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For my mum, requirements are;
Cheap, fast but won't be downloading huge files- email and iplayer mostly.
Would prefer not to be tied into a 12/18 month contract but not sure if thats an option.
Wireless router included would be a bonus- but not required if they are cheap enough to buy/wired is just as good.
[url= http://www.zen.co.uk/Broadband/athome.aspx ]ZEN[/url]
Zen. month to month contract. Mibbe not the cheapest but really good.
Compare the ISP [url= http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html ]Here[/url]
I quite like Casema/Ziggo:
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😯
But they probably aren't in your area.
Lots of them appear to have "hidden" activation costs..
Have a look at PlusNet.
They have some cheap packages and fantastic customer support.
Does she have Sky or Virgin?
Some of their packages for TV, phone and broadband can be very competitive.
No, normal BT phoneline and freeview!
Doesn't want to go with BT for internet either.. nor does she want to switch to an all in one package.
I've had Zen, BT and Sky in the past. I'd rate Zen as the only worthwhile one out of the three. Sky are the worst. Bunch of useless twunts.
However, now with Namesco and they're fantastic. Monthly contract, decent contention ratio and excellent service / support. They're expensive comparatively but I really think you get what you pay for.
Namesco only give 1GB of download a month 😯
Used aol, slow and awfull software.
Used bt, slow and lost connection frequently.
Used sky very very very slow.
Recently changed to virgin and the difference in quite something. Fibre optic though so costs more and depends on abailabilty. Well worth it though.
Virgin rock.
If you've got it.
Do AOL still force you to use their own browser?
+1 for Virgin, but you are of course tied in to a 1 year contract.
Virgin ADSL down your phone line is getting to be rubbish, they recently changed their server system and it's screwed a lot of people over, me included - get awful speeds now compared to a few weeks ago.
I posted some advice one here a few days back:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sky-internet-any-good#post-1300008
btw my business is run from home and I need some redundancy - I've got both Virgin and ASDL (via O2 / Be Unlimited). Both are really good. When theres a problem Virgin are easier to deal with - it's just one company responsible for the cable, router, etc. Every ASDL provider has to rely on BT (but I've never really needed them).
www.speedtest.net is your friend!
O2 are good but I do have an O2 phone so that helps bring the cost down for me.
O2 works for me, cheap and much better strength than any previous ISP to the same house.
Customer Service and bandwidth regularly wins best in class.
G
Namesco only give 1GB of download a month
Effectively you have to pay for what you use so if you're a heavy downloader of movies, porn etc then it'll cost you extra. If you took their top broadband + 50GB a month it comes it at about £34 a month.
As an indication I work from home 1 or 2 days a week (online ssh to office network for 12 hours+), we watch maybe 4 hours of iPlayer / channel4OD a week and I download about 50 podcasts and couple of albums from iTunes weekly. In March we used about 7GB...
BT customer service is shockingly bad.
O2 for me too. Have an O2 mobile aswell so brings it to less then £10 a month unlimited downloads. Free wireless router but there is the initial 12 month tie in.
Been with them for 2 years now since switching from Virgin.
Virgin adsl is God awful and I escaped my contract for rfree due to it! I am now with IDnet and they are ace!