O2 Broadband (merged)

wackojackouk

Hi mate

I have 02 and have to say its really good. Regarding your email address it's usually not possible to keep it unless perhaps you ask them if you can keep a PAYG dial up account with Plusnet.

Best bet really for the future is to get a web based one as well i.e Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc as it will never expire.

Good luck and don't forget to go via Quidco for extra Cashback

WJUK

stamford

wackojackouk wrote: »

Hi mate

I have 02 and have to say its really good. Regarding your email address it's usually not possible to keep it unless perhaps you ask them if you can keep a PAYG dial up account with Plusnet.

Best bet really for the future is to get a web based one as well i.e Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc as it will never expire.

Good luck and don't forget to go via Quidco for extra Cashback

WJUK

Actually I think it depends who you were with on the email address - I use an old lineone.net address (now Tiscali) and I've taken it to Blueyonder, PlusNet and now O2. A friend has just dumped Nildram in favour of O2 and couldn't take his address.

xplora

If you guys having problem getting MAC code from BT Broadband, just give them a call during working hours, 0800800030. I think they are based in UK.

I just called for mac code today and they've been very friendly and helpful, and it is still the same when i called for second time since i wrote the wrong code earlier. They even asked me to stay and give me some good offer on the BT Line but i refused it, and they are still happy with it. :j

magyar

Just want to put in a thumbs-up for O2's technical support team.

I'd been suffering from a lot of regular interruptions in service with the line dropping out. After five mins on the phone, router was updated with new firmware and problem seems to have gone away.

Nothing less than I'd expect there, but today got a call just 'checking I was happy with the solution, and that it had all been solved'. Nice one. :beer:

Leopard

HuggerMother

You're not alone in finding the whole thing daunting: BT and others rely on that to enable them to exploit those who are deterred by it from switching.

It's worth bearing in mind, however, that only BT is obliged to provide you with access to third-party telephone services (e.g. 18185) which offer you cheap calls to mobiles and foreign countries. Conventional wisdom seems to be that it's best to stick with BT for one's 'phone connection, to retain flexibility.

If, moreover, you switch to PlusNet for 'phone and subsequently decide to change broadband providers it will complicate the whole issue.

The decision as to whether or not to switch from PlusNet to O2 for boradband really depends on whether or not your local exchange has been unbundled to O2. This you can establish from "SamKnows.com" (for example).

If it has, you can receive O2's LLU broadband services - which are faster, better and cheaper than PlusNet's (particularly if you have an O2 mobile 'phone contract).

If not, you'd have to opt for O2's "Access" service which, essentially, is the same as what you're getting now from PLusNet for £15 a month but would cost you £17.50 a month from O2 if you've got an O2 mobile 'phone contract and £22.50 a month if you haven't (or if you terminate your O2 mobile 'phone contract at some future date).

The latter service is provided, fundamentally, by BT. So, even if you're the only person on an unbundled exchange who's getting their broadband from O2, you'd still be subject to contention by BT. (In effect, this means that the connection would still slow down at busy periods because you're sharing it with other customers - both BT's and those on services like PlusNet.)

O2 would urge you to switch to them anyway but some would take the view that if O2 then has you (and others on your exchange) as a paying customer of its "Access" service, it reduces the attraction to O2 of going to the expense of unbundling your exchange to provide you with faster speeds for the same revenue.

O2 will be more motivated to unbundle an exchange if a lot of people have registered interest in their service and are saying "When you unbundle my exchange you can start getting money from me - but you won't until you do."

What this boils down to is: go for O2 broadband now, if you can receive O2's LLU services, but if you can't yet receive O2's LLU services stick with PlusNet until you can. Either way, stick with BT for your 'phone connection and use third-party services, with access codes, to get cheap calls.

For email, get a Googlemail account - which you'll never have to change, no matter whom your broadband supplier might be - or, if you've got an Apple Mac, subscribe to DotMac and you'll get a free email address as part of the service.

That would be my advice. Hope it helps you decide. Good luck, whatever you elect to do!


Pokem02

I'm perfectly aware of what this thread's about: I've posted to it a number of times.

Writing about Tiscali and having the vanity to expect everyone to remember the details of you and your broadband adventures from a posting you made last March when you asked if you were "being dim" is not the most obvious way to indicate to others that you are even connected to O2 at all, let alone holding forth on your experience of it.

Your assumption that people are insufficiently dim to make postings to the wrong threads in this forum is sadly wrong.

Thank you for clarifying what it is you are actually on about. Let's not waste resources by pursuing that further.

huggermugger

Leopard!

That was the most informative and comprehendable post I've ever had the privilege to read, here or elsewhere.
My headache has completely disappeared!

You're a total star, thank you for sharing your understanding of a baffling subject. I will check out my local exchange but as I am marooned in Silicon Valley, (Berkshire, not California..) I expect that it will be enabled for just about everything, as long as it doesn't involve actually talking face-to face to another human being.

btw I'm Huggermugger, not HuggerMother, tho I think I might be persuaded to swap.

Thanks for all your replies - thanks to MS bods I've pretty much sorted all my telecoms stuff today :lovethoug

don't be too hard on pokem02...

stamford

magyar wrote: »

Just want to put in a thumbs-up for O2's technical support team.

I'd been suffering from a lot of regular interruptions in service with the line dropping out. After five mins on the phone, router was updated with new firmware and problem seems to have gone away.

Nothing less than I'd expect there, but today got a call just 'checking I was happy with the solution, and that it had all been solved'. Nice one. :beer:

Same with me but they sent me a nifty new white box to replace the black one. I give their support 10/10

wackojackouk

stamford wrote: »

Same with me but they sent me a nifty new white box to replace the black one. I give their support 10/10

Me too, much smaller and nicer and since then hardly any problems.

Calls are always answered quickly and they are very friendly and helpful. When I had problems they promised to call at a certain time and they did. I think he was 5 minutes late and he apologised for it - unreal

Much happier with them than I was with Orange who don't give a stuff about their customers - see orangeproblems.co.uk :rolleyes:

xplora

Status
Phase
Result Checking your line Your line is eligible to receive O2 broadband. Scheduling your activation There is a problem with your line, please contact the O2 customer services team. Taking your payment Your payment for your first bill will be taken four days prior to your activation date. Dispatching your welcome pack Your welcome pack, including your O2 Box wireless modem and quick start instructions will be sent to you three days prior to activation given that your payment has been made. Only plug in your O2 Box on your activation date. Ready to go Your line is not yet activated to schedule. Please contact the O2 customer services team

is this normal, since i just apply today and switched from BT? Please advise, thank you

Quentin

It is normal when there is a problem.

Ring and find out what it is.