MAC code / switching providers / stuff

[Kevin Yeandel]

Hi

Tiscali told me I have to wait up to 5 days before they will give me my MAC Code to switch to another provider. Is it normal to have to wait this long? Can't see the point really.

Also, the reason I am switching from Tiscali is because they renew my IP every 3 days which knocks my VOIP off line and my PC's. Does anyone else have to suffer having to reboot their router 2ce a week? (I've tried 3 routers in 12 months and know it is the ISP).

Anyone recommend a good ISP for someone wanting 4.5mb speed x 10GB/month that does not block VOIP or cause you to have to reboot the router?

I'm tending towards Pipex or Virginmedia at the moment. I've looked at a couple of those comparison sites but am interested in the experience of others.

Many thanks

Kevin

 

[dave_n]

kev....unless you get a fixed IP then all providers can and often do change your IP. Obviously the DHCP lease is 72 hours.
I rarely get my ip changed by sky but when it happens I cannot complain as my contract is not for a fixed IP.
I can recommend sky...I moved from pipex as their costs soared

 

[Jeewhizz]

Hi

Tiscali told me I have to wait up to 5 days before they will give me my MAC Code to switch to another provider. Is it normal to have to wait this long? Can't see the point really.

They have to give it to you within 7 days IIRC. I've always had mine instantly

Also, the reason I am switching from Tiscali is because they renew my IP every 3 days which knocks my VOIP off line and my PC's. Does anyone else have to suffer having to reboot their router 2ce a week? (I've tried 3 routers in 12 months and know it is the ISP).

Anyone recommend a good ISP for someone wanting 4.5mb speed x 10GB/month that does not block VOIP or cause you to have to reboot the router?

See my post here: http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=53650


Jee

 

[Kevin Yeandel]

Hi Dave

Um.. Sky.. did you say that just to "set me up"???

Seriously, Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it. I did see recent tv ads and it looks good however, I would rather have no internet at home that have that company cross the threshold of my doorstep. It was the most cumbersome and difficult contract to legally exit. I probably paid Sky £300 in 2006-2007 just to watch adverts, when it came to giving the legally required 30 days notice it probably cost me in excess of £50 of telephone calls and continuation of bills and legal threats to damage my credit history for the following 3 months. Never in a millions years.

Please no body else suggest Sky or it will set me off again!!!

Kevin

 

[INDIZINE]

I rang Tiscali last week and got a MAC code by text and email same day, and by post next day. The transfer itself takes 5 days. This is for my home ISP and ive switched to Plusnet. If you fancy giving them a go, let me know, I have a link for a special offer for referrals. They are based in Sheffield with a landline (not a 08 number) and you speak to a local sheffield person without 16 menus and Greensleeves.

 

[KM-Tiger]

Tiscali told me I have to wait up to 5 days before they will give me my MAC Code to switch to another provider. Is it normal to have to wait this long? Can't see the point really.

They are sticking exactly to rules on this. Says a lot about them as the better providers will give you a MAC straight away.

Fixed IP's are normal with better providers.

As regards router reboots, this is usually nothing to do with your provider, and everything to do with your BT line. maxADSL pushes the ADSL technology to its limits, leaving no margin for error. ADSL is prone to interference. MW radio and street lights are common sources, which is why speeds can drop - or the line disconnect - in the evenings. Best bet IMHO is a router than can run the DMT tool. You can then set your own parameters, reduce your speed a bit but have stability.

 

[Desticado]

I've used 'Nildram' in the past. Quite reasonable and offer a range of scalable options.

Also BT has its merits. In the event you have a problem it saves a LOT of fingering pointing if your line, calls & broadband are all with one company.

 

[bernielady]

I've used an Entanet reseller for over a year now, and they are definately the best to go for.

take a look at this: http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

Falconnet, ADSL24, TitanADSL, UKFSN,Vivaciti, Freeola, Aquiss, and Xifos are all resellers of Entanet International Ltd. The review results from existing customers speak for themselves, and also shows the other contenders your talking about.

I personally recommend Rupert at Falconnet, http://www.falconnet.co.uk as his customer service is TOP NOTCH! Plus they are 1 month rolling contracts so if you decided their not for you then you can freely leave...but i know you wont want to!

Rupert is also a member of UKBF, under username falconinternetlimited

All the best, Mike

 

[Desticado]

snip--------Falconnet, ADSL24, TitanADSL, UKFSN,Vivaciti, Freeola, Aquiss, and Xifos are all resellers of Entanet International Ltd. ------snip

A lot of Broadband providers are are resellers for other more 'tangable' companies. For business use i'd advise dealing with a reseller as its another 'layer' to deal with in the event of a problem.

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

bernielady - only problem is enta is always at capacity from 8pm GMT - 1am GMT so if you work during those hours your ADSL is crippled to <4Mb. Have a look at http://noc.enta.net/?page_id=166

Desticado - this is the same with most providers, SKY & UK Online use Easynet for their 16Mb services. Don't forget people like Tiscali, Enta, Zen all use BT Central Pipes so they rely on BT's network.

