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Tiscali finally agree sale of UK arm to Carphone Warehouse
Friday 08 May 2009 10:33:00 by John Hunt

The long saga of the purchase of Tiscali UK has come to an end with the announcement that TalkTalk, part of the Carphone Warehouse Group are to purchase Tiscali's UK operations for £236 million.

The sale price, far below the £600m they originally desired when they put the 'for sale' signs out last year, may cause Tiscali to be a bit red in the face after rejecting the original offer from Carphone of £550m.

"We are delighted to be acquiring Tiscali's UK business - we know the business well and the fit with TalkTalk is perfect. In one step, it makes TalkTalk the UK's largest residential broadband provider with over 25% residential market share and a total of 4.25 million customers. It also delivers clear shareholder value with significant enhancement to this year's earnings per share and substantial synergies to be achieved next year and beyond. We very much welcome Tiscali's UK customers and staff to TalkTalk. Together we intend to continue leading the way in UK broadband."

Charles Dunstone, (CEO) Carphone Warehouse Group

Currently, only 50% of the Tiscali customer base runs on an unbundled network compared with 78% of TalkTalk's. The group plan to increase this to 80% on a single LLU network for the entire group within 2 years.

[ Topic: Internet Service Providers | 74 comments | link to this item ]

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Posted by CARPETBURN 11 months ago
Quote"a bit red in the face after rejecting the original offer from Carphone of £550m."
So Tiscali caved like a house of cards as the administrators were beginning to smell blood. You have to love desperation LOL
Quote"The group plan to increase this to 80% on a single LLU network for the entire group within 2 years."
Match made in heaven 2 cheapo broadband suppliers with a rosey future of contention crippled products. Tiscali keeling over would had been the best thing but hey atleast a decent company didnt waste cash on them.

Posted by comnut 11 months ago
yup, one thing you cannot have these days is an overstated sense of your worth.... :D :D

lets hope they manage to upgrade the duff tiscali equipment, otherwise....

Posted by mpellatt 11 months ago
Impressive management acumen there. Not only do Tiscali's team produce the most execrable customer service on the planet, they manage to sell the company for £300m less than they could have got a month earlier.

Posted by mpellatt 11 months ago
whoops. a year earlier.....

Posted by gayboy-ds 11 months ago
I hope they don't get rid of Tiscali TV.

Posted by sneapdogg 11 months ago
I cant see them scrapping the TV, I'm thinking thats a great starting point to compete with BT's Vision TV service. Take a look what sports BT gives you compared to Tiscali TV. I would like to see talk talk rebrand the TV, change to a freesat/iptv reciever and target BT vision and Sky tv customers with there cheaper alternative.

Posted by Gazlet 10 months ago
So does that include the Pipex brand falling to TalkTalk, too?

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"So does that include the Pipex brand falling to TalkTalk, too?"

Pipex as a consumer ISP has not existed for over a year, they were ASSimilated by the Borg named Tiscali. You havent been able to buy home broadband from Pipex for a considerable time.

Posted by chrysalis 10 months ago
talktalk paid big money so they can boast been biggest isp in country, they have brought a failed business model. Is this going to be a lloyds tsb situation where they buy and then get into trouble after.

Posted by Michael_Chare 10 months ago
Well I renewed my broadband contract with Pipex last September, and I have just received an email from Pipex mentioning the Talk Talk deal. Talk Talk appear to want to (only?) sell a phone + broadband deal. Makes me wonder whether they will offer broadband by itself once they have taken over Tiscali

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"Well I renewed my broadband contract with Pipex last September"
You re-newed nothing their contracts were always a rolling 12 months (though i think theres a 3 month option now on their business broadband) ALL HOME BROADBAND CONSUMERS OF PIPEX GROUP are OWNED by Tiscali. I think the only business model they kept with Pipex is in regards to offering whats termed 'business broadband' Tiscali took control of ALL the Pipex sub brand companies (That includes firms like freedom2surf)...

