BT Total Broadband

[firefighting]

I am considering moving to BT Total Anywhere Broadband and getting the HTC s710 for a one off cost of £29.99. This will give me access to all BT Hot-spots and VOIP. Anyone bought into this of have pros and cons?

[matt40k]

BT suck. The service is poor, the router is locked down. I would rather get sky or such and pay the extra £100 for a good router. You'll save it in the long run.

 

VOIP is pants quality. The hotspots means you have to allow people to use your broadband.

 

Combine this with the spyware BT are using and the traffic shaping = pain.

[localzuk]

I'm on total broadband, and if you get over the firewall part of the router being 100% useless (ie. turn it off else you'll never have a stable router), it is pretty good. I've had good service, speeds are consistent and good for my location, and the BT Vision service that works through it is good too.

 

Also, the BTFon capability is a very nice addon, allowing you to be nice to those around you, and for those around you to be nice to you. It doesn't just allow people to use any speed they want, it gives your traffic priority of course.

 

All in all, a good deal.

 

Oh, but the BT Mobile stuff seems like a poor deal - your non-wifi allowance on it is awful (a couple of megs a month) compared with most other phone providers where you can get much better deals now.

[firefighting]

My other choice is BeThere. They offer up to 24M download and 2.5M upload at much cheaper rate than BT plus 1 static IP address for £22.00 per month! I have heard good reviews about BeThere. There on line tests says I can get up to 18M!!!

[sdc]

Whilst I know others have had problems, I'm on BT Total Broadband and have had absolutely no issues at all. The Voip phone is very useful - especially on a standard geographical number - and the fact that I now have everything in one box - router, wireless, switch, etc - which I (or more to the point, my parents!) only had to turn on, was a big bonus. I had boxes and wires galore in my roof... Also, I went for the BT vision package, which I cancelled after the first month, giving me a freeview box with built-in HDD recorder for £30, and whilst it's a bit limited compared to some out there, it does all I want it to. So I've no problem with BT Total Broadband, works fine for me.