Recommend me a new ISP

[maviczap]

Just phoned up for a MAC code to leave AOL, don't know why I haven't done this sooner.

All came to ahead last night when I got a cold call from them to 'Improve' my deal at no extra cost, when I queried the bloke about this tieing me into another contract he was very rude. Customer service nil points

So who do I switch to?

Sky is the current favourite, as I'll swap broadband & phone to them. Good deals on first 6 months. Plus I'll be saving

One neighbour is getting 8meg another 11meg, which is way faster than anything else in my road.

Plusnet is another choice, as they're very cheap, but speed is only about 5meg tops

Was thinking about BT but Indian call centre put me off, Plusnet is owned by BT and has UK call centres

[andrewsmith]

has virgin never made it across the flats?

[MisterTommyH]

+1 for sky.

Anytime plus is a good bonus too.

[maviczap]

has virgin never made it across the flats?

Oops no can't get Virgin at my end of town, NTL stopped laying cable and Virgin never continued to my side.

My side is full of old fogies and no chavs on income support, so no regular income for Branson :D

[andrewsmith]

do a speed test check as that'll give you the best one for your area

[timwilky]

How very 20th century though having to pay line rental for a telephone just to get the internet. Can you not get BT's new fibre offer?

[maviczap]

do a speed test check as that'll give you the best one for your area

Sky is the best

How very 20th century though having to pay line rental for a telephone just to get the internet. Can you not get BT's new fibre offer?

Unfortunately not yet Tim, despite BT having their HQ only 10 miles from me and my brother used to0 work for them, otherwise I would have.

The exchange is only a mile down the road :evil:

[andrewsmith]

so its steam power and gerbil in the wheel in East Anglia still?

TBH Sky probs your best bet

[maviczap]

so its steam power and gerbil in the wheel in East Anglia still?
TBH Sky probs your best bet

Yep, AOL is like dial up sometimes, hence my desire to swap ISP, although I got 2.7meg tonight, best I've seen for ages. But not helped by radom AOL search pages appearing when I click on emails and the downright clunkiness of AOL

Plus the celebrity news on AOL which revolves around katie frickin Price which I don't read, but they thrust upon you

They tried to make me stay and I lied through my back teeth about how much Sky was going to charge me. £20 for TV, Broadband, line rental & calls. Wish it was that cheap, but I'm still going to save money over AOL & BT combined

[pookie]

Have a look at o2. Good service ok price on the old tariffs.

[hindle8907]

For ADSL i would only go with = bethere or o2 https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/homepage they are part of the same company.

but as i am now in a cable area virgin 50Mb package is unbeatable.
See below and the speeds and they never drop. even get 60Mbps when downloading via usenet !! amazing.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1542434367.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[Dave20046]

I have no issues with plusnet, just BT with slightly better call centres and better pricing. (if you go with them let me give you a referral quote! [/impartial]

Or O2

[SoulKiss]

Sky is traffic shaped rubbish.

www.bethere.co.uk is all I am saying

[DJFridge]

I use Virgin on a standard BT line. About 7Mb-ish unless all the local chavs are watching X Factor online. I would consider Sky except I like all our current email addresses! At work we use a firm called Eclipse (also over a standard BT line) who are generally excellent.

[JamesMio]

I have no issues with plusnet, just BT with slightly better call centres and better pricing. (if you go with them let me give you a referral quote! [/impartial]

Or O2

Same here - been with PlusNet on and off for about 8 years now and they've really given me so little problems since then I'd be happy to keep using them.

Must admit, being taken over by those useless ****s at BT did concern me, but so far, so good.

[Dave20046]

They were the cheapest for me over a bt line (although if i could have been arsed I could have got the line rental 2 quid cheaper a month) although in hindsight I should have gone with virgin with no line rental as I no longer use the landline

If you are an o2 mobile a customer you can get a moderate saving on o2/be

Think I got cashback with plusnet

[johnnyrod]

I've just switched to Sky, no problems with any of it, not sure how good they are compared to others as the exchange is behind my neighbour's garden so our speed is good. Don't go anywhere near TalkTalk/Pipex etc. Re. moving email addresses, yeah can be a pain but I have my own domain name, costs £10-20 a year (can't remember) so the address will never change and you use it with any connection.

[hindle8907]

do plusnet offer static ip's ?

[Amplimator]

so its steam power and gerbil in the wheel in East Anglia still?

Not necessarily, in Ipswich I had 20Mb connection a fair few years ago (which apparently has gone up to 50Mb!)

However down here in Devon speeds are appalling, would rather be back in the flatlands. :(

[andrewsmith]

Not necessarily, in Ipswich I had 20Mb connection a fair few years ago (which apparently has gone up to 50Mb!)

However down here in Devon speeds are appalling, would rather be back in the flatlands. :(

Not suprised no need to kink the optics

I think Virgin's somehow got a big enough ratchet around the optics around here and I think it's at 100mb

[Dave20046]

do plusnet offer static ip's ?
I believe so (BT certainly do), they also offer a premium service for a few quid extra a month giving gaming and FTP protocols priority to your line. And anything downloaded between 12.00am and 6am doesn't come from your allowance.
The router they supplied (a thompson one) I didn't trust either and I'm sure it was only a wireless n draft but it's not dropped since I've had it (BT homehubs, both gen1 and gen2 I found to need powercycling very often) and the signal strength is great. I have nigh on full signal through many walls to literally the furthest point of the house. Was preparing to replace it before it arrived, quite glad I gave it a go.

I'll point out I really don't have anything to do with them, just info I thought you may find handy! Not had a real problem yet so their custard service might be terrible.

[hindle8907]

I believe so (BT certainly do), they also offer a premium service for a few quid extra a month giving gaming and FTP protocols priority to your line. And anything downloaded between 12.00am and 6am doesn't come from your allowance.

I don't think BT offer static ip address for domestic use,
Thats why when i was on ADSL I found bethere who do for static ips at £1.50 each.
and there service is outstanding.

allowance :| ?? I would never go with anyone that caps speeds or downloads. :evil:

I download anywhere between 50-250GB daily.

[andrewsmith]

I download anywhere between 50-250GB daily.

That must be some epic p*rn collection

[Dave20046]

I don't think BT offer static ip address for domestic use,
Thats why when i was on ADSL I found bethere who do for static ips at £1.50 each.
and there service is outstanding.

allowance :| ?? I would never go with anyone that caps speeds or downloads. :evil:

I download anywhere between 50-250GB daily.
Ah , maybe not for domestic use then.

Me neither usually, but when price came into it plusnet won and it's not been an issue yet.

[hindle8907]

That must be some epic p*rn collection

not quite lol, i just use the free stream sites ;)
www.hottwinsisiters/mattmustbegay.com :)

I download lots of non-illegal/copyrighted :rolleyes: media though.

[andrewsmith]

not quite lol, i just use the free stream sites ;)
www.hottwinsisiters/mattmustbegay.com :)

:lol:

you forgot one or two sites there ;)

[maviczap]

Thanks for all the advice.

I finally decided on Sky, mostly on speeds in our road, they top the list

But I also should get £70 cashback from Quidco by upgrading through their website, plus its half price for the first 6 months.

Its only a 12month contract, unlike BT's 18 month one.

BT also lost out because after having the internal phone line repaired, which incurred a call out charge of £89, which I didn't have an issue with. But instead of sending me a bill for the repair, it was stuck on my phone bill. Then I got an email saying my direct debit was going up from £40 a month to £91! WTF just because there's an £89 charge sitting on my bill :smt071

[hindle8907]

sky . . . . .

:-({|=

[maviczap]

sky . . . . .

:-({|=

I don't have your needs ;)

[Dave20046]

Thanks for all the advice.

I finally decided on Sky, mostly on speeds in our road, they top the list

But I also should get £70 cashback from Quidco by upgrading through their website, plus its half price for the first 6 months.

Its only a 12month contract, unlike BT's 18 month one.

BT also lost out because after having the internal phone line repaired, which incurred a call out charge of £89, which I didn't have an issue with. But instead of sending me a bill for the repair, it was stuck on my phone bill. Then I got an email saying my direct debit was going up from £40 a month to £91! WTF just because there's an £89 charge sitting on my bill :smt071
If you though BT were bad I guess you missed watchdog a couple of weeks ago?



Oh and BT are bad - not disputing that!

[hindle8907]

do you have other services with sky if so then makes a bit more sense ?
do you still have to pay bt for the line ?

for 28.00 all in inc line rental and free evening and weekend calls you could of had the low package broad band from bethere.


Up to 12 meg download
Up to 1.3 meg upload
Unlimited usage

what did sky give you as their estimate ?
when your connected do a speed test and compare.

all the best anyway hope you don't have any issues but from my experience sky do good tv, but poor broadband.
My old man went from BT Broad band (who i also hate) to sky and his speeds dropped by more than 30% and I have seen the same with others too.

