Broadband Scrooges.

[Inactive]

Both TalkTalk and Virgin Media have been named by readers in The Times's second annual 'Scrooge of the Year competition':

Another company making a repeat appearance in our list is TalkTalk, which attracted most nominations for a home-services company. One reader, J.S.D, wrote: "It promised so much, yet delivered so little. The customer service department gives no service. The complaints department does not handle complaints. Its broadband internet access does not give internet access... new customers get no custom."

Meanwhile Virgin Media took some flak for offering better deals to new rather than loyal customers.

[Rik]

Doesn't it make you glad to be here.

[Inactive]

Indeed Rik, what was it? pay nuts, get monkeys.

[Rik]

That's the one. The irony, to me, is that I don't think IDNet is expensive. I used to pay Pipex about £18pm back in dial up days, with a hefty phone bill on top. In real terms, it was probably 2.5x what I am paying now for a far inferior service. I used to pay BT £14.99pm for a single email address back in 1984, data and call charges on top.

Between that and my general background, I neither find IDNet expensive, nor do I go out looking for cheap or free - invariably, you get what you don't pay for.

[Inactive]

I pay IDNet £17.99 a month, to be honest, that is a tiny part of my monthly outgoings, now I am like everyone else, I like to save a bob or two if I can, but only on like for like items, and never on service items such as BB.

Been there, got the T Shirt.

[Rik]

Been there, got the T Shirt.

Maybe we should do a forum T shirt, logo and big happy face?

[Noreen]

As a pensioner I consider that my £17.99 per month is well spent. However I imagine that a lot of those who go for the cheap and nasty ISPs are probably teenagers without our experience of the world. 

[Rik]

It's not just teenagers, Noreen, I find there is a mentality at large which wants something for nothing, and it affects all age groups. I'm all in favour of finding a good price, but rarely is cheap a good price for either side in the bargain.

Ultimately, I want to pay IDNet enough each month that they can continue to give me the level of service I want. I suspect that those of us here, of all ages, have the same mindset on the issue of cost.

[Inactive]

However I imagine that a lot of those who go for the cheap and nasty ISPs are probably teenagers without our experience of the world. 

Not just teenagers Noreen, there is a huge volume of people that do not look at the bigger picture, they just think cheap is about saving money, without considering any downsides.

[Noreen]

You're probably right, some of them seem like teenagers from their semi-illiterate posts on other forums continually whining about bad service, poor speeds and being caught up in long contracts.

I saw a post on another forum recently where the poster stated that if a non-LLU connection suffered from bad speeds there was nothing to be done but grin and bear it! 

[Rik]

I saw a post on another forum recently where the poster stated that if a non-LLU connection suffered from bad speeds there was nothing to be done but grin and bear it! 

We know better, of course.

[Noreen]

I did tell them that.  There has been no reply.

[Rik]

People who are that badly wrong rarely reply, Noreen.

[Ann]

I'm on the £24.99 deal which is more than I've paid before but it's worth it for the decent service.

Friends don't seem to mind about their rotten speeds like I do.  I think that's got something to do with it.  I'm a bit of a perfectionist and won't put up with second best.

[Rik]

And you're not even a Virgo, Ann. I suspect all of us are here because we want a good product and are prepared to pay a fair price for it. It probably makes us an endangered species in this day and age.

[Inactive]

It probably makes us an endangered species in this day and age.

Sad but true.

[Den]

Hey Inactive, If you pay monkeys, watch your nuts. 

[Inactive]

Hey Inactive, If you pay monkeys, watch your nuts. 

Will do Den.. 

[john]

And you're not even a Virgo, Ann.

That was a bit personal Rik, oops sorry I misread it 

[Rik]

I was very careful in my typing (for once!), John.

[Malc]

I paid pipex £6.50 for dialup sorry broadband, and about £5 a month in complaning calls each month.

Now I'm more than happy to pay that bit extra.

[Rik]

You make a good point, Malc. We have to pay a price for all that cheapness...

[Gary]

I had to pay Orange an extra £5 on top of my normal mobile bill to get their goslowband and so much more in complaints to a premium rate number as emails never got replied to, I know which side my bread is buttered and I don't consider IDNet expensive, I paid about the same to freeserve for their BB back in the day, but a lot of people I know my own age want unlimited everything and for peanuts, but you cannot tell them, they always know best.

[Inactive]

I think we all came to the same conclusion Gary, I was with Plusnet, the line was stable, however their system slowed to a walk in the evenings, my speeds went up dramatically when I came here.

[Rik]

For me, it wasn't about performance so much as ethics. Nildram introduced traffic shaping (which didn't affect me) and then denied they'd done it. I read IDNet's T&Cs and like the ethos. I've never regretted the move.