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First of all ISP they were rubbish, I was with them since they first started. The had promise they were in actual fact quite good at the begginning but then they got "microsoft fever" because as they got bigger and richer from the ISP side thus there service went down the pan.
Now the phone side Rubbish Also I had a bt line up and till 2 weeks ago since I switch to BY but before then we had a dodgy line crackling all the time. When I rang up to ask them to repair it they blamed it on the phone itself.
Now since I am on TW the phone is so clear and loud you can hear the phone conversation from all round the room.
Now what I have heard from BT openworld the broadband one is not very good but I am not quite sure.
Basically dont go with BT the are Darth Vader's of britain
Faced with BT failed connections, customers being kicked off the network and more complaints than they can deal with, BT had to act. Its solution is two secret projects codenamed Mamba and BOA which are designed to constrict the service and push some Anytime customers towards BT's more expensive broadband network.
BT staff have been warned never to disclose codename BOA to customers who contact them desperate for help with the constricted system.
Paul Gordon told the programme:
"I've had nothing but problems which have included not being able to get online for long periods of time, and having many many times to reconnect.
I had to try 18 times to connect and when I was connected it lasted 6 minutes before it dropped me off again. It is not a service anymore."
Owen Murray said:
"When you try to reconnect the line's busy, you can go through maybe ten attempts to connect. Trying to get e-mails downloaded just takes forever."
Watchdog has discovered that rather than having sufficiently expanded the network to cope with the demand, BT is rationing the service and forcing less profitable customers off the Anytime network.
Mr Richard Cox, Telecommunications engineer told us:
"They're programming their system to deliver different types of communication at different speeds so that the heavy users are going to find that it takes them far longer than it should do.
It now appears that BT is trying to throttle content and where people download music or videos these are the things, which have a high file size and bandwidth and therefore, make heavy use of the internet. Those are effectively being slowed down by BT effectively acting as a traffic policeman on the internet.
So, they're deliberately giving a worse service to some customers. That's what tests appear to prove..."
So, if people are persuaded by Project BOA to switch to the broadband service you would have thought they would be better off, but it is still not available to many people. Only last month, the Government delivered a stinging rebuke of the service claiming it was too expensive.
The step up to broadband costs £39.99 per month. For that, BT promises a fast service, which is always on, convenient and easy - but it is already running into problems.
John Finnigan had BT's broadband service for over a year and found that the advertised always on high-speed access, has not been available. Furthermore, he told Watchdog that sometimes he could not log on at all. He believes that the broadband service he has been paying £39.99 for is "a bit of a disgrace" as sometimes he is only able to access his emails.
Watchdog has also discovered an email from BT which was posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting the broadband service they provide. They say, "we've had to impose traffic restrictions on applications and ports". This means they are deliberately slowing the service for some users - specifically of peer to peer applications. Not surprisingly, BT Internet customers have been calling the helpline in droves.
Owen Murray added:
"When I call the technical helpdesk I get a level of support that is not adequate... I have the impression that people are not qualified."
" Watchdog has discovered an email from BT posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting their broadband service... "
Paul Gordon told Watchdog:
"The helpdesk is no help. They're not giving the impression that it's staffed by technically competent people. It certainly gives the impression that they are people reading a script and giving stock answers."
Owen Murray found the BT helpdesk patronising in the questions they asked him. He felt, when it was established that the problem lay with BT, the only answer he received was that BT had a server problem and was told, "one of our engineers are working on it".
Paul Gordon told the programme he is constantly told by BT that they are having server and technical problems and must contact BT again later.
Owen Murray feels that for 50 pence a minute, "...it's a bit of a rip off".
There are other concerns about the BT helpline. A BT insider has contacted the programme and warned that personal details are being accessed by call centre staff:
"We have access to people's private passwords and email accounts and as BT's Anytime service is paid for by credit card we can see people's credit card details even though there's absolutely no need for this."
Since Watchdog started investigating, BT has made a double admission. BT told the programme that its call centre staff had had access to customer's credit card details and that it had been imposing traffic controls on it's own high speed broadband network.
Tonight BT Openworld Internet have refused to come into the studio but they say they have now lifted the traffic controls on their broadband network relating to peer to peer applications. BT insists that no such controls have been put in place on the Anytime service and maintains that Anytime customers are not affected. BT also maintain that it has not tried to push Anytime customers towards their Broadband service.
