UK Online customers: Consider Migrating to BE Broadband

Earlier this year, UK Online announced that it would be suspending its service at the beginning of 2011. We’re sorry to see them go, as they were well respected in the UK broadband community as a provider that prided themselves on the excellence of their customer service (much like us at BE).

But if you’re a UK Online customer and not sure where to go next, why not switch to BE? BE Broadband is a great alternative to UK Online – we would think that, of course. But you don’t have to take our word for it - here’s a direct quotation from a former UK Online customer who has recently joined BE:

“Well my BE line went live this morning - it took me no more than ten minutes to get it working with my Netgear router. According to speedtest.net on BE I am now getting 2.51mb down (37% improvement), 1.91Mb up (203% better) and just 77ms (293ms better or about a quarter of the response time) compared to my UK Online service.”

While we can’t guarantee 37% speed improvements for everyone, we can offer you this: free award-winning 24/7 customer support, a free router, and the option of getting landline from us. Plus, we will also make the migration process as simple as possible, keeping you updated every step of the way. We’ve written about this before, but below is a step-by-step guide for customers wanting to migrate from their current provider to BE Broadband:

How to change (migrate) away from your current provider

• Contact your existing broadband provider’s customer service and obtain your Migration Authorisation Code (known as a MAC key).
• Place your order online at www.bethere.co.uk and enter your MAC key after you’ve submitted your order.
• Once we have your MAC key and your completed order we can start moving you over to BE.
• The entire process will take an average of 4-5 working days, but can take up to 10 working days.
• During the changeover you will briefly lose your broadband connection, but we’ll ensure that it’s up and running in as short a time as possible.
• The MAC codes that are compatible should be in the following formats:
• 1) 4 letters, 7 digits, forward slash, 2 letters, 2 digits, 1 letter. For example, LLLN0189907/DF34L, or
• 2) 4 letters, 7 or 8 or 9 digits, forward slash, 2 letters, 2 digits, 1 letter (example BBIP1757713/DJ29K or FTIP01753715/BD19J or FTIP012345678/BD23J).
• Check your current contract, as some providers charge their customers for moving to another provider before a specified date.

Our member services team is also on hand if you’re having trouble migrating across. Just give us a call on 0808 101 3424 and we’ll help you through the process.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up with BE Broadband now.

BE members: if you know someone moving away from UK Online, don’t forget to tell your friends about BE.

BE Broadband's Arbitrary Awards of 2010!

Looking back on 2010, we thought, instead of doing our Top 10 of the year (because Google and Youtube already did fairly comprehensive and awesome lists of their own), we would nominate the top tech happenings for our very-much-made-up-but-still-excellent “Awards of 2010”:

BE’s Oo Shiny Gadget of the Year award: the Galaxy Tab
Although we know the weakness for all things Apple-shaped, we’re going with the Tab as our Gadget of the Year. Why? Well, we think it’s the first tablet we’ve thought could rival the iPad. Check out the reviews.

BE’s Timewasting App We Never Want to be Without award: Angry Birds
A lifesaver on long tube journeys, we’re a bit addicted to these little fellas. Okay, a lot addicted. Just. One. More. Star...to get...!

BE’s Favourite Thing We Released this Year award: BE Wholesale
Not the jazziest of technology we’ve ever released, but important nonetheless. Read all about it here.

BE’s Belly Flop of the Year award: Google Wave
So much potential, so little usability. Which is a shame, because this video had us all hyped for its possibilities.

BE’s Scientific Development of the Year award: Hadron Collider
The answer to the question, “What do you want to do today?” is of course, “find the answer to the most fundamental questions in physics, concerning the laws governing the interactions and forces among the elementary objects, the structure of space and time, especially regarding the intersection of quantum mechanics and general relativity, in a tunnel near Geneva”. CERN, we salute you.

BE’s Pun of the Year award: Why, MoDember, of course.
Moustaches! Modems! Raising money with puns! We loved it, and so did you.

Intriguing Internet Hero of 2010: Julian Assange
Love him or hate him, you can’t help but admire the movement (read: havoc) he’s inspired across the interwebs. That, and his (surprise!) 87% slutty score.

BE’s Top New Social Networkz to Play With award: Insta.gram
We all love Twitter and Facebook, but the latest thing to have caught our eye is Insta.gram – it’s stolen our hearts with its faux hipster photo washes and location functionality. #Win!

BE’s Top OMG We’re Now Attached to the Playstation award: Call of Duty Black Ops
Who here saw the outside world after this was released? Not us, that’s for sure. No, we retreated into our Game Caves with a mountain of crisps and didn’t step above ground for quite some time. The sun - It’s so bright!

BE Broadband’s Top Tweeters of 2010

In the run up to Christmas, BE member Lee Wilshire has been putting out a daily tweet to promote the people he’s followed on twitter over the year and say thanks for interesting conversation and entertainment they’ve provided. Here at BE towers we were delighted to hear that BE Broadband has been included on the list!

Here’s what Lee had to say about the BE Twitter feed:

“As ISP’s go BE have been top notch, their network speeds are fast and reliable and their prices are cheap too! BE go the extra mile too, if you turn up to one of their regular socials, you can not only meet the staff face to face and have a nice chat but they’ll also buy you a drink or two too. Does your ISP buy you drinks? No, thought not. So follow BE @BeBroadband”

Inspired by Lee’s generosity, we thought we’d do a similar run down of the BE team’s favourite tweeters of 2010. Don’t forget to follow BE Broadband on Twitter at @BEBroadband and leave a comment if you think there’s anyone else we should be following or who you feel deserves to be one of BE’s top tweeters.

BE’s Top Tweeters of 2010 (in no particular order):

@mrchrisaddison (Chris Addison)
You know, that comedian of the telly? He’s a sharp guy and makes our Twitter feed much more fun. Also, he is the walrus (a green one apparently).

@efan78 (E Kristopher-Hartley)
For incisive tweets that are a great extension from his blog. If you want to know what we mean, when he was unfortunately leaving BE as a member to cross to the red side as part of “Beardy Branson’s” gang (his words, not ours…) he left a constructive farewell post. Check it out here: http://efan78.com/140/2010/01/ive-crossed-to-the-red-side/

@ProfBrianCox (Brian Cox)
Super science man explaining how the world works whilst being funny. Not an easy task, but he does it with style!

@jrox007 (Jamie Rox)
A BE member who was tweeting away at the BE Social Christmas Social, letting other BE members know what they were missing in 140 character tweets.

@toyboxstudio (Toby Cummins)
Cracking taste in music and his mixtapes have us bopping along all day in the offices. Check them out on his podcast under the pseudonym DJ Toys: http://toyboxstudio.posterous.com/

@aral (Aral Balkan)
One of our fantastic BE members who also is pretty nifty at knocking up an iPhone app or two. Take a look at his Featherz app to see what we mean.

@BEStatus
Super helpful channel that tells you what’s happening on the BE network, when exchanges go down and - most importantly – when your interwebz will be working again!

@aiannucci (Armando Iannucci)
You might be picking up a thread here... another great comedian and writer who tweets entertainment in 140 character bursts

@timesjoanna (Joanna Geary)
Joanna’s been organising the London meeting of Hacks and Hackers, a great movement bringing news people together with hackers.

@glinner (Graham Linehan)
Writes a lot of great TV programmes so he has an impressive way with words. He’s also a champion of good online values and we like how he thinks. He even sparked a mass BE recommendation storm on Twitter when he asked which ISP he should go for!

Who are your top tweeters of 2010? Let us know in the comments below!

Best of the 2010 BE Socials

Last week saw the last in the BE Social series for 2010 and what a year of BE Socials it has been!

From being stuck in a snowstorm in Edinburgh to a trip west to Bristol, it's been fantastic to get out and meet BE members from across the country.

With a cracking turn out of nearly 20 BE members descending upon The Mitre for a cheeky drink or two (and a mince pie or five) we saw out the year in style. Here's some "Best Of" moments from 2010's BE Socials:

Thanks to all those BE members who have come along over the past year. We've got some exciting plans for the BE Socials in 2011, so keep an eye out for more news next year...

BE MEMBERS RAISE MONEY WITH #MODEMS

The end of November means, yes, Santa’s on his way soon, but also for those of you who took part in Movember, it means facing the icy winter winds with less protected upper lips.

We feel your pain.

But there is a bright side in this – the money raised by BE members for prostate cancer research with the #MoDember pictures and tweets!

Together you tweeted and Facebooked a grand total of £1790 in 12 days (remembering that we kicked this off on the 19^th). We had 27 pictures sent our way, and when we called, you rallied with 134 extra money-raising tweets in the final hours. So we want to thank you for taking part and being the great people we know you are.

And to finish, our selection of your finest mo’s and modems: