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Embarrassment as company puts itself (and possibly Wimax) up for auction
Broadband provider Pipex has suspended an executive in a row over alleged industrial espionage. The company faced legal action by Rackspace, a US-owned web-hosting company.
The suspended executive, 40-year-old Dominic Monkhouse, was managing director of Rackspace until last July when he left to head Pipex 's web-hosting division Web Fusion.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Rackspace has sacked a woman who was alleged to have had a relationship with Monkhouse and to have passed information to him.
Rackspace's legal action against Pipex has now been settled, according to both companies. The terms were not revealed.
Pipex said in a statement: "Dominic Monkhouse is in discussions with his former employer… At this time Pipex is not party to the discussions and has no involvement in the issue."
A Pipex spokeswoman said today that the company's involvement in the case had been "tenuous".
But it comes at a delicate time, because Pipex has put itself up for sale in an auction that could shape the future of Wimax wide-area wireless links in the UK. Pipex Wireless, a joint venture with Intel, owns scarce spectrum that can be used for Wimax.
One reported bidder is Virgin Media, the rebranded cable giant NTL Telewest, which could use Wimax to extend its UK broadband coverage.
But a purchase of Pipex would also give Virgin Media a foothold in the lucrative corporate market and it is not certain as this stage whether Pipex Wireless will be included in the deal.
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Oh God I dont want to change ISP again
It is very sad to hear that Pipes is to be sold. I will find it hard to find an ISP as good as Pipex. I had AOL which was like watching paint dry, only more boring and slow. I had Tiscali which dropped the connection so regular you could set your watch by it. I could not stomach Virgin. So its back to the drawing board for me..
Posted by Jim Mennie, 30 Mar 2007
Is this sale tied into PIPEX Voice arrangements with BT?
I have just quieried my payments to BT and in the reply from BT was this comment "I would also like to bring to your notice that you are going to have your call charges with BT from 24/04/07. So it would be advisable that you continue paying £20 per month to cover up your rental charges and call charges for the future bills" Written by N* F* , BT Customer Services. This seems to imply PIPEX is about to loose its ability to run VOICE deals ala their £19 a month Miniband plus phone calls deal. Anyone know anything different? 14.04.07
Posted by Howard Wright, 14 Apr 2007
I wouldn't buy Pipex
I was with Pipex, they bought out homecall, and then made my broadband terrible, I had constant cut outs and broadband speed issues, it was slower that the old dial up alot of the time, when I tried to complain about it, I spent most of my time trying to get through to their customer service line which cost me a fortune, none of their staff could seem to help me, and the helpdesk is poor, and to top that they put my existing contract of £6.50 for broadband up to £15.99 without telling me, so I cancelled my contract, unfortunately, I had been paying the higher price for 12 months, they said they had sent letters out informing of the price raise, but, I never recieved one, and they wouldn't give me my money back either, not easy getting out of their contract, it will cost you about £30 in phone calls to their billing dept. Make sure you cancel your direct debt, as I have read other customers being charged for their services after contract should have ended! no customers service at all.
Posted by Rob Davidson, 17 May 2011