Since we started investigating they have also announced that they have been masking customer's credit card details form the technical call centre staff since October 3rd 2001.
Now the phone side Rubbish Also I had a bt line up and till 2 weeks ago since I switch to BY but before then we had a dodgy line crackling all the time. When I rang up to ask them to repair it they blamed it on the phone itself.
Now since I am on TW the phone is so clear and loud you can hear the phone conversation from all round the room.
Now what I have heard from BT openworld the broadband one is not very good but I am not quite sure.
Basically dont go with BT the are Darth Vader's of britain
Faced with BT failed connections, customers being kicked off the network and more complaints than they can deal with, BT had to act. Its solution is two secret projects codenamed Mamba and BOA which are designed to constrict the service and push some Anytime customers towards BT's more expensive broadband network.
BT staff have been warned never to disclose codename BOA to customers who contact them desperate for help with the constricted system.
Paul Gordon told the programme:
"I've had nothing but problems which have included not being able to get online for long periods of time, and having many many times to reconnect.
I had to try 18 times to connect and when I was connected it lasted 6 minutes before it dropped me off again. It is not a service anymore."
Owen Murray said:
"When you try to reconnect the line's busy, you can go through maybe ten attempts to connect. Trying to get e-mails downloaded just takes forever."
Watchdog has discovered that rather than having sufficiently expanded the network to cope with the demand, BT is rationing the service and forcing less profitable customers off the Anytime network.
Mr Richard Cox, Telecommunications engineer told us:
"They're programming their system to deliver different types of communication at different speeds so that the heavy users are going to find that it takes them far longer than it should do.
It now appears that BT is trying to throttle content and where people download music or videos these are the things, which have a high file size and bandwidth and therefore, make heavy use of the internet. Those are effectively being slowed down by BT effectively acting as a traffic policeman on the internet.
So, they're deliberately giving a worse service to some customers. That's what tests appear to prove..."
So, if people are persuaded by Project BOA to switch to the broadband service you would have thought they would be better off, but it is still not available to many people. Only last month, the Government delivered a stinging rebuke of the service claiming it was too expensive.
The step up to broadband costs £39.99 per month. For that, BT promises a fast service, which is always on, convenient and easy - but it is already running into problems.
John Finnigan had BT's broadband service for over a year and found that the advertised always on high-speed access, has not been available. Furthermore, he told Watchdog that sometimes he could not log on at all. He believes that the broadband service he has been paying £39.99 for is "a bit of a disgrace" as sometimes he is only able to access his emails.
Watchdog has also discovered an email from BT which was posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting the broadband service they provide. They say, "we've had to impose traffic restrictions on applications and ports". This means they are deliberately slowing the service for some users - specifically of peer to peer applications. Not surprisingly, BT Internet customers have been calling the helpline in droves.
Owen Murray added:
"When I call the technical helpdesk I get a level of support that is not adequate... I have the impression that people are not qualified."
" Watchdog has discovered an email from BT posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting their broadband service... "
Paul Gordon told Watchdog:
"The helpdesk is no help. They're not giving the impression that it's staffed by technically competent people. It certainly gives the impression that they are people reading a script and giving stock answers."
Owen Murray found the BT helpdesk patronising in the questions they asked him. He felt, when it was established that the problem lay with BT, the only answer he received was that BT had a server problem and was told, "one of our engineers are working on it".
Paul Gordon told the programme he is constantly told by BT that they are having server and technical problems and must contact BT again later.
Owen Murray feels that for 50 pence a minute, "...it's a bit of a rip off".
There are other concerns about the BT helpline. A BT insider has contacted the programme and warned that personal details are being accessed by call centre staff:
"We have access to people's private passwords and email accounts and as BT's Anytime service is paid for by credit card we can see people's credit card details even though there's absolutely no need for this."
Since Watchdog started investigating, BT has made a double admission. BT told the programme that its call centre staff had had access to customer's credit card details and that it had been imposing traffic controls on it's own high speed broadband network.
Tonight BT Openworld Internet have refused to come into the studio but they say they have now lifted the traffic controls on their broadband network relating to peer to peer applications. BT insists that no such controls have been put in place on the Anytime service and maintains that Anytime customers are not affected. BT also maintain that it has not tried to push Anytime customers towards their Broadband service.
