New statement regarding the Tiscali UK dispute is issued by 186K

A statement has been issued by broadband supplier 186k regarding the legal and financial dispute that is currently ongoing with Tiscali UK, which resulted in the loss of broadband internet connections for an unknown number of its customers last week.

A number of customers attempting to get their service reconnected with alternative ISP were told that 186k “are no longer in the market”, has “shut down”, and even that “186k have been acquired by Tiscali”.

With many customers finding it difficult to contact 186k regarding the problem and to get their migration code (MAC) it is probably understandable why this conclusion may have been drawn by Tiscali, however, 186k have refuted claims that the company has shut down.

The recent statement release by 186k regarding its current dispute with 186k is as follows: “A number of 186k customers have had their internet access interrupted by Tiscali UK Limited (Tiscali) on Wednesday 14th January 2009. This action was taken without notice to 186k Limited (186k) and the disruption is continuing for many users.

Affected customers were presented with an option to migrate towards Tiscali Internet Service Providers (ISP) and obtain a temporary username to access the internet. Customers who have contacted Tiscali at their overseas call centre have in some circumstances been informed that 186k “have shut down”, “are no longer in the market” or even that “186k have been acquired by Tiscali”. None of these accusations has any foundation. 186k is a wholesale ISP with a customer base covering broadband, dedicated servers, co-location, leased lines, telephony and other information technology related services. Of its wholesale broadband customer base, only a small percentage was serviced by Tiscali, with the remainder provisioned with BT Wholesale.186k would like to make it clear that although the action by Tiscali has caused significant disruption to its operations, and even more inconvenience to end users and resellers, the business continues to operate as normal and is working hard to restore access for customers and move them to BT Wholesale’s stable and reliable network.

There is an ongoing legal dispute and High Court action between 186k and Tiscali which we cannot comment on further at this stage. It is unfortunate and unfair that end users have been inconvenienced by this dispute. 186k would like to reassure its customers that it is continuing to do everything possible to restore service to those affected by Tiscali’s actions.”

It has been report by some customers that they have yet to receive migration code” they requested from Tiscali and many have repeatedly attempted to contact 186k with no success. These kinds of situations where the obtaining of migration code (MAC) from either the ISP or supplier cannot be achieved within a certain timeframe merely highlights why an alternative method is required.