I do it all day long (tesco.net)

Member Name: Nemesis_252

Product:	tesco.net
Date:	27/04/03 (1698 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Excellent Customer Support, First time connection

Disadvantages: Strangely I can't even think of one!

I do it all day long ...Surf the Internet that is. I have been an Internet dial up user for roughly the last four years (BT doesn't deem my area worthy of broadband yet. Tell me, how do they expect 400 people to pre-register from an area before they activate broadband, when I live in a rural area and there are barely 400 people with computers?! Anyway, whinge over!).

In my time I have been through three ISP's and this is now my fourth. My previous three are, in order; Freeserve <Who I fell out with after years of service after they threatened court action over non-payment, although they hadn't informed me that they no longer accepted Switch which is how I had paid up to that point>, UKOnline <Who only operated on PAYG so I moved on swiftly, it was just to get me online after Freeserve> and finally Breathe <who offered a good £10 off peak package, but after seeing Tesco.net's updated prices for anytime, was cancelled - eventually, after 2 emails, one letter and two phone calls!>.

Now, moving on to Tesco.net. I had noticed their adverts for their ISP while in store one day, so on returning home I visited their website and sure enough, there it was... Anytime 56k Dialup, only £12.99 a month (I didn't notice a 64k or 128k option, but I wasn't looking for one either). Perfect. For a lazy student like myself it was beginning to get a little boring having to wait till 4pm for free surfing with my old Breathe ISP, this one would allow anytime dialup for a lot less cost than the usual suspects: BT, AOL etc etc. WooHoo!

I signed up online, filled in the appropriate information, and then downloaded the software they provide. Throughout this process, all was made very clear at all time. I am an experienced computer/internet user, and I found the information provided not too simplistic, yet by no means too complicated for a first time user.

The downloaded software is roughly 900k, and so took a few minutes. The
popup menus keep you updated with exactly what to do, when to do it and more importantly for first timers, how to do it.

I followed the menus exactly and after receiving the final message to say it was done, promptly disconnected from my PAYG account.

So far so good. However. Problem 1: Due to a software problem on my PC the provided dialup software didn't install properly. This left me with my Outlook account set-up with my Tesco.net email address, but with no dialler. A small problem for a dial up ISP. I promptly telephoned their technical support, although I was a bit apprehensive of the premium rate telephone line (50p per min). The guy at the other end was very knowledgeable and I assume recognised through my questions that I knew my way around Windows, and hence was very quick in his responses. After all, who wants to hear someone "Humming and Haahring" when you're paying £30 an hour to talk to them! Although he spoke swiftly, I have no doubt he could have and would have taken it patiently and slowly for a beginner.

The technical support helpline had solved my problem within 4 minutes (Yes, I was timing! 50p per minute remember!) and I was now ready to connect to the Internet.

So far so good. However. Problem 2: After successfully connecting to the Internet through Tesco.net, now was the time to check that my new Tesco.net email address was both sending and receiving, and also time to check that my original Breathe email address that I intended to continue using as my main email was doing likewise. This is when I hit my second snag. The Tesco.net email was working fine, however, something was wrong with my Breathe email as it was receiving, but not sending.

Not wanting to call the premium rate technical support for something so trivial, I simply visited the website and emailed them instead. Promptly came an automated reply with a unique reference number, to tell me I would receive some correspond
ence within 48 hours. Sure enough, within 48 hours I received an email from them, setting out very simply and very clearly, how to attempt to fix the problem. The provided information was spot on and everything was hunky dory.

The package itself is pretty similar to the other anytime dial ups, except it's cheaper. Maybe by just one or two pound a month, but it soon adds up. You get the average five email addresses, you get the web space (not sure what the amount is as I'm not really interested), and its got the usual clauses of disconnecting after 2 hours usage and disconnecting after ten minutes of non-usage. All of the for mentioned is however, pretty normal to all ISP's.

What is abnormal is the exceptional technical support you receive if something might inadvertently go wrong. Bearing in mind that both my problems were pretty much down to my own messing about, they fixed them quickly without question. Couple that with the fact that Tesco are not one of these companies that disappear from one day to the next, so you know that you're giving your money to a trusted source.

Another outstanding feature is that every time you dial up, you get connected. In the past (with Breathe and especially Freeserve) I have found myself hearing engaged tones, and there can not be many things more annoying than "Derr Derr", "Derr Derr", when you're trying to get online. So far, I've had none of that, not even once. Top marks!

Bottom line, a TOP ISP at a TOP (or bottom!) price. Faultless.

Summary: