1. WHAT IS A PROVIDER MIGRATION?
BT's provider migration scheme allows customers who have an existing broadband service to change their service provider without the hassle of having to cancel and re-activate their service (known to BT as a cease and re-provide), which incurs an additional activation fee and means losing connectivity for up to two weeks. As most UK broadband services are re-sold BT services, this means pretty much all Service Providers can provide this service to customers whose service is based on a BT IPStream Service. Migrations from BTs Datastream services are coming to the end of an extended trial and are now largely accepted.
Migrations between Lixxus and cable broadband suppliers are not possible.
2. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IPSTREAM AND DATASTREAM?
IPstream and Datastream are two different methods of delivering broadband from BT, largely invisible to the customer and usually only required knowledge when a provider migration is required. Because BT accepted only IPStream migrations until recently, it used to be important that the underlying service type was established before a migration was requested. This is less important now and the migrated service will simply match the existing service.
3. CAN I MIGRATE ANY SPEED OR CONTENTION?
As the name suggests, a provider migration is just that - a migration of an existing service from one provider to another - or a change of ownership in other words. This means that the speed and contention ratio of the service will remain exactly the same after the migration as before it. Once the service has been migrated to us we can discuss REGRADING the service to a different speed/contention.
4. WHAT INFORMATION IS REQUIRED?
To migrate a broadband service to Lixxus, you must contact your existing provider and ask for four things:
a. Migration Authorisation Code (MAC)
This MAC is unique to your service and must be correct for the migration to be successful. A MAC is made up of up to twelve letters and numbers separated by a forward slash (/) and beginning either BBIP or FTIP. If the MAC is not used, it will expire after 30 days.
b. Speed of existing service.
This is the maximum speed at which service runs and should be either 512K, 1Mb or 2Mb. Lixxus cannot migrate any other service speeds.
c. Contention Ratio of existing service.
This will be either 20:1 or 50:1. Lixxus cannot migrate services with any other contention ratios.
d. Name/Type of service provided.
This is the product name for your existing service.
We also require the address that the service is installed at and the telephone number on which the broadband service is running.
When you have captured these details please contact our support team.
5. CAN MY EXISTING PROVIDER PREVENT THE MIGRATION?
The key to migrations are the MAC. If you obtain the correct MAC from the existing provider and we pass this to BT, the migration should then proceed smoothly. However, not all service providers will supply this MAC readily.
Several of the large Service Providers have signed up to OFCOM's Provider Migration Code of Practice and any of these Providers should supply a MAC without question if the service is currently live and they are confident that the person requesting is the bill payer.
6. WILL THIS MEAN THE EXISTING PROVIDER WILL CANCEL THE OLD SERVICE?
Once the MAC has been issued, the losing provider should not take any action unless you use it, ensuring that the service remains live until such time that you choose to migrate. A MAC can be used up to 30 days after it is issued and only when it has been given to BT to initiate a migration should any action be taken by the existing provider. After 30 days have passed, a new MAC will need to be obtained.
7. WHAT ABOUT ANY CANCELLATION COSTS OR CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS?
The losing provider cannot withhold a MAC to enforce debt collection or contractual rights. However, customers are not freed from contractual obligations they have entered in to with their existing service provider - i.e.: you will have to honour the remaining term of an existing contract or pay early cancellation fees, if applicable. An existing service provider will still be able to take reasonable action to enforce their contractual rights even after a customer has migrated to a new service provider.
You must refer to your existing provider for any cancellation fees or details of their contractual obligations.
8. WHAT IF THERE IS A CANCELLATION ALREADY REGISTERED AGAINST THE SERVICE?
The existing provider will probably not issue a MAC for a service which has a pending cancellation. However, if a MAC is issued, the pending cancellation will be migrated with the service and the service will still cease when it has been migrated.
9. WHAT DO LIXXUS DO WITH THE MAC AND EXISTING SERVICE DETAILS?
Once you have given us all the required details of the existing service, we will pass these to BT to start the migration process. BT then contact the existing provider to tell them that the service will be migrated and then give us projected date for the migration.
10. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE MAC IS INCORRECT?
BT will tell us within 3 working days if the MAC is incorrect or has expired. We will then contact you to request an alternative MAC.
11. HOW LONG DOES THE MIGRATION TAKE?
Once a valid MAC has been supplied the migration process should take around 7 to 10 days. Once BT has confirmed a scheduled date for the migration to take place we will email your new account Service Details to you. These include a new username and password.
12. WHAT HAPPENS ON THE DAY OF MIGRATION?
The first time you connect on or after the date of migration you will find that your usual username and password are not accepted. This is an indication that your service has been migrated. At this point, you should update your dialler or router settings with the new Lixxus username and password supplied. You should then be able to re-connect and use the broadband service as normal.
13. WHAT HAPPENS IF MY SERVICE IS SWITCHED BEFORE THE SCHEDULED DATE?
BT can sometimes action the migration before the date specified without warning. We will endeavour to send the new connection details as soon as we can to allow access to the service should this happen. In the event that the migration takes place and the new connection details have not yet been received, please contact the Lixxus Support Team on 0845 456 6313.
14. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE SERVICE WON'T CONNECT?
As always in the event that the service will not connect, you should carry out the usual checks (e.g. check micro filters are in place and that all the cables are connected properly etc) and then contact the Lixxus Support Team on 0845 456 6313 should this fail to solve the problem.
If you can't find what you are looking for or would like to speak to a Lixxus representative about your requirements please contact us:
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