by: Neil Shevlin
Named after a small village in Sardinia, Tiscali UK is part of Tiscali SpA which has headquarters in Cagliari, Italy. They offer broadband all over Europe, but they have the most online users in the UK. Tiscali is ranked fourth largest ISP in the UK.
Tiscali offer Broadband at 512Kbps, 1Mbps and 2Mbps with a free connection and free modem and they have no maximum download limit, unlike some ISP’s who cut their customers off after a finite amount of usage.
Tiscali do not have a very good reputation as an ISP. Customer support is often the first thing to suffer when ISP’s lower their package costs and Tiscali is no exception. The call centre is based in India, the costs are substantial, you will be put on hold and even then the advice may not be so useful. Emails to the company will receive automated replies, often with very little to do with the problem. Don’t think you won’t have to try this out, if you signup for Tiscali you are bound to want to try and contact them with a problem or complaint. Spam emails to Tiscali accounts are a major problem, they often have downtime and also some speed problems.
Since BT opened their phone line network (The Local Loop) for other companies to use ISP’s have had the option to connect their own equipment up at BT’s telephone exchanges so they can setup their own ADSL rather than use a variation of BT’s. This means that ISP’s can provide ADSL cheaper and faster at much more competitive prices; this will explain how Tiscali can offer broadband so cheaply. Unfortunately they only provide a small line at each telephone exchange that is split between all local residents. BT and other services that use BT’s network split the bandwidth down a fast line that connects directly to the BT network. This means that users of Tiscali’s broadband service could find their connection isn’t as fast as it claims and their download speeds limited. This depends on how many other people in your area are using the Tiscali network locally. This service is due to be upgraded in the future to improve speeds, but many customers have tired of waiting and moved away from Tiscali because of it.
Tiscali also offer Pay As You Go and unlimited dialup internet access at 56Kbps, at prices much cheaper than BT. They also offer a mid-band internet service which connects similarly to broadband but at the lower speed of 150kbps or 256kbps. With all dialup and broadband accounts they also offer additional features, such as an email address, web space, exclusive video channels and downloads.
In terms of Price, Tiscali are one of the main contenders, explaining why they are the fourth largest UK broadband provider. Their three packages closely rival BT’s and they are keeping up in terms of speed and price with their competitors.
Unfortunately because of their poor reputation and potential speed problems, although Tiscali are one of the cheapest broadband providers around that is all that is reliable with them.