Topic: MACs must be provided for free

[Clive]

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/

[TR]

I'm still with V21/Biscit 

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

[Simon]

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).

[TR]

Many thanks to Beverly and Si for sorting my e mail addy out  , 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 

[Simon]

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'. 



Problem is, do I dump Pipex at the end of the contract, and risk going to someone else, only to have the same performance?   

[TR]

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 

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 

[Simon]

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.

[TR]

Si,

Look Here at BT speed

    * 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

[Simon]

Well, the BT test only states I can get up to 2Mb, but look at this, after a quick change of security software...



 

[TR]

Thats more like it 

[sam]

Well, the BT test only states I can get up to 2Mb, but look at this, after a quick change of security software...



 

what was you using?

[Simon]

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:



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, 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.

[sam]

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..

[sam]

ok then...

on my windows machine..



on my linux (ubuntu) machine...



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.

[Clive]

Mine with BT is:



Not exactly the 8Mb I'm paying for is it?   

Edit:  It was a sedentary 1920kb/s when I retested it 5 minutes later!