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Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Marks DTM Calib on 19 December 2008, 20:23:50

Title: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 19 December 2008, 20:23:50
Can anybody recommend one......clearly Virgin are

a) rather useless
b) Not rather interested!
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Jimbob on 19 December 2008, 20:34:10
Phone - BT, the only ones you dont hear too many stories about
Broadband - Zen - Very good, fast lines, but not the cheapest.

You can have it Good, Fast & Cheap....any 2!
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: VXL V6 on 19 December 2008, 20:37:45
My sister is using O2 broadband at the moment, 6.7Mb for £12 IIRC (though I could be wrong!)

Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: pscocoa on 19 December 2008, 20:44:51
I changed to O2 for broadband in July - absolutely first class.

Phone deal with orange is ok but I have been with them a long time - you will get a discount off o2 broadband if you go for o2 mobile phone as well.

Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 19 December 2008, 20:52:07
I have a company funded mobile so dont need that.

I am put off BT broadband because of the monitoring they do....I dont download anything I shouldn't but....dont agree with the process they use.

Need to be away from Virgin asap!
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 19 December 2008, 21:02:31
Am with Plus Net on thier old Premier Account.  Cant fault em.  24/7 local rate suppoert run by nerds.

Would recommend them.  In fact for every one that signs up they give me a discount if they quote my username.

Been with em from day 1.  8mb service, get 6.5mb :y
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: hotel21 on 19 December 2008, 21:06:21
I'm with Virgin and have no real issues, to be honest.

Main difference, I would think though, is its Cable and not twisted pair....

Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: jimmas on 19 December 2008, 21:11:28
I am with fast net, deffo not the cheapest, but does exactly what it says on the tin, no complaints and no call centre
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 19 December 2008, 21:11:43
Quote
Am with Plus Net on thier old Premier Account.  Cant fault em.  24/7 local rate suppoert run by nerds.

Would recommend them.  In fact for every one that signs up they give me a discount if they quote my username.

Been with em from day 1.  8mb service, get 6.5mb :y

Fair user/usage policy from 4pm to midnight.  15gb monthly allowance.

I have 16 hours a day to max off peak, and often do. (legally) :y
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Kevin Wood on 19 December 2008, 21:14:35
Another vote for Zen. As Jimbob said, not the cheapest but apart from a few BT break ups when we first moved here 4 years ago I cannot remember a time when I've found the connection to be down.

Kevin
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 19 December 2008, 21:50:54
Try Tiscali....
I have phone and adsl with them....
Couple of probs but sorted and havent had a prob for a while...
I have 8m adsl and phone line rental for £15/month

Just tested speed of line with http://pcpitstop.com/internet/bw.asp

It reported just over 6000kbps download and 330kbps upload......which doesnt seem bad to me  :y

The way i look at it.....landline with BT was costing me £10/month line rental......so for another £5/month I have 8m internet as well  :y

Edit** Think tiscali do have 'fair usage policy' but sometimes I leave a PC on 24/7 downloading for maybe a week or so at a time.....and never had a warning about it  :y
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: gan1503 on 19 December 2008, 22:37:34
Sky broadband here,just tested speed with taxi drivers link & got 11821 kbps download & 631kbps upload
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: HerefordElite on 19 December 2008, 22:39:58
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/talk/?code=ZZ-NL-11GK&srccode

was sent this link at work and seriously considering a swap from BT in new year to save some dollar

any pro's or cons? :-?
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: PaulW on 19 December 2008, 23:02:07
I'm with Be

get about 17mb down, and 2.5mb upload - static IP too :)

works out at £28 a month though..

Phone - if you want Be, you have to be bt...
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: PaulW on 19 December 2008, 23:02:45
Quote
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/talk/?code=ZZ-NL-11GK&srccode

was sent this link at work and seriously considering a swap from BT in new year to save some dollar

any pro's or cons? :-?

Pro's - clicking the 'Close' button in the top right :)
Con's - spending time actually reading/considering Tiscali...
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Pete Elite on 19 December 2008, 23:03:41
 
  I changed from AOL(kept dropping off line >:() to The Utility Warehouse (£24.99 monthly)a couple of months back, took the full package which includes Gas & Electric, Broadband(unlimited) & phone(no charge for line rental so saved £10.50 from BT) which includes freecalls 24/7 to 01,02 & 03 #s once Gas & Electric are changed over.

  So far i'm very impressed with the service, no problems with phone and no dropping off line at all :)
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Matchless on 19 December 2008, 23:04:28
Ask Simon B who he uses, seems to have good performance and was happy with service and install etc.
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Nickbat on 19 December 2008, 23:06:17
I've been with TalkTalk for over a year and I don't have any complaints.  :y
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Elite Pete on 19 December 2008, 23:09:28
I was with Tiscali for about 6 years and their product was good but the customer service is appalling. Im now with Virgin and its the other way around, the broadband is slow but the customer service is good.
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Martin_1962 on 19 December 2008, 23:13:40
I have BT but would not recommend them despite having a UK call centre.

Not that cheap, involved with a bunch of crooks.

Service is OK
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: HerefordElite on 19 December 2008, 23:14:23
Quote
Quote
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/talk/?code=ZZ-NL-11GK&srccode

was sent this link at work and seriously considering a swap from BT in new year to save some dollar

any pro's or cons? :-?

