Customers of UK ISP RedTen Internet, which made its name in 2006 by being one of the first providers to flog free laptops with its broadband packages, are still suffering problems despite two months having passed since the ISP was forced to change supplier (original news).

BT Wholesale initially "stopped providing a service to redten ... either because of repeated non-payment of invoices or because redten ... [HAD] stopped trading". In response, RedTen switched its broadband supply to NJP Services, which caused some customers to be offline for up to and over 10 days.

Unfortunately, despite customers being promised that the service would remain unchanged and continue to offer no maximum limit on data usage (Note: website is advertising "unlimited** internet downloads"), the situation has continued to worsen.

The "Fair Usage Policy" now touts what appears to be a very strict and specific download limitation: "If some Customer abuse the fair usage policy that we shall have no option but to restrict the download to a maximum of 10Gb per month for those Customers." Those using over the 10GB figure (Note to RedTen: 10Gb = Gigabits, shouldn't it be GigaBytes (GB)?) have found their service throttled to the point of being virtually unusable.

Customers attempting to complain have been thrown into a vicious circle, with nobody seemingly able to accept responsibility. One reader, Ian, elaborates:


Other readers complain that they still haven't received their free computer and that the current level of service and support is unacceptably poor, with requests for migration codes (MACs) often going unresolved. This is in contravention of Ofcoms General Condition 22 (GC22), which makes the supply of MACs a mandatory requirement.

Several other customers, including the owner of a consumer site setup for troubled RedTen users - DeadTen, are currently in the process of taking legal action. Likewise a petition has also been setup - here, which has so far managed to gain 167 signatures.

Typically we would advise customers to raise a complaint with Ofcom over the MAC situation and contact Trading Standards. Sending a similar message to NJP Service’s complaints handler, CISAS, may also help. Please can those suffering problems make sure to drop a complaint into our 'ISP Complaints' page, which allows us to keep track of problems and inform others.