Kevin - look for a package with decent upload and a static IP. But if your router drops the Line it might not be the provider. BT's network is falling to pieces the line to your home might have a fault or it could be something at the exchange.

 

[Desticado]

Have you considered staying with Tiscali and paying them for a static IP (normaly about £5 a month)?

 

[Desticado]

Desticado - this is the same with most providers, SKY & UK Online use Easynet for their 16Mb services. Don't forget people like Tiscali, Enta, Zen all use BT Central Pipes so they rely on BT's network.

Sure, but I find it helps to be as high up the foodchain as possible.

Learnt that from spending way too much time on hold to different call centres solving broadband access problems for people...

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Sure, but I find it helps to be as high up the foodchain as possible.

Learnt that from spending way too much time on hold to different call centres solving broadband access problems for people...

Indeed but you would think Tiscali having wholesale from BT would be able to deal with broadband issues but the other day i spent 50mins on hold for a client just trying to verify their broadband username and password.

Being high up the food chain is always handy so in the case of enta.net resellers go with enta directly!

Sky aren't decent for support either unless you can get through to level 3 tech support who actually know what their talking about!

 

[Desticado]

im not a fan of Tiscali either.

 

[falconinternetlimited]

Hi. Just thought I would add my two pence worth to the discussion on Enta & resellers.

I believe the reseller / wholesaler arrangement works well. You don't pay any more for your connection but you gain by effectively having a dedicated account manager and freephone support with someone who will know you and your circumstances and be focussed in getting your issues resolved. Some larger companies may have excellent CS and others not, but you can't beat a bit of 1 on 1 care and the feeling of actually knowing the person you are talking to. (IMHO)

With regards to Enta and slowdowns - Enta implement an anti-loss tool that kicks in during busy hours (10pm to 1am weekdays) because that is when the p2p downloader all come online to make use of the generous download allowances. The anti-loss tool does slow things down, but what it also does is ensure that everybody using the internet gets a decent level of service. This method means that VOIP users, gamers and alike are not impacted by the downloaders. The only people really affected by the Anti-loss too are the downloaders who simply can't download as quickly as previously. Generall browsing and internet usage isn;t affected by this level of slowdown.

If the slowdowns are a problem we also provide broadband services from IDNet. IDNet are more expensive than enta, but because of their less generous allowances, they are able to operate without having to implement any anti-loss management tools etc.

The amount of customers we get who have come from some of the larger ISP's (some named in this thread previously) whose lines are getting throttled down to double digit K's is amazing. This si something that you simply would not get with the above scenarios.

I hope the above information is helpful.

Best wishes,

Rupert

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

With regards to Enta and slowdowns - Enta implement an anti-loss tool that kicks in during busy hours (10pm to 1am weekdays) because that is when the p2p downloader all come online to make use of the generous download allowances. The anti-loss tool does slow things down, but what it also does is ensure that everybody using the internet gets a decent level of service. This method means that VOIP users, gamers and alike are not impacted by the downloaders. The only people really affected by the Anti-loss too are the downloaders who simply can't download as quickly as previously. Generall browsing and internet usage isn;t affected by this level of slowdown.
Best wishes,

Rupert

Not wanting to start an argument but voip is near impossible after 8pm, i know you say 10pm but MAX Premium users off peak starts at 8pm. I know this from experience as we previously use enta. Can't knock their support and they have been adding capacity over the past year or so but i was a customer when they first started selling 8mb, poor planning led to congestion that caused slow performance 24x7. Everyone learns from their mistakes but enta in my view is still over-subscribed!

Users also need to watch their exchange capacity we used to be on an exchange that was way oversubscribed and BT refused to sort the capacity out, so 24x7 max you could get was about 300kb/s even though we were located next to the exchange!

We now use an LLU service which performs far better than a BT Wholesale MAX Service!

 

[bernielady]

Hi DWebs,

From what you just said, i believe you were with enta before their anti-loss tool was put in place, hence why you have a negative overall opinion of them. They are alot better at planning extra resources and new central pipes than ALOT of the other providers.

I am currently using an enta connection, and i can honestly say, i have no problems whatsoever with making voip calls in or out during these times, and the anti-loss tool prevents 99.99% of packaet loss from centrals. It stops them being oversubscribed which is what can cause the majority of packet loss in the first place.

Regards,

Mike

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Hi DWebs,

From what you just said, i believe you were with enta before their anti-loss tool was put in place, hence why you have a negative overall opinion of them. They are alot better at planning extra resources and new central pipes than ALOT of the other providers.

I am currently using an enta connection, and i can honestly say, i have no problems whatsoever with making voip calls in or out during these times, and the anti-loss tool prevents 99.99% of packaet loss from centrals. It stops them being oversubscribed which is what can cause the majority of packet loss in the first place.

