Does anyone have BT Total BB please?

[Taffycat]

I've just been checking around for some broadband/adsl info. Does anybody here use BT total BB please? If so, can I please pick your brains? Believe me, I have looked for the answers on their website, but cannot find the specific answers that I'm looking for.

1. They say that they supply Norton security - I really don't want to use Norton, do I have a choice? Or will they grumble?

2. They supply a wireless hub, so will this be okay for connecting one computer using Vista, and another using XP Pro?

3. How easy is it all to set up? They will provide an engineer for £50, but .... well we can all think of better things to spend £50 on I think

4. They mention BT/Yahoo mail... so does this mean that I will no longer be able to use Outlook Express (which again, I prefer?)

5. Can I still use my own choice of home-page when opening IE7 or FF? (The reason I ask, is that a friend seems to have problems with this and seemingly "has" to use the BT/Yahoo page (I hate cluttery home-pages and normally use Google.)

Not end-of-the-world type "problems" I know, but I'd like to know what I would be letting myself in for if I decide to switch to them, so thank you for any guidance you can offer guys

 

[Me__2001]

i think mucks has this but i'll try and help anyways

i think what they'll do is send you the installer discs for norton so you can use it if you want, not using it won't stop you getting online

the wireless hub from what i know works just like any other router so you'll be fine with vista and xp based machines

not entirely sure about this, i think you get an email address thats connected to the account as with any ISP, it wont take over from your current one. you should be able to setup outlook to work with it no problem

your homepage is customizable so again not a problem but it may get changed if you use any setup discs BT supply, thats if they even do??

hope that helps and i havent just made it all up

 

[crazylegs]

Hey I don't have BT but you will still be able to use Outlook express as that is part of windows itself Taffycat...Although the Yahoo option is good as I use it aswell as Outlook express for my email clients...

 

[Taffycat]

Thanks ME__2001 and Crazylegs, I appreciate your answers

From what I read, I believe they do supply a disc - so I wondered whether it would try to "take-over" the PCs - when I get things set up to my liking, I get a bit cross if software tries to alter things too much

 

[Me__2001]

you shouldn't have to use their setup disc at all, if you get all of the information you should be able to do everything yourself fairly easily

 

[Taffycat]

Oh I see, that would be good. The reason I'm sounding so naff is that I've only ever used dial-up - I have usually managed to configure that okay, but I've never had anything to do with routers, so all info is very helpful to me.

Thank you

 

[Abarbarian]

I'm using a BT V220 router and moden with me AOL and it was easy peasy to set up if that helps at all .

 

[Taffycat]

Thank you Abarbarian, yes it's helpful Beginning to feel a bit more confident about it now, because the general consensus seems to be that it's pretty straightforward, so hopefully, my wee Welsh brain cell will be able to cope

 

[muckshifter]

I've just been checking around for some broadband/adsl info. Does anybody here use BT total BB please? If so, can I please pick your brains? Believe me, I have looked for the answers on their website, but cannot find the specific answers that I'm looking for.

Ask away ... me, my sister & brother all have BT-BB ... even though I had to "set-it-up" it is easy.

1. They say that they supply Norton security - I really don't want to use Norton, do I have a choice? Or will they grumble?

Loads of ISPs "supply" some form of AV these days ... you are not forced to use it ...

2. They supply a wireless hub, so will this be okay for connecting one computer using Vista, and another using XP Pro?

Yes, a pretty looking Mac type White box ... you can actually only have two PCs hardware-connected to it plus one USB connection, however, I strongly advise anybody never to use USB for ADSL/Cable ... simple solution if you need to connect more, is to buy a Hub/Switch and connect all PCs to that, as I have 5 PCs, that is the way I have it. You can add 10 (ten) wireless connectedPCs. More details on request.

You can use any OS ... Win98/ME/Win2000/XP, Vista, Linux or a Mac, I use three out of that lot ... the OS of choice is not a problem.

3. How easy is it all to set up? They will provide an engineer for £50, but .... well we can all think of better things to spend £50 on I think

Plug it in, they use colour coded plugs & sockets ... power up the modem, wait a few mins, then power up the PC.

