Experiences with TalkTalk Phone Line Rental/Broadband?

before i switch my line rental, local calls, international calls, broadband to talktalk wanted to get insights from you guys... have you tried them?  did you like them?  heard bad things about them?  it seems like a good deal for me. £322 for the year (monthly ee, wireless router, set-up fee)

before i switch my line rental, local calls, international calls, broadband to talktalk wanted to get insights from you guys... have you tried them?  did you like them?  heard bad things about them?  it seems like a good deal for me. £322 for the year (monthly ee, wireless router, set-up fee)

I was watching Watchdog earlier I think it was sometime in late Feb or early March WatchDog took a poll of the best broadband users & TalkTalk got a bad rating on a few things. who knows maybe they have improved by now so they might have better service. here is the link if you wanted to find out for yourself.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20070321.shtml

We have TalkTalk for our phone package only and love it. I think they had trouble with their broadband (as Shugga says) but I'm not sure how they are rating now.

Hi meggles,

Have a look at this site - it's one of the best in the UK for this ...

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/

look over in the forums section, and there's a forum called ISP Unhappiness, all the ISP's are listed and from all the posts you can get a good idea of the kinds of problems associated with each one.

There's also a 'good ISPs' or 'recommended ISP's section too -

The problem with the 'Free Broadband' offers is that they were oversubscribed and deluged with interest and they couldnt 'keep up' with demand. Things have gotten better but they (talktalk, the orange offer and others etc) are still semi strugglin with demand.

Look 'very' carefully at the small print, the will be caps and limitations - if you're usage falls within them, no problem, but if not, it's best to go for a 'proper' paid for service.

Personally, I prefer 'best of breed' - the best/most suitable ISP service, the best/most suitable phone provider, best/most suitable tv package etc. Sure overall it costs a bit more and I get 3 bills - but it means I can switch any one of them when a better deal comes around! currently I'm investigating 'Be Broadband' as they provide unlimited up to 24 MB internet for £24.99/month which is £3 less I'm paying now for only 2MB/month.

Overall, check carefully all the terms and conditions and clasues and offers within the package before signing up...

hope this helps!!
Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

TalkTalk was a nightmare for us.  My husband signed the contract at the beginning of August 2006 and it didn't go through and didn't go through and they kept screwing things up.  They finally cancelled our contract for us (after repeated requests, since we were not receiving any service) at the beginning of November 2006.  We did, briefly (<14 days) have telephone service with them at the very end of October.  But their international calling feature was unavailable (the reason we'd gone with them), so we were without any international access until BT took us back.  They didn't say how long it would be until the international calling was up again.  Never did get broadband service and have no idea when they were planning on allowing us to have it, if we'd stayed with them.

Based on my experience, stay far, far, far away. 

I had one.tel for 2 years which I think is TalkTalk now... I had no problems at all. My friend tried getting it and problem after problem for him... so I dunno if I will be going with them again. The offer is tempting though...

i called BT for the MAC code... they offered me the following "deal" that i'm tempted to go with.

£11 option 2.  18 month contract
12 months free evening/weekend UK landline
£5 international freedom.  free calls to US/Canada (first 60 mins)
£17.99 option 2. broadband.  12 month contract.  free wireless router. 

works out as same price as i'm currently paying with BT & Primus.  the woman touted that their new wireless router is the bee's knee's, next technology, firewall built in, etc.  i already have a wireless router (from my old BT contract).  never got it to connect to my PC, but that may just be me.  techies- do i need this new wireless modem?

I have TalkTalk and have no complaints.

One of the things which can cause problems is the number of people involved in the transition from one company to another.    LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) simply is not yet available across much of the country, which means that even if you change to some other supplier the actual line to your house (the local loop) is still maintained by BT.  In fact in thousands of telephone exchanges there is no presence other than BT, so whoever you pay for your phone service you are still reliant upon BT.  If you experience a problem which is caused by the actual line, for example, you report it to your supplier's faults department which in turn then has to pass it on to BT to check.  (The same applies to DSL.)

You can check your exchange here and see if LLU is available, and if so with whom:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/index.php

(If you don't know which exchange you're served from, go to number search and use your full number to find out -- You'll even get a map showing where your central office is located.)

If this is all still confusing, here's a page which explains LLU in a little more detail:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/broadband/dsl_facts/LLUbackground.htm

Note also that many operators unbundle only DSL service and still leave BT to provide POTS (a slightly tongue-in-cheek term we use to mean Plain Old Telephone Service) using carrier pre-selection.

Hiya

You may want to read this report ...

http://money.uk.msn.com/mortgages/billsandenergy/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5449773

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

We actually just switched to talk-talk.. and im not that pleased but we are saving money. 

We get free international calls which is great to call my family in the US.. but the 1st month i didnt know i had to dial a talk-talk code before dialling the number so i FULLY took advantage of the talk-talk free international calls and then got the bill and they wernt free! My own stupidity I suppose... but dont make the mistake.

Also, last night when i got home from work out phone had no dialtone and internet didnt work ALL night.  Then we woke up this morning and it miraculously worked! A bit disappointing because i had frantic messages from my mother when i woke up this morning and had to wait til 1pm here (8am NY time to call her).  Turns out our family dog of 13years passed away and she was really upset and needed to talk...

So I wouldent reccommend it if you can find cheaper.. but you probably wont...

Take care,
Chrissy

the 1st month i didnt know i had to dial a talk-talk code before dialling the number

Yep, do remember to check whether you need to dial a prefix when making calls or whether your carrier is preselected.   When you transfer line rental to another company it will normally be the latter.

I had a nightmare with them as they refused to send us the welcome pack so we couldn't get anything set up and everytime I called they were like you need to select x option, but kept getting the sales department.     After I cancelled that's when they would put me straight through to the department that I needed to be through to to begin with!  If they'd've put me through to begin with I'd've happily stayed with them.  Instead we're with BT they have an unlimited international plan for £5 / month and don't have to dial any prefixes.

Service itself is supposed to be ok with TalkTalk, but if you need to call them up for anything forget it!