[SWLUG] Switching to a BT line. Effects?

[Philip Downer]

Neil Jones wrote:
> It is pot luck as to what kind of person you get on the other end but
> this one appeared to be working for them as a result of failing the
> exams required to be a road sweeper. :-)
>   

The last person I spoke to on the Virgin helpline was a nice lady in 
India, surprisingly she was actually more helpful than the person I'd 
spoken to in the uk a few days earlier. It seems that Virgin contract 
out their nighttime support calls to India as that was around 2am, the 
rest of the time I've had someone in the UK.

> However that would mean installing a BT line for the internet.
>   

Whilst Andrews and Arnold may be competent BT are not, do not expect any 
reasonable level of service from them, remember that a&a are reselling a 
BT service and so any complaints to a&a about connectivity will need to 
be taken up with BT. I resell DSL through my own company and BT are a 
nightmare to deal with, even though I'm dealing with them through an 
intermediary but I hear lots of customer issues.

> Are there any consequences as regards speed and reliability that I
> should be concerned about?
>   

Depends on how far you are from your exchange and remember it's always 
an 'up to Xmbps' so you could pay out for 8mbps but only be able to get 
512kbps on your line and with BT if your line speed doesn't drop below 
120kbps (I think thats right) they won't view it as a problem. Look at 
samknows.com and check out your exchange, if your exchange is LLU then 
it might be better to go directly with an LLU provider that is in your 
exchange rather than A&A but theres no guarantee that provider will 
understand the internet.

Basically if you aren't all that close to an exchange stick with Virgin.

Phil