Broadband Supplier

[glojo]

I am very disillusioned with my present supplier (Wanadoo). When I took out my subscription it was for an unlimited download usage. Now they have threatened to cut me off if I exceed 40Gb? As far as I’m aware I have never got near that figure, but Wanadoo state it is not my downloads that is measured, but my bandwidth usage??? That to me is just juggling the wording. I subscribed to, and pay for an unlimited use. (This contract is no longer available) my son and daughter both have access via a router thingie, so the bandwidth problem might indeed be an issue?

I have found one company that offers an unlimited usage, plus free telephone calls at anytime for £24.99p per month. http://www.homecall.co.uk/ukoffer/broadband.asp The problem is they do not have a so called ‘migration’ policy? This equates to a 14 – 21 day period without a Broadband access! Does anyone know of any provider that offers a similar package? I am right on the limit of Broadband accessibility and can only get the basic 512kb speed, so the high speed connection offers are of no use, and we do not have any able providers.

Thanks for any advice,
John

 

[Alfie]

I am very disillusioned with my present supplier (Wanadoo). When I took out my subscription it was for an unlimited download usage. Now they have threatened to cut me off if I exceed 40Gb? As far as I’m aware I have never got near that figure, but Wanadoo state it is not my downloads that is measured, but my bandwidth usage??? That to me is just juggling the wording. I subscribed to, and pay for an unlimited use. (This contract is no longer available) my son and daughter both have access via a router thingie, so the bandwidth problem might indeed be an issue?

I have found one company that offers an unlimited usage, plus free telephone calls at anytime for £24.99p per month. http://www.homecall.co.uk/ukoffer/broadband.asp The problem is they do not have a so called ‘migration’ policy? This equates to a 14 – 21 day period without a Broadband access! Does anyone know of any provider that offers a similar package? I am right on the limit of Broadband accessibility and can only get the basic 512kb speed, so the high speed connection offers are of no use, and we do not have any able providers.

Thanks for any advice,
John

John,

Just been through a long exercise in evaluating broadband suppliers.

I (on behalf of our company's home users) settled on freedom to surf (http://www.f2s.com) they offer a no limit 2MBit service with 200mb of web space, fixed IP address for £24.99. I use it at home and its excellent. No concerns at all so far. They have a migration policy also. I was out of action at home for just 2 hours!

Good luck

 

[Flyer]

Suspect you'll get a few replies John

I'm with Eclipse ; I'm on a business contract at £29.99, but a quick check shows them offering 512mb, unlimited at £17.99 . Highly recommended, not had any problems. The FLEX system is really good also (flex to a higher speed when you want if you have any big downloads).

 

[glojo]

GHood afternoon everyone,
I am indeed hoping to get a few replies. Alfie has corroborated the findings of my son. Freedom2Surf have an excellent reputation, but I object to paying for something that I cannot take advantage of. They offer their excellent uncapped 8mb service for £27.99p. This is a highly competitive deal, but I can only download at 512kb The price I pay I suppose for living right on the edge of the broadband range.

When Broadband was first released in this area I was deemed to be out of range. BT have since boosted the signal (or something similar) and we can just squeeze into this excellent service.

I am off to look at Flyers recommendation, but now I have read of the 24 hour free telephone calls offered by Homecall this will set the yardstick. The migration policy is what is holding me back, but I might consider acquiring a modem to bide me over for the annoying 14 - 21 days.

Thanks for the replies,
John

 

[big x]

I recently signed with www.plus.net.
2 MB speed, unlimited download is £14.95 a month.
Checking with internetfrog.com it is indeed downloading at 1.9mb
most of the time in London.In the sticks due to the local exchange it's about half that.Seems a good deal to me.

adam

 

[Jukie]

I recently signed with www.plus.net.
2 MB speed, unlimited download is £14.95 a month.
Checking with internetfrog.com it is indeed downloading at 1.9mb
most of the time in London.In the sticks due to the local exchange it's about half that.Seems a good deal to me.

adam

I concur with Adam. will be moving to PlusNet as soon as my current ISP lets me have my MAC code

We put our clients on PlusNet and don't have any complaints.

 

[Madferrit]

I'm with Bulldog Broadband. 8MB connection and works wonders when i need to download something. I have the phone package too and to date have never been charged for any calls, international, mobile, local or national. Naturally i haven't reported it, in case they find out

 

[Madferrit]

For work, i've signed up with XLN Telecom. 512mb broadband for only £9.99 per month. Not bad at all!

