UK ISP's

[Videoman]

a bit "Off Topic" and if someone wants to move it, no problem.
I had a run in with BTinternet BT openworld as they are now rebranded. Had some real problems getting connected at peak times. Anytime has has to drop a TV ad because of complaints to the ASA that BTAnytime is BTAnytime except evening when you cant get on.
During the course of the conversation with "the Man" it emerged that they monitor individual usage. I am a "High" user- its official!! I was a tad taken back that on a unlimited package they know how many hours a week you an individual is online.

Any thoughts or comments.

[tigger]

I had the same argument with freeserve when they cancelled my 24/7 connection due to high usage, it does seem slightly odd that the service was cancelled because I was and many more where using the so called 24/7 too much, but how do you overuse a service if it's 24/7!!

So I've bitten the bullet and now have BT for a ADSL line, mind you it's not to badly priced at £39inc vat per month, Oh well that’s my advert for BT over with hopefully I’ll get my next month’s bill reduced :)

[nicebloke]

I read somewhere about an up-down satellite service becoming available soon. Was I dreaming?

<winge>
I've had major problems in the past with BT Internet Surftime. I made the mistake of installing dialler sofware from their CD which stopped ALL my browsers from working and in the end I had to reformat my machine so I could get it online.

I had their technical support on the phone trying to sort it out, I followed their instructions, and ended up with the blue sceen of death.

They promised to have their 'advanced technical team' call me back and guess what.. they never did.

</winge>

[caine]

I've just moved onto BT's Bussiness 500, probably the same package as you Tigger, but nobody their warned in any way that the BT ADSL alcatel USB mdm is incompatible with the KT133 chipset, i have tried everything immaginable.

<believe me when i say - i was once happy>
was on w2000, format w98 - nope
all driver upgrades, in varient patterns under both systems - still the same
new 400w psu compatible with K7 chips - nope, not today.

So come 9am, i'm going to have a go and see if they will give me the config params, so that i can set up a ADSL router, which is a solution.
</moan=winge>

[gethan]

>I read somewhere about an up-down satellite service becoming available soon. Was I dreaming?

Niceblock - nope, I used to work for a company doing just that. They have now gone bust... Kokua Communications [exkokua.com] London based backed by SES who pulled promised funding at last minute -- not bitter, but would like to be paid ;)

Emerging into the fray are two competitors - SES (aka Astra) who are reselling their service through Tsicali [tiscali.co.uk], and a Dutch company Aramiska [aramiska.com]

Also Gillat (Israelli satellite company) are doing something -- I'm not sure if its planned for the UK.

In terms of providing a replacement for ADSL and Cable in my opinion it will be way too expensive for Small businesses, looking at about £500 pcm for average use - the problem is that the bandwidth just costs more from the satellite providers so flat fee based billing models aren't likely. For home use it will be naff -- the lag on a telnet session is unbearable so quake is a no no.

Enough information already -- if anyone is interested - start a seperate thread and I'll spill more beans there :)

[markd]

Nicebloke

I was afraid of the same happening and I have been told that if you register for Anytime as a 'new user', go through the steps for registration but DON'T complete the last one 'download software', you can configure your own dialler software for your account but continue to use your existing browser.

The bad news is: I haven't had the courage to try this yet as loosing certain configurations for my browsers etc. doesn't bear thinking about!

Markd

[Videoman]

Today I received a letter from Duncan Ingram Senior Vice-President BTopenworld.
Addressed at the top of the letter to:
Name
Address line 1
Basildon
Essex
Skegness
Postcode

So Essex has been moved to Skegness. There's gonna be some very annoyed people in Skeggie when they wake up and find the Essex Boys have moved in. ;)
Sorry you have trouble connecting but you have been staying on line for tooooooo long, so we have given you a bad boys number which means you have a 1 in 0 chance of connecting when the system is busy. It goes on "BTopenworld does offer an "always on" Product, BTopenworld Broadband, which may be more suitable for your internet needs."
So this sceptical old Essex Lad (relocated to Skegness)reckons this is a devious marketing ploy to get high users onto Broadband. Shareholder or not I'm going to dish the S**t to Watchdog on Monday and see if I can get BT in the studio.

Watch this space.....or Watchdog.

[gethan]

Videoman - Good luck :)

An aside:

NTL unveils hi-speed unmetered Net access [theregister.co.uk]

Basically £14.99 pcm for a 128kbps Cable modem. (I used to work there also :) - tried to get them to do this 2 years ago) I've got no idea whether this extends to business users, but they tend to be fairly relaxed towards home offices.

I guess Telewest will follow suit, but its only useful if you're in a cabled area. Just up the road from you atm and my only option is BT adsl :(

[Videoman]

.....apart from being away from "Skeggie" this week for two days I have certainly kiked S**T as I have now had a response from the BT Chairmans office (High Level complaints) and am "negotiating" an additional Broadband Incentive. Trouble is I run NT4 and that adds a problem until I update to 2000