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.

In reply to a post by professor973:

But, that is a 24mb service instead of the 16mb I have with Enta

They're all "Up to 24 Meg" services technically. The "16 Meg" is an advertising regulation.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by professor973:

But, that is a 24mb service instead of the 16mb I have with Enta

They're all "Up to 24 Meg" services technically. The "16 Meg" is an advertising regulation.

Well I am now being sold an up to 24mb llu service. Standard bundled ADSL2+ was only ever around double the old 8mb service where I hooked in at 8128.

Well the deed is done and I've signed up for Fibre Large as a £184 combined cashback and voucher was too much to ignore over 18 months(Plusnet retentions apparently aren't interested in matching cashback/vouchers, oh well). Thanks for all the helpful replies.

In reply to a post by professor973:

Well I am now being sold an up to 24mb llu service.

That's cuz your reseller is breaking ASA Regs (many of them seem to do so I notice).

However TT Business themselves are on the right side of the law:

In reference to www.talktalk.co.uk/business/product/simplybb:

17 Mbps Max downstream, 1 Mbps Max upstream

Exactly the same as TT Residential.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Wed 19-Nov-14 00:28:29)

Well it's plain enough on the site. http://www.pulse8broadband.co.uk/broadband-packages I am quite happy with an 'up to' description and know what I should get at my distance from the exchange. Plus the fact, that the reseller has given the silly low 7+mb bt estimate when I have always had 13+mb download, so I certainly don't feel I have been led up the garden path.

Edited by professor973 (Wed 19-Nov-14 01:21:26)

OK, I'll ask ASA to take a look at them.

Feel free, you don't need my permission and it'll be right up your street putting someone to rights. Nothing wrong with 'up to'
Another for you to dob in here sonny. http://www.spitfire.co.uk/ADSL2+.shtml
And here - Go on, have a field day! http://www.xilo.net/adsl_broadband/
Another here http://www.datanet.co.uk/connectivity/24mb_broadband...

Edited by professor973 (Wed 19-Nov-14 01:58:16)

There are many positives to TTB when, and if, the service is working well. When ordering the service from them, my recommendation would be to make copious notes of what you actually ordered and the prices quoted. Keep a diary of events leading up to the point of actually having a satisfactory service and make a hardcopy of every communication received.

Be prepared to receive two routers, for which you will have to pay the P&P for each. TTB make it clear that it might not be possible to import or export your existing telephone number.

When you are finally hooked into TTB, please report back with the answer to your original question.

Personally I think the ASA advertising regulations for "up to" speeds are silly.

Nevertheless if some ISPs abide by the rules and some ignore them, it is confusing for potential customers, since they are led believe that the ISPs abiding by the advertising rules are somehow capping the speeds when in facts they are not.

And if they push for say quartile, majority or 90% what will happen is providers will be much keener to not offer services to those with slower speeds, leaving people stuck with the provider they are with now and maybe no upgrade paths.

Much better for people to understand (i.e. educate) that the advert speed is a generalised maximum and to pay attention to the estimate given out when you sign-up.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Much better for people to understand (i.e. educate) that the advert speed is a generalised maximum and to pay attention to the estimate given out when you sign-up.

Yep. Sadly it seems too late for that now, ASA have put their oar in and are unlikely to take it back out again.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

it is confusing for potential customers, since they are led believe that the ISPs abiding by the advertising rules are somehow capping the speeds when in facts they are not.

As has occurred within this thread.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

it is confusing for potential customers, since they are led believe that the ISPs abiding by the advertising rules are somehow capping the speeds when in facts they are not.

As has occurred within this thread.

But not in my case. many ISPs claim LLU to be faster than bundled and sell 'Up to 24mbps'. I am not only fully aware of what I may or may not get, BUT my new ISP has UNDERSTATED the service I can expect by floating the silly same 7mb now dished out my B.T. along with a decent explanation of speed against distance etc. I cannot see anything wrong with that and feel the powers that be should be jumping on the likes of Enta sellers that cannot even supply what they should, but they will always be those that worry more about nitpicking rules and regs than a decent service

all I can relay is my sad experience ..failed install. 5 wasted days spending hours and hours online and on the phone trying to get someone to sort out the problem without anyone wanting to do anything to help...I was then told that I would have to pay £50 to have an engineer come out to check the original install, i waited another week without any internet only to be told the problem was not in the house but the exchange and that they couldn't fix it as the original installation was marked as completed..!!!!... not bad for a new install as a new tt customer... avoid tt like the plague they will not address any problems apart from the "I feel sure all will be well tomorrow"
I gather you have signed up......best of luck..!!!!!

It must be deja vu.

Sorry to hear about your experience but having been with TT since 2010 I've received a flawless service from them, any requests eg fast path profile, static IP address (cough cough cough) have been actioned promptly by the TT OCEs. Previously I was with niche isp's such as idnet, goscomb, ukonline, netplan and the service has been as good as them.

Edited by deleted (Thu 20-Nov-14 12:09:47)

I've been with TalkTalk since August on their Simply Broadband ADSL2 package. I've always had a solid 16.5MB download speed and able to stream from my smart tv, use my phone and a PC using an Ethernet cable with the much critisied ADSL2 router with no real issues.

At least as bad as they say.
Hands down the worst provider of phone/internet I've ever come across.
Got a problem? Too bad, their "Customer Service" will do everything they possibly can to obfuscate the real issue, just take a look at their forum with the staff desperately trying to pin any problem to the customers line and/or equipment, when in fact 90% of the issues are at the exchanges and they're too cheap to send out engineers.

Avoid like the plague.

Like all providers they can be good or bad i suppose, customer service is awful if things go wrong. I know people say use their forums, but you really not have to. you should be able to phone them up and they should be able to sort it out and know what they are doing. This is a problem with companies out sourcing outside the UK.

My problem with TalkTalk and what have put me right off them is I have seen too many TT connections that is rubbish and not seen enough that is good.
a friend of mine went with Talk Talk Fibre not that long ago and while she did have a small problem, it got sorted and she is happy now with the service and I must admit, it is pretty good.

She have said for me to go with them, but they are tainted and I have seen too many people have too many problems and still continue to.

Was with TalkTalk for many years , my connection was pretty much faultless in that time , would of gone with them for my FTTC connection but i wanted more upload but at the time they didn't offer .

Just be aware that the phone support is shocking , fault resolution times are not great but its reflected in what you pay for the service .

If you know how to deal with TalkTalk support ( forum ) you can get faults fixed without to much drama

Made the switch yesterday and everything is going fine, happy with my speeds, slight hiccup when the HG635 automatically installed new firmware and locked me out - requiring a factory reset - but other than that can't really tell the difference between this and Plusnet. Fingers crossed things stay good.