet the way I do at the moment to see what they say.:D:D


Oh, meant to say.....

How can the calls and broadband be Free if you are paying £25 a month for them.

Utilitybroker.....it's probably just a colloquial misunderstanding......what I meant was "free of any further charges" and unlimited in terms of number of calls......sorry if it read differently :o:D

savethewahles

jobseekers beware...

I recenty (and i'm a little embarrased to admit this really) applied for a 'managment' position with XLN telecom, being under the impression that £18 - £30k was on offer. In hindsight the lure of a fairly decent salary probably clouded my judgement somewhat (along with the admittedly slick presentations and structure meetings)

But guys and girls let me assure you, these guys are out to get a few days, maybe a week, in some cases maybe more of COMPETELY unpaid work out of new applicants and have really done their homework on how to cover their asses in this regard.

Please, for the love of all that is good DISREGARD the steaming pile of poo and save yourself the ignominity of having the proverbial wool pulled over your eyes.

As for the product I have a lot of 1st hand feedback from mostly ex customers along with a few irate existing customers which is far from flattering..

beware jobseekers.....

Shoe_Queen_3

I signed up with XLN for my business in January 2008. I still have my line rental with BT because I'm in a contract with them. So far so good, I receive a monthly phone bill which is on average 25% cheaper than by BT bill was (after taking into account the line rental element). I have no issues at all with the service so can recommend them for small business use.

marmaladeskies

Hi Ros,

We have been with XLN for two or three years now. We have a small business and a home business for which they provide the broadband service. The negative experience we have had is with occasional inability to connect from the home business to certain sites or services (home banking, Hotmail, Remote Desktop being the most obvious ones). Our small business site was unaffacted. It happened when XLN 'upgraded' their service. An IT colleague explained that it was something to do with XLN not buying enough bandwith from BT. However a forum posting I saw said that sometimes sites are unable to handle the size/frequency of the information packets that are being sent to them and they just timeout. The posting recommended adjusting some settings to reduce the packet size, which I did and the problem was resolved partially but not completely. The problem subsequently disappeared (as if XLN themselves had addressed the issue). However, recently it returned and at the moment we again cannot connect to the above sites from the home business. During the first occurrence I considered switching to BT for the reasons you cite for staying with them (avoiding getting caught between them and your ISP provider), but to be honest couldn't face the potential hassle/disruption of switching. We have just received notification that they will be 'upgrading' their service again (which possibly explains the reappearance of the above connection problem). They say we will get a 'Next Generation Network' with speeds of up to 24mb as opposed to 8mb max (2mb reality!). Despite the negative experience, we are sticking with them for the moment - it has been the only problem issue so far. If its subsequently resolved again and we get the benefits of NGN (which they say BT is behind on) perhaps it will be worth it. We shall see!

billsavings

Things dont really seem to have improved in 2008.

http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/business/Restaurant-boss-cut-mix/article-234495-detail/article.html

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/00918081783073

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=559523

jetskaa

I was with BT for 3 years but transferred over to XLN over 4 years ago now, for both my four businesses and at my home.

XLN's customer service is absolutely fantastic! My calls are always answered in less than 2 mins and the agents are always so friendly!!! Its very important to me that I get the best service possible. Instead of being put through to someone half way across the country, it's all UK based which I love.

British Telecom? I beg to differ...Unless you are with BT for more than 30+ years, you are simply just another number to their retail population.

As a strong minded business women, saving as much money as I can is a given. As a SME, why pay retail prices when you can have wholesales prices for the same product and better service?

Since being with XLN the prices have actually gone down...The line rental is just £9.99 month. And I get unlimited local and national calls as well. I have been approached by other providers offering other deals but one call to XLN and they beat it. Its absolutely brillant!!

XLN certainly lives up to their name, EXCELLEN-T!!!!

Heinz

Catchy final word there - could be used in their advertising!

simon_B_7

Never had a problem with XLN, it has lower prices than BT and most other sp's as well. Havent been with anyone else for a couple of years now. Keep seeing complaints about them but I swear most of them are from years ago?