186k, Elite Internet, Mailbox Internet Services Go Bust?

Before I begin, if any readers are looking for the “1st post of 2009” article that I emailed you about yesterday, please click here to view.

Also, with regards the title of the post. I don’t know if 186k are in any sort of financial trouble, hence the question mark. I am only assuming as I can see no other reason as to why Tiscali would pull the plug on them.

Now on with the post 🙂

I seem to be dogged by broadband troubles. Around 4 or 5 years ago I signed up for broadband with a company called “E7even” broadband. At the time they were offering state of the art broadband, with no upload or download limits for only £14.99 per month. They were by far the cheapest provider at the time so as you’d expect, they managed to pull in a lot of customers.

Everything was fine for around 2 years, until 1 day all E7even broadband customers awoke to  what I think they described as a “garden walled” page – please feel free to comment if my terminology is a wrong! It simply said that E7even Broadband were no longer able to provide Internet services for their customers, to put it simply – the money had run out.

So customers were presented with a couple of options:

1. Sign up with a company called EzeeDSL LTD (part of the 186k group) and be instantly reconnected.

2. Wait for 30 days until the line could be disconnected and then you could move to another provider.

Being left without an Broadband connection for 30 days would have been a nightmare for most customers, so as you can imagine, a huge percentage of E7even broadband customers went for option number 1 and signed up with EzeeDSL.

The price for the package was £5 more than the E7even package and came in at £19.99 per month for a connection with unlimited downloads and uploads. The only downside at the time was a forced 12 month contract, but with no other real options many people, myself included had no choice but to sign up.

During the next couple of years, the connection was fine. Support didn’t exist and many people had trouble getting MAC codes, but I never really needed any support so it didn’t matter.

During the time I was with EzeeDSL, or 186k Limited. They also “rescued” – there words not mine! A number of customers from other broadband service providers in the same way they did with E7even customers. 186k were starting to get a reputation for buying out smaller companies with financial problems, they were providing the broadband service for all of the following:

• EzeeDSL
• Elite Internet
• Mailbox Internet

So….jump forward to January 16th 2009. Some (including me) 186k/EzeeDSL/Elite Internet/Mailbox Internet customers were awoken to the following notice from 186k’s main provider – Tiscali. All former E7even customers should notice the screen 😉

You will no longer be able to access the Internet from this connection. It is essential that we move your existing Internet broadband connection to a new Internet Service Provider.

Tiscali Business Services is the underlying provider for this broadband line. Your Internet Service Provider (being 186k Limited, Elite Internet Services Limited or Mailbox Internet Services Limited), has been delivering your service pursuant to arrangements with Tiscali Business Services. Unfortunately these arrangements can no longer be maintained and Tiscali Business Services needs to move your service to a new Internet Service Provider, to ensure continuity of your Internet connection.

Whilst we appreciate that this is very disruptive it is essential that we resolve this as soon as possible. To minimise the disruption to you we will re-connect you with a temporary user name and password whilst you arrange a permanent move to an alternative Internet Service Provider. Tiscali Business Services has made the necessary arrangements to assist you in transferring your service to an alternative Internet Service Provider as quickly as possible. The temporary user name and password will remain valid for a maximum of 30 days from the date of issue.

We do understand the inconvenience that this will cause. If you are happy with your underlying network provider we have been able to set up a straight-forward process with three internet service providers who use Tiscali Business Services’ network. Each of these Internet Service Providers offers a full range of services including up to 16Mb packages (where available), a minimum 3 month contract and a variety of complementary services.

If you are a business with a single line where your email and hosting are not provided as part of your existing package of this line we recommend:

PIPEX BUSINESS – High performance Business broadband products from £14.50 per month exc. VAT, with the first 3 months free, if you commit to a 12 month contract. Please contact 0800 954 2857*.

If you are a business with multiple lines and where your email or hosting is provided as part of your existing package of this line we recommend:

NILDRAM – High performance Business Class broadband products from £14.50 exc. VAT, with the first 3 months free, if you commit to a 12 month contract. Please call 0800 072 0417*.

If you are not a business user and or do not need business style products we recommend:

freedom2surf – High performance broadband products from £13.70 inc. VAT, with the first 3 months free, if you commit to a 12 month contract. Please call 0800 072 0400*.

You are, of course, free to choose any alternative Internet Service Provider that you desire. If you do not want to use any of the three Internet Service Providers above, and instead would like to migrate to another Internet Service Provider, then please call 0871 265 7261** (calls charged at National Rates), or send an email with the following details:

Phone number that your broadband service is on
Your address
Your postcode

Send your details to mac@uk.tiscali.com – and a MAC code will be provided within 5 days. Unfortunately we are not able to fast track such transfers, and this transfer may take the standard 10 to 30 days.

If you are unsure of which option to choose or need more information please email us on 186kinfo@uk.tiscali.com and we will respond within 24 hours, or access our Frequently Asked Questions here.

*Phone lines open from Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm
**Phone lines open from Monday to Friday 9am – 9pm

It seems like Tiscali decided to pull the plug on 186k Internet.

So 186k/EzeeDSL/Elite Internet/Mailbox Internet customers are now in the following boat:

1. Sign up with 1 of the 3 providers listed on the holding page.

2. Call Tiscali Business Services and request a MAC code and a temp username and password

I have already selected option 2.

I called Tiscali Business Services at around 10.15am this morning and got stright through to an operator, I didn’t have to go through a queue which was surprising. I got through to a very helpful chap that provided me with a temp broadband username and password that I can use for the next 30 days whilst I find another provider.

He also generated a MAC code for me that should arrive via post, in around 5 working days.

So all in all, despite feeling resentment towards 186k. I think a lot of credit has to go to Tiscali for the way they have handled the siuation. Back when the same thing happened with E7even, we were forced to sign up with 186k or go without broadband for a minimum of 30 days.

This time, at least Tiscali have given us 30 days of temp broadband access so we are able to choose our own provider if we wish to do so!

And just on a side point, if any of you are unsure about connecting to the Internet with your new Tiscali temp username and password. Feel free to leave a comment with your router name and model and I’ll be happy to help you out!

So the only question that’s left now is….Who should I choose for my new Broadband provider 🙂

I don’t live in an LLU enabled area, but as far as I know it should be coming to us sometime in the first half of this year, so I don’t really want to be tied into a long contract. So far on my list of potential choices are:

• Zen
• Sky
• BT

Any other suggestions?

I’m sure there will be a lot of traffic to this page, so please do feel free to leave any comments you may have. Loads of people reading this will be in the same boat as you so we should be able to help each other out!

Thanks for reading,
Dan