[UPDATED] BT - Sure but is it Anytime? (btinternet.com)

Member Name: Jpdm

Product:	btinternet.com
Date:	05/05/01 (396 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: price, reliability, customer service

Disadvantages: slow after 18:30, two hours disconnection time

[UPDATED - see end of op]

Let's face it. You get what you pay for. In most of the times, I would add... Thus, having decided to register with another ISP after being disconnected from 24-7 freecall (you can have a look at my previous opinion), except for the usual needs of a user like:

- speed
- throughput
- small server latency

I started doing my research having something extra in my mind. The belief that my selection would still be around after some time.

Having this, primarily, in my mind I opted for the relatively 24/7 scheme that BT offers and that costs £14.99 per month. What do you get for it? You can access the net 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year with no extra monthly cost than if you ate 1.56 Mars bars in a daily basis. 'A real bargain', I said and considered registering. Doing a lot of business on-line and being with no connection at home is a problem for me. On the other hand, I was looking for something to be reliable and not to be unable to connect for days.
I started looking in on-line forums at work (do not mention it to my employer!) and after about 2 weeks I decided to opt, eventually, for this BT Anytime scheme. I have to say that the two most important reasons for my decision were:

- the fact that I could do with 1.56 Mars bars less a day and
- that BT is a company that as far as I am concerned did never invest in something that would not be reliable, or at least well organised.

After going to the [www.btinternet.com] site I chose the Anytime connection option and proceeded. I have to site that their site is quite understandable and I did not find any problems finding what I wanted. While registering I was asked my credit card details, name and what you would expect in this kind of registration.
Now what follows that step shows that you are dealing with an ISP that has done this before. The user has the option of having the browser he
is using automatically or manually. A lot of ISPs that I have used before have had this option but none so analytically and not in a way that makes the user be afraid that someone will access his computer and make a mess of it. Personally, I am accustomed to such tasks and I did it manually. However, having a reliable automatic option always helps in case of formatting yours computer and you don't have the time or are in a mood to spend some time adjusting your ISP's dial-up connection properties. The only negative thing so far was that there was no easy way out of registering to BT Anytime in another computer than the one you will be using to connect to the Internet. What is the need for that? Some people might not have a backup ISP installed in their computer and might go to an Internet café or a friend to register.
In any case, having followed all of the guidelines from the BT Internet site and after double-checking everything in the connection icon for Anytime, I clicked on it. I did connect without any problems. That was what it supposed to happen but whenever something is tried for the first time in your computer a lot of things can go wrong.
I have to say that the speed is not as great as in my previous Internet connection with 24/7freecall, but it is quite reliable even during the peak hours. Or so I thought... ( as it will be seen later on). My advice to those between you that are users or thinking to register with BT Anytime is that it is faster during the following hours:

- 10:00 - 11:30 and
- 13:30 - 18:00.

Not bad at all considering the number of subscribers. Here, it must be noted that you would never be disconnected from the... other end. The only detail that might be expected by a lot of you is that after 18:00 the speed of the Internet, and not only your connection, goes right down. You see all the users that have off-peak Internet surfing schemes start logging-in and the result is as such.
Hav
ing realised all of the above I was a happy Internet user and quite assured by my new ISP.

Unfortunately this only lasted for ONE DAY(!) believe it or not... When I tried to connect next day in the morning, I got a DNS problem. After trying all I had come across previously to encounter this situation, I did not manage to get a result. I then thought ringing BT customer support. WHAT A MISTAKE!

ALL BT ANYTIME USERS BE AWARE! If you have a problem connecting to the Internet, avoid phoning customer support straight away. There is a free phone number [0800 731 7777] that you can ring and hear a pre-recorded message about the status of the servers that connect you to the Internet. I have to say that this is a brilliant idea from the part of BT and I applaud it by all means for its originality and customer information.
It must be noted that the customer support line costs 50p per minute but through my experience I would say that you will never need it if you were connected another ISP previously. That is because you would have come across some of the rare problems that do come up when connecting to the Internet.

To sum things up, BT Anytime is a very good deal for those among you that are after a 24/7 Internet connection and is most importantly cheap! Incidentally the problem I told you I encountered with my connection was indeed due to a problem with the BT servers and lasted about a day. On top of that, it must be remembered that the day this happened was Saturday and that some ISPs also serve their members in the weekends!

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[UPDATE - 6/11/01]

What is mentioned above about your connections not being disconnected at any time is not valid any more. Since early September your connection is terminated just before you reach the two hours connection time. Indeed some times your connection just freezes not sending/receiving any data.

Unfortunately, I can no longer listen to whole football
matches when on-line as they last around two hours…

I am thinking of opting for an ADSL connection. However, as I am still doing my research concerning the available ISPs, I will be informing you about my choice towards the end on November, when if everything goes to plan, I will be getting on-line with my new ADSL line.

Stay tuned…

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