best internet provider -any advice please?

[Guest naillig]

Another Talk Talk customer thats pretty fed up of all the problems i keep having with them.

Low speed, keeps disconnecting , router problems and quite expensive now.

I had to change back to BT last year as Talk talk do not give free 0845 numbers and a lot of hospitals use these , so went back to BT .

Not keen on BT either .

At the moment i am getting just over 1mb - i pay Talk Talk £18 per month and also BT £18.50 for line rental and anytime calls.

 

I can''t get cheap BB in this area with anyone it seems .

 

Cna anyone recommend a reliable ISP please.

 

I live in rural Lincolnshire.

[zoltron]

Just a thought have talktalk suggested that you try connecting through GDM.T, we had loads of problems with talktalk at first but we switched our connection protocol to GDM.T and have not had a problem since. The speed is locked at 8 meg but it never disconnects and I mean never our router last time I checked had an uptime figure of over 500 hours. Worth a try before you go through the hassle of swapping over.

 

PS how far do you live from the exchange ask talktalk to tell you your line length, to be honest if the length of the line is too great you will have problems whichever provider you go with. I know with GDM.T it will find the best speed based on your line length. If the length is excessive the best you might get is 512k down 64k up and that will be as said before with any provider. I think to be honest you can change to setting within the router from ADSL to GDM.T yourself and give it a try in think it's in the option connection mode.

Edited January 14, 2011 by zoltron

[Guest naillig]

Is that all the help on here ?

Sorry but i live miles from the exchange -but i am so sick of Talktalk/Tiscali.

All night tonight i haven''t been able to get my emails down as it continuosly asks me for my password -it doesn''t matter how many times i put it in -the little box just keeps popping up again!

 

I take it from reading on here that all internet/broadband providers are just crap and only want to give you crap service with no customer relations and once they have your money and you have a problem they aren''t interested .

It seems they all are the same -BT -call centre in India= crap and ignorant .

TalkTalk= call centre in India-also crap and ignorant.

Virgin -the same

Sky -the same

 

Why are they getting away with the way they treat the paying customer !????

[silverfox1961]

Hi,

From your first post, it sounds like you are in the same boat as me. (very rural)

The exchange near you sounds like it doesn't have a talktalk box in it so TalkTalk are renting space hence the higher cost.

While I can't help with your problems, I can recommend Sky. I am on Sky Connect. It costs £17 a month and you egt a 40GB download limit BUT split into 1.3GB per day (which I didn't know about when I joined) The tech service can be iffy but when I had a problem, I emailed one of the head honchos and got myself sorted within a couple of weeks

[Guest naillig]

Thanks .

I did try Sky a few months back and they couldn''t do me a deal -i think they would probably charge me the same as you £17 .

I think they all have to rent the BT exchange round here -thats why you cannot get any cheap deals !

 

I may try them again and see what they see if i take my phone over to them too -i have Sky Tv -so will give them a try tomorrow !

 

At present i pay BT £18.50 petr month and £18 to talktalk and then Sky ontop of that £29 for the TV/Sky box.

Surely someone could do me a cheaper deal !?

[Highchiefolaf]

One of the big things is dependant on the exchange, and whether they are "unbundled" and have equipment present from other suppliers, such as Sky, O2/Be etc.

 

If not (which it very much sounds like in your case) then the provider will rent the service from BT Wholesale. There is very little margin in this for the company, so generally around the £17 mark is the going rate.

 

Best thing to do is type Sam knows into google, visit the website and look at broadband availability. Type your phone number in, and look to see if a) the exchange is LLU enabled and b) whether any provider has their equipment in it.

 

Speaking from experience, Sky connect is awful - poor speed, heavily contended and throttled badly during peak periods. I can't complain though as I didn't pay for it (I work for Sky) - The Sky network though, completly different kettle of fish, it's excellent so was happy when my exchange become unbundled. It might be worth checking with Sky as well to see if your exchange is due to be unbundled anytime soon as a rollout programme for further exchanges is currently happening.

[callumsgran]

I'm with Plusnet and don't have any problems with it

It's a subsidiary of BT but cheaper and just as good, free 0845 and 0870's

Incidentally Talk Talk do now provide free calls to the same, my friend has just signed on to them

[Guest naillig]

It says that ADSL MAX is in my area -but the only internet provider at my exchange (Swinderby) is BT -all the others have to rent it from them.

It also says there is another service on your phone line that would prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection ?! No idea what that means !

 

It says its not LLU enabled .

[locutus]

Plus.net may be a good cheap alternative as callumsgran has posted. uswitch also does a comparison for broadband.

[andydd]

I assume (Virgin) cable is not an option ?

 

Andy

[sillygirl1]

Plusnet are very good, much better than Virgin (who have had lots of problems in my area) and if you speak nicely to them they may even be able to help get you ported across with no problems.