Since we started investigating they have also announced that they have been masking customer's credit card details form the technical call centre staff since October 3rd 2001.
I think BT are too far behind to be able to do anything about it now, I guess they had verything sorted ok and didn't think anyone would try and challenge them, but TW appeared (sometime back) and there was a little competiton, I don't see why BT don't try broadband out, would have thought they'd be the first to go for it.
I think TW are the best, seems both NTL and BT are in debt, never a good thing, TW have cheap prices for everything, it's just a shame not everyone can use it.
I think TW are the best, seems both NTL and BT are in debt, never a good thing, TW have cheap prices for everything, it's just a shame not everyone can use it.
Whoa, did you write all of that? nice.
BT is a good server, but there are better, as with their phone lines, all my friends say "it's cheaper" yadda yadda, i'm pretty sure TeleWest is cheaper, i'm (well my dad) is paying £35 a month for totally free landline phone calls, s'ok although no one but my sister gets to use it, and Broadband, i'm pretty much the only person who uses it, that's £25! altogether £60 a month, sounds a bit steep, but my dad was paying around £120+ a month before, and the phone lines are used much more since we've had it upgraded.
so tell me, saving £60+ is bad? no way, any savings good, and not only did we save but now our modems 9x faster, Wooo!
Back to BT, Whooo Style is the only person on these forums i've seen that likes BT but he's got a Pipex ASDL cable too (500kbs) so I doubt he'll be complaining.
I havn't checked the difference between BT and TeleWest, I wouldn't think they'd be much difference between the prices, but having a clear line avaliable 24/7 is very imprtant and makes the difference.
also, the fact that everyone in the room can hear your phone call has next to nothin to do with your phone line, thats your phone, it sometimes varys.
All this competition is good though, if TeleWest was the only company then we'd be paying stupid prices (because we'd have to if we wanted a phone line) NTL are a good company, although i've head bad things about their dial-up connection. On the other hand, if anyones hand the misfortune of trying BY's dial-up connection, i feel sorry for you, it was good for about 4 months then all of a sudden, Broadband became cheaper and 56k and less modems had nothing, I don't know what it's like now, but I doubt it's any better.
On good days you'd get the connection timeout within the first couple of minutes, Broadband is the best though, downloads at 70k+ pings of 10+ and pretty flashing lights on the modem.
BT is a good server, but there are better, as with their phone lines, all my friends say "it's cheaper" yadda yadda, i'm pretty sure TeleWest is cheaper, i'm (well my dad) is paying £35 a month for totally free landline phone calls, s'ok although no one but my sister gets to use it, and Broadband, i'm pretty much the only person who uses it, that's £25! altogether £60 a month, sounds a bit steep, but my dad was paying around £120+ a month before, and the phone lines are used much more since we've had it upgraded.
so tell me, saving £60+ is bad? no way, any savings good, and not only did we save but now our modems 9x faster, Wooo!
Back to BT, Whooo Style is the only person on these forums i've seen that likes BT but he's got a Pipex ASDL cable too (500kbs) so I doubt he'll be complaining.
I havn't checked the difference between BT and TeleWest, I wouldn't think they'd be much difference between the prices, but having a clear line avaliable 24/7 is very imprtant and makes the difference.
also, the fact that everyone in the room can hear your phone call has next to nothin to do with your phone line, thats your phone, it sometimes varys.
All this competition is good though, if TeleWest was the only company then we'd be paying stupid prices (because we'd have to if we wanted a phone line) NTL are a good company, although i've head bad things about their dial-up connection. On the other hand, if anyones hand the misfortune of trying BY's dial-up connection, i feel sorry for you, it was good for about 4 months then all of a sudden, Broadband became cheaper and 56k and less modems had nothing, I don't know what it's like now, but I doubt it's any better.
On good days you'd get the connection timeout within the first couple of minutes, Broadband is the best though, downloads at 70k+ pings of 10+ and pretty flashing lights on the modem.
First of all ISP they were rubbish, I was with them since they first started. The had promise they were in actual fact quite good at the begginning but then they got "microsoft fever" because as they got bigger and richer from the ISP side thus there service went down the pan.
