5 days for a MAC they can give it instantly?

I asked BT for my MAC on the 18th and was told 5 days, I have migrated from other isp's in the past and have been given it instantly. If BT think this will make me consider them in the future they are sadly mistaken.

In reference to ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/internet-service/MAC:

Under Ofcom regulations, where a consumer or small business (with 10 or less employees) wishes to change broadband provider, a MAC must be issued within 5 working days of the request.

I know but what I am trying to say is that why make me wait 5 days when the support person who took my call had the ability to have the MAC in front of his face while he was talking to me and trying to get me to stay. Just because they have 5 days doesn't mean they should take 5 days, they are just being total *****.

I'm sure Ofcom set it at 5 working days for a reason.

Yes, they did. Before the auto-requests from Openreach were available online .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Yes, they did. Before the auto-requests from Openreach were available online .

Hasn't eCo always offered that? I doubt BT Wholesale ever had people sitting in an office manually processing migrations all day.

It's the retailers that need it, and you could be right re Openreach and BTW. But plenty of ISPs a few years ago certainly didn't have it available in their systems. They had to request it one way or another.

Ofcom presumably never changed the 5 days because it wasn't worth it.

At O2 and IDNet I don't think it ever went near a person, as I expect you know in the first case.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It's the retailers that need it, and you could be right re Openreach and BTW. But plenty of ISPs a few years ago certainly didn't have it available in their systems. They had to request it one way or another.

Hmm, would be interesting to hear from Xilo, Aquiss or IDnet or someone familiar with the history of the eCo system. I imagine automatic MAC generation was available from day one, and the only reason Ofcom brought in legislation was because some retailers were dragging their heels, not because BT Wholesale had no systems in place to generate a MAC instantaneously, but because the retailers were being slow or incompetent for reasons internal to their own company.

That's to some extent what I was trying to say. Part of it almost word for word what you quote.

Many retailers had to contact BTW manually, phone/email/whatever, because they didn't have a computerised MAC request/return service.

Going to be slower soon, since the new NoT has a dead space of ten days during which time the account holder gets sent a letter and has time to say NO I DID NOT ORDER A MIGRATION

I completely fail to understand, as I've said somewhere on the forums before, why Ofcom didn't just make a MAC-similar process for transferring line rental as well and make both also necessary for LLU to/from transfers.

Everything sorted!

This new method is insane.

Ukonline were able to generate MAC codes whilst on the phone requesting it, they also e-mailed it too, Be there where quite quick too BT retail for one reason or other would appear to be dragging their heels

That would would of required them to use some common sense, Ofcom being a government quango don't know what common sense actually is

I'm with you on this. It's the digital age and they are selling digital products. All these processes should be instant. If they blame the systems then they need to change or get out of business. Sometimes you would think we are living in 1950 not 2015. And don't get me started on Banks and processing payments and deposits!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Many retailers had to contact BTW manually, phone/email/whatever, because they didn't have a computerised MAC request/return service.

The ISP just logged into the eCo website using their BT Wholesale supplied credentials and requested the MAC for the customer's connection, fully automated and instantaneous. I'm pretty sure there were no phones or emails involved.

Seeing as I cannot prove you wrong, but know the conclusion you reach is, I shall have to give up. There is no easy way to solve this, and we agree it is not at all relevant to the current thread.

Well we both know that they had websites and web browsers in the year 2000, so it's not inconceivable that the BT Wholesale MAC generation process was fully web-based (and therefore instantaneous) from day one.

But yeah, happy to leave it there.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

Well we both know that they had websites and web browsers in the year 2000, so it's not inconceivable that the BT Wholesale MAC generation process was fully web-based (and therefore instantaneous) from day one.

Yup, when the process first came out, we just logged into eCo and generated a MAC, done within seconds. A few months later, we then live integrated via API as we became more familiar and likewise generated instantly (I can't quite recall if the API method was available at launch though...it has been years).

Much like Sky, you can upgrade online but downgrade takes an age on the phone.

Sainsburys Energy have an online portal, but for change of bank details, nooooooo!

Update. I phoned bt today after ordering MAC on the 18th, they claimed to have sent it by email but nothing received here.
They then tried to get me to stay by offering a reduced cost package which I refused and then said that they would have to start the MAC process again which would take a further 7 days. I became angry and said I was complaining to OFCOM about them stalling the move process.
Lo and behold I got my MAC over the phone and it has been accepted by my new provider.
They even had the nerve to say they hoped I was leaving bt with a good experience behind me and I should consider going back to them - NEVER.

In reply to a post by StormcroW:

Update. I phoned bt today after ordering MAC on the 18th, they claimed to have sent it by email but nothing received here.
They then tried to get me to stay by offering a reduced cost package which I refused and then said that they would have to start the MAC process again which would take a further 7 days. I became angry and said I was complaining to OFCOM about them stalling the move process.
Lo and behold I got my MAC over the phone and it has been accepted by my new provider.
They even had the nerve to say they hoped I was leaving bt with a good experience behind me and I should consider going back to them - NEVER.

Well done i hope everyone leaves BT

In reply to a post by samsonsky:

i hope everyone leaves BT

I have a similar hope about Dyson, Talktalk and Sky... Doubt any will be achieved.