Migration from Tiscali

With Freedom2Surf and Metronet joining BT's broadband ADSL migration improvements trial which apparently allows quick and easy migration from a DataStream to an IPStream provider, will Tiscali have to cough up the Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) that will allow their customers to migrate.

My understanding is that Tiscali refused to give the MAC codes to customers because this type of migration was not possible. Or am I wrong?

I have been a Tiscali customer for a number of years and have not had a problem with them, or their service, until the last couple of months.

Anybody had a recent experience of trying to get their MAC from Tiscali?

Hi Paul_H.

Welcome to The Scream.

The Mac code scheme is purely voluntary, Tiscali declined to join the scheme, so trying to get a Mac code from them is virtually impossible.

I did hear that they may do it in the future, but how long is a piece of string ?

I believe the only way out, is a cease and re-provide, which means you will have to close your Tiscali account, wait for them to remove the marker from your line and then apply to your new ISP for a connection. This may take anything from weeks to months to achieve and then some.

If you read through some of the topics in this Tiscali forum, you will see the nightmares, some have gone through trying to leave them, plus there are many other forums on the internet with the same story.

Good luck, you will need it.

JR51,

Thanks for the feedback, even if it is depressing.

I think I will e-mail Tiscali Customer Services and see if I can get some answers. If anything of interest comes back to me I will post.

Paul_H

PS Coincidentally 10 minutes after I first posted here my download speeds, which I have been having problems with, returned to normal.

Lol.

Yes that does seem to happen on occasions that I have noted in the past, probably some other poor suckers turn now.

We had a few Tiscali reps posting on this board, but all have ceased posting here for a while now, but I do think they do still browse this forum as Guests.

I asked Tiscali for my MAC two weeks ago and was informed they didn't provide it.

I had no problems with them until now when I want to change ISP.

I am at present having the same trouble as everyone does in leaving as they say I need 30 days notice even though this is only listed for the initial 12 month contract.
It will NOW be 15 to 18 days after that, that my line will be clear, not the 10 as said in previous email and telephone conversations.

I am going to telephone the numbers given on the forum and fax away.
It may not do any good but it will while away the 30 days+!

I am at present having the same trouble as everyone does in leaving as they say I need 30 days notice even though this is only listed for the initial 12 month contract.
It will NOW be 15 to 18 days after that, that my line will be clear, not the 10 as said in previous email and telephone conversations.

Originally Posted by SEARCHER43

Good luck, I'm in the same boat, my Tiscali account was cancelled on March 30th and I was told it would be 10-15 days before my line was clear.
Waited for 21 days (15 working days just to make sure) before phoning Toscali, who then informed me it was 15-18 days, plus BT may take 5 days longer and that my new ISPs database may take 2 days to have the updated information, so now the total time has increased to 25 days, and somehow I very much doubt if my line will be released in that time.
Oh, and to top it all I've just recieved an email from them stating my bill is available to view online, how you are supposed to view it when your account has been cancelled I have no idea, so not knowing how much they are going to charge me, I have cancelled the direct debit.
In the meantime I am resigned to phoning Toscali on a daily basis until my line is released.
I recommend to anybody out there to never bother with any company that doesn't support migration, I know I will never make that mistake again (assuming I ever manage to get signed up with my new ISP).
--
Gary

With Freedom2Surf and Metronet joining BT's broadband ADSL migration improvements trial which apparently allows quick and easy migration from a DataStream to an IPStream provider, will Tiscali have to cough up the Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) that will allow their customers to migrate.

My understanding is that Tiscali refused to give the MAC codes to customers because this type of migration was not possible. Or am I wrong?

I have been a Tiscali customer for a number of years and have not had a problem with them, or their service, until the last couple of months.

Anybody had a recent experience of trying to get their MAC from Tiscali?

Originally Posted by Paul_H

hi have you managed to get the MAC yet?

New to this- be patient please. I've had no trouble getting my MAC number from Tiscali (in fact they invited me to apply for it) but then I have been accused of contravening the FUP and have been told that my 'peak periods' will be managed by them (their fault actually).
Trouble is they supplied a MAC beginning 'BD' and my chosen 'new provider ' needed an IS prefix. Suffice to say I can't migrate effortlessly as Tiscali says because they are Data stream and Talk Talk is IS (Whatever that is) so I'm buggared. It means I have to cancel with Tiscal and wait until the line is de-tagged and then join Talk Talk as a new customer. Could be weeks? Does anyone know of this or had the same experience. Will complaining to OFTEL do any good? Help please, Tiscali are doing my head in.

New to this- be patient please. I've had no trouble getting my MAC number from Tiscali (in fact they invited me to apply for it) but then I have been accused of contravening the FUP and have been told that my 'peak periods' will be managed by them (their fault actually).
Trouble is they supplied a MAC beginning 'BD' and my chosen 'new provider ' needed an IS prefix. Suffice to say I can't migrate effortlessly as Tiscali says because they are Data stream and Talk Talk is IS (Whatever that is) so I'm buggared. It means I have to cancel with Tiscal and wait until the line is de-tagged and then join Talk Talk as a new customer. Could be weeks? Does anyone know of this or had the same experience. Will complaining to OFTEL do any good? Help please, Tiscali are doing my head in.

Originally Posted by Rich

Hi,

Im not sure about Oftel? i know some ISP's will take a DS mac code but some wont, Im not sure if they have to or not? most will accept them though i have only come across a handfull that wont.

With regards to Talk Talk are you looking at this free offer they have? if so i would read more into the small print, if you have found your self wrapped up in our FUP then i would think the same thing would happen with Talk Talk as i think theirs is alot tighter than ours? prehaps someone else may be able to confirm or correct me on this?

Their is also the fact they have been in the news recently. and would apear new customers could be waiting some time for their activation.

This was taken from the news over at adslguide.


It seems the news that no-one could miss last week, about the "Forever" offer from TalkTalk, that bundles line rental, calls package and broadband for £20.99, got the attention of many consumers. 25,000 people are reported to have signed up for the offer by 13th April, just days after its launch (see reuters.co.uk).

This demand for the product is five times more than the company expected apparently, and is a reflection perhaps on how cost conscious the UK consumer is these days. The concern now will be is how fast can TalkTalk get consumers onto the package, and the full suite of services up and running.

If demand for the service is very high, then it may prove very costly if it has to place hundreds of thousands of customers on a BT Wholesale IPstream service as it rolls out the fully unbundled service. A single 622Mbps BT Central that can support up to 32,000 users costs around £140,000 per month, and each ADSL line has a charge of £8.40 per month. There are also long lead times of something like sixty working days to install a large BT Central, so if demand continues to exceed expectations there may be delays for customers.

It is not impossible that TalkTalk may move people onto the phone part of package at £20.99, using wholesale line rental to offer the calls package, and since the broadband is simply a free service, connect people up to this as and when possible. The contract seems to allow for the start of billing from when the calls part is up and running, rather than having to provide the free broadband service at the same time.


Dont get me wrong not trying to put you off it is a tempting offer! i thought about it myself.

Thanks

Andy

Most IPStream ISPs will be willing to process your request. A DataStream MAC key has a format similar to BBDS12345678/AB12A.
If that is correct, then the fault lies with the "winning" ISP.

Incidentally, it's not OFTEL you need, but OFCOM.

Anybody had a recent experience of trying to get their MAC from Tiscali?

Originally Posted by Paul_H

Yeah, I sucsessfully migrated from Tiscali to Freedom 2 Surf back in December / January.

I wrote a thread on it, its got all the problems I encountered etc..

View it here:
https://the-scream.co.uk/forums/t20194.html?

I have just tried to move my business account away from Tiscali,

I bet you all know what I was told, Yes you gessed it "We do not provide Mac Codes" After a long conversation with a member of the cancellation team I left empty handed. What a load of Cr**. They are offering a service (Not that Good one) to businesses and individuals and expect them to do without a service for 30 days or more to enable them to move away. More and More business are becoming dependent on ISP Services and are going to find that they are trapped with very little knowledge about what should be happening.

I made a call to my ISP to be, who were a little stumped by the matter, I asked the question is it wearth contacting Of Com. This was checked with a supperviser and it was advised to that OF Com should be contacted.

