BT

but the biggest regret was signing up for the BT Broadband package, got my home hub and technical info through within days of signing up, nice and prompt service I thought :) A week passed and my broadband was to be activated but wasn't so I checked the website about my order to find it canceled, called the number given to be told there was no reason given it was just canceled and I would have to go through the sign up process again. I should have said forget it then ! However I signed up again, already got my hardware so no need for that, activation date came and went, called the number again to be told there is a problem with the activation process and that's it no other explanation, no email telling me about a problem, and to expect some info within 48hrs. In the future I will stay well clear of anything to do with BT as they seem to be incompetent

We live in a remote village on Exmoor and I'm aware that the telecoms infrastructure in these parts is poor. I had given up on the possibility of adsl until a BT rep. 'phoned and promised it could be achieved. I agreed and an activation date was agreed along with promises to let me know if anything changed. The date came and went. Their web site now suggested an activation date of 31 December this year. I contacted the original rep who told me it was nothing to do with her and I should chase it up with another dept. Decided life was too short and let the matter drop.

We were then contacted by another supplier suggesting they could provide ADSL. Willing to let them try we agreed. We then discovered that BT had a "lock" on the line and we could not use another supplier. Easy, we thought, cancel the BT order and we could try a reputable supplier.

Not easy. My colleague and I spent many hours of our time being shunted from one obstructive, incompetent dept. in their call centre before the order was finally cancelled. The full story is related in the BT section of the forums.

We are currently moving all services to our company that can be moved away from BT.

If I could have given a negative for services I would have. The same applies to support. I can't really rate speed as they failed completely to deliver a service. Can't rate value for the same reason.

Thank God we have a good wireless service and this was required as a backup only. I have immense pity for anyone who relies on this shower for a service.

After a long 'partnership' with BT my will to us it has been broken.

I have used BT since the days of dial-up but over the last 12 months the manner of their control over my bandwidth has become rediculous.

Their peak-hour control seems to start at 9am and stretch to midnight!

I signed up for 'un-limited' broadband but was 'punished' for using too much! Punishment meant a month a 1 Meg!!!!

Since then I struggle to get 2.5 meg.

My other crime was to invest in BT Vision. For that I'm tied to BT Broadband at its higher than average cost.

But even its on-demand struggles. So nights not even avaialble.

So what happens...

1. Downloads fail half way through - I use iTunes movies and TV series but after a long phone call that is deemed not 'fair-use'
2. I try to use BBC iPlayer and ITV player but both stutter
3. LastFM - stutters
4. ITV live - buffers every 10 seconds.


I live less than 1Km from a modern exchange and used to get 6.5 meg. When the BT engineers tested this week they reported 5.5 meg but said I should be getting more but the 'shaping' pushes me down. Of an BT Vision may be reducing it even though it is not supposed to!!!

Bye, Bye and good ridence I say!!!

I have spent days of my life listening to the lies and incompetence from BT. I have been told an engineer is to come to sort out a fault. He must be coming from Mars it is taking that long for him to get here. I have been told that I will receive a call back from a UK centre that can advise me on the problems that I am having. I have taken afternoons off work to try to speak to someone in the UK because speaking to India is so frustrating. Eventually, after about 5 hours this week alone on the phone to them, someone let slip that there was a cap on my usuage. They are completely disingenuous when you phone up to say that your speed is poor. I am sick to death of trying to deal with India. All that they do is lie to you and stonewall. I am changing my provider today and sincerely hope that the reviews on this forum (for which I am very grateful) are accurate as I will be basing my choice on those reviews. O points for service, -10 for support and speed. On that basis -20 for value. Why can't we show 0 as a review? Even better minus quanties.

In my opinion the broadband service offered by BT is extremely poor. BT tell me that I am connected at 3mbps, and a simple speed test tells me that my download bandwidth is 2.45mbps. If this sounds a tad slow to you then read on...

If you are a 'heavy user' of the internet then BT is not the ISP for you! They operate very aggressive bandwidth throttling policies which will slow down most forms of traffic (except plain web browsing) throughout the day. Furthermore, you will feel the wrath of these draconian bandwidth throttling policies even if you are way below the limits of BTs acceptable usage policy.

Streaming is slow, and it'll take you more than 24 hours to get the latest copy of Linux via bit-torrent.

Having said this, if you are an extremely 'light' internet user then you will probably be happy with this service, although in my opinion you should avoid 'option 3' because it's simply not worth the money. If you want a truly 'unlimited' broadband service you should shop elsewhere.

You should also be aware that BT are very keen to lock you into a long contract, so give it some thought before you sign on the dotted line...