As I recently mentioned in my Tiscali Begs For Mercy post, ISPs are starting to wail loudly that companies introducing video on demand services are going to require Tiscali et al to improve and expand their current hardware. The Register have published a report along the same lines, over here.
I’m not positive, but I am assuming that when The Register refer to Carphone Warehouse’s involvement in the situation is connected with the company’s TalkTalk scheme? Anyway, check out the comments section as well, to get a feel for how Brits are reacting to Tiscali’s statement.
Aug 15 2007
Tiscali Once More
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Aug 14 2007
Tiscali Begs For Mercy
As you will know from my previous posts here, my opinion of Tiscali is pretty low. Having worked for ISPs in the past, and specifically for Tiscali’s technical support department at one point, I feel I have a little insight into their business methods. For your average, light-traffic user, they perhaps are slightly higher up than AOL, but not by a great deal.
Anyway, Tiscali has warned UK customers that they had better not start using video on demand (VoD) services a lot, or else the ISP will have to shape their traffic. Check the BBC article for a bit of background info. Well? I’m waiting…. have you read it yet? Right, I will assume you at least skimmed it… I loved the section where Tiscali refers to their current traffic shaping of other Peer To Peer based applications. Whilst they make it sound like no harm is done, many of their customers have reported dial-up like speeds. Combine that with Tiscali’s fair use policies, and you begin to see just how restrictive they are becoming.
You can of course see where the company is coming from – if everyone is using connection at 100% of its capacity 24/7, the whole network will suffer. However, as technologies and applications improve, the usage patterns on the internet will also follow suit. You can not realistically expect customers to not use VoD because their ISP has not got the infrastructure in place to cope with the demand. It simply reeks of Canute ordering the tide to turn back. (Though that is not the best analogy, as the King was merely proving one of his excessively complimenting courtiers that he was not all powerful).
Anyway, enough of my preaching on top of a soap box, I understand Tiscali is a business with a need to profit, they just always seem to rub me up the wrong way…
Jun 04 2007
Tiscali – Still A Bad Idea
Way back when, I worked for an ISP (Affinity – the first company to go bankrupt and owe me wages) that fronted the technical support, customer service, and in some cases, network hardware for many ISPs in Britain. For a while, we provided support for Tiscali customers. You often found them to be a little less eloquent that other ISP’s customers – they would get very annoyed if we asked for more information than simply stating “it don’t work”. That said, I’d never wish their current levels of service on anyone, not even the worst of the moaners we had.
According to the Register, Tiscali have clarified their provided e-mail service to customers – It is free, so stop moaning if it doesn’t work!!! Even during the worst days at Affinity we didn’t use that sort of line on customers…
With the company attempting to ensure customers stay with them for the minimum length of their contract, and not use e-mails disappearing as an ‘excuse’ to leave, and their public relations approach on forums, I’m glad I never recommended them to anyone.
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