O2 Broadband (merged)

sparky61

TractorGirl327 wrote: »

Have you applied yet then?

Not quite, I'm in the process of changing my email addy with the umpteen survey sites etc... that I'm registered with.

sparky61

Searcher2 wrote: »

You need to make sure your exchange has 02 available first. You can do this by applying online with O2 or checking http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php . I guess you may have already done this.

As part of the process I think O2 claimed you should only be without broadband for an hour or two on the changeover day.

You get texts all the way through the order/delivery process so you know where you are. Once you put your MAC code in it seems to take about a week to changeover. I may be able to let you know how long my downtime is on Monday when I am supposed to be connected!

Hi Searcher2

It is available for me, I should have finished changing emails with survey sites tomorrow I hope.
It would be great if you could let me know how long the downtime is.
I've not even been getting 1mg with AOL, they had the cheek to ring me yesterday and ask if I'd like to be upgraded and get more speed, considering the helpline told me that it's BT's fault that the speed is so slow :rolleyes: and I've stupidly been paying £21.99 a month :eek:

opportunity_cost

sparky61, don't cancel your AOL Direct Debit yet if you're paying that way. AOL and every other ISP I know of requires you to give 30 days notice if you want to terminate your agreement with them once you're outside your minimum period (or if on a monthly contract):

9. Ending the AOL Broadband Agreement after any Minimum Commitment Period
9.1 If you do not want to continue to use AOL Broadband after the expiry of any Minimum Commitment Period, then you must give us at least 30 days' notice of your wish to cancel. Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time after any Minimum Commitment Period by giving 30 days notice.

When you ask for your MAC, you automatically trigger a 30 days notice, so you don't actually need to contact AOL as such to give notice (you just ask for your MAC and that's it) but you still need to pay your current broadband up until 30 days after your MAC was requested.

So if you want to avoid paying for both AOL and O2 for the days (or weeks) before your contractual obligations with AOL end (and save yourself as much money as possible), you should time your migration so that your O2 activation takes place just after your 30 days notice is up.

Like so:

4 April 08: You request your MAC from AOL.
AOL issues you with your MAC.

10 April 08: (if say, the 10th of every month is your billing date) AOL takes the regular amount, £21.99, from your Direct Debit/credit card

25 April 08: You use the MAC AOL gave you to sign up to O2 Broadband.
(O2 is scheduling activations to take place around 10 days after the day you sign up)

5 May 08: Your migration is complete. Your AOL connection stops and your connection with O2 goes live. Downtime is minimum.

As the payment AOL took on April 10th covered up until May 10th, you request a refund for 5 unused days (May 5th, the day your AOL connection stopped, to May 10th). If you were to go live with O2 earlier than that, say on May 2nd, you'd request a refund for 6 unused days (May 4th, the day your contractual obligations with AOL ended, to May 10th).

You can then cancel your AOL Direct Debit.

sparky61

opportunity_cost wrote: »

sparky61, don't cancel your AOL Direct Debit yet if you're paying that way. AOL and every other ISP I know of requires you to give 30 days notice if you want to terminate your agreement with them once you're outside your minimum period (or if on a monthly contract):

9. Ending the AOL Broadband Agreement after any Minimum Commitment Period
9.1 If you do not want to continue to use AOL Broadband after the expiry of any Minimum Commitment Period, then you must give us at least 30 days' notice of your wish to cancel. Either party may terminate this Agreement at any time after any Minimum Commitment Period by giving 30 days notice.

When you ask for your MAC, you automatically trigger a 30 days notice, so you don't actually need to contact AOL as such to give notice (you just ask for your MAC and that's it) but you still need to pay your current broadband up until 30 days after your MAC was requested.

So if you want to avoid paying for both AOL and O2 for the days (or weeks) before your contractual obligations with AOL end (and save yourself as much money as possible), you should time your migration so that your O2 activation takes place just after your 30 days notice is up.

Like so:

4 April 08: You request your MAC from AOL.
AOL issues you with your MAC.

10 April 08: (if say, the 10th of every month is your billing date) AOL takes the regular amount, £21.99, from your Direct Debit/credit card

25 April 08: You use the MAC AOL gave you to sign up to O2 Broadband.
(O2 is scheduling activations to take place around 10 days after the day you sign up)

5 May 08: Your migration is complete. Your AOL connection stops and your connection with O2 goes live. Downtime is minimum.

