I shot the sheriff (but I didn’t shoot the deputy....) (Freeserve)

Member Name: stereoman

Product:	Freeserve
Date:	05/02/01 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fastly proving itself as really the best all around ISP....

Disadvantages: ....why did it take them this long though!?

This weekend, having celebrated my 20th anniversary of life on earth, there are a few things I realise that all people are entitled to (but not necessarily have)....a good education, some decent job prospects, the love of a good woman and low phone bills. The first three are more or less, give or take (I do have two of those suggested requirements if you’re wondering....) and aren’t controlled by you....lower phone bills, you can sure manage to have some semblance of a chance to alter.

Thanks to Freeserve Hometime, those who spend a lot of time on the internet shouldn’t feel as though that they have to beat the clock into getting a more satisfying session, internet surfing.

As part of my birthday treat, I had ordered the Weekends and Evenings Package from BT to start from February 1st. In conjunction I had also ordered Freeserve Hometime at the very reasonable introductory price of £8.99 (it turns to £9.99 per month from March 1st, so if you want it, you’ll have to get
cracking....).

My first experience with BT in organising this had left me bewildered and battle-hardened.

I had ordered it on December 22nd FOR January 1st but owing to some fool in the sales team, they had ordered it then and there BEFORE the date I wanted it. In the early hours of January Ist, I had set about
choosing a suitable ISP’s Surftime package and chose LineOne. Three days later and ritual checking of Outlook Express brought no confirmation e-mails. I panicked and rang their helpline at 50p a minute. BT had not let me have the package and thus LineOne had no responsibility to send me any
corresponding e-mails to tell me this. I was angry and slightly perturbed by this ‘shock’ admission but went back to bed thinking nothing of it.

Later, I rang BT on 152 (150, if you’re a residential customer) and asked me why this was so. They had told me that the order was cancelled. They couldn’t
give me a reason why BUT did tell me I had ordered it from late December. I told them this was a mistake....who in their right mind would order a monthly package AND to use it at full cost of £9.99 for 9 days!? Fortunately, I was able to dispute this and got back the ‘rental’ charge it had cost me for ‘using’ this service (as it was BT’s mistake, I’m within my consumer rights to do so).

Having the affair blown into a full 4 days into January, I stated that I would not like to order it now BUT wait until February 1st to utilise it. Foolish move, on my behalf....like a junkie carrying out criminal
activities through extenuated means, you WILL want more.

In the mean time, I had checked out all the participating ISPs and finally decided on Freeserve knowing full well it had the capabilities to service my requirements as well as it’s extremely generous introductory
offer.

February 1st came. Having gone through the motions of going into Outlook Express and downloading the necessary dialler needed to activate Freeserve Hometime through a confirmation e-mail that was sent to me, I really thought that high phone bills had been a thing of the past.

The Dial-Up Connection box had now manifested itself to a huge specialised Freeserve box of it’s own but thinking nothing of it, connected to Freeserve Hometime through it’s 0844 0402001 number using exactly the same username and password combination as you would use on their ordinary 0845 number. So far, so good as they say....14 minutes in and the service had disconnected me. ‘What the blazes I
thought!?’ (as you do) and thought nothing of it. I connected again BUT this time, the service struggled to do anything but run the clock down as it was working but I couldn’t connect to a webpage! Really not the sort of thing that should be happening. I went back to bed, thinking it might be have been busy
and left i
t at that.

February 2nd....well I was organising what was happening on my birthday (a little sad really, but my friends well....I didn’t do much really, organising a trip to see Traffic at the cinema....good film) and I
didn’t pursue the Freeserve Hometime angle until Saturday. But I did ask BT if the Weekends & Evenings Package had been activated.....mysteriously it had also been cancelled and again they couldn’tgive me a reason as to why. I was a little distraught....it’s taken me a month and a half to organise such a simple thing....nothing wrong at my end. BT had ordered it again and it should start tomorrow, theystated.

Great, nothing to worry about then....February 3rd came but amazingly just slept my way through the entire morning. Waking up shortly after noon, I had raced downstairs to use the internet to see if I really had a service that I could use without problems....14 minutes in, no problem. 30 seconds later, it had
disconnected itself. Sick of all this, I went to the Dial-Up Connection’s Troubleshooter section and allied myself with every possible solution, it could have come up with....to no avail.

Grumpy but slightly less so due to Saturday’s high jinx (yes, spontaneity is in my capability), I went to bed.

February 4th, I couldn’t take it any more. What had I done to deserve such a shoddy service!? Should I go to church more often? Should I treat my girlfriend with even more respect than she already has? Was God telling me something? Is it a combined effort from Freeserve and BT to keep me in high phone bills!?

I had to know. I tried the Freeserve Hometime service again....and again. In a series of 30 second short bursts it kind of worked BUT never really connecting to the service. I couldn’t use Outlook Express
either. It’s no use trying to e-mail them (it’s true, you know send an e-mail to mail@freeserve,com brings you nothing but
a 33K sized automatic response....) and finally, I plumped to do it and did the most
courageous thing, I could have done that day....I rang Freeserve’s 50p a minute helpline on 0906 2 517 517.

Speaking as fast and as coherently as Jonathon Ross on speed, I rushed through what the problem was stating my username (not before he hurriedly stated that this phoneline cost 50p a minute AND that a call will not last longer than 10 minutes....that was already ten seconds wasted). Sympathising but not fully realising the situation, he went through the method of going into Control Panel>Modems>Dialing Properties checking that my area code was correctly stated and checking whether or not it was set to ‘+44 United Kingdom’ or whether I had Call Waiting (yes AND no to those questions AND in that order).

Next, he told me to go to Dial-Up Networking and highlight Freeserve Hometime and check it’s server type that it’s ‘PPP:Windows 95....‘ (as it states in the troubleshooter) BUT with the bonus of telling me that the only allowed protocol should be TCP/IP. Then click on TCP/IP settings and that nothing but the ‘Use remote gateway on remote network’ should be clicked (the five rows of zeros should STILL be maintained like that....no change there).

After, he told me to go to Internet Options>Connections and setting Freeserve Hometime as my default connection and that I should apply that and then OK it.

‘Fine!’, I said, trying to retain some dignity as this was already costing me £2.50.

Go back to Dial-Up Networking and go on to Make New Connection. and set up a new one called ‘New Hometime’ (or whatever you like....). Then set the phone number to 0844 0402001, making sure it’s '+44 United Kingdom'. Then set your username and password exactly like before as you go to try to log in.

‘You what!’, I spluttered. ‘’Thi
s sorts out whatever corrupted bits, your end has like a sieve does with lumpy flour’, he stated calmly.

I was furious, this had cost me £5.00 now. I got off the helpline and tested out the new connection....if it's February 5th and you're reading this now, 24 minutes in and no problem so far, thanks for asking. Thanks to a certain Alan Crompton on the Freeserve helpdesk....there really should be no need to ring that 50p a minute phoneline now (if you’re reading this, please vote!).

Why can’t they post this solution on their website? It’s such a diabolically fiendish way into getting people to ring the helpline and it doesn’t ease the dastardly memory of three days wondering why I couldn’t use the Freeserve Hometime service (I forgot to mention that as I went to bed, I had various nightmares....it's funny what you dream about, you know).

Well, at least my Outlook Express works now and I can use it for up to 2 hours a go. In retaliation, I will be using it, in blocks of 4 sessions a day, every day in revenge for the stupidity of such shady
shenanigans.

Whether or not, my sanity goes first or their’s does, will of course be recorded into the messages section.

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