The PC will find the "new device", insert CD so the OS can load the "drivers" ... cancel any auto-CD-boot ... wait for PC to finish loading "drivers" then double-click on IE or the browser of choice ... and that is that.

4. They mention BT/Yahoo mail... so does this mean that I will no longer be able to use Outlook Express (which again, I prefer?)

Yes, you will still be able to use OE, however, your present email address will be lost as you will not want to "pay" for both ... your new email will be "at btinternet dot com" ... sorry, the price anybody pays for not having a Gmail address, heck, I even get my gmail from OE.

5. Can I still use my own choice of home-page when opening IE7 or FF? (The reason I ask, is that a friend seems to have problems with this and seemingly "has" to use the BT/Yahoo page (I hate cluttery home-pages and normally use Google.)

Your "home page" has nothing to do with whoever your ISP is, and they (your friend) can change that if they know some simple instructions ...

There is the fact that a lot of ISP "software" sets your home page to their login page ... blame AOHell for that one ... but in reality, it's just a link, like any other.

Yes, BT-Yahoo have a login-page, just like Google does, but unlike Google's E-Mail Tab you just use a saved favorite for the login page as you would for any other favorite website.

Not end-of-the-world type "problems" I know, but I'd like to know what I would be letting myself in for if I decide to switch to them, so thank you for any guidance you can offer guys

... you keep the questions coming, I'll do my best to answer them.

No such thing as a silly question.

 

[V_R]

Well i'm going to go against the grain here and ask why would you want BT BB?

Seems to many probs with that hub and rubbish speeds, but tbh you dont seem like the sort of person that will be downloading all the time, i personally want the speed i pay for.

Maybe have a read of this?

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=bt


*V_R runs*

 

[muckshifter]

I can find an Internet page, or several, with the same degree, if not more, for "complaint" to any major ISP you can think of.


I can give you the voice of "experience" for the three people I know who use BT-Yahoo ... yes, there has been an occasional hiccup. Show me an ISP who has no complaints.

I can at least give an honest, unbiased, answer to the specific questions asked.

If NTL were in my street, they would be my first choice. I chose what offered me the best I could get in my location ... that tends to make a big difference with ADSL and there are a whole host of other factors that Cable (true BB) does not suffer from.

Pick who the hell you want ...

 

[Taffycat]

Mucks - thank you for that, I know that I shall have a few more questions to add, but they usually occur to me just as I'm nodding off at night, lol, so I shall return, if I may I am particularly interested in the idea of the hub/switch at the minute, because it would be handy to occasionally be able to connect up the laptops too without having to fiddle around too much

V_R, I would have preferred to stick with my usual ISP (Clara.net - who have given excellent service with their their dial-up) but they only allow ONE computer to be connected to their Clara.Max Home adsl service, which is also a tad pricey. For a 10 GB cap it's £29.99, for a 30 GB cap it's £34.99 - when I checked BT I discovered that I could have their BT Total package for £24.99, which has unlimited downloads (I know that fair-usage policies exist with most of them, of course.) So as Mucks says, it comes back to a best value choice really - no cable in this area either. All the others I've checked (available here) seem to have rather low usage caps too.

I have also checked their speed estimations, which worked out pretty much the same with either Clara.net or BT - at 4.5 Megabits per sec. subject to the usual provisos regarding distance, line condition, etc.)

Having just discovered online games... I will actually appreciate a speedier connection, and I suspect that I'll be inclined to download a bit more when I don't have to wait all day for my rather feeble 4 kbps

I'm very grateful for the answers and help Thank you

 

[V_R]

V_R, I would have preferred to stick with my usual ISP (Clara.net - who have given excellent service with their their dial-up) but they only allow ONE computer to be connected to their Clara.Max Home adsl service, which is also a tad pricey. For a 10 GB cap it's £29.99, for a 30 GB cap it's £34.99 - when I checked BT I discovered that I could have their BT Total package for £24.99, which has unlimited downloads (I know that fair-usage policies exist with most of them, of course.) So as Mucks says, it comes back to a best value choice really - no cable in this area either. All the others I've checked (available here) seem to have rather low usage caps too.

Take a look at Entanet, via one of the resellers Vivaciti (I'm with them), ADSL24 etc. For £20 a month, i get 30gb on peak and 300gb off peak (Off peak is 10pm-8am) with no FUP or throttling what so ever, and the service is very good. and customer service is top notch.

The only thing is that you would have to buy a router. If you want a cheap one look at DSL Depot. I got my Speedtouch 585v6 from there and its all good.

Look here for customer ratings for all the major ISP's. Note that 7 out of the top 10 or 4 out of the top 5 are Entanet resellers. That tells you something doesnt it?

Just my opinion.

EDIT: not sure how but i managed to link adsl24 in my first link rather than vivaciti.

 

[Abarbarian]

I've had no connection probs with AOL and my friends in town are getting the full 2Mbps service . Yes their software is a bit dodgy , but easily repairable , once you know how . If your using a router you don't need any of their software on your pc . Routers can be had for £10 to £15 . Never had any problems with the dowload limits and I've downloaded a lot even in the day specialy when I was trialing Joost etc . Funnily enough I can not seem to find an ordinary AOL broadband only the Wireless offer and that has a download limit .

http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/broadband/broadband.adp

 

[Taffycat]

Thank you for those links V_R, I have not heard about Adsl24 previously, but I've just been browsing around their website and found it to be impressive. The info was presented clearly too, which is helpful

I don't really mind having to buy a router (if I stayed with my current ISP I would have needed to do that anyway, so we've budgeted for that already.)

Oh dear... decisions, decisions... ... never easy when one is of the female persuasion!! Reckon I am going to sleep on it for now and see what questions might pop into my head overnight.

Thank you for the input and help everyone, it is all much appreciated

 

[V_R]

No worries TC, i updated the vivaciti link in my previous post, as i just noticed it was going to ADSL24. Sorry.

But yes, they all sell the same service from Entanet, just they are different resellers, they are much the same, some have more webspace, or a local rate helpline, or a freephone number etc. But the usage and price is the same as each other.

Oh and the best thing imo is that its only a one month contract, so if the worst does happen and they go down the pan i dont have to worry about contract length, i can just get my MAC code and go somewhere else..

Go with what your comfortable with, for instance, all i want is a stable fast connection. I dont want/need the crap that is bundled with AOL etc. I play online games and dont want to be hit with a ping spike or something halfway through a game, and i dont want to be told how i can use my connection..

 

[Taffycat]

No problem at all V_R, actually, that one (adsl24) appealed a lot, but I am happy to look at them both before jumping-in

I too liked the one-month contract - tbh it concerns me just a tad,t to be tied-in to a contract for 12 or 18 months, in case circumstances change in some way during that time.

Did you see that ADSL24 has it's own Forum? Nice touch. http://adsl24.co.uk/forum/

 

[V_R]

They are both very good, almost identical. I like ADSL's Control Panel, if i was choosing between the two myself i may go for them just because of that. When i originally signed up to Vivaciti ADSL24 didn't look anything like that, they had new management in June/July and they have had a makeover and have done wonders.

Yes the forums are a great place to get help, not that you will need it!

 

[Abarbarian]

Do you know how far away from the BT Station is , are you a long way away from it . Distance and number of sub stations makes a big difference . I'm 3 miles away from mine with 3 sub station boxes away from mine . So I am unable to get the 2Mbps taht AOL supply simply because of the line . It isn't much use paying for a service that you can not use . Just a thought . I think you can ask BT to ceck your line or I simply asked the local BT engineer .

 

[V_R]

TC said earlier that it sould be about 4.5mb down.

If you want to check then here and here are good places to look.

Line length and quality are the most important things, the substations dont really make a difference. If you are a long way from the exchange or you have some aluminium (from long ago) along the line somewhere, then your speeds will be severally less.

AB, you cant even get 2mb? Do you live in the middle of nowhere?