8:30 AM -- The performance of BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA)'s next-generation network, the 21CN, has been publicly derided by one of its wholesale customers, business ISP Andrews & Arnold Ltd.

The ISP became so exasperated with the "high latency and some packet loss" it was experiencing on its connections into the BT network, that it posted an entry on its "Incidents and status" Website on July 1, challenging BT to do something about the poor performance.

The ISP said it felt it had to make its complaint public because it had been "chasing BT for this for weeks now, and are getting nowhere. Hopefully this posting will prompt BT to make some formal response... I really hate to have to resort to this sort of public humiliation as a way to get BT to do the right thing. We, as a company, really want to work with BT to resolve issues quickly and professionally. We have tried. We continue to try. We hope BT can be professional and stop messing about and get these apparent major capacity issues fixed now."

About seven hours after the initial post, the ISP reported that it was "working with our BT account team and senior BT management to ensure that they fully understand the issues. We hope to have more detailed updates in a few days..."

The ISP's complaint raises some significant issues, not so much about the quality of BT's network, but about its support and customer relationship processes, which appear to be, at best, woeful.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading