Frequently Asked Questions

---

• Internet FAQ's

• Will anything change with my phone line on LLU broadband?

  No, for our LLU broadband, we use what is referred to as partial unbundled (SMPF is the technical term)
  This means that the changes only effect your ADSL Broadband internet, and there are no changes to your phone line, or to the company you pay your phone bill to, that stays the same, the only exception to this is our Surfwise Complete package, this does include your phone line rental.

• 24MB Unlimited LLU Service, is it really unlimited?

  Yes, our 24MB LLU umlimited service really is unlimited, and there is no FUP in place, you really can download what you want.
  There is an acceptable use policy as part of our terms, but this refers to the use of your internet connection for legal use, and that you should not use the internet for anything that would be in breach of any United Kingdom laws.
  Some of our products have a FUP and these are listed as FUP against them, some of these product may have traffic prioritising in place for some protocols, please ask for further details. 

• How is broadband different?

  The difference between a dial up connection and a broadband connection is simple. The broadband service is a faster always on connection and you pay a flat rate each month rather than paying for each minute used as you would on a dial up connection.
   

• What is ADSL?

  ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology that allows Internet data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines. ADSL supports data rates from 500 to 8000Kbit/s download speeds and up to 800Kbit/s upload speeds. 

• Will I be required to change my existing telephone number?

  Broadband has been designed to use your existing telephone line so your telephone number remains the same. If you are with an alternative telephone communications provider you will be required to install a BT telephone line in order to receive broadband. This may mean a change in telephone number. 

• Will everyone be able to get 8Mbit/s?

  March 2006 BT began updating over 5,300 UK exchanges to MAX broadband, serving more than 99.6% of homes and businesses. Only 159 remote exchanges will remain on standard broadband. Your ability to receive up to 8Mbit/s speed will depend on line quality and distance from the exchange, as BT found that average speeds are 5-6Mbit/s and above. For those living or working close to their local telephone exchange, line rates of up to the maximum 8Mbit/s should be achievable. When placing your order with us we will inform you of the average speed that is attainable in you area.

  Please note that during the first 10 days of service on ADSL MAX the line speed will regularly change, resetting the connection to the exchange every time. You may experience intermittent service during this period for that reason we are unable to report a fault. This is the MAX service settling down to achieve the best rate possible. 

• Will everyone be able to get up to 24Mbit/s?

  This will depend on what services are available at your local telephone exchange. Also, as with normal ADSL the length of your telephone line back to the exchange, and the quality of the line will play a large part in the maximum speeds you may be able to achieve.

• What are Peak and Off Peak Hours?

  For the allowance based products, peak hours are defined as Monday to Friday 8AM - midnight (8AM - 8PM for Office connections) All other times are off peak.
   

• Are upload counted on FTTC packages

  Our current FTTC packages included uploads in the data usage counted.
   

• Can I check what speed I am getting?

  Visit http://www.speedtester.bt.com to get a reading of what speed you are currently getting, and for BT Wholesale based connections this will also give you your IP profile. For LLU based connections, then you can use The Think Broadband speedtester at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

• What are Migration costs?

  For BT Wholesale based connections, there is no migration fee as long as you have a valid MAC from your previous ISP. The only exceptions to this is if you have an LLU MAC (Your line was part of an unbundled service) or you are migrating over to our LLU based services as these may generate a connection fee (see product description for details).

• Package Types?

  Our Packages are in different categories. We offer allowance products, these work by offering the service with a predefined amount of data that can be used over the connection, we can offer packages with a fair usage policy and we have packages that are completley unlimited.
  The Allowance products are listed with the amount of data against each product, and over usage costs are show below.
  We also have PAYG (Pay As You Go) packages, these are designed for very light users or people requiring a secondary connection. These have a data allowance of 1Gb and every Gb over is charged at £1.09.
  Fair Use Packages have a fair use policy with 100GB of data usage. As it is a fair use policy rather than a data cap, we look at the activity of the account throughout the duration of your service, so if your usage is normally below the FUP, but you occasionally go over this, then this would not be a problem, if however you consitently go over the FUP then we may recomend a different package that may suit you better.
  We also have packages on our premium service, these have a data cap of 50GB with extra GB used charged at £1.10 per GB the excess use charge will be applied and invoiced at the end of the month.

