I've been with TT for over 2 years (well over the minimum 18 month contract) and last december they went LLU. I understand this means I will have to go back to BT, then find another supplier and pay BT £125 cancellation charge.

The issue is, I don't want to go through all that hassle if a new supplier is just as bad, or worse than, TT. So I would like some advice as to my options. Here are the issues I've been having with TT which make me want to leave:

Speed of connection: I pay for up to 8mb, I rarely get more than 2mb, and I'm about half a mile from the exchange. They said it wuld get faster on LLU - it hasn't.

Bad customer service: If there's a problem, and I call them, I'm on hold for hours and then get cut off when I do finally speak to someone.

The main issue, payment dates: Because TT won't accept any direct debit payment dates other than the 26th (ish), I constantly find my service cut off because I don't get paid until the last working day of the month. This wasn't a problem in my old job but now it means I have to go a week without service, and get charged £3.50, to pay with my credit card each month.

So. I'm looking for a provider which will provide:

A choice of payment dates

A reasonable estimate of speed

Technicians who know how to answer a phone

A download limit of 40GB per month (we're online gamers!)

I would like to move both phone and broadband over. I'm currently paying around £28-£35 per month for both phone and BB, which I admit is a good deal, but if there's a better company out there I'd love to hear about them!

Hi, i had all the same problems with talk talk, they are a bloody nightmare, i went back to BT, I dont understand where you are getting this £125 cancellation charge from? i paid BT nothing when i went back to them and they didnt ask for noyhing either! I done some research and found out they been awarded for best customer services, which is great after spending half your life hanging on a phone to 'india' with 'talk talk' yes they are cheap, but you got to ask yourself, why? cause they pay a pittence to people from 'india' to sort all their problems out, and they cant. I got a good deal for phone and broadband with 'BT' i think the first 6 mths was half price and they threw in their free modem with a phone thingy. And i have been with them 10 mths now and have never been off line yet! so the proofs in the pudding, if a deal looks too good to be true, then it normally is! GOOD LUCK ! JEAN

I'm with TT and just carried on with another 18 months contract.

Must admit they were a pain at first, but dont have any problems now.

You cant beat the cost.

.

ducklings:I dont understand where you are getting this £125 cancellation charge from?

Sorry Jean, I should have clarified: if I go back to BT in order to espace TT, then want to move to a different supplier within a year, I'd have to pay BT a cancellation charge. I really don't want to have BT as my provider; the area I live in has a lousy BT broadband signal, even worse than the one I have now!

TT are the worst provider hands down! they lure you in with free broadband which is anything but... i was with talk talk for over a year because i couldnt get out of contract. They over charged me £20 per month for two non existant bundled mobiles on top of my broadband.

At the start the connection was fine but after a month i found it slowed down so badly and dropped out alot. i subsequently found from a friendly TT engineer that policy is to have you on a low contention line for the first few weeks which gives a higher speed, then switch you on to a much slower and higher contention and congested line. This is typical of the underhand dealing of TT! its all covered in their terms and conditions which basically says they can do what they like with your service.

After many calls to their atrocious support in India i was getting no further. going round in circles back and forward to the same operator and department as no one could help me. One call lasted over 2 hours and i was bounced to back round to the same department 3 times! TT also changed the service in that they started banning P2P connections with no warning. I like to game and Warcraft uses P2P in the game so this was impossible. 4 months later and i was still being charged £20 on top of my premium for a slow and intermittent service. I actually had an outage that lasted 4 days! I spent more than £50 per month on calls to their rubbish support as well.

All in all it was an expensive mistake and a terribly frustrating time for me , i lost thousands of pounds in business. I cancelled my direct debit as they were still billing me for mobile phones that i didnt have and rubbish broadband. I refused to pay the fees they were asking as they actually owed me more money. They lodged a default against me and now i cant get credit, which i am taking to court! but it still worth it.

i only have one bit of advice: AVOID the Talktalk, like the plague!

As I posted before, I have had no problems and just received a monthly bill for £18 (£5 off?)

Not bad as being now retired I am on the PC quite alot. Also I must add that their call centre is in South Africa not India. I had a long pleasent chat with one of the operators when I had a problem at the begining.

All in all I am well pleased.

.

I feel TT as the worst provider across the nation... in my opinion, I would suggest you to change your provider back to BT..

and without leaving BT (to avoid paying cancellation charges of 125£) you can choose a ISP from a huge list rather than relying on TT.....

I would suggest you to take O2 Broadband (if you are O2 customer, services start from free for 2Mbps to 10 pounds for 16Mbps), with whom Iam getting around 5.5 Mbps on average

or you can opt for Sky broadband (free, if you are a sky customer, where you can get 2Mbps and for 8Mbps, I think u have to pay 5£/month) but with whom your upload speeds are capped....

both the above are possible only if you are with BT.... but leaving TT, implies, you loose many free calls, which you dont get with BT (for free ;)

this may sound a little silly but have you tried calling into your local carphone warehouse and asking to speak to the broadband specialist? that after all is what they are there for. they can advise you of the best way to move from talktalk or even ways to better the connection you already have..

if your local store doesnt have a specialist any sales consultant should be able to help... just remember the nicer you are to them the nicer they will be to you. dont go in after spending 3 hours on hold to the call canter...

Been away from these columns for a while , but ..

MY ARGUMENT STILL applies...

WHY OH WHY OH WHY...... does eveyone expect the cheap option to work??

It's ALWAYS cheap for a reason.

My advice, (as an ISP offering also a broadband service) is:

GET your line rental BACK to BT.

THEN ....

you can choose any number of GOOD local broadband suppliers / isp's who will give you GOOD service and techncial backup from a LOCAL phone number with specialist technical advice - AND let you pay how you want to !! (D/debit problems etc..).

and ... if EVER there is a problem with your phone line that affects broadband - THEN BECUASE you are a BT customer , paying THEM to maintain the line - YOU have control !! .. simple.

and .. NO...... IT WON'T be cheap. You ALWAYS get what you pay for !!!.

I have to say: "I'm heartily Sick of reading about everyone wanting 10's of GB of bandwidth every month - wanting high speeds, and instant fixes, all for £very low / month".

.... Have any of you guys out there ANY idea how much REAL bandwidth costs ????

In closing .. Go BACK to BT, GOTO any reasonable local Broadband provider, pay a reasonable price for broadband, and then all will be fine !!!

Regards

Eric-isp

Eric - My main issue with TT was the fact that I was getting charged an extra £3.50 because their 'system' didn't allow flexible payment dates for direct debits or standing orders - contrary to every other company I've ever dealt with. The service itself is ok, espite the lower than advertised speeds and impossible to navigate 'help'desks. I have had a suggestion made to me since I last posted this, which is to pay double in one month and then i'll always be ahead - it won't solve the payment date issue but it will stop me being disconnected every three weeks.

After reading about other issues people have had with other providers, and going from LLU to ADSL, I've decided I will be remaining with TT at least for the next 18 months - better the devil you know and all that!