What one needs with BT is the phone number of the Chairman's secretary.

Other than that, getting them to do stuff is, in my experience, (and we are all talking about our experiences here, aren't we??) marginally less difficult than dealing with Apple.

But I've never had the phone number of their Chairman's secretary.

Its not always the golden token you make it out to be, especially if you're dealing with Wholesale and Openreach problems rather than Retail.... and by the way, its not the Chairmans office you're talking to, its the HLC Team (high-level complaints team), i.e. specialist call centre.

Getting back to the title of the thread, I see nothing here to alter any semblance of TalkTalk's reputation aside from the one quote saying they were lightyears better than BT (which is tantamount to defamation...or 'famation' if there is such a word?)

Companies like this are what bargepoles were invented for.

Well said, Mike. My email is STILL down. TT announced a resolution last evening at 1900. Not for me it wasn't. I have tried everything. Setup emails again but nothing. Its all very well them saying its over but how can it be. Loadsa complaints on Google and I have started to change to Gmail - not sure yet if it is out of the frying pan into the fire but who the hell can you trust to give you a service. Come Thursday it will be 7 days without an email facility. You could drive a train through TT and they wouldn't know it No good asking Openreach they can't reach far enough.


I started a change to Outlook but the complications were a nightmare. Gmail don't help with GOOD instructions but I like puzzles! NOT.


Oh well, tomorrow is another day. And I might just start sending TT some invoices for my time!

I don't like Google's user interface, but it is reliable and stable. I have a Google account which I use for stuff which is less important and I don't recall it ever being unavailable.

About a year ago, I moved onto a new house for which a postcode had not yet been allocated. I had been a TalkTalk customer for seven years. I rang them and explained what was happening. Their Indian call centre could not understand the concept of not having a postcode, so it was a difficult conversation, but they agreed they could sort things out. Long story short, they didn't. I could get no sense out of their so-called customer support team (they did not answer my recorded delivery letters), so I contacted the Ombudsman. They eventually agreed a resolution and advised me. Three months later and I've heard nothing from anyone, so I contacted my MP. Again, long story short, TalkTalk had sent the cheque to the wrong address and it had been sent back, but they didn't bother contacting the Ombudsman, but all this only came to light after the MP intervened. The whole situation took nine months to resolve. :ugh:

PPRuNe Pop: I invoiced them for the money I spent ringing their 0800 numbers from my mobile phone and they paid up - eventually! It might be worth calling the Ombudsman.

Well, what I was saying is that if you were locked in a room and forced to choose between a contract with TalkTalk or BT in order to secure your release, I would choose TalkTalk any day of the week !

Wise words from the Bhudda of Bracknell ! :E

(a) Avoid all incumbent operators (BT, Vodafone etc.)
(b) Avoid all large operators (TalkTalk etc.)

Go for the mid-sized ones, like Easynet, Zen etc.

About ten years ago I signed up to Pipex broadband, and I was automatically changed to TalkTalk after the take-over about three years ago. I hope I don't regret saying that during all this time problems have been very few and far between. I do sometimes consider an alternative ISP, especially after reading threads like this one, but it's difficult to justify when the internet just works! Since FTTC recently became available in our area, I've also considered upgrading to fibre, either with TT or another ISP, but it's difficult to accept the increased cost (which I could comfortably afford) when the existing ADSL speeds are still more than adequate for our modest needs. Another prompt was a recent notification from TT that my monthly payment is about to increase from about £15 to £20 per month, and I winced at a 33% increase. However, it is still some £3 a month less than when I first started with Pipex about a decade ago. My package was, and still is, totally unlimited.

Another drawback to changing ISP is that the majority seem to insist that you also change your landline to them. I don't wish to do this because I'm quite satisfied with my exisiting BT telephone package. Sorry if all this goes against the flow, but I can only report as I find.

I do hope that PPRuNe Pop's problems are sorted soon, and just for comparison my TT emails have not so far been affected.

One thing BT has going for it is its free openzones. Doesn't matter where I go in the UK I can always find one in most streets.

Yeah, its all funded by the mugs who sign up for BT Broadband !

When you sign up for BT Broadband, what they don't tell you is your router and the bandwidth you're paying for will be used to provide Openzone services to the public in your vicinity !

Oh yes they do and they provide instructions on how to disable the functionality on your home hub. It's simple to do, even without instructions.

Oh dear! I can always find a dog !!!! in the street, doesn't mean I'd chose to use it though.

Cut it anyway you like, a lot of people think BT's product and after sales support is third world, which by coincidence is where their customer service is based! I've had nothing but bother with BT since I joined them and can't wait for my contract to come to the end of it's time. Not sure where I'm going but am sure that BT can go and :mad: themselves as far as I'm concerned.

To all happy BT customers, beware the ides of March, your time will surely come:(

It's 'free' for anybody else who joins Fon.
Buy a Fonera Router for a £25 once only fee and plug it into, say, your TalkTalk Router and you've got exactly the same Openzone access plus similar access in Europe and elsewhere.You can also set the Router so you only share as little as 512kb of your bandwidth

You could always just get an Amex card and get free Boingo wireless on that instead.... then you don't need to open up your router to freeloaders.

Mixture, are you aware that judging by your posts here on anything to do with the internet or computers, you seem to be forever angry?

I use BT and the requirement to allow other users to access your router was/is clearly explained if you decide take the option to partake in the facility yourself.

huh ?

I simply don't see why I should be allowing a whole bunch of people I don't know to use a broadband connection I'm paying for ... hence the reference to freeloaders.

Sometimes seems to me that mixture would complain that his KitKat was covered in chocolate.

It's an optional and mutually beneficial service. You don't have to partake if you're not willing for your own reasons.

But they are not freeloaders, as you so charmingly put it - they too are paying for BT services to get access, so it is actually a reciprocal arrangement which can benefit both parties.

However, as I think you have me on ignore, you probably won't see this :)

Free Boingo for Amex Platinum but the annual card fee is £450