• Over usage and Top ups?

  Top Ups:
  Top Up 10 £8.65 (Ex VAT) £9.95 (Inc VAT)
  Top up 25 £20.82 (Ex VAT) £23.95 (Inc VAT)
  Top Up 50 £40.83 (Ex VAT) £46.95 (Inc VAT)
  Top Up 75 £60.83 (Ex VAT) £69.95 (Inc VAT)
  Top Up 100 £76.96 (Ex VAT) £91.95 (Inc VAT)

  A top up amount has no expiry date, so if you purchase a top up of 25Gb, each time you use more than your allowance you will usage some of your top up, so if you are on a family 30 and use 35Gb in peak time, you would use 5Gb of your top up, leaving 20gb in the bank for future use.
  Top ups can only be purchased using a credit or debit card and not via any existing direct debit.

  If you go over your usage your speeds will be limited to 128k until your next billing date unless you purchase a top up (as described above) although If you wish, you can select over use charge, this will mean that for each GB over your usage you will be charged the over usage fee (as listed in the prices above) when you select over usage you must specify a maximum amount for overuse, this will limit the amount you can be charged in any one billing period, so if you select £5.00 as your max then once you reach this amount you will no longer be charged any more, and your speed will drop down to 128k until your next billing period (or until you purchase a top up) 

  Premium packages:

  Over Usage charges on our Home premium 50, Office premium 50 and our LLU 75 (home and office) packages are charged at £1.10 per GB for each and every GB over the data cap.

• Can I change the package I am on?

  You can change between different packages, depending on the package you are on there may be a charge, please email us for information. With the Allowance packages, you can move up and down package. 

• Web Space & Email?

  250 Meg of web and email space is provided free with your connection if required, details will be in your welcome email, but you can always raise a ticket or drop us a mail for more information.

  The email service support POP3 and iMAP and secure SMTP

  Our email servers are:
  Incoming mail server: mail.vivaciti.net
  Outgoing mail server: mail.vivaciti.net

  Q) Can I increase the amount of web space we have?

  A) You would need to upgrade the webhosting package to our gold package.
   

• ADSL Settings

  To use our ADSL service you will need to configure your router or modem.

  Most of these setting should be set by default, but worth checking.

  VPI = 0
  VCI = 38
  ADSL Modulation: Auto, G.DMT, ANSI T1.413 or ADSL2+ (depending on package)
  Encapsulation Mode: PPP over ATM (PPPoA (PPP over ATM)- RFC2364) VC-MUX
  Authentication: CHAP

  IP address and DNS server should be server assigned (or similar wording depending on router model)

  Your username would have been chosen at the order stage for all other than our surfwise package (the username for surfwise will be firstname.lastname@surfwise.net) you need to add either @vivaciti.net.uk or -vivaciti@accessdsl depending on your package to the end so it would look something like: username@vivaciti.net.uk If you cannot remember what your chosen username and password are, you can give us a call.

• What is the minimum term for the account?

  The minimum term is 1 month for basic DSL connections and 12 months for all FTTC connections, multiple service contracts may be 12 months depending on your schedule; If you wish to terminate your contract you will need to give 30 days notice, in the case of migrations, we will accept your request for your MAC as our 30 day notice period, as charges up to the end of this 30 day period will still be levied. Depending on the package if you leave within 6 months you may need to repay the migration fee we may have included in the price, contact us for more details.
  Once we receive your notice to cease/migrate out or if you inform us you have already left, all outstanding invoices become due for payment immediately.
  Some products will come with a disconection fee seperate from the standard fees for broadband, these will be listed seperatly and acording to our full price list.

• Do your prices include telephone line rental?

  This depends on the ackage you have chosen. Our Surfwise Complete product does include a phone line and broadband combined.
  For a broadband only products no the monthly fee you pay us is for your connection to the broadband, your phone line rental is separate.
   

• How do I pay for your service?

  Payment is via Debit or Credit card, Monthly direct debit or for some packages, we offer payment by PayPal, depending on connection chosen. There may be other payment options, contact us to discuss further

• How long after I sign up will I be able to use my ADSL?

  It will take between 3 - 7 working days to set up and activate your account. This time line is dependent on BT to provision or migrate your line, and is beyound our control.
  You can also monitor the progress of your order from our control panel depending on the package chosen.