Broadband Rip Offs - They Turn Us Off !!!

by Craig Chapman - 09:08 on 15 July 2008

Just what is going on with our internet connections ? Endless comments of intermittent service are made, and yet the media has not got involved yet. 

My ISP is owned by a well known UK mobile telephone company and my service became very hit and miss 5-6 months ago. I have a 24/7 contract for both telephone and internet for a very affordable price. I went through a period of not being able to get online and even the phone lines stopped a couple of times. 

I made several telephone calls to the helpline and refused to be palmed off by someone with a diplomacy degree and an appalling English accent in Jamshedpur or Calcutta. I finally got through to a manager who eventually lost her temper as I wouldn’t stop demanding an honest answer. 

It turns out that they were selecting customers for intermittent services. She simply “turned my connection back on.” I was told that I had used up my quota of downloads for the year (in February !!!). My son may have watched a couple of films online, but nothing more. It all went off again the next week so I followed the same procedure and demanded that they turn me back on – BING!!! – on came the connected light on my router.

Checking my contract, there is no mention of limited service or quotas. 

I now have friends in Yorkshire, using different ISPs, having similar problems during the daytime.  

It is my conclusion that these companies are oversubscribed for the percentage of the network that their customers need or for the number of customers paying them for a service. We all know that existing telephone cables were not designed to handle quite the high-density, multi-media traffic that they are being subjected to, so someone needs to come clean about this. 

i) Are the broadband utility companies shutting home connections off during the day in favour of business use, or perhaps because they do not wish to "buy" more line rental percentages ? 

ii) Are they unable to provide the levels of service that they promise for the prices charged ? 

iii) Is our internet / broadband network simply unable to cope ?

iv) Is this another essential service that our government has failed to ensure the maintenance, growth and capacity of ?

Oh, and whilst we're talking about Indian Call Centres - how do you all get rid of unwanted cold calls - especially at tea time when you've put your food down and rushed to the phone. Try This....

Caller : Am I speaking to Mr Chapman pliz ?

Me : No, Mr Chapman just went out, I'm the burglar. He'll be back in about 15 minutes. Ssssshhhhhh !!

Alternatively, my mother keeps a referee's whistle near the phone !!!

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