Explain this then !

A friend of mine who is on Plusnet (I recommended them - sorry). What with the service getting worse - incorrect usage stats - being charged for bogus extra bandwidth, slow speeds, drop outs etc. decided a change of ISP would be a good idea. A request for a MAC key was put in and Poornet gave the 'You can't go anywhere because you are now on LLU and we have you with the short and curlies' response. It was pointed out to them that the LLU downgrade was not requested and emails explaining the change and the consequences of being on LLU and wanting get away from PN and Tiscali were vague to non existant. Anyway, PN initiated a cease on the line which unsurprisingly hasn'y happened all tickets are closed.

After a few weeks I started reading the forums again and followed the link to the 'LLU opt out' request and raised a ticket using this method. The response was as follows:

Your original question 9:50pm, Wednesday 13th September 2006

[Support Wizard Journey] [I would like to opt out of the LLU upgrade programme] [Trials Wizard] [LLU Opt Out] [Additional Information] I would like to opt out of the LLU upgrade programme.

Script User Unused - ADC - Developers 6:15am, Thursday 14th September 2006

Please take this response as acknowledgement of your request to remain on BT provided service, no changes will be made to your connection.

Regards
Customer Support

Right then, can anybody spot the deliberate mistake. Were Poornet lying when they said my friend needed a new ISP that accepted LLU migrations. The above response clearly states that my friends connection is still on a BT provided service and no changes will be made to this. Also, my friend can successfully use the BT speedchecker - does this also prove that BT are providing the service - would the BT speedchecker still work of the connection was being provided by Tiscali. I was under the impression that if you were on LLU and a change back to IPstream was requested it would take a lot longer than the 8 hours and 25 minutes it took PN to reply. Mind you, is 8 hours 25 a record response time for PN. Also, what's the real method of determining if my friend is on Tiscali LLU.

Have I got it all wrong?

Edited by robshaws (Sun 17-Sep-06 00:25:58)

That sounds like one of the many scripted automated replies that PN use. It does not actually mean you are still on BT because the script cannot check this. All that is happening is the script assumes you are still on BT, not LLU when you request the opt-out and the script has just added the user to the LLU opt-out list.

"It was pointed out to them that the LLU downgrade was not requested"

Trust you have read this thread
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=plusnet&Number=2649559&page=2&view=expanded&sb=5&o=0&fpart=
makes good reading in light of the above statement you made.

From the sound of it, your friend is definitely on LLU. If he hasn't received the mandatory two emails about his impending migration to LLU (one general, one specific), he is entitled to demand that he be moved back to IPStream by PlusNet. He can quote PlusNet's own Alternative Network Provider FAQ which confirms this point -- although all support agents should have been fully re-briefed on it anyway in the past couple of weeks, allegedly by PlusNet's Dave Tomlinson.

It may still take a few weeks to get back to IPStream but it's the better place to be when looking to change providers since LLU MAC keys are accepted by very few ISPs.

Simon

"From the sound of it, your friend is definitely on LLU"

I very much doubt they are..... as further down the post they go on to say "Also, my friend can successfully use the BT speedchecker " which I believe is not the case if you are on anything other than a BT supplied product"
So I would say they are still being supplied by BT, because I have a high upload rate of 832 Kbps which when I get a bit of a problem makes people think I have been LLU'd, and the first question I get asked when I say I am not on LLU is "can you still use the BT speed checker"

Let's hope you're wrong about that, otherwise the regulators will be interested in the CS agent's alleged response to the termination request.

Simon

If the bt speedtester login and the speedtest work then they are on a BT provisioned network and not a Tiscali LLU service.

Andrew

In reply to:

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Also, my friend can successfully use the BT speedchecker...

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The thing is though, how is he access the speedchecker? His he using..

bt_test@startup_domain settings in the router or modem?

Or is he accessing it via http://speedtester.bt.com/cgi-bin/home.page.pl