In speaking to OF Com, I was informed that Tiscali are a volantry member and as such should be providing us with Mac Code to allow us to migrate away.
Of Com have currently taken up the matter on my behalf and they say that I should get something within the next five days.

I followed on this call with a call back to Tiscali cancellation team informing them that I had spoken to OF COM and the must provide me with the Mac Code, half an hour latter I still came away with nothing

Has anyone had any joy with Tiscali and the Mac Code. Any hints

I await a responce or even better my Mac Code.

Ring up the cancellation department agian and tell them to have a look at their own website

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/help/broadb...questions.html

What you've been tol is a load of bouvine excrement!

Even after pointing out to muppet in Tiscali's cancellation department that there web site clearly states they support Mac Codes they still refused to give me a Mac Code.

Refused to put me through to a manager, and put me through the billing department how put me through to cancellations but for demestic broadband, They wanted to put me back to business cancellations.

This is a F**king joke

There is only one official road that you can take now.

Take a look here

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/codes/bbm_cop/#content

(note the name of the ISP 8th from the bottom)

According to OFCOM, Tiscali MUST give you your MAC codewhen you ask for it.

Unofficially

Contacting MKAndy on the Tiscali Forum

or

Try phoning 0207 0872000 (head office) and ask to speak to someone higher up.


Personally, I'd-

1) Try phoning cancellation dept again
2) Email MKAndy
3) Phone 0207 0872000 and try to speak to someone higher up
4) If all else fails then make a complaint to OFCOM.

Tiscali!!

I signed up a member of my family to tiscali 6 weeks ago, on a 1mb package.

It didn't work - constantly flashing adsl despite trying various modems / router / filters.. you know the score..

weeks later, and after numerous, endless phone calls to some remote part of the world, I finally cornered them into giving my a MAC.

(needless to say, they are stilling going to bill 12months worth of service, even though the service has never worked - thats a different story - right now, we just want to get as far away from Tiscali as possible)

So, I have my code, we decide on Pipex as the new IPS and guess what..?

The MAC comes back as invalid - it appears to be in the correct format i.e.
BDDBBDSxxxxxxxx/EJ15R. Appears to be the right suffix, and is all in upper case.

I also tried the MAC with BT Broadband, and again it comes back invalid.

I'm at a loss - I don't know if I can face any more calls to tiscali.

It's a joke that in these times of technology (and high competition) that we're still having problems with ADSL provision, and that well know Companies such as Tiscali can still get away with messing people around like this.

Does anyone out there know what the problem is with the MAC I have been given?

thanks

Svennard

if the service has never worked then it was never provided and hence you can cancel and get all your money back,. contact the http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk for the legal stuff though - it's free

work your way throught the complaint procedure @ ofcom also http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/

let us know how you get on

Sil

Thanks for the reply

When I say it never worked, it worked for about a hour after BT had apparently 'fixed' a problem on the line-literary long enough to run the windows updates and then upon re-start, the adsl went back to flashing

- since then its been calls to tiscali, line faults registered with BT...and the endless loop of phone call, scripted replies, and frustration.

In terms of the contract cancellation and payment, we'll fight that out with tiscali afterwards.

Right now, after weeks and weeks of frustration, all we really want to use the MAC and sign up with another ISP.

Do you have any thoughts as to why the MAC is coming back as invalid?

thanks

Svennard

Hi Svennard.

Welcome to The Scream!

Are yoiu sure that example Mac code is correct, it seems awfully long, or is it a Typo.

Here are some examples I found from BT Business Broadband.

NOTE the one I highlighted in Bold, which is similar to yours.

================================================== =======
Your MAC code should be in a similar format to one of the following examples:

BBIP1234567/CA18M
PSID12345678/CA18M
BBDS123456789/CA18M
FTIP123456789/CA18M
LBST1234567/DC22J

This is not an exhaustive list but is intended to provide guidance on the format of the code.
Please ensure that you enter your MAC code exactly as provided to you by your ISP. Please be sure not to enter it with any typing mistakes.

