Got a Go-Live date

[doug]

Been out for the day and got home to a message on our answering m/c to say that I've got a Go-Live date of the 23rd from TT. Now this may be in response to a shirty e-mail I sent them in response to a letter I had received from their Director of Customer relations saying he regretted that my connection had taken a little longer than their norm. However, he expected to be able to write to me in the next few weeks to say when I was likely to receive a Go-Live date!

[-pops-]

Don't hold yer breath.

[CurlyWhirly]

Don't hold yer breath.

Yeah he's only been waiting 2 months as mentioned in this thread !

[artist]

Think positive - think positive!!

:D

[andsome]

I am puzzled by all this lot. I admit to knowing nothing about all these codes or whatever that have to be obtained. My telephone line in common with everyone in the UK used to be with BT. Then we had NTL cable installed. When I wanted INTERNET access this was arranged within days. When I wanted BB this also only took a few days to arrange. BT have contacted me several times to go back, and I am led to believe that this is only a matter of reactivating my line. So, my question is, what is to stop me simply transferring back if I want to, (which I don't), and asking them to arrange BB? Surely it cannot be legal to have to get the permission of the current supplier to leave a service and go with another company. I have to give NTL one months notice. Can someone please explain the legalities of all this charade that has happened to Doug?

[doug]

Oh yes please!

[dadyassa]

I am puzzled by all this lot. I admit to knowing nothing about all these codes or whatever that have to be obtained. My telephone line in common with everyone in the UK used to be with BT. Then we had NTL cable installed. When I wanted INTERNET access this was arranged within days. When I wanted BB this also only took a few days to arrange. BT have contacted me several times to go back, and I am led to believe that this is only a matter of reactivating my line. So, my question is, what is to stop me simply transferring back if I want to, (which I don't), and asking them to arrange BB? Surely it cannot be legal to have to get the permission of the current supplier to leave a service and go with another company. I have to give NTL one months notice. Can someone please explain the legalities of all this charade that has happened to Doug?

It is the same in Spain, also if you swop mobile phone companies and want to keep the same number it takes a long while to sort out.

I always thought it only took the click of a button to alter stuff these days, perhaps it takes a month to find the keyboard ?

[Thos]

I am puzzled by all this lot. I admit to knowing nothing about all these codes or whatever that have to be obtained. My telephone line in common with everyone in the UK used to be with BT. Then we had NTL cable installed. When I wanted INTERNET access this was arranged within days. When I wanted BB this also only took a few days to arrange. BT have contacted me several times to go back, and I am led to believe that this is only a matter of reactivating my line. So, my question is, what is to stop me simply transferring back if I want to, (which I don't), and asking them to arrange BB? Surely it cannot be legal to have to get the permission of the current supplier to leave a service and go with another company. I have to give NTL one months notice. Can someone please explain the legalities of all this charade that has happened to Doug?

Surely it is not a matter of legalities but practicalities. If you have cable your services are taken through that cable. If not they are taken through the telephone line which is owned by BT. Some providers (Sky included) have equipment in the BT exchanges which enables them to provide broadband through the BT telephone lines. If BT provide the BB there is no problem but if a different provider supplies BB then an authorisation code, which is not a legal formality, is needed for the engineers to transfer from BT through the suppliers equipment. I understand BT engineers do this work.

Don't ask me to apply this to Doug's case which sounds appalling.

Thos.

[andsome]

I thought that the whole idea of competition was to provide just that, COMPETITION. It appears to me that BT can choosse to muck people about if they so desire.

[Gandalph]

There is no need whatsoever for a company you are leaving to turn round and say 'We will generate a MAC code for you within 48 hours and e-mail it to you'. The MAC code being needed to give to your new ISP of course.

The MAC code resides on your own machine which you can get at yourself to give to the new ISP. This seems to be the biggest bone of contention when transferring from one ISP to another and seems to be a con to me.

[Thos]

There is no need whatsoever for a company you are leaving to turn round and say 'We will generate a MAC code for you within 48 hours and e-mail it to you'. The MAC code being needed to give to your new ISP of course.

The MAC code resides on your own machine which you can get at yourself to give to the new ISP. This seems to be the biggest bone of contention when transferring from one ISP to another and seems to be a con to me.

Really?

That is a really useful piece of information. How do you get at it?

I waited for mine and though I got it within 24 hours, those were working days and weekends didn't count! It seemed an eternity especially as everyone was telling me that I would meet obstructions at every point in the transfer. In addition, if you don't transfer within 30 days you have to get a new MAC code. How can that be?

Thos.

[Gandalph]

There is no need whatsoever for a company you are leaving to turn round and say 'We will generate a MAC code for you within 48 hours and e-mail it to you'. The MAC code being needed to give to your new ISP of course.

The MAC code resides on your own machine which you can get at yourself to give to the new ISP. This seems to be the biggest bone of contention when transferring from one ISP to another and seems to be a con to me.

Really?

That is a really useful piece of information. How do you get at it?

I waited for mine and though I got it within 24 hours, those were working days and weekends didn't count! It seemed an eternity especially as everyone was telling me that I would meet obstructions at every point in the transfer. In addition, if you don't transfer within 30 days you have to get a new MAC code. How can that be?

Thos.

Sorry for the lateness in reply Thos, I have just got my eye on your post.

I will try and explain as best as I remember it. This was told to me some time ago by a Telecoms Engineer.

Bring up the command prompt from Start>Accessories.Command Prompt.

Type in ipconfig /all (Note the space before the /all). This will bring up a list of details about your Internet Configuration.

Now look under Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection and find the line called Physical Address, you will notice 6 blocks of combined numbers and letters, something like 00-16-D7-9D-C6-A8, This is your MAC address as identified by your ISP. At the bottom look for Lease Obtained (Date) and Lease Expires (Date) roughly this will be about thirty days. Once you have put your notice to quit with your current ISP and they say they will generate a MAC Code and e-mail it to you (as they think you dont know where it is). The thirty day rule applies because you have put your Month's notice in to them and they will cut you off on the Lease expiration date. If you do not use your MAC code with your new ISP within the thirty day Lease Obtained and Lease Expires date they will have to generate a new one to give you.

The Lease Obtained and Lease Expires dates change daily until the time you give them the Months notice.

I hope this explanation has thrown a bit of light on the matter for you.

[doug]

Now you tell me. Not sure if it would have made a difference though. Could be that Someone decided that I have to spend some time in Purgatory!

[andsome]

May be useful if I ever decide to change. Now in My Favourites.

[Thos]

Many thank, Gandalph, for that lucid explanation. I hope I won't need it again but I am copying and saving it for my information and friends and relatives in the same position.

Thos.

[catgate]

That's what nice about WF. It is surprising how much is known by the members and how willing they are to help. I too have made notes.

[catgate]

Here is another example of ISP custoner service. My friend has been struggling with Tiscali for about two months now on his business connection.

Been on to Tiscali yet again today to chase up the transfer of our domain

which is now well overdue and still not done!!

When you ring you get 3 options and the domain mangement team is option 3.

When you press 3 you get transferred to a garden centre that asks whether

you want to place an order for christmas!!! So thinking I had dialled

incorrectly, I then tried again with the same result. I then tried again

but pressed option 2 for customer services. After waiting the usual 5

minutes for someone to answer and going through the usual password and

security questions, I explained my problem and the man said no problem I

will transfer you internally. After being on hold for about 10 minutes and

being constantly thanked for my patience whilst on hold I eventually got a

recorded message that said ".....select option 3" This I did and got

another opportunity to order some plants for Christmas!!

I decided to try again with option 2 and a man said - sorry for my

inconvenience but I was right....there was a routing problem with their

phones. Can I try again in 2-3 hours. I said "Cant you get them to ring me

back, I've already wasted half an hour on the phone?" - he said I'd love to

but my shift ends in 5 minutes!!!

Back to square 1.

Any wonder Im a grumpy old man!!

[andsome]

It's called customer service. :lol:

[mark2]

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but mac address and mac code are two different kettles of fish,

From the Tiscali site

What is a MAC code?

MAC stands for Migration Authorisation Code. It is issued by your broadband provider and is used to seamlessly switch from one provider to another without having to wait weeks to cease your line and re-register with another provider.

and also from moneysupermarket

A MAC code, (Migration Authorisation Code) is a code like a serial number that identifies your broadband connection in a telephone exchange. When you switch between broadband providers the old broadband provider passes it on to the new provider and they pass it on to an engineer to simply switch your connection across in your local telephone exchange.

A mac address on the other hand wikipedia

In computer networking a Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier attached to most network adapters (NICs). It is a number that acts like a name for a particular network adapter

The reason andsome doesn't require a mac code if he wanted to return to BT and BB is that his current BB is not connected via BT's lines/ switchgear.

[andsome]

By golly there's some clever folk about. Thanks for the info, now we know. :D

[CurlyWhirly]

I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but mac address and mac code are two different kettles of fish

I did wonder why the MAC code that I gave to Zen when I migrated from AOL last year began 'BBIP' but didn't post as I wasn't sure of the facts but now I know.

Thanks.

[Gandalph]

I've just read through the articles you posted Mark2 and you are absolutely right about the difference in MAC Address and MAC Codes. Obviously I have misunderstood what my friend told me.

Apologise to all concerned.

[Thos]

Well all this extends our areas of knowledge and we are no worse off.

Thos.

[CurlyWhirly]

Well all this extends our areas of knowledge and we are no worse off.

I agree besides I now know a little about MAC addresses after reading about it.

[catgate]

I've just read through the articles you posted Mark2 and you are absolutely right about the difference in MAC Address and MAC Codes. Obviously I have misunderstood what my friend told me.

Apologise to all concerned.

It just goes to support my argument that all these slick techy talk initial jobbies should be outlawed. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and that is not enough to go round. I have difficulty with DNS, DSN, ARP, DSO, ISP, PFI, ASDL, SDL, LSD...the list is endless.