Broadband Guide Blog

Complaining to Your ISP

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:07:41 BST

So you’ve spent hours on the telephone and sent more e-mails than you thought was possible, and you still feel that your ISP hasn't dealt with your problems properly? Then your next course of action is to do something very old fashioned - write a letter of complaint.

Companies are legally obliged to respond to all correspondence and if you’ve decided to take the plunge and write one, then you need to do everything you can to make sure you get the resolution you need.

Here are five key tips for making successful complaints:

1. Read your terms and conditions
Before you make any complaint, check the contract you agreed on to see if it mentions the issue you are complaining about, then write your letter in accordance with the points covered there. For example, most ISPs state in their contracts that they won’t refund you for calls to customer service lines. If you have run up a huge telephone bill for a lack of service, make sure that you phrase your letter so that you aren’t explicitly asking for something you can’t contractually have.

2. Get a name
Every ISP has somebody responsible for complaints, so try to make sure you get their name and then address your letter to them. Your complaint will probably not be answered by them, but it will likely be dealt with more quickly by being addressed to them.

3. Get others to write as well
Attaching letters from your local trading standards office, Citizens Advice Bureau, local newspaper, politicians or lawyers will make your ISP realise how serious you are and should lead to your case being dealt with more quickly.

4. Don’t get emotional
We all know how frustrating having trouble with broadband can be, but remember the person answering your letter will likely be a minimum wage employee under pressure to meet response targets. Sending them pages of emotive text, rather than straight talk, is likely to fill them with contempt for you.

5. Be prepared to persevere
Companies have a legal obligation to reply to all correspondence, but that doesn’t mean that they will give you the result you want first time. The more letters you send, however, the more likely you are to succeed.

Network Neutrality

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:23:17 BST

Also frequently referred to as 'Net Neutrality' or simply NN; internet users particularly in the UK could be forgiven for not having heard of this topic.

Net Neutrality is the principle that a network of any kind, though most commonly the network that links you and me with each other known as the internet, should be neutral. This means it doesn't prohibit any kind of site or usage, it doesn't favour one type of communication over another, and it can't be bribed to prioritise Company A's traffic over that of Company B.

That sounds fair, doesn't it? Well there are objections. One user, for example, might use services like Skype quite a lot to make calls and he might want his Internet Service Provider to be able to guarantee him a good service, despite his neighbour who spends all his time downloading music and films. In order to introduce some kind of guarantee, often described as 'Quality of Service' or QoS, his provider would have to prioritise certain internet traffic and not others.
Comcast, an ISP in the States, was recently found to be blocking or severely delaying file transfers using BitTorrent, presumably in an effort to restrict the bandwidth used - unfairly, in the eyes of some.

A commonly-held view by these providers is that in order to justify their large investment in infrastructure such as cable, those individuals and companies who use large amounts of bandwidth - Google, perhaps, ought to pay more for it. Clearly there's a possibility here for companies to collude and help each other out, at the expense of competition and consumer choice. For example, how would it be if a given service provider allowed you fast, privileged internet speeds when surfing a particular shopping website, and snail-like speeds on another? Where would you end up doing your shopping?

The issue of net neutrality has yet to take hold in a big way in the United Kingdom, but certainly in the States it's being discussed in places as political as Congress. In the UK we're lucky to have dozens of available ISPs - in most cases it would be easy for a user to switch if he/she disapproved of the service offered. In the US, however, competition is much more limited, and maybe this is a reason for the unrest.

One thing is for certain though, it's an important issue and if not handled correctly, could affect the very fabric of the internet as we know it. Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the web) truly believes that without protection of net neutrality, the death of the internet could be just around the corner.

UK gets free mobile broadband

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:36:02 BST

That’s not broadband for your mobile by the way, that’s broadband on the move. But then who’s to say this deal won’t mean on your mobile too one day? Vodafone and Sony Ericsson certainly don’t look as though they would this month, as they announce their plans to lower the charges drastically for high-speed broadband on the move in the UK for business.

The Lenovo ThinkPad is a laptop in every sense of the word but from August this year it will have the new 3G technology that will mean broadband could eventually be as cheap as... free! When users purchase one of the new models, they will then be able to access the Vodafone mobile broadband service and receive a 30-day free trial on the internet.

There is no tie-in to the free service, no bank charges and no digits needed. It just requires your name and email and after that, you’re away and surfing for nothing. It’s a notebook for the small/medium business user, who is out and about most of the day and needs to connect to the web on the go. Aside from the internet capabilities, the ThinkPad is a pretty advanced piece of hardware on its own. It’s not the most affordable model on the market but it boasts excellent reviews and is a lightweight and powerful laptop for business and home, on the move.