Regards,

Mike

We were with them up until October 2007, i gave up with their capacity issues partly related to exchange and partly to do with enta. They also had issues with BT not loading the sessions to each central correctly.

Each provider has different issues enta are one of the better providers but their offpeak download allowances are way way too large. All total in the office each month we used around 35Gb total that’s both peak and off-peak

 

[falconinternetlimited]

Chris,

I use Enta's voip service through the evening and it works fine but to be honest it can be line dependent so I won't get into that whole discussion anyway.

Just wanted to say though that I agree with you about LLU. Our advice is if you can get LLU and you don't mind the lock-in, then it's a good choice. Where Enta / IDNet etc are operating is in the opportunity area where there is no LLU and they can provide a broadband service that is SO much better than the bigger ISP's.

BT's legacy of infrastucture leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you compare against our European counterparts and across the globe - but you have to live with what you can get - and if Max is the only thing you can get, you could do ALOT worse that and Enta or IDNet based service.

Best wishes,

Rupert

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

Chris,

I use Enta's voip service through the evening and it works fine but to be honest it can be line dependent so I won't get into that whole discussion anyway.

Just wanted to say though that I agree with you about LLU. Our advice is if you can get LLU and you don't mind the lock-in, then it's a good choice. Where Enta / IDNet etc are operating is in the opportunity area where there is no LLU and they can provide a broadband service that is SO much better than the bigger ISP's.

BT's legacy of infrastucture leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you compare against our European counterparts and across the globe - but you have to live with what you can get - and if Max is the only thing you can get, you could do ALOT worse that and Enta or IDNet based service.

Best wishes,

Rupert

100% Agree

We still use enta for our main line inbound, our asterisk box in london connects to their voip platform.

I do like the phone numbers enta give you though our main line is 01253 200080 cracking number!

 

[jamie1183]

I had the same issue with Entanet (Freeola) told me they would email in 5 days, waited 5 days nothing, rang them said yes we sent email, another 5 days, nothing, same answer again, 5 days later eventually got it. maybe the emails were getting lost but who knows, like every business they want to keep you on as long as possible.

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

I had the same issue with Entanet (Freeola) told me they would email in 5 days, waited 5 days nothing, rang them said yes we sent email, another 5 days, nothing, same answer again, 5 days later eventually got it. maybe the emails were getting lost but who knows, like every business they want to keep you on as long as possible.

Entanet are very strict on mac's if the reseller / partner fails to request the mac for the EU they can be fined or removed as a partner.

 

[falconinternetlimited]

MAC's are generally provided within about 1-2 hours of requesting them - it's an automated system - sometimes it can take longer. We generally chase if we haven't seen a MAC within 12 hours of requesting it.
There is definitely no policy of witholding MAC's. I can assure you of that.

Regards,

Rupert

 

[Christiane]

We need to move away from Tiscali so I was interested to see this thread. As I run an online business, my concern is that I can't be without internet, so the swap to a new provider sounds rather tricky!
When the new provider has the MAC code, how quickly are things moving?

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

We need to move away from Tiscali so I was interested to see this thread. As I run an online business, my concern is that I can't be without internet, so the swap to a new provider sounds rather tricky!
When the new provider has the MAC code, how quickly are things moving?

Usually you can be connected within 5-7 days but ask your new provider when ordering they will give you the lead-time.

Sometimes BTW change minimum lead times etc!

BTW = BT Wholesale

 

[Kevin Yeandel]

Firstly Tiscali took 6 days to provide the MAC code. This is longer than they were permitted.

I also stopped the direct debit and they immediately disconnected my internet so I would advise you not to stop the DD if you need continuity until connected to the next provider.

Now I am in the process of transferring to Falconnet. Seems better value for money and a personal touch as opposed to these big faceless companies.

It seems as though it will be done during a working day but I don't know how long it will be down for, I expect it will only be a couple of hours at the max.

They provided the instructions inadvance to me. If you get the instructions from your new provider by email then best print them off before the switchover and keep their phone number handy if you need help setting up the new parameters in your router - this sort of prep will reduce downtime.

Kevin

 

[falconinternetlimited]

Kevin,

Good advice about printing it off.

With regards to the switchover, it should be instant (unless you are migrating from an LLU provider in which case it can be up to a few hours).
On the migration day, if you lose your connection, simply change the username and password with the details provided by us and more than likely you'll be up and running.
In some instances the losing provider doesn;t terminate your session you you may find that we phone you to say the migration has completed and you'll still be online with the previous provider. Again, you simply need to change the login and password for your router / modem, re-sync, and you should connect.

Best wishes,

Rupert

p.s. Just read the bit about disconnecting your modem from Tiscali. You can pre-prime the router with the new details we sent you and leave it plugged in and switched on and come the migration it should just kick into life.