[Closed] Broadband provider - who?

zen, if you want totally reliable performance.

don't know about the others.

O2..

20mb for £7.50 a month

I'm with Pipex who for years were ultra reliable, not the cheapest but reliability is worth it. The day they announced they'd been bought by Talk Talk the service went down the can (although I fail to see how they managed to cock it up so fast) and has been ever since. i get cut off 4-5 times a day if I'm working from home and because a lot of my work is being connected by ssh sessions to devices, those sessions die and I have to start everything again.

I'm going to BT now. See if they're any better.

I had major problems with BT.

Fine speeds at 7am.

56k dial-up speeds at 7pm.

Moved to Sky at the start of the year and it's been so much better.

Bizarrely though I can get 600kb/s on torrent stuff, a speed test gives 500kb/s but on http downloads I never get more than 150kb/s.

Everything loads up really quickly but internet downloads from website or rapidshare-esque sites max out at 150kb/s

Traffic shaping...

Was with freedom2surf for many many years, they got bought by Pipex last year which wasn't so bad, but as Samuri said above, they in turn have now been bought by those blithering idiots at talktalk.

The router now repeatedly suffers from name resolution issues as they've blocked a load of key protocols I was using, the connection goes off and on and off and on all week and their "helpline" could be out-IT-witted by my dad.

For an everyday user the offering from Sky is meant to be pretty damned good (assuming you can swallow the ethical pill of giving money to 'The Man').

I switched to Orange from Pipex a few years ago. There've been 2 issues with connection since then, both times fixed extremely speedily by Customer Service on the phone from the East and with friendly follow-up calls to check all was well.

I'd recommend them!

Traffic shaping...

Traffic shaping's designed to restrict torrent stuff. Doesn't explain why I get full speed on torrent stuff but lower on http downloads

another vote for zen, no shaping, completely reliable for the last 5 year, UK call centre / help desk. However they are not cheap.

Virgin here

(and I have a kid, work that out 🙂 )

Whatever you do avoid AOL. They have massively oversold on lines they were well aware were never going to be able to sustain even their advertised minimum speeds.

I'm currently paying for 2Mbps, having forced them to admit that my previous "8Mbps" was a complete scam given the kind of connection I've got.

During the evening (which is when I want to use it) I'm lucky if I get 0.3Mbps. I've complained to them endlessly - they just send out long, technical emails telling me it's my system that's the problem.

Oh and don't bother trying to complain to any of the usual "consumer protection" groups like Trading Standards - apparently this computer stuff is too complicated for them!

Zen or Idnet for reliability no question.

I was with Nildram, but they stopped being as good as they were.

[url= http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html?commit=Compare&isp_3=1&isp_16=1&isp_11=1&isp_20=1&isp_6=1 ]Click for comparison of a few mentioned.[/url] You can compare lots of others on that site.

Avoid BT and Tiscali like the plague. I can not believe how shocking their "customer service" is. In fact I can not understand how they stay in business.

Also some emails don't reach me, thanks BT.

Great customer service from Idnet.

The card I was paying them with expired, and instead of stopping my service and writing demanding letters as we come to expect from companies, they let my service continue for a month after they should have been paid, then I just got a polite phone call (not from a foreign call centre) informing me of the situation and I set up a new payment method. No drama.

Avoid BT and Tiscali like the plague. I can not believe how shocking their "customer service" is. In fact I can not understand how they stay in business.

Because people always want cheap, and by the time they realise how crap the service is, they are tied into a long contract. 🙁

Good service is worth a few extra pounds IMO.

I've had some awful times when trying to deal with BT or Talk Talk in the past.

I've had great service from sky, £5 per month for the Mid package. Admittedly we only get a 1.7mbit connection (alu cables) but they have been 100% reliable, no outages in the past 17 months since signing up with them.

I pay about £17 or less now with at reduced with Be.

I have to have a BT phone though.

so far as I live far away from exchange, it's about 16 mb download and 1.3 upload.

Just checked and it's slowing to 11mb dl speed.

But it's unlimited use and I'm a eavy user with work, net meetings with board and research.

