Broadband

Broadband is a wonderful thing isn't it? It allows one the freedom from worrying about the number of hours one is online, which is what happened - at least to me - in the days of dial-up.

I well remember when we first 'got the internet' - I was at that time doing a lot of family history research, and could easily lose a few hours at a time looking through census pages, or browsing genealogy sites. HWNLR was forever commenting on my online habit and how much it was costing. So I signed up for broadband, which was a jolly good thing, and for many years I enjoyed a good service from Virgin. However, when we moved last year, they wanted me to pay them £15 per month just to retain an email address, whilst we were staying with mum. They wouldn't be providing me with any kind of service - just 'reserving' my email address. I felt this was on the greedy and grasping side of extortionate and told them so. End of previously happy relationship with Richard Branson's band.

Whilst we were at mum's for 3 months last year, I used her TalkTalk broadband (she has her phone line with them too). It was a little bit temperamental, but their customer support were good, and the service pretty reliable. When we moved in here, I had no choice but to go with BT. I had no choice because there was no landline here - the previous occupant having presumably relied on her mobile phone for the purpose of telephonic communication. Having paid the hefty fee for installing a landline, I then discovered that no other Internet Service Provider could 'see' my line. I simply didn't exist on their databases. This left me with two choices: BT internet or no internet. For someone as reliant on the interweb as me, it meant I had to go with them.

It was not a happy relationship from the word go. I had all sorts of problems with maintaining a wireless connection on my laptop - it was dropping anything up to a dozen times a day. Many calls to their customer services people did go some way to helping that, but I literally spent hours on the phone to India, and had dealings with some rather rude people along the way. I wrote a letter of complaint about one woman who was first rude, and then put the phone down on me - I never even received the courtesy of a response. Though, it must be said, that there were two very polite and helpful people for every one 'difficult' one I encountered within the BT organisation.

Since my daughter reached the age at which music has become of huge importance to her, my level of downloads has increased. No.1 likes to listen to music and watch videos on YouTube¹ - as do millions of kids her age (and older). But every time a video gets viewed on YouTube, my usage goes up. I got emails every month from BT telling me exactly how many Gig I was using, and that I was exceeding their Fair Usage policy. I had never, ever had this from Virgin, or from TalkTalk. BT first charged me 58 pence per Gig that I went over their limit. Which was ok - I could live with it. Then they emailed suggesting I went over to their 'unlimited download' package at £25 per month. But I wasn't paying as much as £25 per month with my apparently 'excessive' use, so that was pointless.

Then they sent me an email saying they were altering their charges, and I would now have to pay £1 per extra Gig of download. Quite how they can justify almost doubling that cost is beyond me, and for me it was the final straw. As a contract-holder with O2 for my mobile phone, I am entitled to a discounted rate for their broadband. I've read a whole raft of reviews and rarely read anything bad about their broadband service (unlike the reviews for that of BT broadband). I gave O2 a call. I cannot receive their cheapest options because they have yet to 'unbundle' at my local exchange. However, it is scheduled, and once they do, I will get unlimited, quick downloads for just over £9 per month. For now I will have to pay £17 per month for the same privilege, but that's still better than BT's basic package + 'excess usage charges', and there won't be the hassle of the unending emails.

I called BT to request my MAK key, to enable me to switch providers. The very nice lady on the end of the phone wondered if she could tempt me to stay with a charge of £15 for 15Gb of downloads per month. I pointed out that I was, according to them, going just over that limit every month. She then offered me unlimited downloads for £19.95 per month - as long as I committed to another 12 month contract. I told her about the O2 position, and she admitted BT couldn't touch it. End of negotiation, and my MAK code was forthcoming.

O2 had my new router to me the day after I gave them my MAK key (although why is it that when you stay in for something to be delivered, it always arrives just before 6pm?!) They switched over my broadband service a week after my initial call to them. Efficiency all the way, and their staff have been helpful too. It remains to be seen how pleased I am with the internet service they provide - I'll be sure to post about it, I'm sure. So far pages seem quicker to load, and according to Speedtest.net, my upload speed has more than doubled. The wifi range is also much better - I can now use the laptop upstairs without the connection dropping every 10 minutes. With BT, my laptop registered a 'very low' signal - two rooms away from their router. With O2, in exactly the same spot in the house, the signal is 'very high'. How come?!

I had more hassles with BT over ending my broadband contract with them. I was told I would be sent a final bill. Nope, never happened. What did arrive was a 'normal' bill. I didn't pay it, because it wasn't the final bill. So they sent me a big angry red one. I phoned them. A man called Oliver told me that according to his system I was still with BT Broadband (this was almost a fortnight after I'd switched over to O2). He then transferred me to the wrong department, where a very apologetic Irishman told me I'd have to start again. Back to dialling 150! Grrrrrr. 'Press 1 if you're a bit pi$$ed off with us', 'Press 2 if you're reaching the end of your tether', etc. This time I spoke to a nice lady named Manjula (I always ask for their name - I find it focuses their attention ;-) ) who went off and checked. Yes, she could confirm I was no longer using BT Broadband, and no, I shouldn't pay the angry red bill. A final bill would be with me within a week.

I hope more and more people will question their BT providers - they might have been the first, but it doesn't mean they're the best.

¹ A little aside regarding YouTube. If you, like me, have a webcam and microphone attached to your computer, it would appear that YT, through Adobe Flash Player, can access quite a bit of information from you. It's worth looking to see whether or not you are unwittingly sharing your browsing habits (and possibly more) with them. You can easily do this by going to YouTube and clicking to watch a video - any video. Then, hover your cursor over the progress bar at the bottom of the player (this is the 'thing' that fills with colour as the video progresses). Right click to get a box in which the option 'settings' appears. Click on that, then choose the second icon from the left in the resulting box (the one with the 'eye' on it). Make sure that within the next box you have checked 'Deny' and 'remember' ... that way Adobe and YouTube can no longer use you and/or your kids for 'research' purposes!

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