FAQ

• Who are RapidADSL?
• What does RapidADSL give me?
• How do I get RapidADSL?
• What does "24Mbs" mean?
• Will I really get 24Mbs?
• What factors that I can change may affect my speeds?
• Can I get RapidADSL?
• Is RapidADSL broadband available in my area?
• RapidADSL is not available in my area yet. When will it be?
• How do I migrate to RapidADSL?
• Which RapidADSL broadband product should I choose?
• Does an engineer need to visit my home?
• How soon after I’ve signed up for RapidADSL can I use the service?
• Will RapidADSL’s prices change in the near future?
• How and when will I be billed for the service?
• How do I report Abuse?
• Isn’t it dangerous to use wireless?
• How secure is your online order form?
• Can I order any other way, other than online?
• How long is the RapidADSL contract?
• Is the service really unlimited?
• Can I set my own email or web server up while using the RapidADSL network?
• What happens if my service is disrupted?

RapidADSL is an independent Internet Service Provider and we are part of an IT company that has been in existence for over 20 years so we have lots of experience in IT and Internet provision.

• Outrageously fast broadband
• You get business grade UK support service
• Wireless router
We have three mega fast business broadband products to choose from.

You need a BT phone line, must be over 18 years of age and you need to live in an area where RapidADSL is available. In addition, you will be required to provide a valid credit or debit card in the ordering process. We accept all major credit cards, with the exceptions of Diners Club and American Express.

Mbs means ‘megabits per second’. This indicates the maximum speed of an internet connection, measured in bits (of information transferred) per second. One Kb (kilobit) is 1024 bits and one Mb (megabit ) is one million bits (one thousand Kb). With RapidADSL, your connection speed could be up to 24 million bits per second.

The graph below shows the estimates theoretical maximum speeds for ADSL and ADSL2+.

As we don’t live in a lab here are the real world expected figures experienced by our customers.

The actual bandwidth that you will receive is based on several factors: the length of the wire that connects your premises with the BT exchange, the quality of the copper, and environmental issues which include electrical interference and even sometimes bad weather and the distance you live from the exchange. If your line is two kilometres long then you can expect to receive up to 15 Mbs (dependent on the above circumstances). Your bandwidth will decrease further as line length increases, and we do not offer our service if you are further than 5.5 kilometres from the exchange. While bandwidths are not guaranteed, we do offer the highest bandwidth available using ADSL2+ to your premises. RapidADSL Premium users will receive a download speed of up to 24 meg, but an upload speed of up to 2.5 meg. RapidADSL Home users will receive a maximum speed of 8 meg, and a maximum upload speed of 1.3 meg.

We recommend that you connect your RapidADSL router to the first phone socket (located close to the point at which your telephone line enters your house, flat or building) with a micro filter, as this will greatly improve the overall connection speeds. In addition, we recommend that you don’t use internal or external line extensions, as they may also affect your speeds. If you have more than one phone socket in your household, please use a micro filter on each phone socket. This will improve your broadband speed.

When you use our availability checker online, we check as to whether RapidADSL provides service at your exchange and some line characteristics that will indicate whether we can place an order to upgrade your BT line to add our service. You cannot order RapidADSL on a phone line that is currently supplied using ISDN, Fibre, Telephone Switch, TPON, or BT’s FeatureNet product. In these cases, you will need to order a new BT analogue phone line in order to get our fantastically fast service.

If you have a BT phone number, you can use our broadband availability checker to check whether we're able to provide you with our super-fast broadband service online.

We are continually expanding our service area so by registering online we’ll let you know as soon as RapidADSL’s ludicrously fast service comes to your local exchange. Get your neighbours and friends to do the same - this helps us monitor interest levels for your exchange and we use this to prioritise the exchanges that we ‘unbundle’.

All you need to do is contact your existing broadband provider’s customer service and obtain your Migration Reference Code (known as a MAC key). Then, you simply place your order online and enter your MAC key when prompted. It’s a good idea to check your current contract, as some providers charge their customers for moving to another provider before a specified date. Once we have your MAC key and your completed order we can start moving you over to RapidADSL. The entire process will take around two weeks. 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. If you are not able to get a MAC key from your current ISP, it unfortunately means that you have to cancel your service before you can order RapidADSL. Naturally, there will be an interruption in your service before we are able to connect you. If you find that your MAC key is not accepted when placing the order and migration is not possible it would indicate that your current ISP is not compatible with the current migration process that we can offer. If this is the case, please call us on 0870 3866222.

We have three different broadband packages: RapidADSL Home allows 24/7 access to the internet without any limits on surfing, emailing, downloading or uploading all for a very low price. You will also get download speeds of up to 8Mbs with 1.3Mbs upload, and also includes business grade UK support hotline. RapidADSL Pro allows 24/7 access at up to 24Mbs with 1.3Mbs upload with one static IP address without any limits on surfing, emailing, downloading or uploading all for an very low price, and also includes business grade UK support hotline. RapidADSL Premium has all the benefits of RapidADSL Pro, and also offers up to 2.5Mbs upload speeds, 8 free static IP addresses (and up to 16 IP addresses, at a small cost). All of this comes at a great price and also includes business grade UK support hotline. All our packages have a minimum 3 month term.

If you already have a BT line, no engineers will need to visit your home. Once your RapidADSL connection is activated in the BT exchange and you’ve received the welcome pack, you simply need to follow the instructions in our DIY instant broadband guide and you’ll be ready to receive our astoundingly fast broadband service. If, however, you do need a new BT line installed, a BT engineer will need to visit your home (which you will need to organise through BT).

We’re working hard to get new members connected as quickly as possible normally within 7 days, but please allow up to 2 - 4 weeks for RapidADSL to be activated. This is the average time that it takes for BT to connect your phone line to our network.

There are currently no plans to change our prices. That doesn’t mean that they may not change in future, particularly if there are supply cost or market changes. If this happens, we will inform all of our members in advance of any changes.

You are billed monthly in advance and the billing amount is calculated from the day that your RapidADSL service is activated. The first deduction will be made from your account approximately 3 days prior to the service being activated. This invoice will cover the connection fee and pro-rata broadband service fees from the day of activation to the end of the billing period.If your order is provisioned on or after the 25th of the month, you will also be debited for the next month’s bill.Further invoices for the standard monthly fee will be sent in advance of the next monthly billing period.

abuse@rapidadsl.com

No. Our wireless router allows you to use WEP & WPA protocols for encryption and password protection. We deliver the RapidADSL Router with security turned on as standard.

RapidADSL’s online order forms use industry-standard SSL encryption to ensure that the data you enter cannot be intercepted on its way to our web-server. From there, it is immediately transferred securely to our database servers, which are configured and managed to maintain the highest security. This means that you can be confident that the information you enter (including credit card details) will be safe.

Yes you can call our friendly and helpful sales staff on 0870 3866222

We offer a 1 year contract as standard.

In principal there are no download or upload limits on any of our broadband products, but they are all subject to our Fair and Acceptable Usage Policy. All fair and acceptable usage is included in all of our products.

Yes, we are a business grade ISP however you can only use our services for legal purposes - please see our terms and conditions

We're committed to providing you with a service that has as few disruptions as possible. In the unlikely event that you experience a loss of service caused by us for more than 5 consecutive days and 24 consecutive hours you will be compensated for each day's disruption, by a reduction in your monthly service fee equivalent to the amount you would have paid for service on those days. In order to receive this reduction, you will need to notify us as soon as the service failure occurs and request the appropriate reduction by contacting member services when your service is restored. See our Standard Terms and conditions for more information.