(OT) Evaluating Broadband

[Nunya Bizniss]

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

As with many other things, there are so many potential providers, all trying
to attract your custom with half truths, ambiguous language, introductory
time limited offers, cashback schemes, capping half hidden in the (very)
small print etc, etc. I would like to stick with my current BT line, I don't
want to involve myself in changing the line or taking additional services as
part of a package.

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

 

[Sparky]

Living in the U.K.

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers,

I don't know if the reviews would be too useful (US-centric) but
dslreports.com is a broadband site w/a lot of tools for determining
throughput, etc.

At the very least you might find a good reference to a similar service
across the ponds.

regards,
Sparky

 

[P.]

Living in the U.K.

www.zen.co.uk
Consistently high in all aspects at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/
Not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for.

P.

 

[Mike Bourke]

Since I don't live in the UK, all I can offer are the criteria I have
developed for evaluating broadband providers here in Australia.

1. Do a google search for the provider name and the word "complaint".

2. Check consumer advice websites for any mention of problems with the ISP.

3. Visit a couple of local chat rooms somewhere like Yahoo to solicit user
comments.

4. Look for newsgroups related to the provider and have a read.

5. Calculate your usual (dialup) monthly usage and double it to get a rough
idea of how much usage you will probably use through broadband. Compare that
with the different plans offered by each provider.

6. Look for details of what happens when you exceed the usage limits. I have
seen everything from $1 per Mb to connections being restricted or "shaped"
to 22.8 kbit to access simply being blocked until the start of the next
billing period.

7. Look for fine print used to define "usage". is newsgroup access counted?
Sending Emails? Receiving Emails? Are there websites that aren't counted?
How useful to you are those websites?

8. What restrictions are in place on technical support? What charges?

Rating each of these as a score out of 12 gives a total rating out of 96 -
near enough to a percentage for my purposes. So the total rankings you
generate prioritise the different providers and their plans and let you pick
the ones most suitable to your expected usage. My brother takes this a step
further, dividing the score by the monthly cost so that he can choose which
gives him the best value for his buck - I prefer to pick the best three or
four options and analyse them seperately.

Mike Bourke

 

[Steven Burn]

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

PlusNet.... without a doubt.

www.plus.net

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

 

[Adam Piggott]

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Hash: SHA1

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

As with many other things, there are so many potential providers, all trying
to attract your custom with half truths, ambiguous language, introductory
time limited offers, cashback schemes, capping half hidden in the (very)
small print etc, etc. I would like to stick with my current BT line, I don't
want to involve myself in changing the line or taking additional services as
part of a package.

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

Andrews and Arnold
http://www.aaisp.net.uk/

Professional and friendly ISP with high standards be it reliability, speed,
customer service or R&D. I would not trust another ISP for all of my
customer's ADSL services.

No "three months free", "free connection" or "win a holiday". They also
have a quote "no bullshit support policy". They have always answered their
phones quicker than I do and are always friendly, knowledgable and
understanding.

The golden rule for broadband suppliers in the UK: You get what you pay for.

- --
Adam Piggott, Proprietor, Proactive Services (Computing).
http://www.proactiveservices.co.uk/

Please replace dot invalid with dot uk to email me.
Apply personally for PGP public key.
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[David Gilbert]

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

As with many other things, there are so many potential providers, all trying
to attract your custom with half truths, ambiguous language, introductory
time limited offers, cashback schemes, capping half hidden in the (very)
small print etc, etc. I would like to stick with my current BT line, I don't
want to involve myself in changing the line or taking additional services as
part of a package.

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

One word ZEN. Not the cheapest but certainly amongst the best.

 

[Mel]

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

Check out the forums (especially the complaints forums) and reviews at the following sites:
www.ispreview.co.uk

www.adslguide.org.uk

Avoid V21 and the many virtual ISPs they run (look for any mention of ISPserve.co.uk
or 59 London Road, Blackwater, Camberley, Surrrey in the T&C's), reason -
£30 fee for Migration codes (MAC) and that's just for starters.

In fact it is probably best to avoid visps period.


Regards,

Mel.

 

[FTR]

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

As with many other things, there are so many potential providers, all trying
to attract your custom with half truths, ambiguous language, introductory
time limited offers, cashback schemes, capping half hidden in the (very)
small print etc, etc. I would like to stick with my current BT line, I don't
want to involve myself in changing the line or taking additional services as
part of a package.

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

ISP quality is not only about bandwidth, price, technology. It(s also
about service quality. Your line is off service - how many days (?) does
it get to have it restored ?
Here in France, the best source about service quality is the Regulator,
which is OFTEL in Britain. It regularly publishes the number of
complaints, a survey of the quality of the help online , etc.

