Which Home Broadband provider?

[Jake]

I'm actually still with NTL (or Virgin as they are now), rather nicely I got a letter last week saying that they are upgrading my 10mb line to a 20mb line next month. Which is nice

[Geoff]

Already on Virgin 20mbit here. I'm also on the 'traffic management' trial as I'm in the NW. Fortunately I appear to be outwitting their network engineers and I am actively evading their traffic shaping efforts.

[leon]

+4 for Zen. Love 'em to bits, get what you pay for imho.

[ChrisH]

Im still finding F2S fine after switching

[localzuk]

I'm currently with Orange, for £5 a month for 'unlimited' (which is actually around 50GB). I have been with BT also but found their service to be awful. Connections dropped regularly and the BT Homehub is absolutely useless.

 

So far, Orange seem fine. Connection speed is as I expected in the area I'm in and I've not suffered any problems as yet.

[ninjabeaver]

I'm plenty sick of BT. Is there a good way to get out of their contract. I also agree that service IMHO seems very poor. I quite like the look of the SKY deal. I', really trying to tighten the old money belt at home at the moment.

 

I've even cancelled all my MMO game subs.

[mac_shinobi]

Im with virgin media on 4mb, didnt get a letter about them upgrading , I take it thats only for 10 mb customers then ?

[gwendes]

I woud highly recommend AOL. Stay clear of there software but otherwise £30 a month gets you 8Mb free from shaping, caps and other nasties. Free Netgear wireless router too...

 

Pipex, PlusNet, Tiscali and BT all traffic shape - from experience... oh and Virgin too - don't think Virgin Media do since they are NTL

 

Go with AOL if you can't get cable.

[woody]

I woud highly recommend AOL. Stay clear of their software but otherwise £30 a month gets you 8Mb free from shaping, caps and other nasties. Free Netgear wireless router too...

 

Pipex, PlusNet, Tiscali and BT all traffic shape - from experience...

 

Go with AOL if you can't get cable

 

Is it possible to not install the AOL stuff? I thought you needed to log on through their software. Maybe things have changed?

 

Anyway, there are plenty of ISPs out there, not the bigs boys you mentioned, but others who for £30 per month will give you massive download cap with no traffic shaping.

[StewartKnight]

NinjaBeaver,

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch you know... the reason that Sky can offer free broadband, is because it's rubbish!

 

For some people, the internet is about browsing web pages, I'm sure all of us here realise that the internet is so much more.

 

All the sky package is good for is browsing web pages, which takes less internet traffic than some of the more exotic applications!

[gwendes]

I woud highly recommend AOL. Stay clear of their software but otherwise £30 a month gets you 8Mb free from shaping, caps and other nasties. Free Netgear wireless router too...

 

Pipex, PlusNet, Tiscali and BT all traffic shape - from experience...

 

Go with AOL if you can't get cable

 

Is it possible to not install the AOL stuff? I thought you needed to log on through their software. Maybe things have changed?

 

Anyway, there are plenty of ISPs out there, not the bigs boys you mentioned, but others who for £30 per month will give you massive download cap with no traffic shaping.

 

Yep, AOL now give you a real router with a real router firmware and allow you to connect all your computers (etc) to the real internet now! No caps or traffic shaping (they do have a FUP but I was told it is against their ethos to enforce shaping)

 

Changed BB provider so many times for bad service, slow downloads or caps - very happy with AOL. We're all techies here, I don't need to tell you to throw away the AOL CD that comes in the box

[jopijedd]

I'm with Demon on the Home Office package, but only have been for about a month having upgraded from Dial-up because BT killed off the surftime package. First impressions are very good. Connection speed is 2.2 to 2.7 mbps, which is double what anyone else in the village has told me they're getting (one through Sky and one through Tiscali) and the downloads seem to be flat out at about 265-275k/s.

 

The only drawbacks i have found are occasional disconnecting when i'm idle, but Demon dial-up did this as well. Even better is the weeks worth of BBC Radio listen agains downloads in just over an hour instead of taking all weekend at 5k/s

 

Its setting me back £25 per month, but i get a static IP, webspace, email and the like. The upgrade from dialup was seamless too.

