Cautin with Post Office Home Phone Broadband Billing

I am unfortunate enough to have recently signed up and now be completely stuck with the post office system. If you join all will be well until you get your first bill, which will be for THREE MONTHS IN ADVANCE for your package price. Nowhere in the terms and conditions will you find out about this. BE WARNED!!!

I too recently signed up for the same B'Band/HomePone package and I'm awaiting the 1st bill. But I am expecting ti to be for Three Months In Adavance. In the literature supplied it was admittedly not spelled out in plain words but I managed to work out that if you choose to pay by cash [the REASON I joined] then the pnly billing option is Three Monthly in adfvance. This is because all the other options Debit/Credit Crad etc all carry with them a Personal Credit Check on you. Paying by Cash doens't and frankly I poersonally think that the 3 months B'Band/and Line Rental in advance was well worth the advantage of being able to pay in cash over the counter. For someone with no access to credit or debit cards or even a bank acoount [and there are an increasing number of us] this is a godsend and relieves us from having to depend on the goodwill of others [and their banks]. The service is briliiant - altho' only just 10 days old - so maybe future experience will cause that opinion to change but at present I'm satisfied and more than satisfied to have the cash option - even 3 months in advance.

[ArkR09]

Is the Post Office package good? Or like other ISP`s does it have faults that you were not warned about.
What speed are you getting?
The reason I`m asking is that I`m with BT and lately the speed and customer service has been just terrible, really awfull.

Hi - I'm the chap who wrote the reply just above yours. I went on to Post Office Broadband Standard and Home Phone package which went 'live' on Jan 9th. I had one or two probs during setting-up the worst being there was no port in my machine for their Ethernet Cable 'cos it's 'ancient'! [ie 2001]! I phoned the Customer Care Line and altho' they've got that acutely annoying 'If you've got an Ingrowing Toenail press 2' thing - once I actually got through [it only took half the time that BT's did] - once 'in' the response I got was an accurate analysis of the problem [I had refused to accept that 2001 was out of date] - this was followed swiftly by an excellent and somewhat imaginitive workaround to cure trhe problem. When you think that this came from their Call Center - and NOT from the Technical Support bods one is ever so slightly impressed. The fact that while out getting the recommended adapter the next day - it dawned on me that a far easier way out was to whack an Ethernet Card [Port & all] into a vacant PCI socket is neither here nor there.

I dunno the exact Speed it varies over the first 10 days due 'optimisation' procedures - as they put it BUT 3 nights ago I downloaded a 40MB MP3 Radio show in 8 minutes. I go to the NASA TV stream quite often as I'm an astronomer with a keen interest in Space Exploration. [Nyaah truth is I just love watching Launches of every kind of space vehicle really] anyway there was no prob with the 'default' stream which levelled out at 151 kpbs which is OK for video. But what did impress me was the picture quality - never seen the like on a computer screen before - As good as that monstrosity of a Plasma thing they've got downstairs. It wasn't specifically Hi-Def either just the NASA Public Channel. I've not seen such resolution and quality even after downloading and watching it from the HDD.

I've just paid the 1st 3 months bill for line rental and B'Band in advance. I won't say how much here other than the total 3 months' line rental and B'Band came to LESS than what BT charge for the mid-range B'Band package alone. And yes - like you - I too once suffered exasperations and endless frustrations with BT as my ISP - and well pleased I am to no longer be tied to them.

Just one last thing - that 40 MB download..?? Well - about 13 hours later it took longer [TEN mins not 8] to download a file that was 1.4 MB. The difference was that this site with the 1.4 MB file would not let me use my download manager app. That gives down,loadspeeds of 130 - 150 kbps consistently. Without it 130 - 150 sadly becomes 13 - 15 kbps. I'm really not certain whether that is the fault of the ISP tho'! I'm inclined to give them the benefit of any doubt - intil or unless they prove otherwise.