Now the phone side Rubbish Also I had a bt line up and till 2 weeks ago since I switch to BY but before then we had a dodgy line crackling all the time. When I rang up to ask them to repair it they blamed it on the phone itself.
Now since I am on TW the phone is so clear and loud you can hear the phone conversation from all round the room.
Now what I have heard from BT openworld the broadband one is not very good but I am not quite sure.
Basically dont go with BT the are Darth Vader's of britain
Faced with BT failed connections, customers being kicked off the network and more complaints than they can deal with, BT had to act. Its solution is two secret projects codenamed Mamba and BOA which are designed to constrict the service and push some Anytime customers towards BT's more expensive broadband network.
BT staff have been warned never to disclose codename BOA to customers who contact them desperate for help with the constricted system.
Paul Gordon told the programme:
"I've had nothing but problems which have included not being able to get online for long periods of time, and having many many times to reconnect.
I had to try 18 times to connect and when I was connected it lasted 6 minutes before it dropped me off again. It is not a service anymore."
Owen Murray said:
"When you try to reconnect the line's busy, you can go through maybe ten attempts to connect. Trying to get e-mails downloaded just takes forever."
Watchdog has discovered that rather than having sufficiently expanded the network to cope with the demand, BT is rationing the service and forcing less profitable customers off the Anytime network.
Mr Richard Cox, Telecommunications engineer told us:
"They're programming their system to deliver different types of communication at different speeds so that the heavy users are going to find that it takes them far longer than it should do.
It now appears that BT is trying to throttle content and where people download music or videos these are the things, which have a high file size and bandwidth and therefore, make heavy use of the internet. Those are effectively being slowed down by BT effectively acting as a traffic policeman on the internet.
So, they're deliberately giving a worse service to some customers. That's what tests appear to prove..."
So, if people are persuaded by Project BOA to switch to the broadband service you would have thought they would be better off, but it is still not available to many people. Only last month, the Government delivered a stinging rebuke of the service claiming it was too expensive.
The step up to broadband costs £39.99 per month. For that, BT promises a fast service, which is always on, convenient and easy - but it is already running into problems.
John Finnigan had BT's broadband service for over a year and found that the advertised always on high-speed access, has not been available. Furthermore, he told Watchdog that sometimes he could not log on at all. He believes that the broadband service he has been paying £39.99 for is "a bit of a disgrace" as sometimes he is only able to access his emails.
Watchdog has also discovered an email from BT which was posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting the broadband service they provide. They say, "we've had to impose traffic restrictions on applications and ports". This means they are deliberately slowing the service for some users - specifically of peer to peer applications. Not surprisingly, BT Internet customers have been calling the helpline in droves.
Owen Murray added:
"When I call the technical helpdesk I get a level of support that is not adequate... I have the impression that people are not qualified."
" Watchdog has discovered an email from BT posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting their broadband service... "
Paul Gordon told Watchdog:
"The helpdesk is no help. They're not giving the impression that it's staffed by technically competent people. It certainly gives the impression that they are people reading a script and giving stock answers."
Owen Murray found the BT helpdesk patronising in the questions they asked him. He felt, when it was established that the problem lay with BT, the only answer he received was that BT had a server problem and was told, "one of our engineers are working on it".
Paul Gordon told the programme he is constantly told by BT that they are having server and technical problems and must contact BT again later.
Owen Murray feels that for 50 pence a minute, "...it's a bit of a rip off".
There are other concerns about the BT helpline. A BT insider has contacted the programme and warned that personal details are being accessed by call centre staff:
"We have access to people's private passwords and email accounts and as BT's Anytime service is paid for by credit card we can see people's credit card details even though there's absolutely no need for this."
Since Watchdog started investigating, BT has made a double admission. BT told the programme that its call centre staff had had access to customer's credit card details and that it had been imposing traffic controls on it's own high speed broadband network.
Tonight BT Openworld Internet have refused to come into the studio but they say they have now lifted the traffic controls on their broadband network relating to peer to peer applications. BT insists that no such controls have been put in place on the Anytime service and maintains that Anytime customers are not affected. BT also maintain that it has not tried to push Anytime customers towards their Broadband service.
Since we started investigating they have also announced that they have been masking customer's credit card details form the technical call centre staff since October 3rd 2001.
