PC Pals Forum
Technical Help & Discussion => General Tech Discussion, News & Q&A => Topic started by: Clive on December 13, 2006, 16:21
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The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has said that broadband providers must supply MAC (migration authorisation codes) to customers for free when requested.
From 14 February next year ISPs will be legally obliged to supply the codes to anyone who wishes to change provider. A MAC is a necessity when switching a broadband service from one company to another.
Ofcom has even made special provisions for customers who are unable to get hold of the codes due to factors that are out of their hands, for example, disputes between the broadband provider and its wholesaler.
"The new rules will mean that all wholesale providers must provide MAC codes to their customers ? the retail broadband providers - upon request, regardless of any dispute," Ofcom said in a statement.
Recently customers of ISP V21, had their broadband service stopped and were unable to get hold of MACs due to a dispute between V21's parent company, Biscit, and its wholesaler, Netservices.
Coincidentally, the High court yesterday ruled in Biscit's favour in the dispute, which began when Netservices cut V21 customers off and encouraged them to sign up to a competing broadband services. Biscit says that it is now preparing to sue Netservices for damages.
Claudio Pollack, Ofcom's director of consumer policy said: ?Increased competition in broadband has led to falling prices and a wide variety of services. These new rules are intended to ensure that switching is a quick and easy process for all.?
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/
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I'm still with V21/Biscit :-X
And the email service is appauling, still waiting on some mails from paypal & ebay from last night sourt'e
Biscit has revealed that the 'High Court of Justice' issued an injunction against NetServices plc on 12th December 2006 calling upon them to consent to the immediate transfer of authentication realms "V21.co.uk", "speeddsl.com", "flexisurf" and "ispnet" to Biscit.
The move has perhaps ironically been announced on the same day as Ofcom's new migration rules, which were brought forward as a result of this very dispute:
Biscit has since received a letter signed by Mr. Steven Hartley, a director of NetServices plc, giving consent to the return of its authentication realms. BT has been advised accordingly and Biscit CSP/V21 customers will have full use of their V21 identities as a result.
Biscit has consented to provide a broadband pipe to Biscit CSP/V21's end users who have, since termination of an agreement between V21 and NetServices on 15th November 2006 by NetServices, contracted with EzeeDSL and are being supplied broadband services using Biscit's authentication realms until further order, or until such time as those customers are moved by EzeeDSL to another realm, or by 10th January 2007 whichever is the soonest.
Ofcom and ISPA are being advised of this High Court ruling and Biscit will now proceed with a significant claim for damages against NetServices plc (EPIC : NSV).
The move will also put further pressure on EzeeDSL, which has been racing to switch ex-V21 users onto a realm of their own.
Courtesy of ISP Review.
TR
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This is great news. This means that I may be able to ditch Pipex in February, regardless of their unfair, and possibly unlawful contract, which they have changed since I signed up, without express notification to customers (they expect everyone to check the T&Cs on the website for changes - yeah right).
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Many thanks to Beverly and Si for sorting my e mail addy out :blush:, I have now changed ISP to BT option 3.
Made the jump because my last ISP Biscit are gradually going down the pan, read Ispreview and you will understand.
I'm glad I made the move............ now getting a lot more secure service and better speeds .......... Below: Pages show before I click a link now :laugh:
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F93880191.png&hash=8cc1789d2f497c1401e707b20c0988a269e6a679) (http://www.speedtest.net)
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My speeds are abysmal, but I'm not sure whether it's Pipex or BT, as each blame the other. I am supposed to be on 'up to 8Mb'. :(
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94355193.png&hash=2ff53af530f0167f2b9ec15f43647a2697f91589) (http://www.speedtest.net)
Problem is, do I dump Pipex at the end of the contract, and risk going to someone else, only to have the same performance? :-\
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Si,
Althought BT option 3 is a lot more expensive, I have over the years been with low cost ISP's and the reliability leaves a lot to be desired, so after the V21/Biscit fisaco I wanted some stability back in my life :crazy:
As you can see from my speeds they look good >:-)
And as for V21/biscit you will see a very high court proceedings coming soon, mark my words :o:
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Terry, my contract with Pipex is £24.99 per month, so I wouldn't really call that 'low cost' in the current market. They actually offered me my existing 1Mb service for £14.99 per month, or the choice of upgrading to 'Max' for just £1 more than I was already paying. As can be seen, I am only just bettering 2Mb, and I could have got an unlimited 2Mb service at the time, for quite a bit less. As the term is 'up to' 8Mb, of course, they have a get out, as it's totally ambiguous, and as the contract states that should it be cancelled within the 12 months, the full remaining term is payable, I'm stuck with it until August, but before I vote with my feet, and go through the inevitable drama of changing my broadband provider, I would like to find some way to establish what the reason for my limited speed actually is.
