Can anyone tell me whether they are a virtual ISP/reseller, or have their own pipe?
This question was asked to us yesterday by two customers by email - not sure if this was you? Here was my reply to the customer:
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ICUK started as a vISP many years ago (2001) selling 0845 minutes through Cix. Since then we concentrated our efforts to providing high quality hosting solutions for shared, dedicated and reseller customers (and the development of our famous control panels). All the while we provided complementary ADSL services through a number of vISP platforms which, dare I say many years ago included V21 and Bloomley. Both of which we swiftly left and our time with them lasted a couple of months, if that. Having had such a bad experience with what were the only two vISP platforms of any substance (we already knew then to stay clear of Netservices), we decided to write our own.
We don't own our own centrals. Instead have opted to grow alongside a company called Murphx (wholesale DSL provider) whom we have known and worked with for nearly 4 years. This is a good relationship which allows us access to their 4 centrals, direct relationship with BT, and all the benefits a normal ISP would have if they had a central. They are financially stable unlike other wholesale providers. We're not interested in building our own ADSL network or running the pipes for the simple reason it isn't our core business - hosting is. We are interested in developing our platforms and portfolios. It is for this reason we setup
www.redtelecom.co.uk which not only see's the same philosophies as ICUK especially on the reseller side of things, but see's us already co-developing with Murphx. Customers are at no risk of being cut off or receiving a poor performance because of our setup. It is not what ICUK or our partners stand for.
All our control panels and systems have been designed and developed by us in-house from scratch. This allows us to not only provide very flexible solutions, but ensures we are in complete control at all times. We like as much as possible to put the control in our customers hands. On the ADSL side of things it allows them access to logs, graphical stats, online billing, easy management of emails, and control panels that allows them to setup an manage hosting through it as well. We're constantly developing and listening to our customers. It is because of our listening our reseller platform has grown to the size it is, and has funded our further development plans with Red Telecom to introduce much needed reseller and automation into the telecom industry.
It is thanks to our philosophies and control panels that allows us to reply to emails within minutes (much like this one) and always available to answer the phone without the queues or "press 2 for..." options. You have access to more or less the same information we have. You can call us on an 0845 number during office hours. This appies to sales and support - you come through to the same team of people, so no need to worry about premium numbers, or speaking to a commission based salesman.
The realm we use is interdsl.co.uk which is our own, and one we use for our own and vISP use.
Regarding your question on Macs we can provide them to you at any time, without charge. All our ADSL contracts are 1 month in length without any hidden costs or clauses.
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I hope this helps and is as open and honest as I can be about our xDSL platforms for our own use and those companies who utilise our reseller facilities.
As for:
Why would anyone sign up for a ISP that charges for support when there are ISP's that use a free phone number?
I have answered this question before, and I'm not sure why you have this big facination with the cost of calls. Surely if you are dealing with a decent ISP the number of times you have to call them are minimal, they can offer to ring you back, or they know what they are doing so the time you are on the call will be very minimal. Think about it... I'm sure you'll agree to disagree :smilet:
As for the other post by ManofMeans
I could run rings around ICUK support agents I might even ring them up and start asking questions on how they would deal with normal ADSL problems for my own amusement
Sounds like you have too much time on your hands... Feel free to call us up and see what we're like on the phone. Our opening hours are clearly stated on our website, and whoever you get through to will be trained enough to answer your questions. We're all mainly developers who have helped put the control panels and systems our customers enjoy in place. This means we know the platform like the backs of our hands and should any problems arise we can swiftly diagnose them and either put a fix in place, or raise accordingly with BT. Similarly if you have any questions about us or our systems they can be answered. My name is Paul if you would like to speak directly.
Regards,
Paul Barnett
ICUK Computing Services Ltd
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Sales: 0845 00 99 175
Support: 0870 11 66 175
http://www.icuknet.co.uk
solutions@icukhosting.co.uk
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