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
Carphone warehouse now own Tiscali, and thus also own Pipex, freedom2surf and other trading names of Pipex Internet Limited and Tiscali the company as a whole.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"Talk Talk appear to want to (only?) sell a phone + broadband deal. Makes me wonder whether they will offer broadband by itself once they have taken over Tiscali"
Doesnt shock me i think Talk Talk only do FULL LLU and switching customers will allow them to control not only your phone but also your broadband. I dont think Talk Talk with regards to LLU do a PART LLU service (IE just broadband) (CONT)

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
Companies like Bethere and UKonline offer PART LLU (IE just the broadband is unbundled) companies like Talk Talk and Tiscali I think only ever offered FULL LLU (IE they provide and control both your broadband and phone service).

Posted by andrew ( staff member) 10 months ago
TalkTalk already have the AOL products which are sold with optional phone components, i.e. use part LLU (SMPF). This is using both the carphone LLU network and AOL LLU network.

Posted by TGVrecord 10 months ago
Is the LLU coverage of TT and Tis broadly the same or radically different? Is the intention just to have one set of LLU equipment installed in an exchange and would this have any effect on the total capacity? Is Tiscali to remain as a seperate brand together with Nildram, Pipex and Freedom to Surf?

Posted by Michael_Chare 10 months ago
"You re-newed nothing..." I most certainly did (on two occasions.) The contract is for a year, thereafter 1 months notice. By agreeing to a years contract I was able to obtain better terms.

Posted by JonnyEddy 10 months ago
I've been with Tiscali for just over 2 years, having moved from TalkTalk who were appalling. Gradually the speed of my Tiscali 8Mb line has deteriorated to below 2Mb from around 6.5Mb in the early days.

Can anyone recommend a decent provider of an 8Mb deal? Ideally bundled to include free phone calls.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"TalkTalk already have the AOL products which are sold with optional phone components, i.e. use part LLU (SMPF). This is using both the carphone LLU network and AOL LLU network."

Thanks for that correction, i wasnt 100% sure i did think they only did FULL LLU, will be interesting if they offer the Tiscali refugees the option of PART (SMPF) or FULL LLU

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote""You re-newed nothing..." I most certainly did (on two occasions.)...."
SIGH!!! You did not agree to anything, with Pipex the contract is for 12 months rolling YOU DO NOT agree for them to continue your service after 12 months... After 12 months you are free to leave if you wished. If you were planning on leaving and instead signed a new 12 month contract for some special deal they offered you, that now makes you a Tiscali customer. Pipex, freedom2surf and others are basically nothing more than trading names for Tiscali nowadays, just as freedom2surf was a trading name for Pipex.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"Can anyone recommend a decent provider of an 8Mb deal? Ideally bundled to include free phone calls."

Just read through these forums and see who people are more happy with, normally the less posts in a forum section the happier people are (if you have nothing to moan about you have nothing to type).

As for bundled deals, IMO most of them are rubbish, it may cost you more but give yourself the option of just buying broadband and keeping your phone with BT, your choice of broadband services is then much more varied.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
Also consider what amount of usage you do monthly with your broadband, if you are a light user there are plenty of cheap £10 or similar services about you could go for.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
Going back to JohnyEddy a moment........

Dont take my word for it.....
http://www.pipex.co.uk/business/FAQs/

bottom of the page i quote " © Pipex Internet Limited, a Tiscali UK company, 20 Broadwick Street, London W1F 8HT, Registered in England, registered number 5306519"

When you Joined you may have been a Pipex customer now you are owned (as i said previously) by Tiscali.

Posted by the_dean 10 months ago
Make sure and answer EVERYONE'S questions CARPETBURN.

Posted by browney 10 months ago
Any one see BT's advert in the metro paper about this today. Surley they can't get away with that. " Tiscali customers, faced to move to Carphone warehouse? make a choice.

Sqitch to BT's brilliant broadband.

Posted by Dixinormous 10 months ago
What a choice that is...

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
The usual load of nonsense about TalkTalk, mostly based on hearsay.

I've been with TT since April 2006 and, apart from one or two initial problems due mainly to the sheer volume of subscribers to its new service, I've been well satisfied.

My reliable broadband connection speed averages around 6.9Mb, I get free AnyTime calls to UK and 36 international countries' phone numbers and line rental included, for just £20.49 a month.