[Dave20046]

Risk of sky being **** aside with the quidco cashback + 6 months it doesn't sound bad at all. (as long as their monthly rate isn't extortionate)

Then again if you don't mind a 12gb a month cap with £70 cashback available on quidco plusnet would pay you to use them for a year (assuming you have a landline and keep paying bt for the line rental). Their cheapest package works out around £62 for the year.



Promise i'll stop banging on about them

[SoulKiss]

do you have other services with sky if so then makes a bit more sense ?
do you still have to pay bt for the line ?

for 28.00 all in inc line rental and free evening and weekend calls you could of had the low package broad band from bethere.


Up to 12 meg download
Up to 1.3 meg upload
Unlimited usage

what did sky give you as their estimate ?
when your connected do a speed test and compare.

all the best anyway hope you don't have any issues but from my experience sky do good tv, but poor broadband.
My old man went from BT Broad band (who i also hate) to sky and his speeds dropped by more than 30% and I have seen the same with others too.

Im on the top BEther package - £36/month

And I get a single static IP address, which is all I need - more than I need at the moment now that all my server needs are on Amazon's AWS Cloud

[hindle8907]

I used to have that same package with bethere can't fault them.

I only pay £43.00/month for virgin 50Mbps fiber and a line phone with free evening and weekend calls.
Being able to download a 700mb divx in less than 2 minutes is why i think the extra is worth it.
I can be watching an advert on TV, see a new film release and have it downloaded before the adds have finished.

from a legal source of course . . .

[Dave20046]

Sorry to mislead anyone above I've just read the pesky small print and you can only get the £70 plusnet cashback if you swap to them as your line rental provider too (11.99 a month)

[timwilky]

In some ways you guys with ADSL are lucky in that you get a choice. If one doesn't offer what you want you can go elsewhere.

I am stuck with virgin until fibre to the home becomes a reality. The wiring between my home and the not so local exchange is out of spec and I cannot have ADSL.

Why though are houses on my road on a Chorley number and can have BT infinity now and me 50 yards away on a preston number and cannot have it?

[maviczap]

do you have other services with sky if so then makes a bit more sense ?
do you still have to pay bt for the line ?
.

Yes, I've got Sky TV

No I will pay the line rental to Sky instead of BT

Speed tests, my neighbour is getting 8meg, another 11meg & another house down the road 14meg, so Sky is good round here.

I'm only getting 2.5 meg tops with AOL

[maviczap]

Sorry to mislead anyone above I've just read the pesky small print and you can only get the £70 plusnet cashback if you swap to them as your line rental provider too (11.99 a month)

Which I've done

[Dave20046]

Which I've done

I know, was just during attention to what I thought was a brilliant deal until I read the line rental small print

[Dave20046]

Sorry to resurrect this but just after the opinions/advice of those geekier than me.
Sky's prices have divebombed, looks like its about £180 for 12months (+cashback) whereas plusnet is £276 (both including linerental). Plusnet's speed's pretty good (currently getting 16mbps, averages about 8 I'd guess), sky reckon the highest speed they can offer (in accordance with ofcom's new guidelines on misleading people) is 6-8mbps. Is that the likely scenario or is it likely to be as fast as plusnet? I figure they're both using BT's infrastructure, would it just be down to customer distribution in the area?


Also how are you getting on with Sky MZ?

[Fruity-ya-ya]

Sorry to resurrect this but just after the opinions/advice of those geekier than me.

lol. Pretending not to be an ubergeek. You ain't fooling nobody Mr. :D

[Dave20046]

lol! I just worked out my answer :(
Sky don't offer '21cn' network speeds, they work on DSL max speeds which tops out around 8mbps - bugger.

Miss out on £100 quid, but to be fair plusnet customer support's spot on. And they don't even charge you when you replace a faulty microfilter with a dud one you found and come out and replace your socket so it has a built in microfilter :D

[Dave20046]

Oh and upon googling it to verify, I've found quite a lot of unhappy posts on the net from people who have found sky don't offer 21cn services after moving. Think I'll stay put/see if virgin can better the price!

Hope you're getting on okay with them though Maviczap.

[maviczap]

Dave
Compared to AOL, SKY is bliss. I can watch online video's without the dreaded hourglass or whirling thingy appearing whilst watching Youtube or Iplayer.

The first router I got stopped working, which wasn't good, but they sent a replacement, but I discovered it was just a duff power supply, so I've got a brand new router should I need one.

Next phase is to get some Homeplugs and connect my media player & Sky+ box up without miles of cables, although the media player was streaming Iplayer over WiFi with no freeze ups, but I need a wired connection for the Sky Box for Sky Anytime.

Current download speed is 12mbs so I'm quite happy with that.

