[Gllug] VirginMedia or Urban Wi-Max experiences

[Christopher Hunter]

On Thu, 2009-03-05 at 15:27 +0000, David Damerell wrote:

> However, the end of the 12-month contract is in sight, and obviously I
> want to ditch them. Any advice on how best to transition to an ADSL
> provider without interruptions?

What I did was to :

1.	Get BT to reinstall their phone line (well in advance of the end of
the VM contract) - BT had a "free" installation offer at the time (you
were billed £120 for the installation, but there was a £120 credit added
to your first bill - I think it was a "turnover" generating idea!).

2.	Demanded that VM stop sending my browsing data to Phorm, and when
they refused (or were unable to) I had suitable grounds to end the
contract without penalty.  

You have to point this out by letter to their MD's office, otherwise
their accounts department will try to abuse your bank account!  You can
also point out that the vast majority of their network isn't actually
"fibre-optic" as advertised, and that the Advertising Standards Council
are taking a particularly dim view of this!

3.	Ordered a 'net connection from Be - it takes (roughly) two weeks

4.	Ran both 'net connections in parallel for a couple of days (I
couldn't really avoid the overlap and guarantee continuous connection)

5.	Set up a couple of domains with Fasthosts

6. 	Configured email.

7.	Sent appropriately rude letters to VM telling them that they're not
getting any more of my money and demand a refund for their awfully
intermittent connections over the last couple of years.  Cancel the
Direct Debit to make sure they can't misappropriate your money!

The only slightly tricky bit is guaranteeing that service is continuous
without too much of an overlap!

Chris



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