Talk Talk - As bad as they say?

So I'm looking at the Talk Talk fibre packages (in my case Fibre Large and the low end Business Simply product) and checking the reviews online. Talk Talk seems to be a love it or hate it company - but what is the truth for the average customer? Plusnet also gets a lot of bad reviews but I've always found them fine which suggests bad reviews are simply a self-selecting sample.

Are there any satisfied customers in this forum? Sell me Talk Talk.

Are they as bad as people say? In a word, no!

It's only if things go bad for the vocal minority of customers, that it can seem talktalk are terrible. I've been with them 5 years or so now, never had to use support and don't care if the support side isn't home grown like other smaller expensive ISPS. the service just works so I've never needed to call about anything major.

Their is a support forum you can go to also, that's less hassle than calling if you have a problem and can access the internet by other means. I'm getting fibre activated tomorrow myself, hope things go smoothly...

Edited by Fenris (Tue 18-Nov-14 20:17:22)

Registering and making sure you can access the support forum ahead of the time you need it is a good thing to do.

Online is pain to do when a connection has broken, but pop round to neighbours and borrow there connection for reporting issues, or just use some data from mobile.

Have you thought about a Talktalk reseller. I have started a switch to one that does TT business and no contract, bypassing the TT customer service.

Been with TalkTalk (both residential & business) since 2010 and very happy with actual service. Granted, their residential phone support isn't the best but their UK based forum OCEs are very good at resolving issues. Their business support on the other hand is the dogs you-know-what...based in warrington they're very knowledgeable and good as the likes of Zen, Goscomb, IDNet etc.

Talktalk recently released a Talk2Go iphone/Android app which lets you use your landline calling plan on your mobile (using wifi or mobile data) so very useful if you're abroad

Do you know if the TalkTalk Business broadband engineer call out charges are the same as residential(50+VAT IIRC), or is it more expensive?

Still can't decide whether I prefer the residential or the business package. Residential is 18 months and will save me £10/month on my current broadband/line rental - business is 24 months and will cost me £6 extra(though I like the idea of UK support and static IPs).

I assume you're talking about Pulse8? They seem to be a bit expensive for my usage levels, are there any other resellers you'd recommend?

In reply to a post by Spud2003:

Do you know if the TalkTalk Business broadband engineer call out charges are the same as residential(50+VAT IIRC), or is it more expensive?

Still can't decide whether I prefer the residential or the business package. Residential is 18 months and will save me £10/month on my current broadband/line rental - business is 24 months and will cost me £6 extra(though I like the idea of UK support and static IPs).

No idea about TTB call out charges, i suggest you give their technical support team a call on 0800-083-3003 to clarify.

If you don't require Talktalk TV and cost isn't an issue then i'd strongly recommend going for their Business offering due to the far superior phone support. On the downside you're tied into a 24 month contract (though they do allow you free house moves) and their prices are fixed, ie they don't give huge discounts come renewal time. But you won't have any problems on TT residential either

Well I am giving them a try as fed up with poor Enta service. They are cheaper than I can get elsewhere on my Market 1 exchange with line rental at £6 if you take broadband. Just taking resold TT business LLU initially as fibre switch on date is end of December. But, that is a 24mb service instead of the 16mb I have with Enta, which coupled with the cheapest Zen line rental for the last two years is £10 per month more that what I will be paying Pulse for unlimited and no contract. If I switch to fibre in a few weeks, it will still be slightly cheaper than the Zen/Freeola ADSL2+ combination I have had for the last two and a half years. Lots of ads for cheap BB from the likes of Plusnet, but as expensive as BT proper on market 1 and where are contract free fibre deals. I realise the 100gb fibre service may not be enough for you, but would be OK for me.

If you are not actually a business, dealing with Talktalk direct can result in you being turfed off onto residential without warning. They have done this to some.