Bye bye BT
If you remember, I have had a few problems with BT, the UK's main provider of landlines. We were stuck with a 12 month contract after we moved house, and they charged us £200 to reconnect a line that was already there (but disconnected. Oh really, is that why we could make and receive calls? ... Unfortunately they had just amended their terms and conditions to say they could do such a thing, so we didn't have much of a choice but to pay) and we had internet on the same account because of a prior agreement with the landlord of our old house. All of this was in said landlord's name, and they refused to change the name on the account, saying that we were mid-contract and were not allowed to change anything. Pffft.
Anyway, fast forward to August, when I was shopping around for more decent ISPs. Our 12 month contract had been up in June but we hadn't had time to go and find a new provider as yet. Having found a new one - Plusnet, if you're interested - we called BT to tell them to cancel our internet. They did everything they could to try and keep us, promising that they would lower the price to the same rate as Plusnet and blah blah blah. NOT THE POINT. The fact is, you messed us around so much last year that I am not prepared to give you any more money.
We decided to keep the landline with BT for now, as we weren't sure if we could get a better deal elsewhere, but when the bill came - still in our old landlord's name - we decided to complain, again. They wanted us to agree to a 12 month contract if we changed the name on the account. I'm sorry, what? Since when do I have to agree to a further 12 months of staying with you because YOU refused to change the name in the first place? No, I don't think so. We switched to Plusnet for our landline as well, and couldn't be happier.
That means we are completely free from BT, FINALLY. Good riddance, I say. Don't let the door hit you on the way out and all that.
I actually switched to BT from Plusnet years ago. :P Plusnet, originally, were an extremely good ISP. Excellent customer service, and good quality broadband - I recommended them to everyone. Then they started introducing crap like fair usage policies, speeds were slow, and when I called customer service to complain I got an automated system and scripted callcentre staff (previously, you would get friendly techies).
BT were a huge improvement on Plusnet when I switched, and many of the friends I had recommended Plusnet to also had problems around the same time and switched. Now, some people appear to be switching back. Apparently things changed. But that actually might be due to the fact that...
Plusnet is now owned by BT. ;) :x
^ I know that actually :P
But yes, the fair use policy no longer applies. I read all the small print to make sure, and they seem to have made over their products and got rid of fair use and other such policies - so that was one reason why I went with them, as well as recommendations from 4 different people who are with them :)
No offense, I just thought that it was a little ironic. :)
Glad they got rid of the fair usage policies, though. Badly needed axing. Wasn't going to stay with them during that bullcrap.
I really wish there could just be a good ISP. I'm really glad I didn't sign a contract with the one I just set up in my new apartment. I've only been living here for 2 weeks and it is SO bad. I have to preload youtube videos. I'll be canceling them next week and switching to one of the other companies down here.
Though the other company, ha. I might have chosen them in the first place except they list their tv offered as satellite. Well I can't have satellite dishes at this apartment complex, so I passed them by. I had to talk to one of my friends who uses that company and said they actually offer cable service too. AHHH.
w00t for you!
I'd love to ditch ours but they are the only DSL in the area. Of course, we haven't had the level of problems you have but I am tired of little things here and there like being tied to Yahoo and the fact that originally it was advertised that by having DSL meant no ads in Yahoo Mail amongst other things only to find out that they've been dropping those little perks here and there with no word to us. I'm really aggravated that when I add a new mail account in Thunderbird through one of my domains and I am using my domain's mail server, I still have to go into Yahoo Mail and "Verify" the email to be able to send from it. wtf?
Ugh..those companies are seriously annoying. I wish we could change our service, not because its bad its because we don't get what we pay for and our phone bills are sometimes ridiculously high, even though we barely call people through out home phones.