However, having just looked at your profile info, I see that you are "Product Manager for Dada (inc Namesco)", so my guess was wrong - you're not about to tell us what I found out, you're doubtless going to give us some more "great news".
In view of that, I won't bother letting you go first.
HOW TO RUIN A GOOD ISP IN ONE EASY LESSON
As previously stated, I've been with Namesco since I moved home in 2006, and things have been good.
Four friends who were getting fed up with their ISP (BT, Tiscali, the usual "big name" suspects), after speaking to me to see what I thought of Namesco, also joined up and have been delighted with the way things have gone.
Problems few and far between - and usually of BT's making rather than the ISP's - but when you did need to ring tech support, you got a pleasant and helpful person with a brain. All four, being self-confessed technodummies, have commented on how nice it was dealing with people who explained things in plain English, made sure things were properly sorted out and, for example, when they needed to investigate further and said "I'll ring you back in about ten minutes", actually did ring you back, unlike some companies who use that as a means of getting rid of a call that they can't be bothered with.
In August, we had an e-mail with a revised phone number for Broadband Technical Support.
Fair enough, nothing particularly unusual about that, companies do sometimes change their phone set-up for one reason or another, so none of us realised that something sneaky was going on behind our backs.
Since then, until yesterday, none of us had any need to contact support.
Yesterday, a friend who had decided to change her main PC over to the wireless connection that she'd already been using for the laptop, ran into a problem. She's a Windows person, I'm a Linux person, and I do not pretend to know anything about wireless stuff in any case, but apparently there's an installation CD, and it got as far as stage 4 (whatever that is) but then got the hump and refused to complete the installation.
So, she rang Namesco...
[personal details edited out, of course]
"An Indian gentleman answered my call, softly spoken and I'm a bit deaf and I couldn't understand a word he was saying.
So, I had to put XXXX on and he had some difficulty too. The upshot is, after explaining the problem, he told us that he couldn't help us, as he was not allowed to help with wireless connections and we would have to phone Zyzel for help.
When did that change I wonder? Namesco DID help us with the wireless connection for the laptop earlier this year - my old laptop, not the new one which YYYY set up for us last December.
The Zyzel woman put us through to Tech Support for help ....... but XXXX hung up after waiting 20 mins with music blasting down the phone.
Cheesed off, fed up and probably going to resort to my original Plan B. New laptop for me to use for 3 months of the year in the lounge, seeing as XXXX nicked the one I got last December."
Now, that isn't the Namesco I know. I do remember an Indian chap there who was very quietly spoken - but he wasn't someone who had just crawled out of a container at Tilbury Docks, he was a very clued-up and helpful person who, on one occasion, had spent about half an hour patiently talking a friend (who is from Poland, and whose English isn't exactly A1) through the necessary steps to get him up and running again.
Given that the router is the one supplied by Namesco themselves, it seemed a bit off.
Thinking that maybe 3.30 in the afternoon wasn't the best time to ring up with a non-urgent problem and that someone was just having an off day (it happens once in a while, even in a normally good outfit), she rang back this morning, at about 8.45, before things got busy.
"A charming Indian lady answered my call!"
Coincidence? She was a little suspicious, so asked the lady where she was.
"India"
As she says...
"Yep, the good old Indian Call Centre as per BT, so Namesco have sold us down the river (Ganges). When I told her my query, the answer was *nearly* the same as yesterday's, she couldn't help at all with wireless connection problems, no mention of *not allowed to* this time.
I asked if she could connect me, or give me the phone number, of someone in the UK who could help me - her answer was that Namesco no longer support wireless connection queries and she told me to phone Zyxel for help."
The clue is actually on the website if you know what to look for. Namesco's main business is web hosting and domain names, not broadband, and for that they give a tech support number of 0845 363 3634, followed by:
International Customers +44 (0) 1905 342345
...so the "real" number that the usual non-geographic "0845" number gets redirected to is 01905 342345 - a Worcester number.
It also says "UK Based support desk" - yes, you're getting through to Worcester, quite correct.
Next item - broadband tech support, the 0845 259 1235 number that we were given in August.
No separate number for callers from overseas indicating a geographic number that can be traced to Worcester.
No mention of "UK based support desk".
So, since the new phone number came in, back in August, we no longer deal with those helpful people in Worcester, they think that it's a better idea to put people here out of work and let customers phone an overseas call centre who, predictably, are about as much use as a chocolate teapot.
That being so, Namesco can shove their internet service up the Khyber Pass!
Whether it be a bank, an internet service provider, I will not stay with a company who use an overseas call centre. I'll leave it until the line upgrade has gone through, because whoever I switch to it will be an "up to 8Mb" line not the old 2Mb line, so that should avoid possible regrade complications, but once that's happened I will be asking for a MAC.