No mac code.. no Isp in sight :(

[dukkha]

I had broadband with O2 and it was disconnected for excessive download, without any warning, and now I can't get a mac code.

Does any know  an ISP that can give me broadband without a mac code and also without a long contract? 
Another problem is most of them only offer capped services and the ones with high  download allowance cost a lot of money.

Any advice  is very welcome as I'm, at the moment, using a o2 dongle that's quite moody for my taste  and of course no possibility of downloading

Thank you.

[Glenn]

  Dukkha

IDNet offer a 30 day contract, with a usage allowance dependent on package, if you exceed that, then they charge £1/Gb. I think whatever ISP you choose, they will have to get BT to remove the tag on your line to gain contol of it.

How much bandwidth have you been using to be disconnected from O2?

[Rik]

Any ISP can give you broadband, but unless you have a MAC then you'd be charged the activation fee. I don't see why O2 can't give you one, but check the terms of their small print.

IDNet's contract is 1 month, even if you pay annually (which makes it cheaper). There's no download cap, but you pay £1/GB once you go over your allowance - you'll be warned if this is going to happen.

Welcome to the forum.

[Ray]

 

[Simon]

[Rik]

Dukkha, you van check whether you can get a MAC by going to http://www.idnet.net/solutions/home/adslselector.jsp and entering your phone number. If there's a tag on your line, you'll be told you need a MAC to move. I think, though, that O2 have probably ceased the service so you will have no tag.

[dukkha]

O2 says once the service has been disconnected they can't generate a mac code any more. I phoned BT and they say it's for  O2 to deal with the problem. 

Can I go to Ofcom to try to get a mac from O2 or is just more waste of time & energy?

Anyway,  without a mac code how much would I need to pay for  activation fee?

If nothing else works I may need to consider virgin media  as no mac needed there. I used to have virgin broadband in the past and it was great in the beginning until it became almost impossible to bear the sluggish service. I'm dreading having to go back to it with a year contract!
   Thanks!

[Rik]

O2 says once the service has been disconnected they can't generate a mac code any more. I phoned BT and they say it's for  O2 to deal with the problem. 

They are correct.

Can I go to Ofcom to try to get a mac from O2 or is just more waste of time & energy?

Not if you've been disconnected. Try the checker I gave you.

Anyway,  without a mac code how much would I need to pay for  activation fee?

£47.

If nothing else works I may need to consider virgin media  as no mac needed there. I used to have virgin broadband in the past and it was great in the beginning until it became almost impossible to bear the sluggish service. I'm dreading having to go back to it with a year contract!

Fibre or ADSL? You'd need a MAC for the latter, or pay any charges VM raise.

[pctech]

O2 are an LLU provider so if they have unhooked you from their equipment you will need to pay an activation fee.

[Rik]

Good point, Mitch.

[Glenn]

May have been on Access though.

[pctech]

As has been mentioned the broadband checker should be able to idenifiy whether the line is tagged.

[Technical Ben]

You will pay a new setup fee or it will be included in your contract. This is because O2 have disconnected your line.
Probably best to check if the allowance with IDNet is sufficient for you. Else it could end up more expensive. Go with a truly unlimited provider if you need over the 30gb peak usage (or the excessive hundreds of GBs).
If you can curb your usage, IDNet is great. They give daily rss and web updates on what you have used.

[Edit]
Hope you don't mind me linking your original post do you?
http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/02-mac-code-nightmare-43952.aspx?Source=GOO-004AEF25

Might help with the details.

[pctech]

Bear in mind Virgin traffic manage and will throttle you if you exceeed their fair usage (could be why you experienced slow speeds but I'm no fan of Virgin anyway)

Personally I use Zen Internet and pay 24.99 for 50 GB a month, when you hit that the only place you can go is there customer portal to purchase more bandwidth in 1 GB blocks about 1.50 per GB but that would prevent you running up a potentially large bandwidth bill which is possible with IDNet and you can also get a 100GB package at £34.99.

Support is also excellent and on a par with IDNet.