[Dave20046]

That's fair enough power supplies do go.

http://www.ebuyer.com/276602-extra-value-200mbps-powerline-adapter-twin-pack-pa304w-p3p
Cheapest I've seen in a while.

Argh, I'd just settled back on plusnet! Will ring sky tomorrow and see if I can get them to commit to a minimum speed or something. It's not uncommon for 3 machines to be streaming high def content at once in this house hold, and currently it does it without a hitch so there's obviously a concern :(


cheers for the reply

[maviczap]

Yep, I'd seen them at a similar price here

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_9&products_id=113229 for 3

Any advantage in getting 500mps Homeplug setup?

[Dave20046]

Probably if it's only a few quid (I ordered some from 7 day shop ,they're an okay site),I've read bad reports on their speed so every little helps.I'd opt for quality wireless if possible.

[Bluefish]

Somebody say virgin?, just got an email off them saying they are going to be putting me up to 100meg possibly 120 and reducing the price as well, ah well it'l do i suppose ;)

[DarrenSV650S]

noob question: If you get proper broadband like virgin or sky does it have its own dedicated line coming in your house?

We can only get adsl here so never experienced the joys of real broadband

[DJFridge]

Somebody say virgin?, just got an email off them saying they are going to be putting me up to 100meg possibly 120 and reducing the price as well, ah well it'l do i suppose ;)

Jammy git. Fibre optic shows no sign of arriving here yet.

[maviczap]

If its Virgin yes (i THINK SO), which is why I'm cheesed off, because NTL didn't installed the cable as far as my road in my town. Virgin took NTL over, but haven't done any work to extend the cable network to my road

Sky just uses the BT phone line

[DJFridge]

I miss cable. I had a flat in Guildford that had cable, put in by some company that got swallowed by NTL before THEY got swallowed by Virgin. It was great. Must go and get another beer before I go into complete nostalgia-mode.

[-Ralph-]

OK, I'm moving house soon and my current Orange ADSL is getting subsidised by my wife's mobile phone contract, which she isn't using and would be as well off on PAYG. So I'll be ditching the mobile contract and swapping provider.

PlusNet and BEthere seem to be recommended on this thread, but

http://www.plus.net/packages/extra-broadband-calls/ total £20.98 per month

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/homepage BE Value plus Evening and Weekend £28 per month

Given I'd never exceed Plusnets 60GB per month, why would I spend an extra £84 quid a year for BE?

[grimey121uk]

If its Virgin yes (i THINK SO), which is why I'm cheesed off, because NTL didn't installed the cable as far as my road in my town. Virgin took NTL over, but haven't done any work to extend the cable network to my road

Sky just uses the BT phone line

Virgin didn't take over ntl/telewest it was just a rebrand of the name

[wyrdness]

Sky is traffic shaped rubbish.

www.bethere.co.uk (http://www.bethere.co.uk) is all I am saying

Dunno where you got that idea from, but no Sky don't traffic shape.

[wyrdness]

Next phase is to get some Homeplugs and connect my media player & Sky+ box up without miles of cables, although the media player was streaming Iplayer over WiFi with no freeze ups, but I need a wired connection for the Sky Box for Sky Anytime.

You can get a Sky wireless connector for Anytime, if you don't want a wired connection.

[Dave20046]

OK, I'm moving house soon and my current Orange ADSL is getting subsidised by my wife's mobile phone contract, which she isn't using and would be as well off on PAYG. So I'll be ditching the mobile contract and swapping provider.

PlusNet and BEthere seem to be recommended on this thread, but

http://www.plus.net/packages/extra-broadband-calls/ total £20.98 per month

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/homepage BE Value plus Evening and Weekend £28 per month

Given I'd never exceed Plusnets 60GB per month, why would I spend an extra £84 quid a year for BE?

I've been hunting and found o2,sky and plusnet to be the cheapest (ignoring talk talk) I can't get o2 but from what I've read they're acceptable and 10 quid cheaper than plusnet a month plus £80 cashback.
Plusnet have been very good for me,good speeds , best customer support I've dealt with despite them just being rebranded bt... last time my parents had an issue with bt I had to go round to their house and make the phone call as they wouldn't come out. there were still threats of massive fees if the problem was found to be inside the house.

[Dave20046]

Oh and Ralph,note line rental is only £9.50 pm if you pay annually ,but I can't see a reason not to if you can

[timwilky]

What ever happened to that organisation h2o I think that was supposed to be routing fibre through the sewer network?

[maviczap]

You can get a Sky wireless connector for Anytime, if you don't want a wired connection.

Ooh didn't know that!

Very useful to know :thumbsup: