This is a message for BJMace, London Colin, Reachy and anyone else from the U.K. or abroad who maybe able to help. Ever since my Internet service provider was taken over by Orange I have experienced nothing but trouble and connection difficulties. For months now, I have not bothered to enter an Internet BJ tournament apart from the odd sit and go. It is just so frustrating to be booted off the gaming site and then cannot reconnect. I am out of contract with Orange and want to join another ISP that is reliable for the gaming sites. What are you guys using, or any suggestions? Andy.
Andy, I remember discussing this with you by PM a while ago. You were thinking about ditching Orange back then, but decided to stick with them. I'm still with Metronet (part of Plusnet). No major problems. Occasionally need to reboot my router. Very occasionally lose the connection for an hour or two. Touch wood, this has never happened in the middle of a tournament. The following sites offer some help in choosing an ISP - http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ http://paler.com/uk_broadband_internet_access.html
I've been with BT for ever and a day and never drops broadband in fact has been years suince i've even had an outage, They may be a few pound more but great, The other good thing with BT is they can't blame themselves for bad lines as they provid ethem to all providers, But firstly check all your adsl filters are working and connected to every phone, If you have had socket extensions put in can also be the quality of the wire. Failing that pop over to Essex always a pc free here!
In truth, apart from a few companies that offer really high speed services via their own equipment, it might not make much difference who you are with, as far as reliability is concerned. As I understand it, all ADSL services are ultimately provided by BT, in that they depend on BT phone lines and BT equipment in the telephone exchange. I think the reliability is largely a function of where you are. If Andy has a dodgy phone line, or perhaps is on the limit of how far away from the telephone exchange it is possble to be and still get a working service, then a change of ISP may not fix anything. A better ISP, however, might do more to fix any problems that arise.
These actally is where being with BT works, Many other ISP's answer to problems is we only rent the lines from BT and can do nothing about it, BT's response has to be differenent and in my experience is, When I moved to where I am now, they in fact had to run a new line from the sub exchange to us just to get a good service but was done without asking and with no extra cost.
Going for it anyway Thanks Lads Thank you all for the replies and information. Interesting to note that Reachy and Mace are on BT.. This appears to be the ISP that everyone is recommending as they leave Orange and the one that I was leaning towards. I was not sure how it performed on the gaming sites but will now be signing up. Hopefully, I will be back on the online BJ tournament tables soon. Hell Mace. If it works out I will be even signing up for Club UBT. Andy :laugh:
Switching Over Still trying to switch over to a different ISP. Not sure what happens in the USA but you need to obtain your MAC code over here from the original supplier before you can do this. Of course, even though they have a legal obligation to give this to you, they will make it as difficult as possible in order to keep you on. I did not get any response to my Email letter five days ago requesting that I wanted my MAC code (they are supposed to respond within five days) so I telephoned them. I was given the run around as expected and was transferred from call centres from India to England. I have now been assured that my MAC code will be emailed to me within the next five days but I won’t hold my breath. Regulator OFCOM will be watching….lol Andy (still on a s**t connection) 956.
Hi, Just curious about this MAC code thing... Does that mean that subscribing to more than one ISP is forbidden? When someone wants an ISP for the first time, how can you obtain a MAC code? What would happen if you tell BT that you don't currently have an ISP?
Are you sure Andy? Just cancel your subscription to your current ISP and sign up to another. I've switched between ISPs many times in the past and never needed a MAC code before. When I switched from one mobile phone service provider to another but wanted to keep my existing phone number I needed a MAC code, but never for an ISP. Cheers Reachy
This page explains it fairly well http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/mac-migration-codes.html If you cancel your current ADSL provider and sign up with a new one, you may be without a service for a few weeks in the interim. MAC codes are a mechanism to get round this. In some cases, there might also be a connection fee for signing up to a 'new' service that would not be charged when 'migrating'.