I used to pay £14.99 a month to Tiscali just for broadband alone, so the financial savings are clearly obvious.

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
Further (due to earlier comment's length):

As for BT, this type of offer certainly doesn't impress me...:-)

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25075

Posted by manny35 10 months ago
I'm with TalkTalk and there is one thing you should watch out for. When you change any part of your contract such as adding on deleting a boost your contract is restarted at that point but you will not be warned of this.
However if you ask them if it is a new contract you are entitled to any discount offers going to new customers at the time.

Posted by ukbirdflu 10 months ago
All I hope it the new owner will have a more definitive policy of AUP, as Tiscali AUP is a bit wolly they never specified what level of usage will trigger AUP and once you are in the AUP you have to beg for forgiveness in order to come out of the pit.

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
manny 35

Ts and Cs state:

Boosts
All boosts have a minimum duration of 30 days at a time. Once opted-in to a boost, you will continue to receive it until you opt-out or your contract ends. If you want to opt in or out of a boost at any time you must give no less than 48 hours notice to TalkTalk prior to the end of the 30 day billing period that applies to your TalkTalk account. You can only opt in or out of a boost via your online account, which can be accessed at talktalk.co.uk/myaccount. Notice received after the monthly cut-off time will be actioned at the end of your next billing period.

Posted by txrx 10 months ago
Left Nildram just last week, hope that customers stuck with Tiscali get a better service out of this although realistically all we're looking at here is a customer base buy-up.

Posted by Ronat 10 months ago
I agree with stuartli,as I have been with TalkTalk the same length of time,and think it's an excellently priced package.I was paying £18 a month to Freeserve,so for another couple of pounds I get the free calls and line rental.I don't need fast speeds,so it really depends how much you want to pay to achieve this.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
This news of TT buying Tiscali brought back nightmare memories. I trade shares and require a good online connection. I started out with screaming.net years ago (first ISP with free tel dialup), then that got bought out by GlobalOnline - that was still okay . . . and then Tiscali bought GlobalOnline . . . service went downhill so I switched to TT for the free phone calls . . . TT broadband connection was slower than dialup. I switched to BT and don't look at the cost. I've been satisfied. And a better choice of 36 countries to call than TT (who wants to call places like Macedonia???)

Posted by Royf 10 months ago
I moved to Talktalk 18 months ago and have been completely satisfied with the service , both phone and broadband There were a few teething problems but they were soon sorted out. I used to get 200k at times with Virgin who always said it was BTs fault however I get a steady 7 meg now day and night

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
TO UKBIRDFLU: With TT, all you have to do is use peer-to-peer ONCE - and only for a song (not a video), and your connection will get throttled. I am not a big p2p user (just did a couple of songs) and - WHAM - got throttled. They will NOT release the throttle for 30 days, no matter how much you beg. They know you are using p2p because of the port that you are using. You have to switch ports to fool them.

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
>>And a better choice of 36 countries to call than TT (who wants to call places like Macedonia???) >>

Now we know you're making it up - Macedonia isn't on the list. Shame on you.

The list of countries actually on the list is:

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/products/landline/international-calls

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Now compare it to the BT list of 36 countries:

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/dynamicmodules/pagecontentfooter/pageContentFooterPopup.jsp?pagecontentfooter_popupid=24319

With TT, you get countries like Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, northern Cyprus (sorry, thought one of them was Macedonia). With BT you get countries like Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and in North America you also get the Bahamas. TT has 1 slight edge in that they allow you 73 minutes before having to hang up whereas BT only allows 60 minutes (and charges £5/month for the service).

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
By the way, I would be happy to switch back to TT if I could be assured that I wouldn't get throttled down to 124kb/second download, and 85kb/second upload. That is how far my service crashed with TT when I was last with them 18 months ago. It basically became unusable - I couldn't get live stock quotes and could not trade.

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
>>TT has 1 slight edge in that they allow you 73 minutes>>

TT, in its recent revamp, aligned its 70 minute time out to 60 minutes for both UK and international calls to match BT.

My AVERAGE TT connection speed is 6.9Mb and upload around 680kbps; using Freshdownload to speed up software downloads it can reach 950kbps, a far cry from dial up days of 5 to 7 kbps...:-)

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
If only I could get that from TT.......