Another vote for Sky (sorry) good speed, totally reliable, good (free) technical back-up. They do stuff on the day they say, and write to confirm everything. OK, you're giving to "The Man" but it works so....Router's a bit pants BTW, missus managed to blow-up ours, but Sky replaced it for free.

I've been with Talk talk a year now & zero problems, unlimited for £5 a month & speed increased significantly after ditching BT (1.8M to 6.3!)

We have sky and it's been very reliable.

really want to ditch my bt as its slow as ****

i just dont think i can give money to rupert murdoch so sky is out, and the talktalk deal looked great till everyone says theyre crap

maybe will investigate zen or idnet

Zen here - mainly because I need uber-reliable ADSL for work.

If I had the option I'd get Virgin cable. Hard to argue with 50mbps!

had tiscali - was awful, and they are now selling up to talk talk too

I've been on sky for a while with no problems - if you are getting sky tv anyway probably the way to go.

plusnet look ok, When freesat gets more channels and the PVR drops in price i'll be switching over to them.

So - Sky users - who is on Mid and who is on basic (free with line rental) package?

Can't decide between the 2mg for free or the estimated 4.5mg (can't get the full 8mg) I will get on our line with the mid package.

I'm on Mid and getting 1.7meg, but might be downgrading to base and may get around 1meg.

grievoustim - Member

had tiscali - was awful

+1 I couldn't wait to get rid of them... They stopped collecting my direct debit and rather than contacting me they sold the debt to a collection agency. Numptys.

I use Tesco Broadband (not sure if they're piggybacking someone else), never had any problems or down time in 5 years.

Work pays for my Zen ADSL at home. It's great. Zen are very helpful. Price is more than many competitors, but definitely a case of getting what you pay for. And you're not locked in to a lengthy contract.

Easy................zen, if you want total reliability & performance, end of !

Plusnet. Recommended by to me our IT guy, not ultra cheap but rarely had problems.

zen

kona_uk - Member

Easy................zen, if you want total reliability & performance, end of !

It's not really "end of" though is it?

Did you see the charts I linked to of customer reviews?

Idnet is right up there with them.

On the basic with Sky with no problems

Tracey

Sky on the mid package. Works out pretty cheap if you also have sky for TV and phone. I'm sure this will change; if it does I'll be off.

Connection advertises itself as 50 Meg, of course the real value is not that, but it is good enough for for work, browsing, itunes, gaming, but I'm not a torrent user.

Only problems were after a year (after a clumsy teenager / power switch event) the sky provided router broke. New one received within 48 hours which is not bad. They seemed very surprised about it. No problems with the actual line.

Before that was on BT for 3 years. Not a single problem in that time either. I'm not really sure what a service sold as being 'reliable' would do differently to most others tbh. Someone enlighten me.

Before that was on BT for 3 years. Not a single problem in that time either. I'm not really sure what a service sold as being 'reliable' would do differently to most others tbh. Someone enlighten me.

Well, nearly every day when I get home and try and access the web my router has lost connection. I then need to bring up the router settings page and reconnect or reboot the router. Anybody know if this is my router or likely the ISP?

Im with Plusnet at the moment and very unhappy with the service.

I have had a look at Zen and it all looks pretyt good, still might go with Sky but a little extra for a reliable service is def worth it. I like you are not tied in for a long time with Zen aswell.

My friend has her broadband connection with Sky, at the moment she is getting less than dial up speed, and has been for sometime.

It's not really "end of" though is it?

Did you see the charts I linked to of customer reviews?

Idnet is right up there with them.

IMO 😀

I work in IT, 99% of ISP problems are talk talk, sky, orange and a few others. The only one I never have any issues with are ZEN, but I'm sure there are other good ones out there too.

All ISP's are good and bad, it depends on many factors...we all have good and bad stories to tell with regards to broadband...

Dont bother with sky or talk talk if you want reliability...

daveb - Member

Im with Plusnet at the moment and very unhappy with the service.