[Guest naillig]

No virgin round here for tv or bb

[andydd]

Plusnet are very good, much better than Virgin (who have had lots of problems in my area) and if you speak nicely to them they may even be able to help get you ported across with no problems.

 

But in terms of speed (and the 'actual' speed you get, not 'best of' scenarios), Virgin can't be beat, I was recently upgraded for free from 2mb to 10mb and recent tests show that I am getting 9.5 mb whichj is very impressive and hardly any others can compare with that, mainly due to the fact they are stuck with using the copper wire phone system.

 

Another advantage is that unlike every other ISP you dont have to pay extra for a phone line, I just use my mobile and I only pay £21 for 10mb package and L TV HD package which is very cheap.

 

Alas it looks like this isnt an option for the OP though.

 

Andy

[Surfer01]

We live in a rural area and use PlusNet. If you have a speed ssue with one ISP you will have it with others.

[Guest naillig]

Its not just the speed -its the -keep asking me for password pop up box to start with -no matter how many times you put in password it still comes up -its a case of then resarting the computer 2-3 times before it stops .

The rude staff there -you ask a question and it takes them 5 mins before they answer or speak to you -they are all Indian , can''t hear them half the time , the other half you can''t understand them !

 

The connection keeps dropping , its expensive etc etc.

[locutus]

did you try the "uswitch" thing I posted before?

 

Also, you sound like you have a modem (small device that plugs from the phone into the USB port of the computer?) If that is the case, and the password thing is an issue, you can get a router, probably free with your new internet provider, or you could haggle one out of TalkTalk no problem if you decided to stay with them.

[Guest naillig]

Its not a modem ,its a router -as its right next to my computer its no problem to have it wired.

 

I use wireless downstairs on my ipad and iphone.

 

On uswitch -O2 came out Top , followed by plus net , then Sky connect , then Talktalk/BT

Edited January 25, 2011 by naillig

[locutus]

o2 is pretty good (especially if you have a mobile with them that you top up over £10 per month) IF you can get it. You stated that your exchange is not LLU enabled, so o2 may not be able to provide you with their cheap service.

 

It may be time for you to go thrugh the suppliers. I'd sugest in the order that USwitch gave you, especially if you have an o2 mobile phone. Please make sure you double check that they can supply you with their "Unbundled" broadband before accepting anything.

[Guest naillig]

My mobile is vodafone and still in contract .

No O2 cheap package round here either -the only company in my exchange is BT - all others have to rent the exchange from them.

 

Maybe thats the way to go ?

[locutus]

plus.net use BT anyway. and as they're pretty cheap give them a tinkle and see what they can do for you

[Guest naillig]

Thanks -will try plus net as well .

[Ford]

plusnet is a half decent option. their 'basic' bband is only around 6 quid per mth. compared to an llu isp it will prob be slower (plusnet uses bt equipment). but for the cheaper price it may be worth the sacrifice, depending on what you use the interweb for. it is subject to traffic management, DLM, and a monthly download limit.

imo

[Guest naillig]

Thanks -tried plus net -not a bad price -BUT we do not get any of the prices quoted as i already said-BT own the exchange and no-one else is in it -they all rent from them.

O2 was £26 per month for the basic !

Plusnet is around £12.50-the others are more around £18 .

I am more interested in the stability and staying connected to be honest more than the price .

I don''t mind paying £18 if it was stable -but Tiscali is a nightmare and weekends almost non existant and trouble after trouble.

All weekend my internet has been unstable again-login box keeps appearing asking for password-you can put this in 1000 times and it will still appear again .

It even lost all settings on the router as well-its just pushed me to the limit now.

Then i got told they would escalate it and someone would ring me if i gave them a time -i said ,after 5pm.

I got a call at 11.30 am -"are you in front of your computer "?

"No i am not -i said i am 15 miles away from home in a shop -i ask you to ring after 5pm -response - "but are you able to get to your computer"

What thick idiots!!!

Then i was told -we will ring you tomorrow morning !!!

I told them 3 times mornings are no good !- response -we will try and ring you Wednesday MORNING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At that point i gave up altogether !!!!!!!!!!!!

I have spent the whole weekend trying to get online-on the phone to them -they got it working and within the hour it was doing the same again .

Total nightmare company -avoid at all costs !

[sillygirl1]

Plusnet are extremely stable and I have had no issues with them at all, if you want you can PM me and use me as a reference (I get a discount if you do!).

 

Haven't once had to use their helpdesk and when I got my android pad it connected first time to their network with no fuss.

[pershing]

Another vote for Plusnet. I use to recommend them for business broadband when I had my own IT business. They rarely have connection issues, are priced reasonably and use British call centres. There online service is also brilliant were you can manage your account and just about everything to do with it. You get email and webspace included. Really good support if you ever need it. Cant recommend anyone higher.