whsmithnet.co.uk

Advantages: Quick connection, Lines never seem to be busy, Several ways to pay, 7 different email addresses
Disadvantages: 50p per minute for Technical support phoneline

I suddenly found myself in an awkward position of have no ISP when Freeserve (I was using their Anytime service) decided they were not going to accept payments via debit card anymore. To cut a long story short, my card had been reported as stolen (it hadn't been stolen, which makes it all the more maddening!!!!) and my bank issued me with a new one. When Freeserve tried to debit my card, it was rejected. They sent me an email about this so I telephoned ...
...in the same way I had been paying for the previous 20 months, and was told, that Freeserve were very sorry but they no longer accepted debit cards and unless I had a credit card (which I do not..... don't trust myself LOL) then I would have to find a new ISP. I explained to the Customer Service department that I choose not to have a credit card and that I had been paying for absolutely ages with a debit card with no problems and he mumbled his apologies ... Read review

Advantages: Accept Direct Debit. Off Peak starts at 4pm. Now have Broadband
Disadvantages: Can have problems getting online. THEY HAVE CHANGED THEIR ISP WITHOUT TELLING US!!!!!

UPDATE 21 June 2003 Having received no communication from WHSmithnet, I tried to get online yesterday, to be told that I had to upgrade my browser, as Affinity Internet have now ceased trading. I was lucky, and the new software downloaded immediately, but my friend has not been able to go online since 11.15pm last night when she received an email telling her that she needed to do the same. There is no way of contacting the new ISP - Breathe apart ...
...Credits is constantly engaged, or rings until you get cut off. If I can find an address I will be writing to them! ********************************************** Although we were quite happy with our previous ISP - Freeserve - we had to change when we stopped using the bank account that our Switch Card was for and only had a Visa Electron, which Freeserve doesn’t accept. We looked round and eventually found a CD rom. in our local WHSmith store ... Read review

Advantages: Pay monthly via direct debit for 24/7 useage.
Disadvantages: Cannot connect for most of the 24/7.

I signed up with whsmithnet as I could pay monthly via my bank with direct debit. I understood there was a cut off after 2 hours and that I could have access for 24/7 for £12.99 monthly. Excellent just what I wanted. I have experienced much frustration in trying to connect to the service, for instance this evening I tried to go on line at 9p.m. and it took 50 tries to get through. When you eventually do go on line it is not just cut off in mid flow ...
...all - usually in the middle of an email (you cannot afford to leave dormant for a few seconds). Today I had had enough and complained to Trading Standards who have made several phone calls on my behalf but it seems as yet there is no Government Body to oversee ISPs yet! Unbelieveable. Anyway the gentleman I dealt with thought I had a good case to opt out of my contract prior to the three month period signed up for. I would love to do that if I could ... Read review

Advantages: fast connection,
Disadvantages: difficulty installing,very very unhelpful staff,expensive installation

I recently connected to WHSMITH broadband service.While I find the broadband service fine in itself,I felt I had to say what poor customer service I received.Whsmith was already my service provider and for that reason I felt it easier to stay with them when I chose broadband.What a big mistake!In downloading the broadband service from the internet,I was informed that somehow I had managed to change the telephone number so that despite paying a flat ...
...for internet time spent ,until my broadband service started.I was informed at this point that it is my responsibility to ensure that I check the telephone number each time I connect to the internet.On the day that my broadband service started ,I had great difficulty in launching ,which then necessitated calling their premium rate technical line, only to discover that I had not been given the full password required to launch this service.I continued ... Read review

Advantages: None - this service has been taken over by Breathe.com
Disadvantages: Breathe.com has very poor customer service.

I was happily using WHSmithnet when I received an email to say that they had been taken over by breathe.com and that I would have re-install my software to continue using it. It took me several different tries over several days to finally download the new dial-up software. I did this in good faith to use the new ISP. Once it was downloaded I noticed that the service was a lot slower than before and sometime I could not even log-on. This was very ...
...to call the help number so many times. It was either engaged or would ring for ages and then get cut-off - it was almost as if the number was fake. I tried to call it from work over several days and after no luck and hearing that a collegue had had the same problems (so it was not just me) I decided to cancel my account with them. I called WHSmithnet who told me that they no longer had anything to do with the internet access and that I should call ... Read review