Is anyone actually happy with BT ?

Hi,

I am currently with F2S and given Tiscali have just bought it out, I am looking to move. I thought BT might be a good idea with the Home Hub thing but there seems to be a few issues reported on this board, especially with port throttling ? I only use e-mail and web browsing (no P2P etc), so would anyone actually recommend BT ?

TiA

Matt

To be honest i think most if not ALL UK broadband suppliers are as bad as each other.

If you want super high speed download then BE or Zen seem to be the place to go. However the UK market moves at breakneck speed and these could easily be snapped up by one of the bigger companies and go tits up like the rest.

I have read the good and bad about BT and will "gulp" be signing up with them.

The hub,hub phone and added extras make it an offer too good to refuse i'm afraid.

Edited by deleted (Sun 22-Jul-07 08:12:24)

I have been with BT since December 2006. Three Home Hubs have had to be replaced, however the present one works fine. I am very happy with BT. :-)

I have been with them since before the general roll out of ADSL and am overall happy with them. One or two problems which required some head banging to resolve but had it been another provider I would never have won!

Matt,

I am in something of a similar position to yourself. I'm not unhappy with my current ISP and I have a decent Max connection, but I have been attracted by the BT Option 3 offering, with the Hub phone and the WiFi hotspot minutes all part of the bundle. I've no particular axe to grind - but I will say, unlike others, that all UK ISPs are NOT alike and that service levels can vary substantially.

Checking this forum and others relating to BT has certainly put me off moving to BT. The following seem to be the case:

o Numbers of BT broadband customers are experiencing throttling of some kind during the evening. For some, this seems to be severe (ie dial-up like speeds). Throttling may or may not be related to user's usage of the system. Some reports imply that it is only heavier users who get throttled, other reports imply that it could be anyone. Throttling seems to involve HTTP in particular, which is going to hit Web browsing. It is unclear whether throttling affects all protocols - some folk say that FTP is working OK, some people claim that all protocols are affected.

o There are reports of quality problems with the HomeHub units. There are folk who seem happy with them, but there are also plenty of other folk who don't use them and say that their service is much better using some other unit.

o It's hard to get a good picture of the Hub Phone. Few people talk about it in any depth - some mention problems, but I don't detect a clear pattern.

o BT service is universally condemed. I've not heard a good word said about it. BT use call centers in India and the people handling the calls there follow a set script approach, rather than trying to understand what the problem really is and get it fixed. Some people have managed to get contact numbers in the UK - and it is curious that there is an opinion that emails to the managing director of BT is the right way to get things fixed (there are places on this forum where you can find the address and phone numbers involved in this.)

From the forums, it seems like the current favoured ISPs are the Entanet resellers like ADSL24 and the older stalwarts like Zen. For me, the Entanet suppliers sound interesting as I could get the same service I get now for less. Zen are a good ISP (I was with them previously) but they are expensive for what you get.

My dad is with BT broadband, but he is a very light user on option 1 and I doubt whether he would ever notice that he was being throttled. Fortunately, he has never had to contact the BT service teams - his opinion of India-based call centers is unprintable based on several unpleasant experiences associated with some financial institutions who have call centers there....

Yours, Mike.

At last a positive post about BT. I have been with BT for 4 years. The main problem I had is that for whatever reason my line/home does not like the Home Hub. I have had 3 home hubs and all suffer from random low resyncing by about 2000kbps. However 3 of my Neighbours use them without problem 75% success by my calculations.

My problem has been sorted by replacing the Hub with a bt Voyager 2500v wireless BT Talk enabled router(BT Sorted this free eventually.) Bt Vision works with it except the On Demand service(Not Tested)
I have never suffered throttling/shaping etc. Slow on odd random occasions getting less frequent.
Option 3 heavy use at times.

So personally I am happy about using BT.

>> BT service is universally condemed <<

Sorry but it isn't. As is always the case, most of what you read tends to be criticism - but that's a normal trait. Few write to say they think something is good!

There are many good comments about BT within threads on this forum - you just have to read them all before making broad sweeping statements like this particular one.

I have had my share of problems with BT including the throttlibg issue - but that relates almost entirely to my son using P2P programs - enough said......

Generally my speed is good and the connection is ultra stable. I use a BT Voyager 2500v router which I believe to be one of the best routers around with an excellent wireless range.

I am very happy with BT overall.

Would I recommend them? Yes I would - and I do.

I've only had BT for 5 months and apart from the odd hiccup, it's worked fine.
I'm on 'option 3-Hub.

Wrote mine whilst you were posting yours I reckon.........

Yes like minds.
However, in my experience using these forums, If I post positive BT Posts, I have started off a host of personal insults. Hence my praise of a positive post. The following post is typical of the stuff i see posted about BT:-
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=bt&Number=3064863&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0

Best ignored.

No matter, once I sussed out how tech support works, and to go higher if necessary, I am happy with BT