As the payment AOL took on April 10th covered up until May 10th, you request a refund for 5 unused days (May 5th, the day your AOL connection stopped, to May 10th). If you were to go live with O2 earlier than that, say on May 2nd, you'd request a refund for 6 unused days (May 4th, the day your contractual obligations with AOL ended, to May 10th).

You can then cancel your AOL Direct Debit.

Thanks for the above info, much appreciated. :T
I've just checked my online banking and the payment isn't by Direct Debit, it's classed as a recurring Visa transaction. Not sure how I go about changing/cancelling that, or will they automatically stop taking the payment?

Subvertjase

Well my move from Virgin Media cable to O2 has been smooth, had no mac code issues as the BB was sent via cable before. Had plenty of TXT updates, amazing online tracking service A1. Modem coming today switched on next Weds.

The thing Virgin does not end until 02/05/08, I ordered early as I have no knowledge of how long ADSL lines take to fire up and get in action.

The downside is Virgin has called me about 10 mins ago and now said stay with us for £10 per month broadband ! ekkkk what do I do now. Well I done some Math, this would only save me £2.50 per month as O2 are £12.50 forever, virgin said this retention deal would last 6 months then it would be back up to good old £18 .00 so I am thinking stick with moving to O2.

I hate it when this happens as I am such and indecisive person, but then I am getting faster speed with O2 and virgin have been throttling the service in the evening at peak times and on 2MB thats naughty.

My O2 speed is estimated at 6.5MB fast enough to browse forum and send emails etc.

I guess if O2 falls over on live day I have that 50 day cooling of thing to use and stay on board with Virgin, Oh hell I don't know

sparky61

Subvertjase wrote: »

Well my move from Virgin Media cable to O2 has been smooth, had no mac code issues as the BB was sent via cable before. Had plenty of TXT updates, amazing online tracking service A1. Modem coming today switched on next Weds.

The thing Virgin does not end until 02/05/08, I ordered early as I have no knowledge of how long ADSL lines take to fire up and get in action.

The downside is Virgin has called me about 10 mins ago and now said stay with us for £10 per month broadband ! ekkkk what do I do now. Well I done some Math, this would only save me £2.50 per month as O2 are £12.50 forever, virgin said this retention deal would last 6 months then it would be back up to good old £18 .00 so I am thinking stick with moving to O2.

I hate it when this happens as I am such and indecisive person, but then I am getting faster speed with O2 and virgin have been throttling the service in the evening at peak times and on 2MB thats naughty.

My O2 speed is estimated at 6.5MB fast enough to browse forum and send emails etc.

I guess if O2 falls over on live day I have that 50 day cooling of thing to use and stay on board with Virgin, Oh hell I don't know

Can you not get an 02 sim card? I think 02 will retrospectively accept this and reduce the cost to £7.50 per month, I could be wrong though, I often am

Subvertjase

:jSparky I like your thinking thank you I will look to see what is possible.

Quentin

You can add an o2 phone (contract or payg) to your account at a later date.

If you get a payg sim card in the future, you can then add that to your account. You need to top it up by at least £10 every 3 months to keep getting the £5 off the broadband every month.

opportunity_cost

sparky61 wrote: »

Thanks for the above info, much appreciated. :T
I've just checked my online banking and the payment isn't by Direct Debit, it's classed as a recurring Visa transaction. Not sure how I go about changing/cancelling that, or will they automatically stop taking the payment?

No probs. There's no way to cancel a continuous credit card authority (other than by 'losing' your card and getting your card issuer to send you a new one) but if you contact AOL to let them know that your migration has completed (ask for a refund for your unused days while you're at it), they should stop taking payments from your credit card.

sparky61

opportunity_cost wrote: »

No probs. There's no way to cancel a continuous credit card authority (other than by 'losing' your card and getting your card issuer to send you a new one) but if you contact AOL to let them know that your migration has completed (ask for a refund for your unused days while you're at it), they should stop taking payments from your credit card.

Thanks opportunity_cost :T
Will ring them now, scary business this :eek: Next on list is home insurance