After BT raised the cost of 24/7 it seemed silly not to change to broadband
so I tried to apply for a Tiscalli 1Mb broadband & free weekend and evening
call package as I know quite a few people already who'd recommended it. When
I rang them first their sales assistant told me he couldn't proceed with the
order as there was a block on the line, and I had to ring BT and get them to
remove it. I've never had broadband before so he suggested that BT had
dishonestly put it there to make life awkward to customers wanting to
anything else but BT. I rang BT and after waiting 3/4 of an hour to talk to
the right person they told me that there was a block, but I had to ask
Tiscalli to take ownership of the problem.

I rang Tiscalli back and the new sales assistant said she'd look into it.
She came back, apologised and said that the previous occupant to my flat had
had Tiscalli broadband so when they moved out a block was put on the line to
"protect" them, and I could choose any broadband provider except Tiscalli.

I was quite surprised to hear this, and it begged me to ask the obvious,
what happens if I choose provider "A" then move out, would the next resident
be able to choose anybody except provider "A" and Tiscalli? Yes, she said,
that would be the case. Okay, so I if I move into a property and the person
moving out is with "A", would I have to change? Probably she said. Wouldn't
you run out of properties and providers after a few years?

Anybody able to confirm or deny this, or give a more detailed explanation?

James

James Head wrote:

Tiscali are fairly useless at anything that isn't simple, straighforward and
do-able by clowns. Did you manage to avoid the Indian call centre btw ?

You had a close shave. Now find a decent ISP.

Graham

Hi

Tiscali should have been able to contact the Tags on the Line team at BT
Wholesale to get this sorted for you.

It's quite common for a marker to be left on a line when someone moves
out of a property, however this does not mean you would never be able to
use Tiscali again, it just means the marker needs to be removed before a
new order is placed.


--
|Mand Beckett Broadband Solutions for
|Comms Home & Business @
|PlusNet PLC www.plus.net
+ ----- PlusNet - The smarter way to broadband ------

If they put a block on the line and are reluctant to offer service you may
assume that the previous occupant of the premises had some sot of dispute
with Tiscali .
They will be reluctant to offer service as they do not know you and for all
they know you are associated with the previous occupant.

Another provider will not know the history.

Alec


"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4643A93F.121156A0@hotmail.com...

Thanks for the replies.

The problem may have been fixed now by Tiscalli though I have to wait and
find out on Monday after the system as reset itself. I rang up and queried
it with them again and the sales girl said the account may not have been
cancelled properly so I spoke to their cancellation department. After a few
questions the operator asked if I could confirm that my address was 203
Manor Road. Well, no I said, and gave him my completely different address.
Apparently they still have an active customer at 203 Manor Road, and that
address used to have my telephone number but this was changed and then BT
re-issued the telephone number to me - but it still appeared on Tiscalli's
system as an active ADSL line. He thinks he's fixed the problem so I'll
see. None of the previous sales assistants had asked me for my address so I
suspect they all thought I was Manor Road.

The reason for trying Tiscalli was that I was attracted by the price for
1Mb, the free weekend calls, and the fact they'd waive the annual contract
if I moved to an address they couldn't support which is important to me as I
rent (hence the reason I can can't change the line rental over). I'm a
pretty light user, only interested in websurfing and e-mail and the
occasional download however BT have now raised the price of the 24/7
surftime dialup service to £15.99 a month which makes it silly not to get
broadband really.

A friend recommend newnet to me, and though they look good they said they'd
not waive the annual contract if they couldn't support a new address, and
I'd also have to pay a hefty charge for changing to a new address, plus an
initial setup fee.