One year ago I was screaming with joy when I joined screaming. net, who wouldn’t if you got unlimited totally free Internet access (of peak) for the price of £ 9.99 phone rental only. For 6 months I enjoyed the sheer luxury and then suddenly my world changed as the company was taken over ... Read review
Advantages: Good speed, no engage tones,Used to be great. Disadvantages: Not good value for money anymore.Poor technical support.
One year ago I was screaming with joy when I joined screaming. net, who wouldn’t if you got unlimited totally free Internet access (of peak) for the price of £ 9.99 phone rental only. For 6 months I enjoyed the sheer luxury and then suddenly my world changed as the company was taken over by World online. The Internet package was changed and now I had to pay £ 2.99 for 50 hours of Internet access plus the phone rental. Still not bad but of-course ... ...use to this change when 2 months ago again the company was taken over by another company called Tiscali and we were left to their mercy. Now I am paying £ 9.99 phone rental + £ 5.99 for 50 hours (anytime), not at all good value for money. So now I am looking for another ISP.
This was my story, now about the service.
REGISTRATION
-------------
I am telling you my own experience and as I joined 1 year ago, ... more
One year ago I was screaming with joy when I joined screaming. net, who wouldn’t if you got unlimited totally free Internet access (of peak) for the price of £ 9.99 phone rental only. For 6 months I enjoyed the sheer luxury and then suddenly my world changed as the company was taken over by World online. The Internet package was changed and now I had to pay £ 2.99 for 50 hours of Internet access plus the phone rental. Still not bad but of-course nothing compared to unlimited access. I was trying to get use to this change when 2 months ago again the company was taken over by another company called Tiscali and we were left to their mercy. Now I am paying £ 9.99 phone rental + £ 5.99 for 50 hours (anytime), not at all good value for money. So now I am looking for another ISP.
This was my story, now about the service.
REGISTRATION ------------- I am telling you my own experience and as I joined 1 year ago, I am sorry if things have changed. You can register online. You need to be a BT customer. You give your personal and bank details and then they contact BT to switch the service. Then BT will contact you to confirm that you want to shift. As you confirm you’ll receive an e-mail to download their software to start using their service. This whole process takes about 2 weeks.
INSTALLATION ------------- Installation is simple, you go to their website download the software, install it and you are ready to connect to Internet.
CONNECTING ----------- Once you have installed their software, it becomes your default ISP and the dial box opens when ever you open your browser. Dialling was no problem at all, I use to get connected the first time and the cut off time was 3 hours. With the change in companies and price plan the service has also detoriated. Still it’s not bad but I do get engage tones occasionally.
SPEED -----
Initially it was never less than 48 kbs but now usually it is 45 kbs and sometimes less than 40 and then you have to disconnect and then connect again to get a better speed.
E MAIL AND WEB SPACE ---------------------
You get 5 email addresses and standard web space. I never had any problem with the email service and is quite good.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT ----------------- This is the worst part, you call them and wait and wait. You can hardly talk to real a person. You get an automated response telling you to e-mail instead, and then it takes days to get a response by e-mail.
VALUE FOR MONEY ---------------- The initial package was definitely worth the money. £ 9.99 for monthly phone rental, totally free Internet after 6pm to 8am and all weekends, and 33% less phone charges as compared to BT. It was the best package you could find. Then the charges were increased by £2.99 and Internet access was reduced from unlimited to 50 hours. Now you have to pay £5.99 for 50 hours, which is not at all worth and I can’t call it good value for money.
CONCLUSION ----------- I year ago this was the best service available, quality and money wise except poor customer support. Quality wise I would say they are not as good as before but honestly speaking still better than many. Money wise it’s not worth anymore and I think there are better offers available. Over all I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody anymore. Now as I am looking for a new deal I’ll miss their service as they used to be the best. What a shame.
Advantages: £6 a month for 50 hours internet is still good value Disadvantages: Slow speeds, changing contracts
...pay-as-you-go services .