Now the phone side Rubbish Also I had a bt line up and till 2 weeks ago since I switch to BY but before then we had a dodgy line crackling all the time. When I rang up to ask them to repair it they blamed it on the phone itself.
Now since I am on TW the phone is so clear and loud you can hear the phone conversation from all round the room.
Now what I have heard from BT openworld the broadband one is not very good but I am not quite sure.
Basically dont go with BT the are Darth Vader's of britain
Faced with BT failed connections, customers being kicked off the network and more complaints than they can deal with, BT had to act. Its solution is two secret projects codenamed Mamba and BOA which are designed to constrict the service and push some Anytime customers towards BT's more expensive broadband network.
BT staff have been warned never to disclose codename BOA to customers who contact them desperate for help with the constricted system.
Paul Gordon told the programme:
"I've had nothing but problems which have included not being able to get online for long periods of time, and having many many times to reconnect.
I had to try 18 times to connect and when I was connected it lasted 6 minutes before it dropped me off again. It is not a service anymore."
Owen Murray said:
"When you try to reconnect the line's busy, you can go through maybe ten attempts to connect. Trying to get e-mails downloaded just takes forever."
Watchdog has discovered that rather than having sufficiently expanded the network to cope with the demand, BT is rationing the service and forcing less profitable customers off the Anytime network.
Mr Richard Cox, Telecommunications engineer told us:
"They're programming their system to deliver different types of communication at different speeds so that the heavy users are going to find that it takes them far longer than it should do.
It now appears that BT is trying to throttle content and where people download music or videos these are the things, which have a high file size and bandwidth and therefore, make heavy use of the internet. Those are effectively being slowed down by BT effectively acting as a traffic policeman on the internet.
So, they're deliberately giving a worse service to some customers. That's what tests appear to prove..."
So, if people are persuaded by Project BOA to switch to the broadband service you would have thought they would be better off, but it is still not available to many people. Only last month, the Government delivered a stinging rebuke of the service claiming it was too expensive.
The step up to broadband costs £39.99 per month. For that, BT promises a fast service, which is always on, convenient and easy - but it is already running into problems.
John Finnigan had BT's broadband service for over a year and found that the advertised always on high-speed access, has not been available. Furthermore, he told Watchdog that sometimes he could not log on at all. He believes that the broadband service he has been paying £39.99 for is "a bit of a disgrace" as sometimes he is only able to access his emails.
Watchdog has also discovered an email from BT which was posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting the broadband service they provide. They say, "we've had to impose traffic restrictions on applications and ports". This means they are deliberately slowing the service for some users - specifically of peer to peer applications. Not surprisingly, BT Internet customers have been calling the helpline in droves.
Owen Murray added:
"When I call the technical helpdesk I get a level of support that is not adequate... I have the impression that people are not qualified."
" Watchdog has discovered an email from BT posted on a BT newsgroup website. In it, BT admit that they have also been restricting their broadband service... "
Paul Gordon told Watchdog:
"The helpdesk is no help. They're not giving the impression that it's staffed by technically competent people. It certainly gives the impression that they are people reading a script and giving stock answers."
Owen Murray found the BT helpdesk patronising in the questions they asked him. He felt, when it was established that the problem lay with BT, the only answer he received was that BT had a server problem and was told, "one of our engineers are working on it".
Paul Gordon told the programme he is constantly told by BT that they are having server and technical problems and must contact BT again later.
Owen Murray feels that for 50 pence a minute, "...it's a bit of a rip off".
There are other concerns about the BT helpline. A BT insider has contacted the programme and warned that personal details are being accessed by call centre staff:
"We have access to people's private passwords and email accounts and as BT's Anytime service is paid for by credit card we can see people's credit card details even though there's absolutely no need for this."
Since Watchdog started investigating, BT has made a double admission. BT told the programme that its call centre staff had had access to customer's credit card details and that it had been imposing traffic controls on it's own high speed broadband network.
Tonight BT Openworld Internet have refused to come into the studio but they say they have now lifted the traffic controls on their broadband network relating to peer to peer applications. BT insists that no such controls have been put in place on the Anytime service and maintains that Anytime customers are not affected. BT also maintain that it has not tried to push Anytime customers towards their Broadband service.
Since we started investigating they have also announced that they have been masking customer's credit card details form the technical call centre staff since October 3rd 2001.