World wide web

The 'tnet is old technology now, broadband is in nearly ever home and practically every business premises.

So why is it so hard to change your service provider?

I have been with my present ISP since 2004 with no complains but I have to say it is not one of the cheapest options on the market. So when Sky broadband came to town (literally. We've had to wait for the exchange to get wired up) we worked out that we could downgrade our Sky TV package slightly (cutting out the chanels we never watch), change to their broadband and with the money we saved, hubby could have Sky sports.

But first we needed our MAC number!!!!!

So I phone my ISP - on a premuim rate line - and am on hold for 10 mins. I try another number and another and finally ring sales dept where I am passed to a not very nice person. Not because he was rude, or miserable. In fact he was very pleasant and came across as very helpful. But I just cant stand people who tell lies!!

First off he asked me who I was changing to and if they had given me a date. Thinking he needed this information to change me over, I told him who I wanted to go with but also that I hadnt actually rung them up yet. Then he told me he was looking at my line and (the worst of the whole thing, told me he had no reason to lie as I could easily find this out) said that Sky was not available on my line and that there was no scheduled work from BT on it for at least the next 6 months. Then he proceeded to try and sell me another package which on the surface sounded cheaper than I was already paying but when I checked on the website later was actually £1 more than my current monthly outlay! Luckily I didnt fall for it or I would have been tied into them for another 12 months.

Then 2 more premium rate numbers to sky to find out if they actually could provide me with broadband - yes no problem, so back to my original ISP to try getting a MAC again. Well hopefully I should get one within the next 5 days. Watch this space.

I then tried ordering the Sky package online but that took me round in circles so too fed up to try any more today we decided to phone again tomorrow. Low and behold half an hour ago Sky phone us up trying to sell us a broadband package. Coincidence? I dont think so but at least that bit is now set up even if I still need to phone Sky to change our TV options.