Another source: consumer associations and their tests.

Regards,
Frank

 

[Conor]

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

As with many other things, there are so many potential providers, all trying
to attract your custom with half truths, ambiguous language, introductory
time limited offers, cashback schemes, capping half hidden in the (very)
small print etc, etc. I would like to stick with my current BT line, I don't
want to involve myself in changing the line or taking additional services as
part of a package.

www.adslguide.org.uk

 

[KeithS]

Check out the forums (especially the complaints forums) and reviews at the following sites:
www.ispreview.co.uk

www.adslguide.org.uk

Amen to that!
You'll probably get as many recs. as there are ISP's, here's mine whom
I'm very happy with, been with them for 2 years now - http://metronet.co.uk/
Consistently high ratings at adslguide.org.uk
KeithS

 

[hummingbird]

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

PlusNet are good IMHO although their news servers are not brilliant;
but then no ISP has very good news servers these days.

I've been with PN for ~6 months without a single problem. I get a
2mb ADSL with 1gb for £14.99pm. Additional gigs @ £1.00 each.

I also have an account at Individual.net for usenet access.10Euro pa.

 

[Steven Burn]

I've been with PN for ~6 months without a single problem. I get a
2mb ADSL with 1gb for £14.99pm. Additional gigs @ £1.00 each.

Been with them for almost a year myself (2MB ADSL w/Premium bandwidth (no
limit) @ £21.99 p/m) and wouldn't change ....

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

 

[mike ring]

PlusNet are good IMHO although their news servers are not brilliant;
but then no ISP has very good news servers these days.

Agreed; I changed to D.I.N because of this, not free but IMO 10 euros won't
break the bank.What I didn't realise is that you may get nowhere near the advertised rate
- I moaned to Plusnet, and it appears that "contention" is the villain, in
other woerds, the bandwidth is not enough to cover busy, (or even normal)
demand.

There was a big spiel about how BT was to blame, not Plusnet.

Recently I was forced back on to Surftime (dialup) as my main computer
broke, and I was amazed how much it had improved. As we have all gone to
broadband it seems there's now enough bandwidth to get reasonable traansfer
rates on baseband.

There's typical, innit?

mike

 

[yoosnet]

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

uk.telecom.broadband is the newsgroup you need.

 

[hummingbird]

Agreed; I changed to D.I.N because of this, not free but IMO 10 euros won't
break the bank.
What I didn't realise is that you may get nowhere near the advertised rate
- I moaned to Plusnet, and it appears that "contention" is the villain, in
other woerds, the bandwidth is not enough to cover busy, (or even normal)
demand.

Contention is certainly a source of latency: those moments when you
click a link and nothing happens, then bursts into life. It gets worse
late afternoon in London when all the kids get back home from school
and start gaming!

I also find the speed I get on my 2mb line varies a lot depending on
which Internet protocol I'm using. HTTP is by far the slowest, FTP
is the fastest and when I d/l big files using Flashget, it goes like a
rocket on steroids! P2P is fast.NNTP (usenet) protocol is in between.

There was a big spiel about how BT was to blame, not Plusnet.

Latency can also be caused by BT. That's why PlusNet duck the issue
but in honesty I rarely suffer any delays except web surfing (HTTP).

Recently I was forced back on to Surftime (dialup) as my main computer
broke, and I was amazed how much it had improved. As we have all gone to
broadband it seems there's now enough bandwidth to get reasonable traansfer
rates on baseband.

I gave up on 56k dialup because using XP-SP1 my carrier kept on
dropping and I never figured out what was causing it. It was probably
my old modem and the s/w drivers for it. It drove me nuts.

 

[Frank Bohan]

Living in the U.K. (probably just as confusing elsewhere?), I would like
to
get the best deal I can in migrating to a broadband connection from 56k
dialup.

As with many other things, there are so many potential providers, all
trying
to attract your custom with half truths, ambiguous language, introductory
time limited offers, cashback schemes, capping half hidden in the (very)
small print etc, etc. I would like to stick with my current BT line, I
don't
want to involve myself in changing the line or taking additional services
as
part of a package.

Question.
Has anyone in the group an opinion regarding the better providers, so that
I
can cut through the crap to the chase? I realise this is OT but thought it
possible someone might be able to point me in the right direction, perhaps
off-group. Many thanks.

Have a look at Tiscali -- I've found them ok. They recently doubled my
connection speed to 1MB and reduced the monthly fee to £15 p.m.
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/

===

Frank Bohan
¶ Pangram: Six crazy kings vowed to abolish my quite pitiful jousts.