Some Questions About Talk Talk Pro

I'm thinking of switching from O2 Access to Talk Talk Pro. My exchange is Braunton (WWBRAU) where Pro is available, but http://www.talktalkmembers.com/content/view/109/149/ claims there is limited availability pending an upgrade. Before taking the plunge, I have a few questions.

Firstly, on average, how long does it take from initially ordering Talk Talk Pro to getting it up and running? I have to give 30 days notice to O2, so would like to time that notice period as best as I can.

Do I need to notify BT of my switch to Talk Talk for my phone? I presume the phone and broadband switch occurs at the same time.

Roughly how long will my Internet service be unavailable during the switchover?

Will the fact that my local exchange has limited availability affect my ability to switch to Talk Talk Pro? Should I wait until after the upgrades before switching?

Thanks in advance.

Firstly, on average, how long does it take from initially ordering Talk Talk Pro to getting it up and running? I have to give 30 days notice to O2, so would like to time that notice period as best as I can.

If i remember right mine was approx 15 days from ordering.

Do I need to notify BT of my switch to Talk Talk for my phone? I presume the phone and broadband switch occurs at the same time.

Unless its changed in the past 6 months you dont need to do anything the TT staff sort it.

Roughly how long will my Internet service be unavailable during the switchover?

I dont think there is any major down time, i was an IDNet customer the night before due date and a TT customer when i arrived home from work on my live date.

Will the fact that my local exchange has limited availability affect my ability to switch to Talk Talk Pro? Should I wait until after the upgrades before switching?

As it is saying limited if you are quick i cannot see a problem, when the exchange is full the following message appears in the TT exchange checker -

"Unfortunately it is currently not possible to add new customers to this exchange. TalkTalk are adding more capacity and will update us when more information is available"

Jack, many thanks for your help.

Back in February, I was in a similar situation regarding exchange showing as busy.

My advice would be to phone sales and confrirm you will get onto LLU. My path was via ADSL Max for 4 weeks, (which I wasnt charged for) and them migrated onto LLU.

Internet service loss was minimal (total about half an hour).

The only thing to be wary of is if you look at the talktalkforums, some orders do get "stuck" and people are waiting a while to get broadband.

Saying all that, moving for me has been great, I have saved a lot of cash and tripled my internet speed.

Many thanks, Siforest65. I shall call them tomorrow.

Mine took about two weeks and I lost broadband for about 20 minutes on the change over day. TalkTalk told BT I was changing over, no problem for me as I had not agreed to the one year lock in for free phone calls in the evening. When I change I always advise my old ISP when the switch over has taken place in case of any crossed wires.

Well, I phoned Talk Talk and it would appear that the LLU product has no more capacity on my exchange, but an upgrade is scheduled. That probably explains the limited availability on the exchange.

I was offered to go onto their Essentials package, but to be honest it's probably best to wait for the additional capacity to come online. I am a heavy user of the Internet as I stream share prices for hours and hours at a time. Couple that with typical usage of things like iPlayer and YouTube and it's easy to blast through some of the caps on various services, so I need an "unlimited" service. Better to stick with what I have until either Talk Talk do their upgrades, or O2 kicks me off for using their "unlimited" service too much.

. Better to stick with what I have until either Talk Talk do their upgrades, or O2 kicks me off for using their "unlimited" service too much.

Sounds like a good plan, let us know how you get on.

Well to continue the story, on Tuesday I noticed that my exchange no longer had limited availability. So, out of curiosity I went back to the Talk Talk website and once again put in my details to see whether the Pro package was once again available. This time it said that it was, but the speed possible was exactly the same as the Essentials package at 5.6 meg. I could have sworn that it was more like 12 meg the last time I checked the speeds for Talk Talk Pro on my line, a while back while still locked in my O2 contract.

That made me wonder whether Talk Talk were effectively selling the Essentials package with a bunch of bolt-ons and passing it off as the Pro package in areas where all the LLU slots were full. Anyway, I knew I would get another sales rep call thanks to the annoying way that just checking what products Talk Talk offers triggers a sales call (Talk Talk, that really sucks and only serves to tick people off).

So yesterday I get a call from a very pushy guy called Lewis who tried to convince me to sign up there and then. I asked whether this was indeed the LLU product or simply the Essentials one with bolt-ons. He claimed it was the LLU product. However, he told me there was a £29.99 connection fee and a 24 month contract. I queried this saying that on the web the connection is free and the contract only 18 months. He flat out denied it and said I was wrong.

So, anyway, I told him I needed to check things with a family member and if I decided to go ahead I would just fill out the form on the web. Seeing that his commission was about to vanish, he insisted I sign up with him and he would call back the next day (ie today).

Anyway, in the meantime, I discovered that BT had sneakily put us on a 12 month rolling contract that only gave you one opportunity a year to get out of it before a new 12 month contract started. I still have no idea when the end date of that is. And, of course, they bill you £8 for every month you have left if you leave before the contract ends.

Effectively, that made it a dealbreaker as the speeds would be no better with Talk Talk than what I have now and I'd get hit for Lewis' connection fee and an unspecified number of months worth of £8 a month. It simply was not worth the bother switching until this sneaky BT contract is ended. In that time, O2 might unbundle my exchange, although I'm not holding my breath on that.

On reviewing the Talk Talk website again, it was clear that Lewis had lied to me, or at least bent the truth. It started to make me wonder whether Lewis had not told me the truth about what he was selling me and that it was the Essentials package with bolt-ons which he was claiming was the LLU service, thinking I wouldn't know the difference anyway. There was clearly a trust issue, i.e. I no longer trusted what he said.

So, today when Lewis called I said we wouldn't be switching as we were in a 12 month contract with BT. He tried to get figures for what we were paying, but I said that he also told me about the connection charge when via the web there wasn't one. He claimed he hadn't lied to me, but I simply told him goodbye and hung up. Sorry, Lewis, I don't do business with people who I know are lying to me. Talk Talk, please take note.

Anyway, I now have to find out about this BT contract and when it is up. I'll also see if O2 plan to unbundle my exchange. If I do ever decide to switch to Talk Talk it will be via the website and not through one of their pushy, lying sales monkeys.

The BT 12 month rolling (think you mean renewable) contract: Do you mean 'phone or BB? I know on 'phone they are supposed to write to you 1 month before it is auto. renewed.