Very surprised! I have been with PlusNet since 2003 (when BB came here) & have set up many friends & family with them too, not one of them has had a problem (other than a shonky BT exchange) as for the customer service I can't really comment as I haven't need them other than oddball technical request I have posed them that have always been answered quickly and correctly 🙂

Yet another vote for Zen. Been with them since 2001, and put plenty of friends on to them too.

kona_uk - Member

It's not really "end of" though is it?

Did you see the charts I linked to of customer reviews?

Idnet is right up there with them.

IMO

I work in IT, 99% of ISP problems are talk talk, sky, orange and a few others. The only one I never have any issues with are ZEN, but I'm sure there are other good ones out there too.

All ISP's are good and bad, it depends on many factors...we all have good and bad stories to tell with regards to broadband...

I agree Zen are great. 🙂

Don't go with plusnet they are traffic shapers, they actually cut me down to 5k (yes 5k) for punishment once in a purge on usenet users. They want the 80% of 20% usage users only, or they force you out (not that I'm bitter).

Went with Zen for long time after and they really stand by their contention ratios & contracts, customer services know what they are talking about and are uber reliable 24/7. The only downside is you have to pay for it.

Currently with sky 8Mb / 50G for £10 month. If you haggle they will do anything as long as you go with the TV stuff. But.., actual speed is more like 3 or 4M direct download on a good day and www slows down to snail pace 7pm, peak weekends. Has been times you tube just doesn't work. In reality maybe less than 10% of the time it is noticeable.

Apart from seemingly pushed infrastructure they are pretty easy going for an ISP and by far the cheapest if you want the TV package.

Zen are more expensive than most, but it works very well, customer service is great.

There is no frustration with broadband and downloading, you dont spend ages on the phone and getting wound up. 🙂

I have so many clients that went for the 'cheap' option or the best deal only to hear them bitch and moan about it 6 weeks later when their BB doesn't work.

If you dont mind paying the extra go with ZEN, but it really depends on how much you use the web and other factors.

In all the years I have worked in IT and since the first day I used ZEN I have not heard one complaint about them...so they must be doing something right. 😀

Just started my new job. 'PR Manager' for zen ! LOL

O2 have some good deals on. 3 months free on two of their packages, £5/month off if you're an O2 mobile user and also £70 cashback available via Quidco.

Another vote for Plusnet here. Have been with them for over 5 years so lucky to have unlimited downloads and not be on a fair usage scheme. To be fair though if you sign up to a package with one a fair usage scheme and go over the limit they do say they will thottle the speed.

Technical support is pretty good provided you to it on-line, I wouldn't ring them unless my own BB goes down.

Also, my BB is close to being free as I have signed up quite a few people!

I remember at the time how plusnet were actually amending the contracts on usage people had signed up for even changing the adverts and denying they had, some people had screenshots but anyone who moaned just got cut off.

Every six months or so they would also routinely have an 'accident' and everyone's ftp websites and stuff would unfortunately be 'lost', mysteriously no backups. Anyone serious or getting traffic would just move on. Less risk and resources for plusnet...

When I left they also detagged my domain names rather then transfer them, just for spite.

Like I said, not that I'm bitter.

And just don't get me started on 1and1.

I used ZEN I have not heard one complaint about them...so they must be doing something right.

My only grumble with zen is their webmail. Can you get them to sort it out their webmail its sh1te.

i was with BT and went with sky to get sky + with the phone and broadband. service has been great, no complaints.

Roach - I had this problem late last year - immediately after Virgin 'upgraded' my line to allow greater speeds. Eventually I got someone sensible on their tech help.

In short the line had been upgraded to ADSL2 & as my Netgear router was a couple of years old, it was unable to cope with the changes for any length of time.

Check your router manuf's website to firmware updates. I flashed mine & all is well again, including slightly increased speeds.

ps - I'm now on Post Office for Line rental, calls & broadband. v cheap & all good. (Note: www.speedtest.net ID my supplier as BT so I think the PO are just the money collectors)

In a way Zen and Idnet have to be more expensive, else they would get so popular that they would be oversubscribed like all the cheap services, so it's all good.