What broad band package?

[terrybullwon]

Guys Just moved house and need to set up some sort of broad band.

Jamo's already shouted virgin at me and its a dam good price but i have to rent a BT line as well.

And i am awaiting BT to get back with a price for me.

Any comments are welcome

[s2_bo]

I use BT, they are expensive but if your going to use a LOT of bandwidth then they are certainly worth considering.

Once the offer period runs out they will be bombarding you with big bills though :S

[s2avant]

I'll have to agree with Jamillionaire on this one. I have Virgin 20mb at home (It was original NTL as I've had it years) and the service has been fine. I'm on cable which IMHO is a better setup than ADSL but it depneds what you can get in your area.

I have helped many friends and family to sort out there internet setups with various other ISP's and they have all been a PITA to get working. My borther is with BT and they sent his login details for his homehub to his BT email address instead of on paper through the post. The problem is you can't access the BT email address until you have the homehub setup with the login details

Ben

[Fat Audi 80]

BT here, no real complaints with the hardware or connection, just don't get me started on the Customer Service and Call Centre.

I have only had the displeasure of having to deal with them once and it was like this and this

Useless muppets.

Connection is good and strong and rarely if ever goes down.

Cheers,

Steve.

[Jas11n]

BT for me too. Unlimited download with a decent, consistent speed and a decent-ish upload. Only ever had one problem in 7 years, and that's when a white van man reversed and knocked over the exchange

Only complaint is their constant nagging (emails and post) for me to have a wireless setup, I don't bleedin want one though. I have no need for it.
No amount of explaining this to them, has any effect on them NOT nagging me. Idiots.

[shark_90]

I think Virgin is expensive and their traffic shaping policies are pretty harsh.

I'm not with Be Unlimited and get a good 19Mb download and 1.5Mb upload with totally unlimited, not traffic shaped downloads.

Some downloads come in at a reported 2.5Megabytes/sec.

Just downloaded Windows XP SP3 as a test and according to the download box I got a transfer rate of 1.80Mb/sec. 316Mb in 3mins 30sec. Newsgroup based stuff is even faster.

[Markarina]

Looking at the various rating sites Waitrose and Zen come out top, I'm with ZEN and have had no issues at all, and their customer service identified a problem in 15 mins that BT hadn't identified in 18 months(possibly because they have UK based customer service). The other thing with Zen is that you are on a rolling 1 month contract you are not tied to them.

Another option is Sky, who do free broadband in certain areas if you have a package with them.

If you have a wireless set up then you might want to try one of these like an I-plate but better.

[Jamo]

I admit I was giving TB the ADSL option

I'm on the 20 meg cable broadband http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk/br...edia/#provider

[Acidburn]

I'm currently on toucan at two locations and tbh had no problems with them, quick downloads, good connections etc. Very good deals on prices

[hibby]

I think Virgin is expensive and their traffic shaping policies are pretty harsh.

I'm not with Be Unlimited and get a good 19Mb download and 1.5Mb upload with totally unlimited, not traffic shaped downloads.

I agree with that.
I am still using cable and compared to my mates BE thing it is rubbish. Virgin started slowing my speeds if I download too much at peak hours, I presume that is what is meant by traffic shaping?


Cable used to be the daddy when it was Telewest and even worth paying the extra cash for. Virgin are making a pigs ear of it.

[philKS2]

BT BROADBAND tip

If you have BT broadband, you can get their BT Vision freeview box (with built in twin tuner and HD recorder) for just £30 .. NO NEED to subscribe to any of the paid channels. Yes that's a freeview PVR for just £30

ALSO - I don't tend to download music or video files (apart from occasional youtube) so I only have the cheapest BT broadband pkg. I've never gone over the download limit, and if you do they only charge a minimal amount per Gb extra.


Whatever you do, avoid Tiscali/Pipex.. they DOUBLE charged me for ages for my broadband, by taking money direct debit twice (note to self... check through bank statements in future) and it took me months to reclaim it.

Virgin - used them in Bristol when they were Telewest/NTL .. excellent system, and you use their cable phone too. And you can get HD TV

[Fat Audi 80]

And in case you didn't know, don't touch AOL with a barge pole!

They are useless at everything!

[hiltoa]

I'm on Be Unlimited too, very stable (touch wood) and I get a good 10Mb in, 1Mb out through the phoneline.

Can't fault it myself.

[Greg_S]

Personally I use Force9 (Plusnet) and had no issues with them at all. Excellent tech support and good service

[Ski]

If you like to download programs and video's, I stick to virgin. 20meg line, only capped within certain hours of the day (which are decreasing) its mint, download a 4 gb movie within minutes.