Tesco.net rant

[dogtanian]

Dunno if there are any other tesco.net subscribers around? Tesco were run by NTL so I guess it's all Virgin now?

Anyway.... I always knew that Tesco.net weren't the cheapest around, but I'd been with them from dial-up days, then onto 512k broadband and never had a problem. When you've got a service that works and you read about other people's horror stories with other providers it makes you tempted to stick with your current company even if you are paying a bit too much.

Last year I upgraded to the "Finest" package - pah, what a hoot!

It's sold in large text as "The fastest speed we can provide on your line" and in smaller text on page 2 as "Up to 2Mb speed with FREE upgrades".

So, I blamed myself for not realising that I was only getting 2Mb for £24.97/month. However as my telephone line supports 5Mb I reassured myself that it wouldn't be long until I got a better speed as they promised free upgrades. Nothing has been forthcoming. Several months ago I emailed them to ask when I could expect my speed to be upgraded... and they fobbed me off with some excuse that that information was not available to them.

So as soon as my 12 month contact is up (anytime soon I hope - I've emailed them for the exact date) - I shall be buggering off.

Rant over.


_______________________________________________
http://www.cashbackkings.net

[ruddock08]

if you can get cable, get Virgin Media! I was on Demon.Net, very good company, reliable, no download saping or anything, £20 a month. I moved because I was only getting 2 meg but would highly reccommend them.

[oliver1948uk]

In COMPUTER SHOPPER August 2008 issue 246 Tesco only gets one star in the comparison of broadband suppliers. (Virgin cable gets five stars for M and XL, and four for L)

Virgin Media gets Best ISP award. O2 Premium and Nildram Lite get Best Buy awards.

[dogtanian]

Finally got a response from Tesco.net.

I asked them why they weren't upgrading the service as they weren't competitive anymore, and that I was thinking about leaving. They didn't respond, so I sent the message again.

Their eventual response?

"Here is your MAC code."

ie...if you don't like it.. bugger off.

I've been a customer of theirs since 2003... so much for loyalty getting you a human reasoned response...... nah.. I get fobbed off with a standardised reply and a MAC code I didn't ask for. Well I will be using it!

_______________________________________
http://www.cashbackkings.net

[m419]

No its not NTL its powered by Cable and Wireless.

Tesco
Post Office
Bulldog side of Tiscali
O2 GPRS

Are provided by Cable and Wireless

Demon Internet and I think Sky is provided by Thus plc

[dogtanian]

When I get a returned mail it comes from Postmaster@ispmail.ntl.com>

When I do a speed test at http://speedtest.net/ it tells me my ISP is Virgin Media.

[m419]

Well they must have changed it then,but there homephone is definately Cable and Wireless still.

[keithwalton]

cable & wireless sold there uk operations to ntl many years ago, wiki says it was 2000, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_&_Wireless

[m419]

Originally Posted by keithwalton

cable & wireless sold there uk operations to ntl many years ago, wiki says it was 2000, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_&_Wireless

NTL only acquired Cable and Wireless communiations which were the Cable franchises and residential customer base, NTL then sold off its CPS customer base to Npower for £7 Million in 2001, Tiscali became the new owners of that in 2004.

Cable and Wireless provide infrastructure for Bulldog,Tesco,Post office homephone and Lloyds TSB. Take a look at www.cw.com and take a look at there clients.

This is what was sold off to NTL in 2000:

Videotron Cable franchise covering:

Barnet&Edgware
Harrow
Brent
Ealing
Greenwich
Barking&Dagenham
Lambeth
Westminster
Leyton
Bexley
Malden/Merton and Morden
Wimbledon
Hammersmith&Fulham
Bushey
Bromley
Northern Hampshire
Southampton

Nynex Cable Franchise covering:

Portsmouth
Brighton
Bognor Regis
Bolton
Blackburn with Darwen
Liverpool
Manchester
Nuneaton,Stafford,Tamworth & Burton-on-trent

BellCable Media,Comtel and Cablecomm franchises covering:

Tower Hamlets
Hemel Hempstead
Watford
Hatfield
Norwich
Oxfordshire
Manchester-Small part Cabled by other than nynex.
Colchester-East Coast Cable
Cambridge
Edinburgh
Newcastle

NTL also acquired Diamond Cable which I think was owned by ITV and Channel 4, this means that NTL became the Cable franchise for Nottingham and East Midlands.

Cable and Wireless retained:

Mercury Communications infrastructure
Acquired Guernsey Telecoms 2001
Acquired Bulldog Communications 2004

Cable and Wireless disposals:

Mercury Payphones- Sold to IPM Communications-1995
Mercury Paging-Now called Page One-1997
Mercury One2one 50% stake-1999
Cable and Wireless Communications-2000
Bulldog Communications 2006
1,000+ Small Business customers 2006

Other things that NTL acquired and disposed of:

Telewest Communications 2006
Virgin Mobile Telecoms 2006
NTL Broadcast (Disposed)
Mercury residential 131 and 132 CPS service (Disposed)

Telewest franchises cover:

Camden
Islington
Harringey
Enfield
Hackney
Camberwell
Uxbridge and Hillingdon/Ruislip/Hayes
Hounslow
Slough
Langley
Windsor
South Eastern Kent
Exeter,Bristol,Newton Abbot and Plymouth
Birmingham
Yorkshire-Bradford,Sheffield,Leeds and York
Harlow
Crawley
St Helens
Yeovil
Trowbridge
Livingstone
Northern Glasgow???

SmallWorld Media-Yet to be swallowed up by Virgin covers:

Lancaster
Carisle
Morecombe
Southern Glasgow
Ayrshire

The only thing that Cable and Wireless provides for Virgin Media and T-Mobile customers is Operator services and Emergency services via shortcodes 100,155 and 999.

So hope this gives you an insight to how Cable and Wireless operates and where the Cable franchises are. Cable and Wireless find it more profitable to sell its services to consumers via resellers and use the Tesco and Post Office brand to do so. They also provide Tesco Directory Enquires via 118321.

[colin-bennett]

nice post.

I allways thought they sold the ADSL to pipex but kept the LLU.
Nice to get correct info

[m419]

Yes they did.

Bulldog was acquired by C&W in 2004 it was sold off to Pipex in 2006, however the LLU is stll owned by C&W,in fact i've also heard that Virgin Media shares C&W's LLU network.

Pipex has now been swallowed up by Tiscali.

So thats probably why Tesco customers show up as NTL Internet on speed tests. Simply because they share the LLU network.

The Register reported that not all Bulldog customers made it during the sale, some were left behind with Cable and Wireless simply because they owed hundreds of pounds, they simply got a letter telling them to pay up or get off our LLU network.

Cable and Wireless make complex matters really confusing!

But they still remain one of the largest telecom companies in the world!

[colin-bennett]

Originally Posted by m419

Yes they did.

Bulldog was acquired by C&W in 2004 it was sold off to Pipex in 2006, however the LLU is stll owned by C&W,in fact i've also heard that Virgin Media shares C&W's LLU network.

Pipex has now been swallowed up by Tiscali.

So thats probably why Tesco customers show up as NTL Internet on speed tests. Simply because they share the LLU network.

The Register reported that not all Bulldog customers made it during the sale, some were left behind with Cable and Wireless simply because they owed hundreds of pounds, they simply got a letter telling them to pay up or get off our LLU network.

Cable and Wireless make complex matters really confusing!

But they still remain one of the largest telecom companies in the world!

Many thanks for the info.