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Si,
Look Here at BT speed (http://www.btbroadbandinformation.com/tools/)
* Up to 8Mb BT Broadband uses new technology to automatically provide the fastest speed that your phone line can physically support, up to a maximum of 8Mb (Megabits per second).
* The actual broadband speed achievable over your phone line depends on its length, the length and quality of any phone wiring in your home, the specification of your modem or router, the speed of connection between your computer and modem or router (Ethernet and wireless are faster than USB), the speed of your computer, and whether all your broadband microfilters are correctly installed.
* If you live close to your exchange, you could get the maximum connection speed of 8Mb, reducing to 6Mb, 4Mb, 2Mb or less, the further away you are.
* Your broadband speed will also vary during the day depending on how busy BT?s network is, the speed of the Internet and of websites you are visiting, whether you?re sharing your connection with others in your home, and whether you have any spyware or hardware slowing down your computer. Typically your speed may reduce significantly during the daily peak period 6-9pm.
Hope this helps.
TR
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Well, the BT test only states I can get up to 2Mb, but look at this, after a quick change of security software...
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94491615.png&hash=ed82655a3b198bcf101dc74e9e78024b76bc6154) (http://www.speedtest.net)
:o
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Thats more like it >:-)
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Well, the BT test only states I can get up to 2Mb, but look at this, after a quick change of security software...
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94491615.png&hash=ed82655a3b198bcf101dc74e9e78024b76bc6154) (http://www.speedtest.net)
:o
what was you using?
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I'm beginning to doubt the accuracy of the speedtest.net test, Sam. I was using Kaspersky Internet Security, and switched to F-Secure as an experiment. F-Secure doesn't particularly like my machine, in fact, the full system scan doesn't work at all, but the protection is top notch, and it definitely seems to allow for a faster internet connection, though I have no idea why.
However, I did another test with speedtest.net, and got these results:
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94539638.png&hash=99bf4ca36d4fb7b329f7b2c04bd9d537a88534a8) (http://www.speedtest.net)
But then I did another test immediately after, on adslguide.org, and the results were much as they were earlier today, before I switched AV suites:
Date 04/03/07 20:33:28
Speed Down 2351.28 Kbps ( 2.3 Mbps )
Speed Up 345.51 Kbps ( 0.3 Mbps )
I can't understand how there could be such a vast difference between two tests, but I am inclined to err on the pessimistic side, and believe the adslguide.org test, more than the seemingly incredible speeds rated on speedtest.net.
It would be great if someone else could try out F-Secure Internet Security 2007 (http://www.f-secure.co.uk/home_user/products_a-z/fsis2007.html), to see if these results can be replicated. A free 30 day eveluation version is available.
F-Secure® Internet Security 2007 provides a complete and easy-to-use protection against all Internet threats, whether they are known or previously unidentified. It includes an award-winning antivirus, an easy-to-use personal firewall, an improved antispyware and a new technology, F-Secure DeepGuardTM, that constantly monitors the very heart of your computer, ensuring that no malicious programs can take over your computer even if you do not have all the latest updates. In addition, the product filters unwanted spam and so-called phishing attempts from your e-mail, and with the parental control, you can block access to websites with questionable content.
