A poor choice of broadband providers in Hull
Everybody in the country has a reasonable choice of broadband providers except us in Hull. Kingston Communications has a monopoly here and I have to say that I havent been too impressed so far. Why can't the regulator force them to open up to the competition in this area?
We should be able to choose a different broadband provider if we are not happy with the service. Apparently its not even illegal that we dont have a choice of land line or ISP and personally I reckon that it should be! The current situation and in particular the lack of choice cant be good for Hull or potential customers. I only use a dialup connection at home as I refuse to pay Kingston Communications for broadband. Im not sure I believe their claims as far as pricing is concerned either.
For example not so long ago we were told that all prices for domestic phone lines where coming down, well my bill went from 20 per quarter to 40 per quarter! I cant vouch for other customers though, but I'll stick with my dialup for now.
I suspect that Im not the only one thats fed up. I reckon if we had a choice of ISPs then the competition would force Kingston Communications to improve. They would have to or they would lose all their customers and go bust.
Ive actually heard of people moving out of Hull purely because they're not happy with the broadband here. The day we get BT in Hull (more expensive or not) I think Ill be having a party!
By: HullGhost & Panyan
Comments from visitors
I use connexin, You dont need a landline phone. Its cheeper then kc and you get a FREE 01 or 02 number. My speeds are around 20mb i was installed yesterday and its great 24/7 tech support (not needed it) Check them out www.hull.connexin.co.uk Ive been a customer of Hull broadband and got family with sure. Hull broadband is a stay clear its bad. Sure is ok but speeds can become crappy at peak times. Ive never had a slow down with Connexin
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Hi, I'm looking at getting some internet into my son's student house in Hull we are mid renovating. I've heard there is a company called Sure broadband who work using wifi so dont need a telephone line - though we do actually pay for the basic KC line in our son's house and intend keeping that too. Anyone out there used Sure and have any feedback negative or positive before I sign up ? Many thanks !
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I rang talk talk and for £99 they will re line your connection and you are free from KC i did it and the service is faster smoother have not had any outage yet and the phone bill package is cheaper with free calls.
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Mark in Beverley - 20-Jan-12 17:23
I have cancelled my landline with kc so have no broadband connection
But find that the dongle I use works well
But if anyone or a company is interested in pushing for more
Choice in hull I for one will sign up to this
but if we sign up together surely some lawyer
Will know if we can do something?
But find that the dongle I use works well
But if anyone or a company is interested in pushing for more
Choice in hull I for one will sign up to this
but if we sign up together surely some lawyer
Will know if we can do something?
+1
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i still pay 30 a month and get 2 meg on a good day, they say that they are putting new faster broadband in hull in the nexted 5 years great so they going to rip me off for another 5 years its just a joke in hull.
the sky and virgin , talk talk and all the other broadband adds on my tv should be band from hull user as it just gut me when there talking about 20 meg speeds for half the price im paying
the sky and virgin , talk talk and all the other broadband adds on my tv should be band from hull user as it just gut me when there talking about 20 meg speeds for half the price im paying
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I've being on the phone to sky to try for the new buddle of £44.00, they seems very nice on the phone and great customer service. As soon as I called KC, I had this guy that was telling me about how I cannot have broadband/phone with sky as it's 'un-available.' to be installed. I'm waiting for my sky guy to call me back to tell me whether I can have what they offered, lets hope so, I cannot stand being ripped off 72 pounds! just for the phone and broadband! I think it's time for a change. To stand up to KC and show them we mean business, I'm tired of not doing anything about it. We need more choice for healthy competition ? dont you think? then our bills will no longer be sky high!
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Never mind the monopoly and the speed - what about the customer service?
Used to sell computers for a living. One day several customers contacted me to say they could not get email. Rang Karoo who said there was no problem but when I told them about 12 people not getting access there was a pregnant pause followed by an admission that the servers were down for about 2 hours!
If they will lie about faults how can I trust anything they say about their service? What gets me is their boast they provide one of the faster broadband services in the country. Incredible!!! The words "cloud", "cuckoo" and "land" spring to mind.
Despite the desireability of broadband I will stick with my dialup for the time being and get downloads via a relative that lives in a BT area.
Karoo = naff.
Used to sell computers for a living. One day several customers contacted me to say they could not get email. Rang Karoo who said there was no problem but when I told them about 12 people not getting access there was a pregnant pause followed by an admission that the servers were down for about 2 hours!
If they will lie about faults how can I trust anything they say about their service? What gets me is their boast they provide one of the faster broadband services in the country. Incredible!!! The words "cloud", "cuckoo" and "land" spring to mind.