Next, WorldOnline was bought by Tiscali, and in consequence the FreedomLite tariff was upgraded to 50 hours of 24x7 access. At the upgraded price of £6 a month. And even slower speeds (I am currently on 26400 bps).
Despite this, the phone service has continued to be reliable. At least until July 19th, when Tiscali terminate their line rental business in order to focus on the ISP business. So for me it's back to BT for the ...
GeoffBones 24.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of WorldOnline
Advantages: Currently a good service Disadvantages: Has been flakey in the past, leaving is problematic
...last and around the time WorldOnline took over the service went through a period of confusion whereby the conditions offered varied quite dramatically. Finally things settled down to the services offered now. Only since they got taken over by a company called Tiscali (Great, my ISP sounds like a sneeze) the names have changed.
Tiscali Classic – No rental pay as you go
Tiscali 50 - £5.99 rental for 50 hours of net time whenever ... ...hours of net time whenever you want
Tiscali Unlimited - £14.99 rental for as much net time you want whenever you want
* Quality of Connection *
I only use Tiscali as an ISP when I’m at home from university and last time I was back at Easter the service was having some problems which had disappeared by the time I came back after my exams. However, there are still a few strange quirks which I think are with the service rather than ...
yhwman 23.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of WorldOnline
Advantages: 24/7 Access, doesnt break the bank Disadvantages: Poor assitance, terrible reliability, annoyingly long connection time
I originally joined an ISP called Screaming.net 2 years ago becuase they offered 24/7 internet access free of charge for £9.99 a month. A bargain i thought, and all I had to do was change my phone company. Well i signed up and for 6 months everything was great, then, DISASTER. Screaming.net was bought out by World Online. Well now im beginning to panic, "what if the charges go up??". Everything thing settles down and only a slight price increase ... ...for the same service.
Ok, im now a customer of World Online, nevermind ill manage, after all its not as though i've lost my 24/7 free access - oops i spoke to soon. 3 months down the line and i receive a letter telling me that World Online is cancelling their 24/7 access and that now ive got to pay £15 a month for 100 hours free - well of course i was annoyed but still, its better than BT, so I remained a customer.
Well, now its April and World ...
GodsTruth 29.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of WorldOnline
Advantages: None at all Disadvantages: They charge for a service they don't provide
My nightmare story starts back in July, when I joined up with Screaming.net and Localtel to take advantage of their unlimited calling package. Or rather I tried to join up.
They were obviously not prepared for the demand and took about three weeks to get any sort of response. When I finally got a response from them, it was a notification that they were transferring my phone number from BT to Localtel. This would have been OK if it was my home phone ... ...transfer my work phone number from BT to them. I checked the agreement and I had listed the correct number and listed my BT account number which also identifies the correct number. They had used my daytime phone number listed on the agreement by mistake.
I thought this was a bit stupid, but mistakes happen, so I tried to call them again and again. Nobody ever answered the phone!! I tried writing as well, but they ignored my letters as well. This ...
SimonJ 30.12.2000 (09.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of WorldOnline
Advantages: Reliable, reasonably cheap Disadvantages: Not as competitive as they once were
I have been with WorldOnline for over two years now if you also count the time I was a Screaming Net member (Screaming Net was taken over by WOL last year).
The terms offered by WOL have changed on various occasions. Currently they offer two tariffs. These are Freedom 24, which was originally a 24/7 service but now limits you to 100 hours online a month, and Freedom Lite, which gives you unlimited off-peak access. As a full-time self-employed writer ... ...so I subscribe to the Freedom 24 service. For this I pay £12.99 a month, in addition to a monthly line rental of £7.88 (also payable to WOL as my telephone service provider). I find that 100 hours a month is actually more than I need, so to all intents and purposes I still feel as though I have 24/7 access.
In general I have been happy with the service I receive from WOL. I can usually get a connection straight away, though occasionally (especially ...
Skywriter 16.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of WorldOnline
