I think I know the answer to this, but it would be nice to have confirmation (or otherwise).
A friend with a Talktalk phone account wants to add broadband from another supplier, as they are not impressed with TT. Because the phone is not with BT, the preferred ISP can't do it, and I assume this is the case with any 'unbundled' phone line, unless anyone knows different...
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Is there anything stopping him from changing the phone provider?
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Is he in a Virgin cabled area? They'll do broadband only.
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Thanks for the quick replies. No Virgin cable here in the Isle of Wight (!) but changing the phone supplier might be the answer. I've only just discovered that they weren't with BT...
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I've switched from Talktalk (was Tiscali) broadband + BT in our current house to O2 in the one we move into next week. The O2 package is 20Mb unlimited broadband + phone for £19.50 per month (that's including the line rental, and with a £5pm discount as an O2 mobile user (minimum £10 topup every 3 months on PAYG)). Unfortunately I can't tell you whether it's any good yet, although FWIW they have won a few awards.
www.o2.co.uk/broadband/
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There's nothing wrong with Sky broadband which is 'free' if you have Sky TV.
An advertisement for the service is running to the right of this very post.
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But to get Sky broadband you either need the phone line with BT or switch the phone to Sky too.
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>> There's nothing wrong with Sky broadband which is 'free' if you have Sky TV.
Not for me as I'm not within their area for BB. It would cost me £17 and they estimate I would only get 0.5Mb. I currently pay £14.99 (with Pipex, or whoever they are these days) and get around 2.0 to 2.5Mb.
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Why not switch the whole lot to Plusnet - line rental, BB + 'free' eve. & wknd calls ~
www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/article.asp?id=plusnet-broadband-packages&kt=1196
Last edited by: Dog on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 11:54
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EDIT: canceled
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 12:21
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>> Why not switch the whole lot to Plusnet - line rental, BB + 'free' eve.
>> & wknd calls ~
>>
>> www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/article.asp?id=plusnet-broadband-packages&kt=1196
When I saw the Plusnet price of £16.49 for BB + phone I thought I'd made a mistake going for O2. But that price doesn't include line rental. Of course it might be better than O2 in other ways.
Actually I've just heard from O2 that due to a shortage of BT Openreach engineers, the phone line at our new place isn't going to be reconnected until Nov 22, or 11 days after we move in. Argh!
EDIT: ...and they've just confirmed that with a text, starting "Good news..."!!
Last edited by: Focus on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 12:32
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>>When I saw the Plusnet price of £16.49 for BB + phone I thought I'd made a mistake going for O2. But that price doesn't include line rental<<
I pay £18 for the line rental, BB + eve/wknd calls with Plusnet, I could reduce that figure if I ask for a MAC :)
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>> I pay £18 for the line rental, BB + eve/wknd calls with Plusnet, I could
>> reduce that figure if I ask for a MAC :)
The price on the website is £11.49 (BB) + £11.25 (line), so you're doing ok :)
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>>,,and I assume this is the case with any 'unbundled' phone line, unless anyone knows different... >>
It's impossible to get a separate broadband service from another ISP if the current supplier (in this case TalkTalk) has its own LLU equipment in the BT exchange. Only BT involvement is its line from the exchange to your property.
You would have to terminate the phone and broadband contract in order to move and obtaining a MAC is difficult (something Ofcom is striving to eliminate, if it hasn't already done so).
I've been with TalkTalk since April 2006 and have had only an occasional minor complaint about the service or help. I'm still on the AnyTime International3 package (no longer available to new subscribers) and get free AnyTime UK calls and free AnyTime calls to 36 different countries, plus "Up to 24Mb" broadband for just £9.99 a month, plus the line rental.
Currently I'm averaging just over 14Mb broadband connection speeds.
The package has saved me a fortune over the past four and a half years...:-)
PS
TalkTalk's £6.49 offer for phone and broadband has free evening and weekend phone calls only, but this is fine for those out at work during the day.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 15:10
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>>TalkTalk's £6.49 offer for phone and broadband has free evening and weekend phone calls only, but this is fine for those out at work during the day<<
Or use www.18185.co.uk/index2.php during the daytime.
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>>Or use www.18185.co.uk/index2.php during the daytime.>>
You can take up anytime call and broadband packages with TalkTalk; the point I made was that for many people they don't have a need for a phone during weekdays due to work commitments.
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Thanks, Stuart. I thought that LLU had that effect. I know quite a few people who are happy with Talktalk, but they seem to be difficult people to deal with when things go wrong. However, in their defence, I will say that their link with Carphone Warehouse does at least mean you can go into one of their shops and bang the counter!