The IT Crowd Fair enough Colin, you are in the business after all. I switched from AOL to BT with no interruption of service or additional fees though and I didn't go down the MAC code route. Don't they charge you an admin fee for the MAC codes? Cheers Reachy
Mac code information I take your point Reachy that if you cancel your existing account first you may not need a Mac code. As I understand it the new ISP request it so that they can switch you over smoothly without a break in connection. Anyway they emailed me the code yesterday so will swap over. Andy http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/a...&kt=mac-code&gclid=CK_J5Lbi0o8CFQ4iQgodAQwDAQ
ISP Working Just to let the guys know that yours truly did change over to BT Hub and it’s working fine. Not had a connection problem since I changed over. Tested it out on a few $1 UB games and for the first time ever; I did not experience a disconnection from the site. Noman take note because I know you have had similar problems to me and it really does make you want to give up on the net games when you are continually booted off. (So change over to another provider). Now I am ready to play on the net again but cannot remember the sites to play on for a U.K. player. London Colin. Can you revise your excellent list of Internet BJ tournaments (with appraisal) that I can play? Thanks Andy
Welcome to the 21st century, Andy Well, of the current tournament sites, there's only GameAccount that is noteworthy for excluding all U.S. players and therefore not being discussed much here. I think you signed up there, via William Hill, a while ago? There is a freeroll each evening, with only a £20 prize pool. Wednesdays, however, there is a £150 freeroll and also a £500, £10-entry tournament. (Badly scheduled, so that if you haven't been knocked out of the freeroll, it overlaps with the £500 tournament; playing both at once is not easy.) The full schedule is available on the web site. (Watch out for the 5-round games. A couple of times I've been caught out, thinking I was in a 10-round event.) Aside from that, there are the usual suspects, available to all - ClubUBT UB/Bet21 Blackjack21 Then there is blackjack.com, where I have yet to play, and perhaps also Reality Poker? There was a post here a while ago, requesting beta testers. I don't know what the current status is. In terms of appraisal, I like blackjack21, but there are a few problems with the site (including very occasionally having your action ignored by the software, so that you stand when you wanted to hit!). It's still where I've been doing most of my playing in recent months. (And, in case you've forgotten, I think you signed up there too.) GameAccount only offers heads-up tournaments. I don't play there as much as I used to, but I try to remember to play in the big Wednesday tournament, since it offers an overlay. I haven't played at UB in quite some time (unless you count Poker freerolls), and I'm still pondering whether to join ClubUBT. Hope this helps. Go get 'em.
London Pondering! Colin, Thank you for the information Colin. Sorry for the late reply but just after I had posted, my main PC monitor went down and I thought that I was jinxed never again to play. Anyway, it turned out that my wife had contacted a computer guy and arranged to buy a complete update of hardware for my Christmas present. I now have "bells and whistles" on my main PC and the laptop that you sorted out for me is on wireless and working a treat. My daughter even got a mouse mat printed with a picture of Rick Jensen and me in the Seattle tournament (awful picture of me but Rick looks good). I may have been on Global Player Casino before you, but since then I have always trusted you to work out the other BJ sites and I tend to follow like a sheep after you have sorted it all out. So I am still waiting for the signal from you tell me to join Club UBT. Colin you have taken the risk by joining other BJ tournament sites so what is it in the club that puts you off that site? At least if we were both joined up we could moan in the message boards if it did not work out. Just to put you on the spot. Andy
Andy, I wouldn't place too much trust in my decision-making skills. In truth, it's probably lethargy as much as anything else that has kept me away from the Club so far. But if I had to rationalise my reluctance, I suppose it boils down to these factors - The sites at which I am already a member provide plenty of opportunities to play. If I joined the Club I would probably have to play there very frequently to make the monthly fee good value. (Possibly with scheduling clashes meaning I would have to play less at the other sites.) I'm not very good at EBJ. Doubts about the long-term future, and a general sour taste that comes from the way UBT marketing has been handled.
