Tiscali migration diary

[mr.ped]

Compared to some people i have read I don't have any particular problem with tiscali the product (little bit slow for the money perhaps 1MB for £15?) but i have read so many people who have been mistreated by their bullish tactics that i'm getting out now before i suffer, this will be a record of what has happened hopefully to be useful to others who may follow later.

Friday (22nd) I wanted to just confirm the disconnection procedure from Tiscali and phoned the department, where i was informed of the MAC procedure (which i had already researched on here)

I had been a little confused on whether Tiscali were suppliing MACS or not, as I DID find them on the Ofcom list as subscribing to the voluntary code, even though others said they weren't and also the "datastream/ipstream thing with associated downtmie is a bit confusing - does it still apply?)

I had no intention of requesting a MAC right then but the chap on the phone convinced me to opt for a free 2Meg upgrade.

"Any change to your line speed will take place automatically within 96hrs."

Having checked my bill i find it had increased almost immediately (by only £1 and still less than the current £17.99 for 2mb which is nice) and the upgrade has yet to take effect - still on 1MB according to ADSLguide test. (26th +120hrs)

Following the reply from Tiscali to my complaint regarding the bill increase (i was told it would take 7!!! days to reply - but it was actually 2 working days which was ok) they said that their records show that i was informed of the price increase, i should have recorded the call.

"Having checked the notes on your account from the cancellation department it shows that they offered you 2Mb broadband at #15.99 which you agreed to."

Overall I am OK with Tiscali but something doesnt smell right (!) so last night i decided to get a MAC - I was told to wait 1 day, perhaps up to 5 but it came through within an hour. The format of the MAC is "BBD..." and i am yet to hear back from Eclipse to see if this is going to be a problem.

The Tiscali support lady (English) said that i shouldnt expect more than 1/2 hour of disconnection which i believe after it has all happened!

It just seems that Tiscali is suffering from their massive growth rate (1M ADSL subscribers? - good luck) so time to move on I will upadate this thread as details arise as i found this site to be excellent for fresh news

As for the Tiscali support people that use this forum, I think you should be cloned and used to staff all of Tiscali as you seem to have a refreshing attitude of "of course we can help" and appear to be doing a great job from here!

Does anyone have any experience of migrating from Tiscali with a "BBD" format MAC?

Anyone know someone at Eclipse already? apparently i can quote someone as referring me and they can get £30, shame to let it go to waste PM if you are interested

[mr.ped]

OK got a reply from Eclipse, the format of the MAC shows i am on datastream so I will have to disconnect before i can move to another provider.

Anyone have recent experience of this and the expected delays?

I don't know if i can be without for 15 days as i use it for work, guess that means i have to stick with Tiscali until some other alternative migration method occurs or BT get their engineers in order and speed this up!

[Zer02004]

Many providers now offer seemless migration from a DataStream product to an IPStream product. Try contacting a few alternatives to see what they say.

[mr.ped]

After a quick google for isp migrate from datastream i find freedom2surf.

Seems they can do a seamless (we shall see) migration from tiscali on DATAstream to f2s on IPstream and with only 6 month contract.

Speeds are far quicker that Tiscali for the same money but its not unlimeted, but knowing my internet usage this isnt a problem.

They answered my pre-sales email after just over 1 day with an auto-response copied from their FAQ, although i asked specific questions which wasnt so good. But a phone call (on hold for about 4-5 minutes) had those questions answered satisfactorily. Shows room for improvement on the customer service side but nothing i am too concerned about.

Just about to complete the web form to authorise the migration now.

[mr.ped]

Just signed up with F2S bye bye Tiscali *waves*....

[Zer02004]

Good luck Mr Ped. F2S aren't bad for the average punter, the one big drawback being that they're part of the Pipex group and it's inconceivable that they can hold on to their "independent" way of doing things for much longer.
The way Pipex are at the moment................ Well, they're starting to make Tiscali look good.

[mr.ped]

On Thursday night following the succesful migration, the speed was sub 10kbps!

Phoned F2S support and spent 40+ minutes on hold then got cut off at 7pm.

Phoned from work the next day (10 minutes on hold) and was told to wait 72hrs to see how the line settled down - this BT line test thing :S

Now its Saturday morning and speeds are ~200kbps... getting better

[Zer02004]

If you're now connected via IPStream, you can use the BTw SpeedTester which bypasses your ISPs network. This tests whether the problem lies with the PC/Modem/Line/Exchange or with your ISPs network.
To use this you need to change your usual ISP login details to:
Username - speedtest@speedtest_domain
Password - anything
Once connected, navigate to http://www.speedtester.bt.com
Enter your telephone number and run the test.

[mr.ped]

Thankyou,

Towards the day ~8 of the migration the frequency of the drop outs reduced and the speeds increased.

At day 10 the connection was stable and speed was about 4Mb

Not expecting it to be much better with this line.

Thanks for the help

mr.ped

still having problems with tiscali after 4 hours on the phone asking for a mac code still wont give us one stuck with them till they will give us code rang monday they said ring back friday still wont give it to us can anyone help us tiscali talk to everyone like c--p

[Jim.C]

Why did they ask you to phone back Friday? Send them an email saying that as of 14th February all ISP's must issue MAC codes on request. See here for info if you have a problem. You might also want to copy and paste the content of the page in your formal complaint email to Tiscali.