================================================== =======

no - I don't know what format MACs need to be in / whether that is valid

to which ISP are you trying to migrate - not all will accept tiscali inbound migrations

regards working or not,. if it didn't work at all ever then you have a good case - perhaps you thought it was working for that hour and in reality it wasn't - whether it did or not they should not be able to hold you to the 12 month contract if they can't sort out the issue, def take a look @ the ofcom complaints thing

Sil

Thanks for the replies

The MAC code I have been inputting is a straight cut and paste from the email recieved from tiscali;

This is it - BBDS########/EJ15R - (I've just blanked out the 8 numbers)

I wanted to migrate to pipex, but as that didn't work, I tried BT broadband, but got same MAC code error message..haven't tried any others yet, but If I can't go with who I want it kind of defeats the object.

The adsl did work for a short while - as I said before, I managed to run all the XP updates,and norton - the speedtouch adsl connection only failed when I had to re-start to install updates.

Tiscali have this useage showing on the account and this is why they are saying the account has been used, hence the tie in.

I'm not worried too much about that - I'll write to their head office and refuse to pay.

Just trying to establish that the MAC is okay or otherwise..

thanks

Hiya.

It must have been a typo then, because your original post said BDDBBDSxxxxxxxx/EJ15R, which is 3 letters longer at the beginning, lol.

Tiscali are renowned for messing people about, with MAC codes, line tag removal, plus a whole shed load of other things.

All I can suggest is to follow Silvers suggestions, or maybe contact the Tiscali rep TheARC that posts here, via PM (Personal Message)

He has solved many customer problems here in the past.

Here is his profile with the PM contact option.

https://the-scream.co.uk/forums/member.php?u=4628

Thanks again

Well I think its sorted!!

it was a kind of type error- at the back end of the MAC code was a blank digit space - only noticed due to where the cursor was sat, following the cut and paste.

I backspaced, removed it and pipex accepted the code!

With a bit of luck, we might get a adsl connection sometime soon -my brother in law is desperate to get online with his xbox 360.

Incidentally, personally I've been with Nildram for about 18months and I've found their service to be great, if a bit pricey..

thanks for all your help

Svennard

Hiya.

Thanks for letting us know its sorted out now.

Good luck with your new provider.

Anybody had a recent experience of trying to get their MAC from Tiscali?

Originally Posted by Paul_H

Blood, Stone ring any bells ?

I've just spoken to tiscali cancellation dept (over 5 mins on hold) and was asked a few questions of why I wanted to cancel, and was told that my MAC code would be emailed between now and 5 days. We will see!

With Freedom2Surf and Metronet joining BT's broadband ADSL migration improvements trial which apparently allows quick and easy migration from a DataStream to an IPStream provider, will Tiscali have to cough up the Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) that will allow their customers to migrate.

My understanding is that Tiscali refused to give the MAC codes to customers because this type of migration was not possible. Or am I wrong?

I have been a Tiscali customer for a number of years and have not had a problem with them, or their service, until the last couple of months.

Anybody had a recent experience of trying to get their MAC from Tiscali?

Originally Posted by Paul_H

yeah its a bloody nightmare

I've just spoken to tiscali cancellation dept (over 5 mins on hold) and was asked a few questions of why I wanted to cancel, and was told that my MAC code would be emailed between now and 5 days. We will see!

Originally Posted by poolbouy

My MAC arrived by email within an hour of asking for it! I thought it was going to a real hussle but fair play to tiscali they did what I asked.

To be fair to Tiscali, they also sent me the code very quickly with no hassle. I couldn't use it because of the datastream to IPstream thing but I got it nevertheless.

Hey

I have had no trouble with Tiscali until I upgraded to use their telephone line instead of paying BT£11 a month as well.

They never took over the telephone line they now say that my line is not good enough and they are laying new cables to my house (NOT).

My phone has been off for 15 days and my broadband is intermittent and only on their old Modem (not my Wireless). I was told last night that it might but on by another 12 or so days but maybee not the phone.

I called the 0207 number only for the receptionist No name given put me back in the merrygoround Q.

I hung up and got back on to them for the complaints dept (in Scotland, Kevin). He said he would call me back (shock) in about 2 hours. I'll update you all.