Some Auricle readers may remember that, back in February, the UK's BT gained a lot of positive publicity from their announcement that they were uprating their broadband for existing customers to 2 Mbps. I'm one of those existing customers and today I offer my experiences of trying to benefit from what was promised. I do this only because, if I have problems navigating this space, what hope has someone for whom information and communications technology isn't their day job? I signed up to domestic broadband pretty much as soon as it became available in the UK although it's interesting how the term 'broadband' was redefined to include rates as low as 512 Kbps or even less. Nevertheless, even the always on 512K service was welcome because it became possible to connect to the resources and sources I need to work when at home.
What's really annoying is that BT Openworld and BT Yahoo gained the positive publicity from their annoucement leaving the impression that this was all done and dusted and would be completed within 5 months. Now I know that someone has to be at the end of the chain but as February, March, April, and May passed, and still no upgrade, I thought it was time to find out when this was going to happen.
Problem number one. Whom do you telephone?
Although I originally signed up with the BT Openworld service somehow I've been passed on to BT/Yahoo Broadband. Now the BT/Yahoo site does offer telephone numbers for technical support, account queries, sales etc etc but what do you know? … there is only an email facility for complaints. I used this facility a few weeks ago only to eventually receive an anodyne reply which in essence said they had no date, i.e they couldn't help me. Salt was rubbed in to the wound when some time later the quality department of BT/Yahoo contacted me (by email) to see if I was happy with the support I had received!
Anyway, not to be defeated, I set about trying to get a human voice to respond in real time to my perfectly reasonable query of when I would be uprated to the 2Mbps service as promised. So I thought I would start with the technical support number. So off I went to what was going to one of several telephone journeys to what I think was India (I assume at least some of the support has been contracted out to the subcontinent).
The technical support person was polite but could shed no light … except for the following gem. Yes, if I was a new customer I could have 2Mbps straight away but, no, as an existing customer no date had yet been set for my upgrade … but perhaps September or October?
So there we have it folks. If we are naive enough to think that existing customers are the priority then think again. Like parts of the finance sector it's the new sign-ups that are the focus; the inertia of the existing customer base is likely to sustain the business model even though existing customers are, in effect, getting a poorer quality service.
Following the call to BT/Yahoo technical support line I simmered gently for 30 minutes or so before deciding to explore alternatives to what BT/Yahoo had to offer. For example, for the same price, UK Online Broadband (part of the EasyNet empire) offers 8Mbps with a 500GB cap as opposed to BT/Yahoo's 2Mbps and 30GB cap. UK Online is one of the few Local Loop Unbundled (LLU) suppliers, this means that they've got their own equipment in BT exchanges and so can compete more vigorously than those providers who are just simply leasing bandwidth from BT. Unfortunately, UK Online isn't available in all parts of the UK with only something like 18% of the UK population being so covered. But, apparently, my part of Bath falls within the 18%.
Nevertheless, my research had uncovered the secret to getting things done. It's called the MAC, i.e. the Migration Authentication Code. Most reputable broadband providers have signed up to an industry code where they have agreed to make it as easy as possible to migrate from one supplier to another by providing a MAC (which you give to your new supplier). Although BT/Yahoo hadn't provided a complaints telephone number they had provided a discontinue their service number and so I rang this. Off I went to India again where a charming lady wanted to know why I wanted a MAC, she then put me on hold whilst she had a long conversation with 'I know not who' before coming back to me with another number which I could ring and they would immediately arrange my 2Mbps upgrade. So yet another telephone call where an equally charming lady, at what turned out to the BT/Yahoo UK based sales line, would be glad to upgrade me 'without charge' … I think I was meant to be grateful although this was what they promised would be happening automatically without users having to do any pushing.
So the moral of the story seems to be show the same loyalty to your supplier as they show their existing customer base. BT and BT/Yahoo have had a monopoly position which they have exploited to the full. Their monopoly is no more and they are going to have to sharpen up their provision. Their earlier trumpeting of 2Mbps provision was a triumph of marketing but disadvantaged their existing customers relative to new ones. Message to BT, don't prioritize your new customers over your existing user base.
But, let's face it, 2Mbps provision isn't that great. But BT et al will ration that bandwidth for as long as they can because that's what their business model is based on. But, as UK Online demonstrates, it's possible to provide a better service for the same price.
And so I've given into temptation. Today I went back to BT/Yahoo Broadband who, after another attempt to disuade me, gave me the all important MAC. I filled in my details on the UK Online site and made the switch to their Broadband 8000 service (8 Mbps) service which, given my distance of 2.5 Kilometres from the Kingsmead exchange in Bath, should give me around 4-5 Mbps bandwidth. I'll report back in the next few weeks if my switch proved successful or not.
So why is all this important? When there's sufficient bandwidth getting into the home then that is going to help redefine the nature of the services we use and what is the work place or learning place. For example, as Skype already demonstrates using Voice-over-IP it's possible to have a higher quality conversation (at times) without a telephone being present. And if you want to view/edit that document, talk, walk, view and listen all at the same time then increased bandwidth makes all that possible.
So let's not think of 2Mbps as leading edge or an act of generosity by suppliers like BT. In reality, we are still paying a premium price for not very much. But I suppose, if my business model had been based on decades of extracting premiums from telephone users, it must be kind of hard not to try the same thing as services all migrate online.