[indiegirl]

I've done it before, and I'll recommend Demon again. Been with them for over 2 years now at two houses (both too far from the blinking exchange for a decent speed ) and have never had a problem.

 

Will be reconnecting to them when I move again

(unless I can find a better deal). I don't have a static IP and am on the Home Office for £20 a month. (well, £31 if you include BT line rental). I don't get the random disconnections that jopijedd gets, in fact my connection is usually up for months on end before power cuts usually knock the router off.

[latics4444]

Hi,

 

There are lots of broadband providers which you can use now, its hard to choose usually, and which package will be best to suit you!

 

I used a webpage called http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/ and that gave me all the information i needed about different packages and prices to choose from, it compares all different kind of things you look for when your using broadband!

 

check it out it was helpful for me anyway!

 

what broadband providfer are you thinking of gong fot, ive just started with Virgin and it seems reall good, i will wait til i get a problem to see how helpful they are! but so far no problems and really fast and cheap!

 

Chris

[t_guest]

i don't know if this has been said but i whould go for ntl/broadband

[ICT_GUY]

BT, only one that I have used thats had no problems. They will however try to charge you lots for 18month contracts.

[apeo]

NinjaBeaver,

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch you know... the reason that Sky can offer free broadband, is because it's rubbish!

 

For some people, the internet is about browsing web pages, I'm sure all of us here realise that the internet is so much more.

 

All the sky package is good for is browsing web pages, which takes less internet traffic than some of the more exotic applications!

 

Im with virgin at the mo and ive been thinking that i should move to another provider (even tho i have been a loyal customer for many years) due to the problems ive been getting over the past coupld of years and its expensive (unless you go for one of those deals that last 12 months). It seems to be worse since vingin took over. Anyway i digress, what is it about sky that makes it rubbish? is there still a problem with long activation times?

[Skoggmeiger]

 

Pipex, PlusNet, Tiscali and BT all traffic shape - from experience... oh and Virgin too - don't think Virgin Media do since they are NTL

 

 

Not noticed any traffic shaping on Tiscali. Downloaded Debbie Does Dallas in no time at all last night.

[gwendes]

Not noticed any traffic shaping on Tiscali. Downloaded Debbie Does Dallas in no time at all last night.

 

It kicks in after you download over their AUP cap... it definately exists - they were a nightmare to move from and I wouldn't have unless completely necessary...

[gwendes]

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/fair-usage-policy.html?code=NN-HB-0282

 

"...we will be restricting your bandwidth during peak hours for the good of all other customers. This restriction will only apply during peak hours and there will be no restriction at other times of the day."

 

Didn't contact me once before enforcing after about 100Gb.

[Skoggmeiger]

Hmmm, best let my housemate know that. The contract is with him and I just pay half the cost. I doubt he's read the T&C's, though him and his bird are quite heavy downloaders.

[eastlondon]

I use Pipex & have had little to No problems with them over the 7 or so years i have been with them, I like the fact that if there is a problem (like the exchange going down at BT ends) they give me a free dial up account to use. I am on the edge of the exchange & get a better speed& contection than the rest of the people in my block.

 

I have heard good things about Sky but the people who have said the good things are not the brightest of people when it comes to IT

Just DONT go with AOL

[gwendes]

Just DONT go with AOL

 

Bad advice. AOL give the best connection to an ADSL 8Mb I've found - no downtime and good speeds (registered torrent sites give 800KBps)

 

NO CAPS and NO AUP that entitles them to screw around and traffic shape.

[gwendes]

Pipex policy

 

"...if your usage is frequently high and impacts our network, and the experience of other customers, in a negative way then we will get in touch with you to ask you to change your behaviour.

 

If your usage remained high and didn’t change, or contravened the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), we may take further action and may suspend your service and close the account. We want to avoid this happening and ask for your support in ensuring a good service for all Pipex customers. "

[stephenleak]

Money wise, the £20 per month Carphone Warehouse Talk Talk combined broadband & telephone package is hard to beat.