Posted: 21st Sep, 2010 By: MarkJ

The Managing Director (MD) of UK ISP
Aspire Internet, Tim Longton, has apologised to both his retail and wholesale customers today after its broadband service vanished for well over one week because of a "
commercial contractual" dispute with the providers former supplier; Entanet UK. Sadly a delay in its efforts to re-connect the service have continued to cause frustration for customers.
Longton said that Aspire "
have been working around the clock to sort this issue out" and that "
around 55% of customers were affected" by the problem, apparently because the ISP uses "
multiple interconnects" and thus some have escaped the nightmare.
Aspire's MD, Tim Longton, told ISPreview.co.uk:
"Aspire have tried to keep as many users informed as it can as to what is happening, however due to the sheer volume of calls we have struggled to respond as quickly as we would have liked.
...
Subsequent OFCOM involvement (or rather the lack of it) has highlighted serious flaws in the regulations; had there been increased regulation around realm migration then this situation would have been resolved within 24 hours.
I do apologise that this matter has arisen and that it has affected so many users. A large number of customers have been very supportive and understanding during this very difficult time."
We have yet to meet any of the "
large number" that have been "
supportive and understanding" after the significant loss of their broadband internet access, which for some could soon have lasted almost two weeks.
Longton claims that customers are now being reconnected and indeed we have seen some signs of this, although others appear to remain trapped in a state of broadband limbo. However one of the vISPs that Aspire supply,
Freezone Internet, recently confirmed that the migration process could take considerably longer than expected.
Freezone Customer Email (17/09/2010)
Dear *********,
Your broadband was expected to go live today, Friday, 17th September.
However, yet again, our supplier (Aspire Internet) looks likely to fail to deliver their promise. Without any prior warning, they have informed us this evening that most of our customers will be re-connected between 21st-24th September.
Throughout this unfortunate and frustrating episode, we have taken Aspire's word on trust and passed on details of estimated re-connection date to our customers. It is now apparent that Aspire has not shown much regard for us or for our customers. (We have sought the support of OFCOM in this unacceptable turn of events.)
In the meantime, we apologise for the continued delay in reconnecting your broadband service and re-iterate that we have simply passed on information regarding estimated re-connection date on good faith.
Our hands are completely tied as we are not even able to secure MAC codes from Aspire until the service is back online. We will continue to chase Aspire to conclude this sorry state of affairs.
Regards
Freezone Internet
We note that some customers have been told to expect a reconnection at some point today, although judging by the above email it looks likely that many could remain without a connection for a lot longer.
Related News
14th September 2010 - Supplier Dispute Knocks UK ISP Aspire Internet Broadband Users Offline for a Week
15th September 2010 - Aspire Internets Loss of Broadband Caused by Dispute with UK ISP Entanet