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I have finally reached the end of my tether with Orange Broadband, after 3 evenings in a row without internet access and terrible customer support (lies and misinformation) and the dreadedknowledge that every time i phone them i am taking to an Indian call centre so many thousand of miles away that you know deep down they dont care.

So last night i cancelled my contract.  Well kind of in that i asked for my migration code because if i cancel i have to wait 30 days then have 10 days of limbo before i can transfer to a new provider.  with a migration code its supposedly a seamless transition.

Now the confusing part - apparently i have an LLU system rather than IP stream - and only a few providers can work with a LLU migration code - these are Sky, Bulldog, Talk Talk and B Unlimited.

So any ideas who i should go to? the annoying thing is orange is excellent when it works but these days at least 1 evening every 2 weeks i have no connection and this week i have had none.  Maybe they all are as bad as each other.

Does anyone understand this whole LLU v IP stream difference and what is the best thing i should do here

Thanks

Dunno anything about IP Stream but I'm with Be and I've not had any problems with them.

Haven't a clue either but if you have Sky TV, you can get Sky internet for free

www.asdlguide.org may be able to help

You may find this usefull : http://www.moneysupermarket.com/MediaCentre/RateAlerts/RA92.html

Seems that you CAN switch to ISP - well thats my read on it anyway.

Bulldog was sold to Pipex btw

I am with Pipex, no problems here

AOL Wireless connection here, very little problems considering we have 4 computers running on it per night and recommended...

im on orange bb aswell using there wireless livebox, my connection has took a turn for the worse these past two weeks now, should be running at 1mb but tested it yesterday and found out that it was actually running at 0.3mb (not that far from dial up lol), customer support is crap after 5 as probably all the english go home which then means u get put through to someone in a far away land, they have a recorded msg saying something along the lines of "if you are unable to connect to the internet keep trying and eventually you will be connected,(then comes the classic) we do not know when this problem will be fixed" lmao, i personally havent had problems getting onto the net jus the fact that its ridiculously slow, aswell as this they tested my connection and said they found an error and that they would pass this onto some technician and they told me to ring back in a couple of days which i did and then had some indian fellow tell me the same thing, but because i was in the middle of the final level of the ladder on ladbrokes that was the point i hung up, probably try again tonight not expecting anything to happen though.

BT Customer Service (what a misnomer that title is) is the absolute pits.

I have been at war with BT for 3 months ow, & made zero progress. But t least I know how things work there. Ring them up, &.....

Press 1 for this, 2 for that, 3 for the other. 3 it is then. Press 1 for that, 2 for this, 3 for the other. 2 this time. And so on.

Eventually,

"We are busy, your call is important to us (oh yeah?), you are in a queue, we will be with you as soon as we can, we are less busy at 3am on Sundays, but we are closed then". Followed by the mind-numbing "please hold on music".

"Plinker plunker plonker, la le la le la, plinker plunker plonker, la le la le la....."

Then we get the Asian Call Centre. "Name.......first line of address.....Postcode.....Account number....telephone number......"

"Ahh, I'll transfer yopu to the right department....

Rinse, repeat.......

I currently use talk talk which is ok. It did take a month to get put in and is slower than my old ISP.

I hear Tiscali are good.................

Free too, I heard......

Have had probs with tiscali with regards to e-mails not being recieved. No probs with connection and speed but I'm thinking of changing provider. Thier call centre is also overseas trouble understanding sometimes.

LLU just means that the ISP have taken over the local exchanges from BT (all their own equipment) and IPstream is BT's own exchanges and equipment.
You may remember BT being forced to hand over their monopoly on this stuff a few years back, its called Local Loop Unbundling.

Tiscali is blaming LLU for all it's problems and is currently in the process of migrating all customers to IPstream or the other way round (apparently this is what they've been doing for over 7 months LOL).
I am devastated to hear Orange (wanadoo) is problematic as this is where i'm off too!!
I could cry seriously.
I've heard bad things about Talk Talk too as they never expected (or had the capacity) to cope with the overwhelming demand for it's free service.
I'd go to SKY (i think i will now) they are very professional in all they do i don't see why BB would be any different.

BTW a MAC code (migration code) must be provided within 5 days of asking and is time limited from the day received.

Don't they all use the same equipment from their local exchanges, the only difference in ISP's is the ratio's they run on for users per line?

Sky for me, cheap and not throttled for downloads :) Unlimited usage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj2oXMdZ4sk

I use Pipex, no problems, decent customer service

Hmm, that WAS me......

Not quite true (i know all this because of the Tiscali forums), when an ISP takes over the BT exchange it moves in it's own equipment (this is incredibly expensive BTW).
IPstream is "managed" by BT and BT are actually very good at managing their exchanges, if they oversubscribe usage they upgrade the exchange.
With LLU or datastream an ISP leases X amount of capacity and tries to add every man and his dog onto it, this at peak times throttles the connection but it is the ISP's fault and not BT's.
Many ISP's just ignore or bulls**t customers instead of upgrading their equipment.

All I can say is, I would not touch Tiscali, Orange, or Carphone Warehouse they are all the pits. Had major problems at work and home with tiscali, and from reading previous posts there still seems to be a connection issue with tiscali (to blonde or same network).

In the end i had enough of all the crap from the different providers, and moved back to BT broadband on the 5meg per month limit for £17 odd per month, and I have not had any problems from a download issue, and also got free broadband eveing calls as well..

Good Luck, its a minefield and I'm glad that I am currently happy !!! for now

I've been on NTL Broadband (now rebadged as Virgin) for 5 years plus, never any problems. Have had to call customer support about my Cable TV package a couple of times and was on hold for ages but they got there in the end. No complaints though and the broadband is pretty reliable.

Their broadband is spot on - very reliable.  Their accounts/sales/customer service, etc. is ropey.  They tried to charge me all sorts of different things and ballsed it up lots of times.  After finally getting through to a manager (after shouting at people) it's been sorted (except for the engineer coming out last week to install Virgin TV that we haven't ordered...), and we now get the telephone and 10MB broadband for less than £20 a month.

I could probably get a cheaper broadband setup, but I doubt I could find a better broadband service so I'm sticking with it.

thanks guys - looks like they are all as bad as each other.

I hear Sky is terrible so whoever above said they were looking to switch to Sky then be careful.

After all i have said above - Orange have dangled too big a carrot and it looks like i might stay!!!  They will refund my current £17.99 for this month and put me on a better package at £9.99 a month and will give me 6 months free.

I just wish there was one that was head and shoulders above the rest but it doesnt look that way!

I can get free orange because of my mobile tarriff, that's what i was gonna do.

I went to tescos broadband and have never had a connection problem in 3 years, it's only 512kb and costs me £18 a month but at least i'm always connected.

I am with talktalk, and have no problems.

There service is fine, and its £20 a month for broadband and free calls uk and international at all times of the day. So if you have freinds or family abroad it is the best offer around i think.... Unless you have sky at the mo, which makes them the most attractive offer.