Posted by tagesmann 10 months ago
I've been a customer of Homecall for about 2 years. Before that I was with Pipex for 3 years. I moved to Homecall because, even though they were the same company, Pipex couldn't match Homecall on their phone and broadband package. Two months after the switch they did! I've thought about moving to TalkTalk a few times but whenever I did, Homecall matched TalkTalk's prices and more. They managed to match the package price but with unlimited downloads whereas TalkTalk has a limit.

Posted by tagesmann 10 months ago
It will be interesting to see what packages TalkTalk will offer the customers of Tiscali who are currently on so many different packages with (different) providers. Some of them must be on phone only packages, e.g. Toucan.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
I would gladly pay the extra couple of £ for the upgraded limit "boost", but what good is it if the speed is junk? Again, I got 124kb/second download, and 85kb/second upload when I was on TT broadband, and that was LLU. To make matters worse, the 125kb/second download would come in bursts about every 30 seconds it would seem, so live stock prices was a joke - I mean, I dialup was better, and that is what I switched to until I could switch to BT. It would have been laughable if hadn't caused me so many problems with my stock trading.

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
>>If only I could get that from TT...>>

It presumably has to be something to do with your local exchange.

My exchange serves a large, tightly packed business and residential area, yet I get what TT promises via its LLU service.

I couldn't ask (or demand) any more and am perfectly happy with TT's service and prices.

That was something that could never be linked to my days with Tiscali (and I joined WorldOnline in 1998!)

Posted by Stuartli 10 months ago
Plus (because of limit);

In fact WOL provided the far superior service before Tiscali got its hands on the business.

So its £300m loss on the price it would have got last year before CPW's final deal the other day doesn't exactly leave me in tears...

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
>>It presumably has to be something to do with your local exchange.>>

You presume wrong. TT admitted to me that they had throttled me back (I downloaded a couple of songs from the 1960's), and I was down to 124kb/second. It was unbelievable. TT absolutely refused to take me off throttle for 30 days. The call center would not let me speak to a supervisor. I switched to BT and stuck them with an unpaid bill. Oh, and I am next to Battersea Park - there should be no problem here.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Oh, and I explained to them my situation (i.e., have to have a "must have" reliable system for online stock trading in the States, i.e. from hours 3pm to 9pm London time). They absolutely refused. Wouldn't budge an inch. They didn't care.

Oh, and a long time ago, I learned to put my phone line in a bogus name, so when, even though I have an unlisted number, when somebody calls up and says, "Hello, is that Mr Smith???, I know it is a sales call and hang up", i.e. TT is trying to collect the unpaid bill from a person that doesn't even exist.

Posted by andrew ( staff member) 10 months ago
With TalkTalk the P2P traffic is managed no matter how much you use, but this should not impact on your ability to use HTTP for example.

With full/shared LLU, Tiscali already make use of both on their network, and move people between products as they deem fit.

Posted by leshewitt 10 months ago
authoriseduser545: Your information on TalkTalk traffic shaping is well out of date - you say it was 18 months ago you were last with TT. Earlier this year, they changed to dynamic shaping. If you do heavy p2p downloading, you are throttled back during peak times and the throttle is lifted in quiet times. My experience is that they do what they say on this and it really works - honest!

Posted by leshewitt 10 months ago
I'm with Stuartli and Ronat. I've been with TalkTalk since August 2007. It's cheap, fast (5.5mb down, 1mb up) and reliable (no outage longer than 30 secs for over a year).

Not unreasonably, you tend to hear more from the loud minority who have problems rather than the silent majority who are just fine. TalkTalk's biggest problem (apparently, from what I read) is their crap customer service and poor fault fixing record. They are certainly not alone in this!

Posted by leshewitt 10 months ago
Andrew's first comment is well made. TT only throttle P2P traffic. HTTP, e-mail and other traffic are left at whatever speed you can get.

Posted by leshewitt 10 months ago
authoriseduser545: 'have to have a "must have" reliable system for online stock trading'.

