BT Contented (gamer section) (btopenworld.co.uk)

Member Name: sadarak

Product:	btopenworld.co.uk
Date:	03/09/01 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fast/quick, hassle free instalation/cheapest out there for ADSL

Disadvantages: Bad phone services/pricy if your already on Home highway

From some of the reviews and opinions on the net it would seem that my opinion of the service in general is in the minority but (In my personal experiance) BT Openworld has been very satisfying on the whole.

I was a home high way customer and transfered to ADSL as soon as it was available in my area as ISDN is practically the same cost and the whole process has been quick and painless. On initial phoning (and a great deal of double checking) I comfirmed the prices and was given a date 4 weeks away which I thought was a while to wait so I tried to get it pushed foard and to my amazment I found that I could have my date moved to within 6 days of the order :D.

Instalation itself was a breeze and the ease of use with the software is as good as can be expected (basically idio proof). All in all it took about 1.5 hours to install and that was only because cables had to be laid upstairs. While the technitian was still actually in the house packing up I connected straight onto the net first try and havent looked back since.

There are however down points which have to be commented upon. The biggest disapointment has to be the payment method as, if you dont have a credit card, you HAVE to pay with direct debit (and if you cant then you aint getting it). The draw back with this is that you actaully have to get the buisness service 500 as oposed to the home 500 which means that VAT is suddenly not included in the listed prices adding quite alot to the charge over time.

Another point to be wary of is if you already have home highway to be very carefull that your 12month contractual period is through other wise they WILL charge you the rest of the period in one go! On the subject of home highway its worth noting that they force you to pay for a line conversion first to a normal line in order to test to see if you can have adsl and if you cant they still land you with the initial conversion charge (although they forgo the charge for conve
rion back to isdn from the old line). The charge its self is an extortionate £99 which people without isdn simply dont have to pay and could be a stumbeling block for some people, however it is reduced to £50 for home highway customers on a BT Together plan so it makes up for this a little.(its worth noting that freeserve, although more expensive monthly said that they would compleatly wave the fee for Home Highway confersion).

A slightly less important point is the level of the assitance you get over the phone. Its not as if they dont seem to care but thanks to the large inferstructure of BT you can get given 3 different prices sometimes in one phone call. Basically dont expect to get it all sorted in one call be any means...(my m8 actually got charged £99 for the conversion from Home Highway to his normal line even though he was on BT together and had to ring to get the bill changed).

On the whole though I personally couldnt be happier and apart from being a little disapointed with the phone service and having to pay an extra £50 than normal line customer I couldnt recomend it more.

[GAMERS]

I basically got this service in order to play games faster online and in that capasity it has also improved my experiance a great deal. I wont bother explaining any terms I use here as if your an online gamer you will understand them.

Pings are marvelous with constant displayed ping as around 50 dropping to 30 or upto 100 at most. Packet loss seems to be practically none existant as is lag, also never getting disconnected is a big plus when playing in clan wars and so on. If you are a serious online gamer and have acsess to this and can afford it youd be a fool to miss it.

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