Despite the desireability of broadband I will stick with my dialup for the time being and get downloads via a relative that lives in a BT area.
Karoo = naff.
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Apple Mac forever - 6-Jul-11 13:15
I hear you brother. I moved to Hull when I started university a few years ago and at the time I had no idea there was a monopoly on phone and internet. I lived out in the sticks before then and my connection was way faster. At the time I put the slow broadband down to the university being cheapskates, but now I realise its KCs fault.
Apparently they arent breaking any rules by having this monopoly but with no competition where is their incentive to provide a good service and a good price to the customers? Im not a huge fan of free market capitalism but isnt that supposed to be the benefit of it?
KC have the people of Hull by the bollocks. We need to start kicking up a fuss about this before its too late!
Apparently they arent breaking any rules by having this monopoly but with no competition where is their incentive to provide a good service and a good price to the customers? Im not a huge fan of free market capitalism but isnt that supposed to be the benefit of it?
KC have the people of Hull by the bollocks. We need to start kicking up a fuss about this before its too late!
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£30/month for 3mb/sec and half the time it doesn't even work.. :-/ Fed up....Beverley is hit hard by KC's service; at least in Hull you get a decent speed. They actually said to me that I was lucky to get 3mb/sec...
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At least 25mb ,i ment ,, we must be able to do something
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Kc what an utter disgrace , and hers me thinking the customer comes first , was paying £40 pound for a 15mb connection moved to a new street I now get 8mb for the same price , totally unfair , everyone should have fibre optic broadband now at 2mb the very least, kc is daylight robbery and there nothing we can do about it !!!!!!!!
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Vetteran we can't get BT in Hull and surrounding area. Karoo pay BT 70mil a year to not open there abandoned shop just behind KC, and to fix Karoo's network issues. It will never change.
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KC has been open for any other network to come into the region for years now, but the fact is none of the other providers would see a return for decades after installing the necessary equipment.
My Partner used to work for the company years ago and the only way the situation would change is if another company came in and bought them? The only difference would be is that the local work force would be layed off and you'd still pay the same the same fee as the parent company would be trying to recoupe their investment. Don't think it'll happen in our life time, if it does I'd move out as the town will probably go bust! : )
My Partner used to work for the company years ago and the only way the situation would change is if another company came in and bought them? The only difference would be is that the local work force would be layed off and you'd still pay the same the same fee as the parent company would be trying to recoupe their investment. Don't think it'll happen in our life time, if it does I'd move out as the town will probably go bust! : )
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BT has been available in Hull and Beverley for a while now. The new package deals introduced last year give better value than before. There are a couple of wireless broadband providers, search Google. If you have more than one telephone point, try disconnecting wires leaving only 2 and 5.
There are faster providers in other parts of the country but generally it is more expensive to live there. Using dialup? cutting off your nose to spite your face!
There are faster providers in other parts of the country but generally it is more expensive to live there. Using dialup? cutting off your nose to spite your face!
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Here is another option.. look at hull's one point they do BB phone and everything across hull
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Another option - 23-Mar-11 12:27
They say the grass is always greener, well it is after switching from KC to BT for both phone and broadband I have after less than 4 weeks gone back to KC.
BT were abysmal, the customer service pathetic both here and in India, Tech help was as much use as a chocolate fireguard and the billing was done by a 100 monkeys with typewriters.
No service is perfect but be very careful what you wish for!!!!!
As for BT financial engineers comments Get a life sad sack or better still a proper job.
BT were abysmal, the customer service pathetic both here and in India, Tech help was as much use as a chocolate fireguard and the billing was done by a 100 monkeys with typewriters.
No service is perfect but be very careful what you wish for!!!!!
As for BT financial engineers comments Get a life sad sack or better still a proper job.
+77
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What KC offers is an absolute joke; £35 and its still limited dl, ridiculous. I'm astounded as to how this is allowed to happen in 2011. Desperately need this monopoly gone.
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Here's an idea, why dont we all just cancel or phone and broadband lines then they will go out of business. everyone complains but nobody ever does anything. today KC F*****D up my billing and had the bloody cheek to charge me £20 admin fee plus a re-connection fee of £36! I was utterly disgusted, so I told them to shove it!
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I have worked all over the country and used Virgin & BT ISP's they are good providers with constant service. KC on the other hand with their monopoly have become complacent, the service is very poor and unreliable. We need competition to improve service. I am getting very tired of the poor unreliable offering.
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Has anyone taken this any further, as there are many people who are not happy with the service but what do we do about it? If anyone has started a petition I will be very willing to sign and also everyone else I know in hull will!! Its about time this issue is resolved!
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