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On Wed, 28 Jul 2010, Terry Hill wrote:
I don't because I never allowed myself to be signed-up for a long-term contract in the first place. Actually not quite true - when I got my BT line 8.5 years ago there was very little choice at the time, so I had to put up with a 1-year contract on it, however that's long-gone. I pay them quarterly and I'm on a quarterly contract, which I could get down to a monthly one by migrating the line to another provider. Braodband too - everyone has a choice of over 100 ISPs to choose from, regardless of LLU in their exchange. Some, like BTretail will insist on a 12 month or longer contract, but others (most others) are monthly.Obviously you have the experience, understanding and confidence to pick through the minefield that is choosing an ISP Gordon. Not so for many millions of users in the UK, who do the best they can - and are looking for a bargain as they are making another little monthly hole in the bottom of thier money tanks.
People in-general seem to want everything yet aren't willing to pay for it. That's not my problem it's theirs.
10 minutes of googling and asking about will give you the information you need to know regarding picking an ISP or phone company.
And it always boild down to the old addage: Cheap, Fast, Reliable. Pick two. Because that's all you'll ever get.Most sheeple pick cheap and get one of the others. I chose fast and reliable, but am prepared to pay for it. I didn't have any slow downloads during the world cup or wimbledon. My broadband doesn't slow down at 6pm, it just keeps on going, but I pay 30 quid a month for that. (plus 12 to BT)
From my point of view, I'm mightilly pissed off at the way the marketingdroids get away with misrepresenting broadband and phones - BT have been reported in the past to tell punters that they can only get BT - which might be true in the sense that they only have BT Wholesale to deal with, but it's not the truth in that they only have BT retail to deal with. Others employ high pressure sales droids and the vulnerable and lazy just go with the flow and pick what they think is good - ie. BT.
"Always on, truly unlimited (unless you file share), service may become busy at peak times" (or something similar) and then provide a range of connection speeds for a range of prices. Meter the system, so if you get less than you sign up for you drop down and pay for what you got. Of course, the suits that run the world would never put up with such a straightforward system - not enough profit in it.
And that's the bottom line. Profit and dividends for shareholders... Gordon -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq