The Wholesale Forums

[TOF_Leo]

Hi,

I'm looking for an alternative ISP to AOL, but I'm on a contract with
them, so I could do with some advise on my options. (that's if I have
any)

I've been a customer with AOL for 9 years now, and at the moment
I pay £24.99 per month for 2mbps broadband ( I actually receive
about 1.8mbps) This package includes evening and weekend calls
on my landline so at the time when I agreed to take it on for another
18 months I thought it was a decent package.

The thing is, AOL are now offering the same package to new customers
at only £14.99, which is £10 a month cheaper than for old established
cutomers like myself. When I queried this with them, they said that
because I was already on the higher price band I would have to pay it,
....only new customers were entitled to the new price !

I would have thought that they would give old established customers
the same deal but they're not having any of it, and if I want to change
ISP's then I'll have pay what's left on the agreement which is £425 !

What I want to know is the following :-

1. How bounding is the contract ? When you agree the 12 or 18 month
term you only click to say yes, you don't actually sign with a proper
signature so how legally binding is it ?

2. The monthly payments are taken from my credit card. Can I just
cancel my credit card with the bank so no more payments could be
taken out ? What would happen ?

I rang Tiscali but they can only supply 1mbps, and they won't play
ball until I can give them a MAC number which AOL won't give me.

At the moment I'm absolutely fed up with AOL but they've got me
trapped into paying this higher monthly charge for a service that
I don't want !

Can anyone please advise ?

Leo

[Big Phil]

1. Its binding. You'll have agreed to it somewhere. When I worked at what was NTL, we had vast numbers disputing they were in a contract as they hadn't signed anything, but they were caught out by not reading the T&C's on their CD when installing broadband. Sneaky!

2. You'd be in arrears, AOL would continue to bill you, and if you didn't pay, your account would likely be passed on to a debt collection agency. Not recommended.

How are you in a contract after so long with them? Have you only just had broadband installed within the last year or so? I was of the impression that most (if not all) ISP's only applied their annual contract for the first year and after that, you're free to take your business elsewhere with 30 days notice.

Chances are if you speak to their retention department, you'll eventually be given the same offer new customers get.

[Poppy]

DON'T CHANGE TO TISCALI. Their customer service is second to none in its awfulness.

I am with Nildram. UK call centres and I have the most consistently fast broadband that I've come across in this rural area.

[TOF_Leo]

Thanks for the replies Poppy & Phil.

Poppy,

I've never heard of Nidram before, I shall have a look but
if my contract is so binding I've another 17 months left on
my contract.

The broadband I'm on is promoted by AOL as up 8mbps, but
in reality I can only get about 1.8mbps

Phil,

I took out a new contract because of the new package they
were offering. Up until then I could have cancelled by giving
one months notice. I was misled by the new offer because
I was promised the 'up to 8mbps' broadband and free evening
and weekend calls on my landline. The problem is that I hardly
ever use my landline, and I can only get about 1.8 mbps
broadband speed, so the new package is not much better than
I had before !

I have tried to get the same rate as the new customers. I've
emailed and phoned them up but it's got me know where. I
finished up having a huge row with them on the telephone !

I said I would be happy if they gave me the same package
but they won't budge !

Thanks for your replies

Leo

[Martin]

Originally posted by Leo@Oct 11 2007, 12:28 PM
The broadband I'm on is promoted by AOL as up 8mbps, but
in reality I can only get about 1.8mbps

You are confusing "milli" with "Mega". It should be "up to 8 Mega bits per second (Mbps).
I also pay for "up to 8Mbps". I get between 1.2 and 1.95 MBps. No matter who you sign up with, the speed is limited by the quality of line between you and the exchange and by the quality of connections inside your home - including the quality/quantity of microfilters and the influence of other equipment connected to them.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

but it's got me know where.[/b]

I know where!

For the record, I use Internet Central for my broadband.

[TOF_Leo]

Sorry, my m's should have been M's

Have been back onto AOL again and had a word with someone
else who said they would look into it.

[Big Phil]

IIRC, any ISP offering "up to" 8mbps can get away with giving you a 256 or 512kb service. I forget which. This is one of the reasons why ADSL sucks, unless you live next to or inside a telephone exchange.

For all their faults, I'd much rather stuck with cable from Virgin Media than return to BT or another ADSL provider until things improve on my exchange.

[TOF_Leo]

Thanks for all the feedback.

After numerous phone calls to AOL, they've agreed to bring my monthly
rental down to £17.99, which is a saving of £7 ! It's a good result,
but I shouldn't have had to fight to get the price down to the same as
all the new members.

I did think they'd lowered my broadband speed, but they say they
haven't. Up until a few days ago my speed was about 1.8 Mbps,
but now it's down to around 1.1 Mbps, and it's staying constant.

All they said I should contact BT but they'll probably blame AOL.

Is likely to be BT, AOL, or both that's at fault ? Any ideas how I
can get my speed back ?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Leo

[Martin]

Originally posted by Leo@Oct 25 2007, 08:27 AM
Is likely to be BT, AOL, or both that's at fault ? Any ideas how I
can get my speed back ?**

Leo

Originally posted by Martin@Oct 11 2007, 12:57 PM
No matter who you sign up with, the speed is limited by the quality of line between you and the exchange and by the quality of connections inside your home - including the quality/quantity of microfilters and the influence of other equipment connected to them.

Geddit?

You need to check your internal wiring and filters then, if you can't improve it, get BT to check the line.

[TOF_Leo]

There was an actual fault with my modem which was sorted out
by our local computer company. They also ran various tests and
ran my pc through various repair programs which has helped to
put my speed back to normal.

I'm not a technical person when it come to computers so I'm
sorry if you think my question was dumb !