Leaving Tiscali, looking for new ISP - a couple of questions

NiteRider

I am not happy with the level of Customer Support which I have received from Tiscali and I will be leaving once my 12-month contract expires next month. I did not particularly enjoy long, difficult phone calls to Tech support in India, especially now that they are changing the No to rip-off 0871

I wouldn't classify myself as a heavy user, normally no longer that 1-2 hours each day. Current and future usage would be mainly checking e-mails, browsing MSE (of course ), news and sport sites, Youtube, betting and poker. I don't do any major downloading and 2Mb speed would be fine for me.

I am currently wading through the wealth of information and opinion available about ISPs. Please could someone answer the following couple of questions?

LLU
I keep seeing the term LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) and I understand that some ISPs will charge if I move to them from a LLU setup. I notice that ASDL24, for example, list a setup fee of £45. I presume that this relates to LLU. Other than asking Tiscali is there any way of finding out if I have a LLU setup?

Tech support
Tiscali informed me that their UK-based Tech support was back room only and could not accept phone calls from customer. I would prefer an ISP with UK-based Tech support. Does anyone know if there are many ISPs which base their Tech support in UK and whose telephone charges are reasonable?

Thanks
NiteRider

leehal

With regards to tech support I use fast.co.uk and have found their support department to be very knowledgeable and the call is a normal number beginning with 01.

Cannot help with the LLU part, sorry.

telephone_man

I think that most of the BB companies operate their tech help overseas.

I know that BT came in top in a recent Readers Digest poll of overall customer satisfaction and came top in a similar Watchdog poll.

They do have a THD in India but they have one in Newcastle, Derby & London.

I had a problem with my BB and told them that I did not want to speak to India as there was a communication problem and they transferred me (no charge for call) to the UK help and the problem was solved on that call.
y clear
Regarding LLU - Check on the link below and either put your number or postcode in and it will tell you.

IMHO I would stay clear of LLU systems as you may have huge problems if you decide to leave.

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

PedroD

I'm with tiscali, have been for 3 or 4 years, the service has gone downhill in the last year, I often have a problem connecting in the evening.

An ‘upgrade’ last year when I think they were switching from using the BT exchange resulted in a drop in speed and being unable to connect for other a week.

No apology offered and no refund only got it sorted when I threatened to switch, their call centre in India is less than useless.

Would switch but might be moving within the year so I’m kind of stuck with them for the time being.

I certainly wouldn’t recommend them or be using them once we move.

NiteRider

Thanks for the replies, folks.

I phoned Tiscali yesterday giving notice of cancellation. I understood that the t+c specified 30 days notice. However the person I spoke to said that the 30 days only applied if I was not moving to another supplier.

My Tiscali contract expires on 04-Sep. He said that I should phone about 4 or 5 days before then to get the MAC.

Have I been misinformed? Should I follow up the phone call with an e-mail to confirm? I do not want to phone at the end of August and be told that I have to stay with Tiscali for another month.

Drunkstar

Thats balls from them, if they put in a cancellation request it can nullify the MAC. Just take the MAC and let it be canceled when you move.

Rumman

Niterider, have you rang that number that is on the tiscali forums, its a complaint number, and when you do complain thru that number tiscali seem to take it very seriously, alot of people on that forum have had their service improved as a result of the complaint. Not sure if it does for everyone tho.

Rumman

To find out if your on a LLU set up, type your postcode on this website
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/llu-league.php, thats a LLU exchange list for the u.k

NiteRider

Thanks for your posts, Rumman. I actually phoned the Tiscali HQ tel no I found on SayNoTo0870 and asked for Complaints. They weren't much help, denied that there was any problem with their Indian Tech Support and told me there was no UK-based TS for customers.

I said that I wasn't happy that I had spent 45 mins onto India, costing £2.20. OK, its only £2.20 but it's the principle. He said if I produced a copy of my phone bill, I might get re-imbursed.

Rumman

http://www.ispa.org.uk/cgi-bin/complaints.cgi

Make a complaint through that link, this is what a user from the tiscali forums says

"Looking through other forums and then giving it a go myself I've found this method really does get the message through to Tiscali - and it makes them act upon it.

Submit here, takes 20 seconds and really does get you somewhere, Tiscali have been calling my home everyday since I did this, and even my connection is working again.

Lots of people have said the same thing and had great results with this.

Just tell them about your issue here .

Enjoy."

The link is the one i posted above.