I doubt that TT, Tiscali or any of the other cheap end of the market would give the sort of guaranteed availability you need. When I worked in IT, high-availability or non-stop services of any type came at a big price premium. You should expect to get what you pay for and this is cheap.

Posted by leshewitt 10 months ago
authoriseduser545: "I learned to put my phone line in a bogus name"

Interesting tactic. I wonder whether it's against the terms and conditions of phone companies to give a false name?

I know someone who gave subtly different postal addresses to suppliers whenever he ordered anything. If he then got junk mail he checked his list and knew who had sold his address.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"With full/shared LLU, Tiscali already make use of both on their network, and move people between products as they deem fit."

With regards to a phone service isnt that deemed to be slamming or similar? I didnt think any company were allowed to randomly FULLY UNBUNDLE your line?

Posted by andrew ( staff member) 10 months ago
If you have agreed for a firm to provide your telephone and broadband service then they are free to move/upgrade you between products so long as they meet the terms of your contract.

The contracts rarely define what wholesale product MUST be used.

Slamming is only possible when you are moved from one provider to another.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
To lesshewitt et al:

Regarding having to have a "must have" reliable system for online stock trading: I have found BT to be perfectly fine. They occasionally have short downtimes, but I can live with that. TT was totally unacceptable - it rendered are a staff member - go look at my Speedtest results on 11 December 2007 at circa 7:45pm - see all those readings with download at 100kb/sec and upload at 97kb/sec??? That's what I'm talking about. And then there are readings at 6am where it is 3MB download.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

On 12 Dec 2007 at 8:20pm (final hour of NY trading), the speed was 56kb down, 59kb up. Just incredible. And grossly offensive. As for leshewitt's comment that my TT experience is out of date since it was 18 months ago, my response is, "I will not trust them without concrete proof that they have cleaned up their act". Remember, I got them on the phone and they admitted that I had been throttled back and refused to release the throttle for 30 days and would not let me talk to a supervisor. Twits.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

I will say that, before they admitted all that to me, their technical service guys spent days with me, upping the amplitude of the signal - but that just made the whole thing unreliable and it would constantly disconnect. It was weird - tech support would spend all this time with me . . . . . but they apparently didn't know that the reason was that I had been throttled back. And I had only downloaded a couple of "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlet" soundtracks using eMule. I promised not to use p2p in the future - but no dice - THEY JUST WOULD NOT BUDGE. Not an inch.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

So I went with BT and stuck TT for the outstanding bill.

As for me using a bogus name - I first did that in the early 1990's when I was involved in some lawsuits in the States, and I had an unlisted number with BT, and BT gave it out to a private investigator in two seconds flat. My response to that was to disconnect and stick BT for the bill, then call up and order new service in the name of Al Capone (famous American mafia gangster). I don't know if it is legal and I don't care - BT should not have given out my unlisted number - ....

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

- apparently, BT is like a sieve when it comes to private investigators - I am told that there is a ready supply of BT employees who will give out your unlisted info for a tenner. Again, I was forced into doing this, so I don't really care.

Andrew and leshewitt commented on the fact that TT traffic is shaped in any case (switched a uear ago to something called "shaping" according to leshewitt) - my response? - I only recently got introduced to bittorrents and decided to give it a go (I downloaded the old "Invaders" TV series from the 1960's) - ……

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

- both because I wanted to see the shows from my youth, and to see what BT's response would be (I was prepared this time to accept a 30-day throttling). BT response??? Nothing. I still have full download speed 24/7. I should note, however, that I have a friend who has Sky broadband in Sheffield, and doesn't do ANY p2p, and he says his connection grinds to a halt in the evenings. If Sky is doign that, I figure TT is as well. If BT called me up and told me they wanted me to pay them an extra tenner a month because of my usage these days (apparently BT does not “shape”??)

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

(I am downloading more movies these days - leaving the PC on 24/7), I would do it - I don't have a problem paying for bandwidth or decent service (I buy BT's most expensive package - about £47 month, and that's including free international calls 24/7). Bottom line - I think you get what you pay for, and TT is for the cost-conscious consumer who is willing to put up with minimal or sub-standard service. I'm not knocking TT for this - it is a business strategy - but I think consumers should be informed that TT is NOT the equivalent of BT -...