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normally i would Simon but my windows machine has been through the s**ts recently and can't at the moment.. out of interest... lets see what happens when I run it on my windows machine with zonealarm and my linux machine with just my linux firewall..
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ok then...
on my windows machine..
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94562214.png&hash=800d7fb59460898f5323a2739d114b8d208acca6) (http://www.speedtest.net)
on my linux (ubuntu) machine...
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94562928.png&hash=b9598597c2f93c60568eba53825987e247ebdd13) (http://www.speedtest.net)
ok and my result from the adsguide.org ....
Speed Test Results
Date 04/03/07 21:31:15
Speed Down 1949.70 Kbps ( 1.9 Mbps )
Speed Up 185.70 Kbps ( 0.2 Mbps )
so they concur for me Si... maybe it is the firewall? It is feasible - as it could be restricting stuff. The question is do downloads go faster? Might be worth downloading some crap of download.com of appreciable size and see what happens.
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Mine with BT is:
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94573084.png&hash=bec471e6cbabfe77640ee80165caca6cca58e21b) (http://www.speedtest.net)
Not exactly the 8Mb I'm paying for is it? :dunno:
Edit: It was a sedentary 1920kb/s when I retested it 5 minutes later!
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That's about what mine was with Pipex before I switched, Clive, but to be honest, I'm pretty doubtful about the results from speedtest.net, as they just seem too fantastic to be believed. As I always say, if it looks too good to be true... it probably is. :)
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F94584260.png&hash=71e2d159a426c55253ed76d190c215de6c0cf5a8) (http://www.speedtest.net)
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Terry, if you're still about, try yours with http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html (formerly ADSLGuide.org). I think the test with speedtest.net could be misleading.
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I have tried that for the last 18 months Si.
Will try and cappture an image as soon as I can.
T 8-)
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Phew... that took some doin ;D
As you can see my speeds are still up there >:-) 1st March when I started with BT and as you can see still on the way up.. :o:
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv489%2Fhook7%2Fadsl.jpg&hash=37452fa22c059c8d13e395c76922a4babaecebd0)
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That's good then, Terry. :thumb:
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Latest update on Biscit.
R
Reliable sources have informed us that troubled UK ISP Biscit Internet Ltd has gone into administration. ISPreview has seen documentation confirming the situation, which appears to have been formalised on 5th March 2007.
Mr Tony James Thompson has been appointed as the administrator. Unfortunately I've run out of time to post more this evening, although we expect to gain further information in due course.
Biscit has been at the centre of several court cases recently, not to mention numerous well documented consumer complaints over the past few months.
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Looks like you got out just in time, Terry. I wonder what happens to people who can't get a MAC code out of an ISP in trouble? Is there anything BT can do to free the line, so that another provider can be set up?
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All very worrying for those that are left, for some reason I have a 6th sense for things like this, trouble is? had it all my life and that is worrying.
Been reading the forums of V21/biscit and there are thousands who are stuck, glad I had the forsight to jump when I did.
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Worrying? I would call it bloody handy!
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Sorry Si, but for the thousands that are stick with Biscit/V21 when they switch off on Friday they are stuck with no MAC key until either the Business is sold or when ever the recievers let go of the purse strings and no hope of migrating to a new ISP. BT are owed £kkkkkkk and wont let anybody go until the bills are paid.
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That's very handy to know Terry. Staying with a large provider such as BT itself isn't such a bad idea after all!
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Sorry Terry, I was referring to your 'sixth sense' being bloody handy for this sort of thing, in that you've managed to escape them. ;)
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Its all true, V21/Biscit are now in Administration...........bloody hell I was lucky :o:
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Indeed! Let me know if you get any premonitions about Pipex, will you? ;D
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Just had another premonition >:-) its called strongbow :o: back in 5 :crazy:
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Re the title of this thread.
Dont all you dirty old men get your brown macs provided free already by the sheep fanciers or whichever pervy organisation you belong to :dunno:
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My subscription entitles me to a free pair of wellies each year. ;D
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Breatheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Biscit customers sold?