[Simon]

IDNet do send a warning when you are approaching your limit, though, based on current usage projections.

[Gary]

Bear in mind Virgin traffic manage and will throttle you if you exceeed their fair usage (could be why you experienced slow speeds but I'm no fan of Virgin anyway)

Personally I use Zen Internet and pay 24.99 for 50 GB a month, when you hit that the only place you can go is there customer portal to purchase more bandwidth in 1 GB blocks about 1.50 per GB but that would prevent you running up a potentially large bandwidth bill which is possible with IDNet and you can also get a 100GB package at £34.99.

Support is also excellent and on a par with IDNet.

I dont understand this large bill business, you get a warning, you have a usage meter. That's like saying I only drink in bars where the barman takes my glass away when I can't control my drinking, IDNet give you the tools, self restraint is up to you.

[Steve]

I think I would be more fed up of having to feed the meter so to speak. I have the Usage RSS feed on the bookmarks bar I don't see the issue.

[DorsetBoy]

I dont understand this large bill business, you get a warning, you have a usage meter. That's like saying I only drink in bars where the barman takes my glass away when I can't control my drinking, IDNet give you the tools, self restraint is up to you.

You miss one vital point Gary ............. the OP was an 02 customer and they do not provide an inteface like IDNet.

[Steve]

O2 is unlimited , so if you incur the wrath of the fair usage policy , your still warned.

[Gary]

You miss one vital point Gary ............. the OP was an 02 customer and they do not provide an inteface like IDNet.

I used to be a O2 customer, and they like anyone else have T&C's which changed recently I know, also if you get booted for downloading you are way over what is acceptable generally, O2 were very easy going with their download rates till it was wildly abused by some, part O2's fault of course for all you can eat packages, but still you have to be using a hell of a lot I would imagine to get kicked out, Dorset. Also they let you know, you do get warning shots to tell you to stop.

[DorsetBoy]

O2 is unlimited , so if you incur the wrath of the fair usage policy , your still warned.

That is the problem Steve......... O2 say they are unlimited but they are not.  They have been turfing people off and throttling accounts, there are 100's if not 1000's of angry users screaming on the forums.

The exodus to other ISP's is huge.

[DorsetBoy]

I used to be a O2 customer, and they like anyone else have T&C's which changed recently I know, also if you get booted for downloading you are way over what is acceptable generally, O2 were very easy going with their download rates till it was wildly abused by some, part O2's fault of course for all you can eat packages, but still you have to be using a hell of a lot I would imagine to get kicked out, Dorset. Also they let you know, you do get warning shots to tell you to stop.

From the dozens of posts I have read elsewhere this week they are not warning people, they all say the same thing , there were problems with dire speeds which caused masses of complaints, next thing connections are just cut off.

[Gary]

That is the problem Steve......... O2 say they are unlimited but they are not.  They have been turfing people off and throttling accounts, there are 100's if not 1000's of angry users screaming on the forums.

The exodus to other ISP's is huge.

That's because in the beginning it was virtually unlimited and it was massively abused Dorset, give people enough rope and they will hang themselves comes to mind. They customers may well complain but the consumers are to blame here for downloading hundreds of GB's of data, O2 didn't force them to do that.

[Gary]

From the dozens of posts I have read elsewhere this week they are not warning people, they all say the same thing , there were problems with dire speeds which caused masses of complaints, next thing connections are just cut off.

Maybe O2 got sick and tired of it being abused, read the T&C's then you will know your fair usage policy I guess, its not rocket science.

[DorsetBoy]

That's because in the beginning it was virtually unlimited and it was massively abused Dorset, give people enough rope and they will hang themselves comes to mind. They customers may well complain but the consumers are to blame here for downloading hundreds of GB's of data, O2 didn't force them to do that.

If you sign a contract that says "Unlimited" that is what it means and it cannot be abused .......... O2 and others should not have made false claims about their service, it would be like IDNet shutting you down for using your allowance to the full each month.

[Steve]

I think it grossly unfair if your disconnected without any previous warnings of excessive download usage.

[Rik]

Possibly, even, illegal.