 

[glojo]

I'm with Bulldog Broadband. 8MB connection and works wonders when i need to download something. I have the phone package too and to date have never been charged for any calls, international, mobile, local or national. Naturally i haven't reported it, in case they find out

Just tried Bulldog and got the following message when I typed in my telephone number:

We're sorry, but we are unable to provide any products on this line.
To try a different line

Typical, but thank you very much. So far it looks like Eclipse or Homecall. The trouble with Homecall is the bad reviews far outweigh the good, but Wanadoo has taken a slating and in all fairness I have been with them for many, many years and it is only because of their attitude that I am 'up anchoring'! So are the reviews to be taken as gospel?

Regards,
John

 

[guydewdney]

me, my brother (IT director for a multinatiuonal), my 'best mate' (also IT director for smaller multinational)... are all on Eclipse...

see www.adslguide.org.uk iirc.

wanadoo are renowned for being oversubscribed...

 

[NormanB]

I am with Force9 (same as Plusnet) on a 2Meg No limit - £22.99 - Very Happy.

 

[fuzzer]

its not that they boosted the signal , they just lowered their standards. In order to have the country broabanded by the time the government said , they either had to install loads of extra exchanges or just allow more people on the lines but add they don't gurantee any speed any more and if it works cool , if it doesnt .. we tried basis.

 

[glojo]

me, my brother (IT director for a multinatiuonal), my 'best mate' (also IT director for smaller multinational)... are all on Eclipse...

see www.adslguide.org.uk iirc.

wanadoo are renowned for being oversubscribed...

Eclipse WAS my second choice solely because it is more expensive than Homecall, but............ I am one of these weirdo's that believe you get what you pay for, so all I have to do now is convince my sister to go for it. (we always have the same provider)

Thanks very much for all the excellent suggestions and this thread has been a great help in swaying me to a more sensible decision.

Thanks very much,
John

 

[guydewdney]

why have the same provider? theres no reason....

 

[glojo]

why have the same provider? theres no reason....

Good morning Guy,
At first I was baffled by your question, but the penny has finally dropped. My sister is not very computer literate. To make things easier for myself we have EXACTLY the same important software installed, then whenever she has a problem I can talk her through it whilst looking at my screen.

I take onboard your point about provider, but it will help keep us both happy to keep the computers identical.

Bye for now,
John

 

[prprandall51]

Tiscali

Nobody has mentioned Tiscali, which is strange as they are one of the biggest names.

My limited experience - via two friend whose computers I keep on the go - indicates they are excellent.

I am looking to move our company connection at the moment and Tiscali is "in the frame" so if anyone has any negatives on Tiscali I would be very interested.

In the meantime, John, I would recommend you also look at Tiscali, too.

Philip

 

[Flyer]

My brother's with Tiscali - and can't stand them as he is *constantly* having problems and their customer service is "not very good"*. His connection speed is very slow, possibly to do with a high contention ratio.

He's migrating to Eclipse ...

As Guy has mentioned, check out adslguide for user comments on ISPs (remembering, of course, that users rarely post a comment when the service is working as expected ... but I found the "Tiscali in top 5 most complained about companies.." post quite interesting ).

* can't say the words he really used as there's lots of four-letter words ending in -ing and -ers

 

[glojo]

In the meantime, John, I would recommend you also look at Tiscali, too.

Thanks Philip,
Unfortunately I've mde the decision and I am just waiting for the Migration Code to pass on to Eclipse. Before starting this thread I was going to Homecall, so fingers crossed that I have made the right decision.

The best reviews were for Freedom2Surf but they simply never offered the options I wanted.


John

 

[prprandall51]

My brother's with Tiscali - and can't stand them as he is *constantly* having problems and their customer service is "not very good"*. His connection speed is very slow, possibly to do with a high contention ratio.

He's migrating to Eclipse ...

As Guy has mentioned, check out adslguide for user comments on ISPs (remembering, of course, that users rarely post a comment when the service is working as expected ... but I found the "Tiscali in top 5 most complained about companies.." post quite interesting ).

* can't say the words he really used as there's lots of four-letter words ending in -ing and -ers

Flyer: thanks for the heads-up, I will check out the review.

John: looks like my advice sucked big time

Philip

 

[SimonsMerc]

As an aside John, you might want to get a line test done by someone other than your existing ADSL supplier. A friend of mine was "at the very edge" with his BT ADSL, meaning they couldn't get him anything over 512kbps. He phoned up tiscali and they did a line test for him (which was actually done by BT, but not BT ADSL), and confirmed he could have a 2 meg connection - which he now does...

-simon