Posted by David Meyer
The eminently readable ISP Review site has "reliable sources" claiming that Biscit's remaining customer base has been sold on to Breathe Internet - not that Biscit's site mentions this at the moment (well, it has been frozen in time since December last year, thus missing quite a lot of,er, less positive developments).
One interesting aspect of the story was the quoted number of customers - 12,500 - a far cry from the 30,000 which Biscit was generally believed to have had. Ah well, rodents, sinking ship etc.
Looks like I'm one of the Rats :o
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The TITle on the register sums it all up Tits up (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/08/falco_biscit/) :laugh:
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V21/Biscit have now been bought by Breathe (http://www.breatheinternet.com/biscit) pleased for the ones that got caught up in this fiasco.
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I will be interested to see how this turns out. Breathe are one of the providers I am looking at, as an alternative to Pipex. Unfortunately, the website seems a little sparse of information, as to what is included in the Broadband packages. Is webspace provide? How many email accounts do you get? Is the uncapped service truly unlimited, or do they throttle P2P ports?
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Si, have a read of This on Breathe (http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=23449) , Hope this helps on making your mind up, I decided to go with BT option 3. it may be more expensive but you only get what you pay for in the end.
Terry
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Weren't a lot of people caught by Breathe a few years back? >:(
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Si, have a read of This on Breathe (http://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=23449) , Hope this helps on making your mind up...
Terry
Thanks for that, Terry. I don't think I will be jumping in just yet! Nice to see the CEO coming to the wicket though. ;)
Weren't a lot of people caught by Breathe a few years back? >:(
I think they have had several shake ups, Clive.
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Do you really want to pay £69 to migrate :ack:
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That's only on the cheaper package, Terry. If anything, I would have gone for the 'Silver' £17.99 deal, which offers free migration.
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Sorry Si.. you must have changed over the years >:-)
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:bartmoon:
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More Trouble for V21/Biscit broadband members.
Breathe's Chief Executive Officer, Marcus East, has issued a further status update on the Biscit customer migration situation. It would appear as if some delays at BT's end are holding up the process:
Here is an update on the latest discussions regarding Biscit/V21.
1. BT has not yet agreed to start the migration of Biscit/V21's customers to our network, and so there are ongoing discussions that will run into tomorrow.
2. Because of this, we cannot take over the provision of services yet.
3. We have made BT and Biscit management aware of a number of network issues related to connectivity / mail services, and they are 'dealing' with them.
4. Unfortunately, as we still do not have direct control of the customers or services, we cannot take any action and must wait to be updated by BT and Biscit on those.
As soon as I learn more, I will post the information here and on our website.
East has also been busy answering a lot of customer concerns in our Biscit (V21) forum (here), which is a difficult task and due credit must be given for his continued efforts and presence.
Elsewhere, 186k's Dominic Marrocco has issued a press release explaining how his provider made a £2m offer to "rescue" Biscit's ex-customers, which was rejected:
Dominic Marrocco, Internet entrepreneur and owner of the rapidly growing ISP 186k Limited, sounded grave concerns over the slim chances of Biscit?s creditors actually being paid off in full.
?We made a formal offer of £2m to the company?s administrators and outlined a plan that would keep its users online with no disruption to their services, but that was ?stone-walled? by all of those involved.?
?Our offer would have provided the best outcome for its many creditors, keeping everything under one roof with further cash readily available to move it forward, but it seems the administrators have taken the ?hack-up and hive-off? route instead.
?Creditors beware,? warned Marrocco.
Over the last 12 months many companies in the sector have hit financial problems and disappeared without trace, leaving thousands of customers in limbo with no service and ? in a majority of cases - out of pocket.
?We?ve had a lot of experience at dealing with the aftermath left behind following the demise of troubled Internet providers. Even in the case of V21, whose legacy might have been the beginning of how Biscit crumbled, saw many thousands of users rescued at the last minute by our lifeline.?
Marrocco?s 186k Limited is already in advanced acquisition talks with household names in the Internet sector, and having just concluded a substantial deal worth around £20m with Iomart plc, one of the UK?s leading datacentre and hosting solution providers to build a huge national datacentre resource, the company is now boasting a stacked cash-rich war chest to drive more consolidation through the sector.