[Steve]

I suppose you could have warned a while ago, I wouldn't know if a past warning ever expires

[Rik]

It doesn't.

[pctech]

If you sign a contract that says "Unlimited" that is what it means and it cannot be abused .......... O2 and others should not have made false claims about their service, it would be like IDNet shutting you down for using your allowance to the full each month.

For most people it is likely to be unlimited but for a heavy user that runs torrents 24/7 any ISP is going to come to a point where they say enough is enough as it starts to have a negative impact on the network throughput because the bandwidth capacity is being exhausted.

To cope with the problem ISPs can upgrade networking devices along with transit and peering capacity but this can only be done to a certain point before prices need to be raised (a guaranteed way to drive away customers) or they start to manage the network by booting those who abuse the facilities.

At least one of my colleagues has been booted from several ISPs for fully loading his connection 24/7 and another has been warned.

I think O2's broadband network is now groaning under the strain and so they are taking steps to improve performance.

Unlimited cannot and does not physically exist as if it did ISP networks would grind to a halt or upgrade themselves out of business.

[Rik]

Unlimited cannot and does not physically exist as if it did ISP networks would grind to a halt or upgrade themselves out of business.

It could, I suppose, Mitch, but only at a very steep price. ISPs cost their services on average users. If they priced for a maxed out 24/7 connection, they could probably offer unlimited, but I doubt they'd get many takers.

[pctech]

Could always have a leased line I suppose (£100+ a month)

[Rik]

Exactly, Mitch. People can have truly unlimited BB, but it comes at a cost.

[pctech]

I dare say there is an AUP somewhere though as everything has a physical limit.

[Rik]

With a leased line, though, the limit is physical, surely?

[pctech]

It is yes but like ADSL it is a point to point connection so am talking more about the network at the WAN end.

[Rik]

I take your point, Mitch.

[pctech]

As for my comments about large bills, my point was you cant take back your ussage.

[Technical Ben]

I still stick by my comments. If it's not unlimited, don't advertise it as such. Advertise it as 100GB allowance etc. As the usage grows exponentially (due to HD TV, then it will be stereoscopic 3d tv. Then volumetric 3d, or virtual reality etc) you will always have someone or something to use up the bandwidth. Similar with HDDs. You would have thought it crazy to buy more than a GB back in the day. Now there are people on this forum, and many others, buying NAS drives with terrabites of storage. And this is not always enough. So, just as my HDD company cannot advertise their 100GB HDD as "unlimited capacity" why should BT or anyone else be able to advertise a connection as "unlimited bandwidth"!
Oh, and it's like those kebabs with "meat" in them. 

[Simon]

Oh, it's definitely meat.  Of what, though, remains a mystery. 

[zappaDPJ]

I ate my last doner kebab at approximately 11.30pm on May 22nd 1980. A few hours later I defied the laws of gravity by being sick on the celling

[Niall]

I ate my last doner kebab at approximately 11.30pm on May 22nd 1980. A few hours later I defied the laws of gravity by being sick on the celling

Haha

[Simon]

 

[pctech]

First thing that is taught on a Cisco networking course is that bandwidth is finite and has to be managed so that priority traffic is not dropped.

[Rik]

I have the same rules about food, Mitch.

[pctech]

 

Very true, particularly if its a nice piece of steak or fish.

[Rik]

We can offer you the choice.

[DorsetBoy]

I ate my last doner kebab at approximately 11.30pm on May 22nd 1980. A few hours later I defied the laws of gravity by being sick on the celling

Was it this one Zap?       

[Rik]

It's bad enough looking at it, let alone eating it. 

[pctech]

I wouldn't touch a kebab but the local kebab shop does a cracking burger with fresh onion on top and chips.

[zappaDPJ]

I actually really like kebabs, especially if barbecued. We have a chip shop quite close that does fantastic chicken kebabs. It's just doner kebabs I'll never, ever touch again.

[Rik]

Stop it, Mitch, you know you only have to mention food to make me hungry.

[Glenn]

Please sir, can I have more? 

[Rik]