[rant] Re: migrating from Telstra ADSL to TPG
Alex Satrapa
grail at goldweb.com.au
Fri Feb 14 10:54:34 EST 2003
On Friday, February 14, 2003, at 09:41 , Marek Samoc wrote:
> On a related subject: can anybody share experiences of migrating from
> Telstra ADSL to TPG? My understanding (from reading TPG web pages) is
> that
> one needs to cancel the Telstra ADSL *first* before even applying for
> TPG
> ADSL? Any gotchas in the process?
I haven't done it yet, but the process according to three ADSL providers
I've talked to is something like this:
- Call Telstra and (politely) tell them that you're switching to a new
ASDSL provider (they'd appreciate a reason, even if they don't ask
for it - eg: they cost too much), and ask for a magic
number (I can't remember what it's called)
- Call [insert new ADSL provider name here] and tell them you're
switching from Telstra, and provide them with the magic number from
Telstra. This means that the new provider can put a rocket up the
Telstra people, who will take as long as possible to disconnect you
from the Telstra network (so they get a couple of days/weeks bills
out of you, even when your ADSL has been switched off)
- Eventually, Telstra give you a confirmation that their side of the
switching process has been done, so you call your new provider and
confirm with them.
- New provider, eager to start billing you for ADSL and providing a
service that's actually worth the money, attempts to connect you
into their ADSL network, but finds that Telstra have sabo^H^H^H
made a trivial clerical error, and you go back a couple of steps
and start again
- Eventually, Telstra lets go of your ADSL pair, and your new
provider gets you connected to their network (in the meantime,
Telstra has charged both you and your new provider for access to
the ADSL service that you couldn't use and the new provider
couldn't provide)
Be prepared to have no Internet access for anywhere from 3 days (when
Telstra staff are happy and feeling like being cooperative) to 3 weeks
(when Telstra staff are being the usual jobsworths that so many are
these days). And don't forget, if you disconnect sometime into a month,
Telstra will try to charge you for the whole month in which they finally
got around to disconnecting you - so if you disconnect at the end of
February and the "clerical errors" take them two weeks to disconnect you
(at the beginning of March), you'll be paying for all of March as well
as the rest of February, even though your ADSL login was disabled at the
time that you called. Check your bills very carefully!
Telstra's making noises about streamlining the switchover process, but
actions speak louder than words, and Telstra is being strangely quiet.
Note that some ISPs (I'll mention TPG here, because I work for them)
provide a dial-up backup to the ADSL - you may want to check with your
chosen ISP about the dial-up backup, and how much it will cost to have
the dial-up backup in place until the ADSL is actually connected - this
will minimise downtime, but increase your costs.
I hope I don't sound bitter and disillusioned - I'd hate anyone to think
that I didn't have the highest professional regard for Telstra. They
really are doing the best they can to satisfy their shareholders. I was
happy with the quality of network connectivity that they provide, and
the technical helpdesk was able to answer my simple questions
immediately. I guess I'm just sour because I'm a customer, not a
shareholder ;)
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