The carrot of ‘free’ internet is something a few of the ISPs have latched on to but some have come under scrutiny, such as the so-called free deal from Talk Talk and The Carphone Warehouse. Is this another one of the same ideas? We’ll have to wait and see.

Brits want broadband on the beach

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:17:48 BST

A recent survey carried out by T-Mobile and YouGov has revealed that Brits are getting increasingly demanding about where and when they can get access to the internet.

The results of the survey reveal that people are not happy just going online in their homes or at work any more. Instead, one in five people want internet on the beach (as opposed to only 3% last year), 44% want to be online in the garden and some people even want to use it down at their local pub. All of these findings suggest a huge shift in the surfing habits of the nation.

In addition to the new locations where people now want internet connections, the results also reveal a huge rise in the number of people purchasing mobile broadband rather than a fixed-line connection. T-Mobile has already stated that a quarter of its customers are purchasing their mobile broadband package rather than a mobile phone, which represents a huge increase from any previous figures.

According to Richard Warmsley, head of internet and entertainment services at T-Mobile, “mobile broadband has reached a tipping point and is now hitting the mainstream”.

The changes being witnessed in the availability of the internet and our increasing demand to be online in more locations are also having an affect on the attitudes of office workers. With half of workers claiming that they spend less than 30 minutes outside each day, 37% of them said that they should be allowed to work outside now that internet connections are springing up in more locations.

Such changes in attitudes reveal the profound effect that the internet is now having on our lifestyles. And, as broadband becomes even faster and more accessible in the years to come, we are left wondering just how much our lives could change as a result.

Incentives offered for super fast broadband

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:58:19 BST

Ofcom has recently offered financial reassurances to companies such as BT and Virgin Media if they choose to invest in setting up high-speed fibre optic networks across the UK. If the companies carried out the works, it would bring the country much closer to the next generation of super fast broadband speeds.

At the moment, UK broadband runs on a slow copper wire network. However, as our browsing habits change and more music and films are downloaded, the need for faster connections is becoming ever more important. Fibre optics would create faster speeds and increase the capacity for larger downloads.

The problem so far with investing in fibre optic cables is that it is a very expensive process, which neither BT nor any of the other companies in this area has been prepared to carry out. It is estimated that it would cost £15 billion to install a network and the main fear is that the companies will not be able to charge the prices that they would need to in order to recoup their investments.

However, Ofcom has now stated that it wants a “regulatory environment” that “both allows and encourages operators to make risky investments”. In other words, it will not change the rules further down the line to punish the providers financially when the new cables are installed.

The aim is to encourage operators to develop the new infrastructure without having to take big financial risks, and would essentially allow BT to operate the fibre optic cables whilst charging large amounts to users of the lines.

If the new network is constructed, internet users in the UK will finally be able to download at the same speeds as other countries such as Japan and France and UK businesses will become more competitive as a result.

O2 provides the fastest broadband speeds

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:22:52 BST

Recent quarterly broadband speed tests, carried out for the first time by moneysupermarket.com, have revealed disappointing results for most UK broadband users.

Moneysupermarket.com tested 16 ISPs (Internet Service Providers) across the country, and discovered that top of the list was O2. Users of the 8Mbps deal received average speeds of 5.39Mbps, which were the fastest when compared to those stated by the provider. Other ISPs to perform well were Sky, whose customers received average speeds of 3.59Mbps, and TalkTalk, who came in third place with 2.99Mbps.

It was revealed that the least value for money was found in the packages which offered speeds of over 16Mbps, at an average cost of £18.60. These actually provided an average speed of just 7.02Mbps, less than half of what they claimed. The same was true of the packages offering 8Mbps, which only provided an average of 4Mbps.

However, the average across the UK was only 2.97Mbps, which has led to concerns about the speeds being advertised by providers. Rob Barnes, head of broadband and mobiles at moneysupermarket.com, said: “O2 has sped its way to the top of the broadband league”. He also pointed out that the speeds advertised were far from what were really on offer, and claimed that “Ofcom’s code of practice can’t come into force soon enough”.

Ofcom currently has a voluntary code to make sure speeds are adhered to but it has promised to make it compulsory if rules continue to be broken. The code states that ISPs should provide a true estimate of the maximum speeds, and this is currently failing to happen.