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 17:23
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Talk Talk and Carphone Warehouse are now separate companies.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 17:30
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Thanks, Zero - didn't know that. Must be recent?
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Yeah, carphone warehouse wanted to join with Best Buy.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 3 Nov 10 at 17:56
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>>..but they seem to be difficult people to deal with when things go wrong.>>
If they find that is the case, they should register free with the TalkTalk Members' forums, where a posse of Community Online Executives, all of whom have worked for TT for some time, offer a first class service sorting out a range of problems.
They can also configure your exchange broadband connection to provide the most stable and fastest possible broadband connection profile on request and adjust it as necessary if problems arise.
I'm on the fastest profile, which is 24SNRi.
See: www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/
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"they should register free with the TalkTalk Members' forums"
Good advice, as long as the BB connection is still working! In the case I'm thinking of, that was the problem...
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>>Good advice, as long as the BB connection is still working! In the case I'm thinking of, that was the problem...>>
That certainly would be a problem...:-)
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Not all exchanges have all the major ISP's LLU kit in them.
Where you take an ISPs telephone rental offer, you can only take their BB,
you can however take BT's phone line and anyones BB, unbundled or not.
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"BT's phone line and anyones BB, unbundled or not"
I thought unbundling *was* the phone line?
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Unbundling allows an ISP to take over a BT line. But only if they have the kit at the exchange. Not all exchanges are large enough to allow all the ISPs to put in the kit. Some wont because the number of subscribers is not enough.
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>>Unbundling allows an ISP to take over a BT line.>>
Not quite true. BT gets a fee for the use of its line and is responsible for its maintenance; it's the BT equipment inside the exchange that is bypassed.
I recently had an OpenReach engineer sort out a noisy line and the tales he told me of what goes on behind the scenes and the way BT allegedly treats its staff would make your hair curl.
A mate used to be the manager of my local exchange before retirement some years ago and he was glad he got out of BT even then.....
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>> >>Unbundling allows an ISP to take over a BT line.>>
>>
>> Not quite true. BT gets a fee for the use of its line and is
>> responsible for its maintenance; it's the BT equipment inside the exchange that is bypassed.
>
Slightly more complex than that.
Openreach (which should have been floated off) charges the ISP for rental of the exchange space, infrastructure fees (electricity, cooling etc) and a per annum maintenance fee PLUS a call out fee if they ask for an openreach engineer and no fault was found by same.
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>>Openreach (which should have been floated off) charges the ISP for rental of the exchange space, infrastructure fees (electricity, cooling etc) and a per annum maintenance fee PLUS a call out fee if they ask for an openreach engineer and no fault was found by same. >>
The OpenReach engineer told me that TalkTalk only make one all inclusive payment...:-)
He may well, of course, not been correct, but he seemed quite sure about it and was rather scathing about the arrangement.
Mind you TalkTalk did make absolutely sure that I had a phone problem before requesting an engineer's visit and made their own checks, although it was clear to the lassie I spoke to at the time that I had a noisy line.
This was only the second time in about 30 years, so despite the aged technology it has stood up pretty well.
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>> Mind you TalkTalk did make absolutely sure that I had a phone problem before requesting
>> an engineer's visit and made their own checks, although it was clear to the lassie
>> I spoke to at the time that I had a noisy line.
Its the NFF ("No fault Found") issue that key. Openreach charge a flat fee for a NFF to the ISP.
Think its about 90 quid.
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>>The price on the website is £11.49 (BB) + £11.25 (line), so you're doing ok :)<<
Ah, but - I'm on the Plusnet value option, which is fine for what I want ;)
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Plusnet's main advantage over nearly everyone else is that their support staff all have English as their first language...
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A tactful way of putting it.
SWMBO has been getting complaints from one of her customers based in Glasgow, ref the call centre, in Kuala Lumpur. She listened to some recordings of calls. She could understand the people in KL, but the Glaswegians...!
John
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>> the people in KL, but the Glaswegians...!
At least the Scots don't sound like Orville the Duck like most of them round here !
"Ah wish ah cood flahy raht ooop to the skah..."
:-)
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Yup. I met the wife of an Irish guy I worked with at a Christmas do. She was from Chorley. Pronounced Chorrrrr-lah. Or something like that. Couldn't understand a word! :-)
John
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>> Plusnet's main advantage over nearly everyone else is that their support staff all have English
>> as their first language...
>>
The odd thing is that abroad, i.e. outside the EU, employers can and do sometimes stipulate that a condition of the job is that the applicant is a "native" first language English speaker.
Whereas in the UK, I believe employers are not allowed to discriminate on those grounds.
;) Perhaps that is to allow Scottish, Irish and Welsh born candidates to be treated equally.
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Mixing phone and ISP - VxFan