Pro's - clicking the 'Close' button in the top right :)
Con's - spending time actually reading/considering Tiscali...


they bad then? :o
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Matchless on 19 December 2008, 23:28:50
I tried to sign up with Sky broadband but the call centre was in Glasgow and I couldnt understand a word she was saying, her accent was so strong.
Im married to a Scot so I should be able to translate OK but not this one.
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: willyboy on 19 December 2008, 23:45:11
I think the problem is where we are all located , getting different good & bad providers im areas of UK. I've been with Virgin (cable)  previously NTL  so had cable set up a while now & have had no probs till recently (but only an online gaming issue) but they have been pretty good trying to sort it out with some success as they admit they cant find a fault "but it has improved since the engineer called at my home" Gave me some info regarding thought there maybe a problem on the "ring" I was on ????
       Looks like a case of yer pays yer money & takes yer chance, for me its a bit of a pain also costly to have the BT line reconnected then setting up a package for bband/tv/phone with some copper wire ISP outfit ! :-X
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: markey mark on 20 December 2008, 01:35:32
im with virgin xl pack and havnt had any probs at all !! carnt recommed the v+ box enough  :y so much better than sky+  8-)
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: gwa on 20 December 2008, 08:19:50
They are all the same. They provide the same or similar products. Somehow (and I don't know how) you need to look at the support they provide, both Customer Service and Tech Support.

In P'Boro we have VM piped all over the place and its good and fast with no problems.... well, except when they upgrade something and don't tell you, by which time you've rebooted 20 times etc

Good luck, I look forward to the other replies.
 :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 20 December 2008, 08:57:28
Well Virgin support is crap.....I am without internet and they are not interested (been 1 week now) following an upgrade I didn't want (or know about!).

The customer services (when you finally get through) are not interested and just pass you from call centre to call centre.
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: TheBoy on 20 December 2008, 12:25:27
I think its fair to say that Zen Internet probably provide one of the best IP STream based DSL services.  Its not just about sync speed - that will no vary with ISP, thats a last mile/internal wiring thing.  But Zen's network and peering seems to be more than capable of dealing with the capacity.  The 'ancillaries' - mail/news etc is preety good for ISP freebies, their webspace is pretty featureless though.

Zen also have a UK tech help line, normally answered within 20s once through ACR.  I have called them a number of times and cannot fault them.

Connection appears to be unshaped/traffic managed.

But if you don't like 'em, 30 day contract iirc. The biggest thing I can say is how many other ISP's DSL services could run a site like OOF?


BT's own broadband has improved massively recently, and TS better since bring back to UK.  Obviously some people will not like the ad targetting system (which I believe Virgin had implemented anyway), so if that bothers you, BT are not for you.

Plusnet - great for your mother etc, with simple surfing needs.  Very heavily traffic shaped, so pretty poor for anything else. Their own VOIP works, but 3rd party ones are problematic due to the shaping. Also have a bit of a reputation with email, after deleting 1000s of mailboxes 3 times in 1 year.  Wholly owned by BT, so possibility of the ad tracking being implemented.  

Tiscali have also improved, but the CS still lacks.


For best I would go with Zen, but you will pay more.

If the ad tracking doesn't bother you, BT worth a consideration.

For simple cheap surfing, I'd go with Plusnet, but probably use another email provider

Something in between is where things get tricky, and you get into that 'great when it works' type territory.
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: TheBoy on 20 December 2008, 12:26:35
And lastly, get yourself a domain name, so that if your next ISP does not meet your requirements, you don't have to keep changing email/web addresses :y
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: stuart30 on 20 December 2008, 13:04:55
Quote
I have BT but would not recommend them despite having a UK call centre.

Not that cheap, involved with a bunch of crooks.

Service is OK

 :o  spent 3 hours and about £15 in calls from mobile too get through to UK call centre.

Oh and the Asian call centre dont recognize data protection. :o ::)
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Martin_1962 on 20 December 2008, 14:26:46
Quote
Quote
I have BT but would not recommend them despite having a UK call centre.

Not that cheap, involved with a bunch of crooks.

Service is OK

 :o  spent 3 hours and about £15 in calls from mobile too get through to UK call centre.

Oh and the Asian call centre dont recognize data protection. :o ::)


I have BT Vision so are staying, get free UK support as well
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: tmx on 20 December 2008, 14:31:02
British Telecommunications PLC are very good!

there 21CN infrastructure will be completed soon......

seriously though ive had ADSL & Homephone with them for 4 years and never had a problem!

i get 8mb dsl and download at around 7mbps which i reckon is really good compared to Bulldog Tiscali etc

BT Vision is getting really good now aswell more HD content being added everyweek!

BT Own PlusNet i think.......

the UK Call centre is much better and ive noticed they answer the phone alot quicker another thing that BT do is hold your place in the que and call you back!
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: stuart30 on 20 December 2008, 14:35:04
Quote
Quote
Quote
I have BT but would not recommend them despite having a UK call centre.

Not that cheap, involved with a bunch of crooks.

Service is OK

 :o  spent 3 hours and about £15 in calls from mobile too get through to UK call centre.

Oh and the Asian call centre dont recognize data protection. :o ::)


I have BT Vision so are staying, get free UK support as well

Well your lucky then Martin as day before yesterday after a very nice Indian gentleman explain 5 times i had requested my line be disconnected on the 13th December it became clear why i have no damn phone line now.

Turns out he was happy too discuss my account with a 3rd and subsequently close it......when i asked about data protection he didnt have a clue what i was talking about. :o

What a great service....must send them a christmas card. :-X
Title: Re: Recommended Phone and Broadband Provider
Post by: Martin_1962 on 20 December 2008, 14:39:09
Last time I needed tech support - free but took two days to get BTV IPTV working again