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
Continuation of post….

- it's like comparing shopping for food at Somerfield to shopping at Marks & Spencers - there is a huge difference - but the public should not be led to believe that TT is the equivalent of BT - it is NOT . . . . . and it shows. Unfortunately, I did not know this when I signed up for TT - if I had known that, I never would have gone with them. The public should know what they are - the cheapest ISP out there, with an absolute bare-bones product and service. I have no complaints about BT and have no problem paying their marginally higher price.

Posted by authoriseduser545 10 months ago
I should note that my £47 package from BT includes everything - line rental, free UK calls 24/7, free international calls (to a number of countries), and the top unlimited broadband package (plus a semi-decent router (TT was using just a modem when I left them), plus a second VOIP telephone line + number with free evening and weekend calls, plus free cordless phone for it). And it all works. I can't complain.

Posted by litesp33d 10 months ago
There are many problems with TT & all its associated companies. A16 page terms & conditions should create alarm bells but it is then too late. They are misleading with their offer & are pretending to sell a Waitrose quality service at a car boot sale price.

What you actually get is the car boot sale quality product. If you know what you are getting into that is fine but most don't. Do any P2P & you are throttled. Not mentioned up front in their ads. Call centres not UK based so almost impossible to get through to, exporting UK jobs & communicating problem can be impossible.

Posted by litesp33d 10 months ago
Continuing to charge direct debits after a service has been cancelled. What will adding another 1.4 million unhappy Tiscali customers will do to these so-called customer service centres. TT will not increase their staff. It is not their way.

Finally if you are LLU and wish to cancel or transfer your service the only options available are get a new phone line installed or transfer your existing line back to BT for an automatic 12-month term. BT love it and Dunstone has you by the balls. Don’t believe me. Then just try it. Thanks to the idiots at OFCOM there are NO MAC’s in the LLU world.

Posted by CaptainW 10 months ago
Thought I'd let peeps know - Sky are apparently offering any Tiscali customer a FREE SKY+ box and £50 credit on your account if you want to switch to Sky TV + Broadband - they will also organise a new phone line installation if need be

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"Thanks to the idiots at OFCOM there are NO MAC’s in the LLU world."

That is not true, some LLU companies will provide MACs.... (Well the decent ones, IE NOT Tiscali or TT will).
When you go back over to BT control and a BT based broadband service you may have to pay connection fees etc though to the new provider.

Posted by andys999 10 months ago
Well as carpetburns knows,im more than happy on my 6.4mb speed on my laptop with built in sim card from voda.
Fixed line sucks
long live the dongle!!
no mac codes,indians,tiscrapi,bt,ao hell or talk less to worry about.

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"Well as carpetburns knows,im more than happy on my 6.4mb speed on my laptop with built in sim card from voda.
Fixed line sucks
long live the dongle!!
no mac codes,indians,tiscrapi,bt,ao hell or talk less to worry about. "

Mobile broadband is not the way forward for so many reasons, if you are happy though thats the main thing, though remember many would be disgusted getting under 7Mb.

Posted by andys999 10 months ago
dissagree,trials at the moment on a 20gb dongle.
It will take bt yrs to improve lines.
THE DONGLE WILL LIVE LONG AND PROSPER you read it here!!MARK MY WORDS

Posted by TGVrecord 10 months ago
Choice is good. At the moment the majority of folks are better off with a fixed line as it is generally cheaper than mobile, however many people can only get a 1 Mb service so mobile would be a viable option. Mobile is also very flexible especially for laptop users.
I have noticed many folks have mentioned using Mobile access as emergency backup. For occasional use it must be cheaper than a 2nd land line. The only issue I can see is that certain areas have poor mobile reception and poor land lines!

Posted by CARPETBURN 10 months ago
quote"dissagree,trials at the moment on a 20gb dongle.
It will take bt yrs to improve lines.
THE DONGLE WILL LIVE LONG AND PROSPER you read it here!!MARK MY WORDS"

And how much is that 20Mb service??

Mobile is great for those that live a billion miles from the exchange for the rest of the population that actually live in civilisation though mobile doesnt come close to fix line on price, reliability or in MOST cases speed.