Looking for new landline provider

Adam · 2006-06-13T07:46:24+00:00

Hi Folks I'm going to be moving house shortly, and it seems like a good opportunity to consider ditching BT. I'm sure there must be plenty of cheaper alternatives. Now, there was a time when I would have thought "Never mind that BT are a bit more expensive, at least they have some notion of customer service." However, given that my recent experiences with BT (and these are my experiences as a business customer, and I expect they treat their home customers even worse) suggest that they have been taking plenty of lessons from the likes of Telewest in how to deliver absolutely crap customer service, I'm not sure I still think customer service is a reason for sticking with BT. I'm also looking for a broadband internet provider, and it would no doubt be easier (although not essential) to have one provider for both. So, what are my options? I could opt for a cable phone from Telewest, or there are now various providers such as Talk Talk or Home Choice who can take over the rental of a BT line so that I will no longer be a customer of BT. The offer from Talk Talk looks good on paper, but I am deeply suspicious of their claim "Free Broadband Forever". That just can't be true (let's ignore for a minute that their "Free" broadband actually costs twenty quid a month), so the main thing it tells me is that they don't mind lying to their customers, which is hardly a good sign. Home Choice seems to require you to take their TV package, which makes it a bit more expensive than some of the alternatives, although probably still cheaper than BT. I don't really want to pay any extra so that I can watch 60 channels of garbage. Does anyone have any good or bad experiences to report from any of these companies, or indeed any others who could sever my links with BT? Or is BT's customer service, dreadful though it is, still better than the alternatives? Many thanks Adam

Jun 13, 2006 24 Replies

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Ivor Jones 20 years ago

I wonder how many calls made on mobiles are actually essential..? When I had a mobile contract I found myself making calls just to use up all the inclusive minutes available. How many calls could wait until a landline was available..? How many calls are necessary at all..? I often see when I am out and about teenagers (nearly always girls..!) phoning one another up when they're almost standing next to one another. *Why* FFS..?!!

Only if they're actually out when making the calls. VoIP could be a viable alternative if most of the calls are made while they are at home, calls between customers of the same provider (and those where there is a peering agreement) are free at all times and even calls to mobiles are often at a better rate than from the mobile itself. On Sipgate I only pay 10p/min to a mobile whereas on Tesco Mobile it's 20p/min and I have no doubt there are cheaper alternatives as well, although I rarely need to call mobiles from home so it's not a problem for me.

Ivor

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Ivor Jones 20 years ago

"Gav" wrote in message news:e6oe5h$1p7$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreaderm2.core.theplanet.net

[snip]

I'd be willing to bet they're right more often than they're wrong..!

Ivor

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tony sayer 20 years ago

Simple.. Cos their wimmen!

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JW 20 years ago

It may be because talking to an inanimate object (a phone) is simpler than conversing face-to-face, when you need to take into account facial and body signals, not to mention vocal variations which transfer less well over a phone line.

Using a phone is less stressful, especially for the young (and others!) whose social and conversational skills are still developing. Texting, of course, creates an even greater psychological distance and so is even easier.

Teenage boys may be less interested in communicating, except with girls.

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Ivor Jones 20 years ago

[snip]

Hmm, maybe for teenage girls..! I prefer face to face communication, if I am at work I will nearly always go to someone's office to speak to them rather than ringing them up.

I never had problems talking to people when I was a teenager. Stopping myself thumping the living daylights out of them when they wound me up was another matter though..! (Hmm, maybe that's why I'm on Usenet so much..!!)

True..!

Ivor

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