Is bt broadband any good, im on dial up now.There are so many saying good and bad. what do you think. swifty?

Question

they are saying after sales service is very poor.

Answer 1

i`ve had it since december with no problems at all. if you go for option 2 and order over the internet you`ll get the hub for free, 6 months cheaper, norton security and 12 hours access every day!

Answer 2

The biggest problem with BT is their customer support. They don't seem to be interested in improving it. I suppose this is because most other ISPs are as bad, or even worse in my experience of changing service (the absolute worst I had was Tiscali but some people think the sun shines through their backsides), so there is no commercial incentive for them to improve.

If you have a problem you call the help line and get one of those wrethched "press button..." things which takes you to down about five levels before you actually speak to someone.

The someone you speak to is almost always in India and works to a script so you cannot actually discuss your problem with them, they only ask a lot of banal questions. Their standard of spoken English is often poor (they can't even pronounce my name properly) but BT won't accept critisism of this language issue because they think you're being 'racist'.

They will then nearly always do a 'line check' which invariably proves that your line is working normally because it's just a basic telephone loop test not a test of full bandwidth.

It is normal to be about half an hour before you actually speak to an internet technician to get your problem sorted out (baseed in the UK). Once you have one of these expert people on the line you must take full advantage of their presence to discuss your fault in detail because these people really do know their stuff.

On the plus side -
Their actual internet service is as reliable as the best of any other ISP and more reliable than many cheaper ones.

I have friends who have been on Telewest/Virgin and have also reported utterly abysmal service and aftercare.

Unless you're on a cable tv circuit then you must use a BT line anyway and there are advantages in having the whole thing run by one company.

Except for their cheapest package BT provide you with full Norton Internet Protection as part of their broadband service.

The BT/Yahoo service works better on broadband.

Their equipment is now amongst the best on the market. The new BT Hub is a splendid device that looks good and works very well. The facility to have a VOIP phone for free (just plug in any spare instrument you have, and follow the instructions, to make it work) is very easy to set up.

They only quote you useable line speeds (honesty in an IP!!) up to 8MB/s.

Having the broadband fee incorporated into the phone bill makes budgeting easier.

They're not likely to cease trading in the forseeable future.

As you're apparently on BT dial-up at the moment you will appreciate the broadband service because all the things on your home page will work better, even if you don't want to download films via the hub.

Answer 3

Broadband is infinitely better than dial up, once you switch you'll wonder why you didn't switch earlier. There are countless broadband providers out there all providing a similar service for similar prices, one is rarely better than another for very long.

I was with BT for a couple of years and never had any problems. I very rarely had any down time (and I've had noticed since I worked from home via the internet) and on the odd occasion when it did go down it didn't stay down for long.

I'd suggest you have a look at those available to you and once you have a short list and people who live in your area what their experiences are. I've recently switched to TalkTalk and got a phone package at the same time. The deal looked great at the time but I am now seeing people offering similar or better packages now.

Answer 4

Broadband , be it BT or any,
of the many other systems there are around,
are definitely the way to go !

quicker, CHEAPER and more efficient, than dial up .

The after sales service, is equally appalling in all of them !

If i get problems ,i call in my IT expert , to sort me out

Help lines !
I have had many, a none productive,
and expensive phone * help line * conversation ,

with persons from India ,or other far flung places !
who are most polite , but lose me,
in the translation department !

and i end up, no wiser, with the fault still there
along with , an expensive phone bill ( i mean expensive!!!)

Find a good IT specialist, to call on, for your emergencies

GO for Broad band !!!!
you will never go back, to dial up again

Good luck

>^,,^<

Answer 5

I've upgraded to BT Total Broadband, I should be able to get up to 6MB download speed but have yet to reach over 2.7MB no matter what time of day it is, the Home Hub also keeps dropping the speeds to as low as .336MB but normally sorts itself with a restart. The online help desk is a load of rubbish as they don't seem to know what they are on about and normally end up giving you an 0845 number to some more people that don't know what they are on about. When entering my post code in the box on the bt total broadband site the result was I could get up to 6MB, when I entered my phone number it said up to 2MB, I changed the hub to a bt voyager 2091 modem and entered my phone number again to check speeds and low and behold it said up 6MB, I have now changed it back to the Hub and it now says up to 6MB, all quite strange as when I phoned bt they said my line would only support up to 2MB. To make matters worse the hub says the download speed is over 7MB. I think the problem lies in the fact that I use peer to peer sites and although bt mention they will cap the speed between the hours of 6pm-9pm, I believe they cap it all the time. For the amount of money it costs I wouldn't bother, I am tied in to a contract for a year at the moment but as soon as it finishing they can shove their broadband where the sun doesn't shine alone with their phone. A friend of mine has just joined Talk Talk and reackons their o.k. and it's far cheaper than bt. You do get antivirus and firewall for free with bt, but it's Norton and I won't install that system hogger on my pc again even if it is free. I suppose if you are not a heavy user on the internet then bt might be o.k. but then again if you're not that big a user then it doesn't matter if your download speed is that fast and therefore there are lots of cheaper options.

Answer 6

First of all anything is better than dialup. As far as service...... talk about any company and there will be people who had a bad experience. Talk to others and they will say they never had a problem.

Here's the thing....... you get it and then if you have issues you call them. If it is not resolved you call some more and move up a few levels until they say "OK we will fix the issue". I have noticed that those who complain the most about cell companies, cable TV, internet, etc. are those who called once (maybe) and said fine..... they are terrible.

So just get what you want. Yes service can be rocky with anything but if it was so bad they would not be in business. I live in the US but spend much of my year in the UK. My local cable internet company double billed me a few times and resolving it took forever and a lot of calls. The phone and TV were supposed to be bundled in as well. But after my calls they just gave me 6 months for free..... equivalent to 400 pounds.

Answer 7

decide for your self. We had BT broadband - and the line went down. I phoned BT and have been given the conventional answering provider that mentioned me on the beginning up of the call that it must be recorded for instruction applications. I defined that mutually as my telephone replaced into working - my broadband replaced into no longer. They did a rapid attempt and advised me it replaced into engaged on the substitute - and it might fee to get an engineer to the domicile. I agreed to pay - and then they asked me what i might do in the event that they did no longer deliver an engineer out. I replied that i might circulate to Blueyonder. BT reaction - nicely I supose you ought to to that. I did and characteristic had no problems with them or Virgin that took them over.

Answer 8

when i first got my laptop i was in rented accom and had bt dial up but know i have secured accom i changed over to bt broadbrand opt3 and also get lots of goodies free that other isp dont give,i can use my pc for making all types of telephone calls and still leave the landline free plus making calls abroad from as little as 1.25p per min anytime,all support is on bt.com web site and several lo call numbers if required,for more info log onto www.bt.com and you have the option there to upgrade on line and q&a .i know there are cheaper isp out there but you get what you pay for and personally i will never never touch virgin i hate the man richard branson that is.he has got so many fingers in different pies that one day he or someone else is getting burnt fingers. and its not mine.truely the choice is yours.

Answer 9

To be fair I've been using BT Broadband for a few years and I never had any problem.

Answer 10

Try Eclipse. Similar price to BT but EXCELLENT service. Recommended by an ubergeek mate of mine when I first went over to broadband and never ever had a problem.

http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=usagemain_res

Answer 11

if you sign up for Bt they will send you the voyager 105 which you can only get 4mb out of but they point of them sending you an old one is so you by a 8mb one so they make even more money out of you i am with Bt and there service is great but don't let the modem thing put you off