Unfortunately many of those "rescued" through 186k's (EzeeDSL) previous efforts currently look upon the situation without applause. Complaints about poor customer support and service problems have continued to trickle in.
And from Breathe themselves Here (http://www.breatheinternet.com/biscit)
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BT option 3 is still good Si, but have you tried Fast4 (http://www.fast4.net/) for ADSL My Son is on that ISP and hasnt had any problems yet.
My BT line is still on the up:
(https://www.pc-pals.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv489%2Fhook7%2Fadsl2.jpg&hash=85eb6410b33e88c818baa21a27cc59000b8295c6)
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That looks quite good Terry, how long has your son been on it and does he get anywhere need the 8mb download ?
The site doesnt mention the upload so I assume its around 440kb, do you know what it is ?
Does he download a lot or is he only a moderate user ?
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he gets very very good speeds on it, I think its on par with mine from what I can gather. Yes he down loads all the time what with I don't know :o:
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Fast 4 is also on my list, Terry, which is currently comprised of:
Breathe
Aquiss
Namesco
Eclipse
Fast 4
Zen Internet
I won't be making any decisions for the time being, as my contract with Pipex runs until August, so I'll see how things look then.
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I have heard only good things about Zen Internet.
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Had a look on ISPReview on the fast 4 forum.
It looks quite good at the moment.
Depending what happens with Pipex in the coming weeks I may give them a try.
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Yes, it is boiling down to Zen or Fast4 for me. I know they are slightly more expensive, but I could live with, say, a 20Gb capped service, at the same cost as I am paying now. My quandary is, I have no guarantee, on going through the hassle of changing providers, that I am going to get a faster service, if the speed is governed by the compatibility of the BT line. Line speed tests seem to vary, from claiming I can only get up to 2Mbps, to telling me my line is capable of speeds of at least 5Mbps.
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how about be? not sure what they are like though
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Can't get Be here, Sam.
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I am tempted by Be There Sam as I should get around 16 to 19mb downloads and 1.5mb uploads but its £24 plus another £2 per month for webspace and pop3 emails.
If the emalis were included I would probably have moved to Be There already but I was hoping to get faster than I currently get with Pipex for less than I am paying now.
The increased upload speed is a bigger incentive to me than the download to be honest as my 1mb download seems quite fast most of the time.
Can I justify paying another £8 per month though just for an increased upload speed when I am happy with the download speed that I would get from Fast 4 ?
I dont know anyone on either service apart from via Terry about Fast 4, so they are both unknown quantities to me, although neither gets anything really bad said about them on ISPreview.
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Sandra, if you are happy with Pipex on the whole, I am positive that if you ring their Retentions department, which I believe is 0845 1302808, and say you are thinking of leaving as you are looking for a better / faster package, they will either offer you your existing package at a discount (they offered it to me for £14.99pm), or an upgrade to the Max service, for the same as you are paying now. The Max service should give you the required upload boost you require, and you should also get faster downloads, depending on your BT line capability. Of course, you would be signing up to a new 12 month contract, which is payable in full if you decide to leave early, and you should also pay attention to the FUP, which seems to change by the minute. Also, any decent company would have offered you the upgrade automatically by now, but we know how Pipex treat existing customers, until they think they might lose one.
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well I'm now very interested in this... now about my options to... I'm going to be moving over to the area around the University again in the summer and have some decisions to make. I might just go with telewest (sorry Virgin media) as I have used them for aover 10 years now at home and when I used to live at Uni... but still I am intrigued.
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Biscit were just on Watchdog :-X.... BT voted best ISP by the viewers :P
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Well, that's probably because it's the most widely used among the mainstream Joe Public.
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New boys on the block are V21 (http://www.v21.co.uk/index.htm) aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :ack:
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"Welcome to V21.co.uk ...we're glad to be back!"
I think it's going to take them a long time to claw back any respect from previous customers. All they can hope for is new victims users who don't know the history.