I reckon if you are seriously considerin' it - go to yer nearest P.Office and get the booklet/application form they have good bitrate comparison charts and there is actually quite a lot of real information in it.
And the last time I got the BT Phone bill - Just the phone etc - it cost [for a quarterly bill] £20 MORE than the Post Office Home Phone and B'Band together. It wouldn't be so much but you get a doulble discount if you bundle the two services. That's not just an Introductory offer by the way. That's IT till the prices go up...
£20 LESS than BT's Phone Alone! We are a cautiously happy bunny.

Hope that answered some of your concerns - I can only say how it's been in my limited experience.
But I've had BT - Virgin - Tesco Dial-Up Access [Yeah Access yeah - just don't expect to STAY online for more than 5 mins tho'] - Oops! My slip is showing. Anyway All those ISP's were just worse than the one before and I never felt anything other than uneasy with any of them.

No such trepidations with this Post Office mob tho' - not so far anyway! There's no doubt many better deals about. But NOT for the likes of me with NO Bank account & thus no Plastic. But as a good quality low-range
B'Band and phones for a Low price which can be paid by cash over the counter - it just cain't be beat!

Pilgrim
[Rebel Without A Clue].

[ArkR09]

Thanks for the reply and info, appreciated.
Next time I`m in the Post Office I`ll pick up one their booklets.
N.A.S.A. and E.S.A. are good sites along with the Hubble site and numerous others like them I visit.
Anyway thanks again for the info.
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i1...fersub/7-4.gif

I am disappointed (very) with the PO homephone/broadband service which I joined earlier in the year. Teething problems galore which I can't be bothered to list here. Two main issues remain unresolved: My Email in My Account is no longer available (it was there when I joined) and my second bill is sky high (treble+ and have used as little as 41 pence in phonecalls). I am in the process of complaining but I am not holding my breath as in the last three months they have shown their incompetence to run the service. What a mess! Oh and BTW, I opened a direct debit account and also paying three months in advance for line rental/broadband. If they don't pull their socks pronto I will get out as soon as I am out of contract.

I recently moved in to a new property in the same location as my old house. I am now struggling to take my home phone along with me. I have been put into a torture as each time I try to contact he post office support team, only thing I hear is the music and some automated messages. I have been trying this for the past two weeks.
I am paying the rent without using and struggling in the new property without a phone or internet connection.
Can anyone please suggest what to do ?

Desperately
BB.

i had the same problem,moveing house but in same area,tried for ages to get my service taken with me,moved 1st feb 2010 but no service and monthly bills kept comeing,listing the phone number as my service for my old address,each time told my account was canceled and ignore it,each time asked for it in writeing,was promised but not recieved,then in September the monthly bills stopped and i thought great at last they have soughted it but in Jan 2011 recieved a bill for £180 from a debt agency for nine months broadband which i did not have,they say i owe this as it is my contract terms,even though i tried every thing in my power to have my service moved with me,even the assistant post office manager locally spent three weeks phoneing on my behalf eventually i was connected with another service in June,I had nothing in writeing from them at all acknowledgeing i had moved,or my request to move my service with me,no warnings when each monthly bill was not paid for the service i did not have,just another bill each month with more added on,when i sent via e-mail a letter of complaint was told i could have my bill redone as one bill for when i left my previouse address but the amount would be the same and acknowlegeing there was a delay in canceling my account,what a service (I dont Think) while i was with them i had no problems,such a shame that they cannot sought things out properly,
I personly from my expereience would not reccommend them to anyone,when trying to talk to anyone,they are very abrupt and evasive in my exsperience.

Hi post office phone and broadband are truly a joke, they are a bunch of idiot's. I now have a debt collectors sending me letters which is a disgrace as the fault with billing is squarely with them and there administration. I am now going to have to get in touch with the regulator as well as pay the bill from the debt collectors as I need to arrest this process before it becomes terminal to my credit rating. If I approach it this way I can allow the regulator to make inquires on my behalf. I have little fate in the system. They all try clever ways of making a fast buck, the billing and contractual mechanicism’s are what catch you out, and some times like me they are blatantly dishonest, so anamaton in the background says the computer says NO.
Not much room for manoeuvre

Dont go Post Office