Part 1 is done – new smart tv with twin input Freesat for recording when we need it. All other streaming apps working very nicely – one Samsung smart remote now works everything. Yay.

Urban area, so we have a choice of all major providers. Won’t be going Virgin though.

We’ll have to have a line-rental/BB bundle – not heavy users – lad too young for gaming at the moment so usual Netflix, etc type streaming – I guess we probably need to be on one of the 30ish Mb packages.

At the moment, Vodafone are looking good. We’ll have fibre to the street, then bloody WiFi-absorbing Victorian walls so will need some kind of repeaters/extenders/whatchamaycallem around the place. Do the providers supply anything like those? I know BT does but they’re “extra.”

Bt look quite expensive anyway. Only other competitive one is Plusnet.

SKY?
If you haven’t totally severed links with them then keep them as your broadband provider. That way you maintain your account with them and can use your ‘long-standing customer’ status to try and negotiate future discounts.

If you just want streaming you probably don’t need 30Mb. If you can bear to slum it without fibre I got line rental and 16-ish Mb broadband from Sky at (what works out at) £11 per month, it was set to rise to £30 from last years price of £16 so I got on the phone. They’re keen to retain business and if you’re stepping down from their TV package I’d expect they’d like to keep a foothold chez dd.

That thought had crossed my mind – I haven’t gone though the pain of repeating “I want to cancel my contract” thirty times yet.

Performance wise they’re all likely to be similar as they’re mostly using the same infrastructure. BT often have good deals and cashback offers even though the base price is expensive. Their standard router is better than other ISPs I’ve used but nothing special, might be worth pricing up their WiFi extender package vs buying your own hardware.

I ditched Virgin and went with Vodafone broadband only a few weeks ago. It seems fine so far.

I use a Netgear Orbi system to propagate wifi through my Victorian house – this works well.

I assume this is still up to date. Take a look at…

https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

Put your postcode in, and under the LLU operator presence bit it tells you who has actual kit in your exchange. If they haven’t, they’re just reselling the same service, so usually only differentiator then is cost and customer service. Cable is separate obviously.

We ended up sticking with BT, at the end of each contract they say they’ll revert back to standard price, but you click a ‘special deal’ link and you keep the discount.

We’re across the road from the exchange, so a short bit of copper in, then fibre so get 70Mbps from standard BT ADSL.

In the house, I’ve had great results with a TP-Link Deco mesh setup. If your house is old and walls solid, you’ll still need a few units to get everywhere – we ended up with 4 to cover an old stone cottage and down to the workshops out the back. Been in a few years now, been faultless.

Over the past few years I’ve gone from BT to Sky to PlusNet back to Sky then back to PlusNet (I think) – all switched at the end of the initial deal.  All switches have been seamless and the service has been fine from all of them.  The only downside is the small collection of WiFi routers that I’ve now got.

I wouldn’t touch Vodafone with a barge-pole personally, the network’s probably fine but at some point you’ll probably have to deal with their CS and that’s their weak point.

My dad’s been with Plusnet for years and they seem fine, I’m with Zen and they’re good but you do pay a slight premium that’s debatable whether it’s worth it (I have to call them about once every 5 years on average so not sure a couple of quid a month extra for great CS makes sense).

The current BT thing including mesh looks interesting although I’m guessing financially you’re paying a premium (over getting standard Fibre with a normal router and buying your own mesh bits separately), if BT set it up and support it though it might be worth it if you’re not technical or don’t like reading set-up guides.

Zen, Andrews and Arnold or PlusNet are the only three to consider if you want a proper ISP and the ability to run your own home network how you want. (PlusNet are there on sufferance as you need specific kit to make their service behave).

We’re on Zen and the support is good and there was an unprompted apology when I rang on the one morning that the internet failed due to their equipment going dark.

I wouldn’t touch Vodafone with a barge-pole personally

as a counterpoint to this, we’ve been with vodafone for three years (?) now; whenever they started broadband basically
never had an issue with it (or them). Got them to contact Openreach on our behalf recently (over drop outs on the line). All very smooth considering both companies’ reputations.
they also give you money back if you don’t reach the speed they think you should get. https://blog.vodafone.co.uk/2018/02/28/broadband-ultimate-speed-guarantee/

they also give you money back if you don’t reach the speed they think you should get

Every supplier that signed up to the new Ofcom Auto Compensation legislation will do that…not just Vodafone.

I recently switched to PlusNet Fibre 65Mb. I paid the line rental upfront, which gave 10% off I think, so £215 for 12 months (= to £18 pm line rental). Then I got £85 cashback from TopCashBack. Now paying £9 per month for a (so far) excellent 65Mb service. So after all the maths i’m paying £19/month for it. The best deal I could find by a mile.

not just Vodafone

Ah! Really? Okay – it was trumpeted at the time (last year) by Vodafone. Obviously getting in with good PR before the rule change. Shows how much I’ve needed it in that time though

Nothing to say apart from avoid Talk Talk.

Wish we had.

Part 1 is done – new smart tv with twin input Freesat for recording when we need it. All other streaming apps working very nicely – one Samsung smart remote now works everything. Yay.

Love new TVs 🙂 Have you tried downloading a 4k HDR demo yet just to show what it can do?

Samsung: Chasing the Light HDR

Never had an issue with BT, OK they are that bit more expensive. Went with BT Plus recently with the MESH system (deeded 2 discs) – works very well indeed.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sky ditched…for now.

Been very happy with Vodafone fibre. Their router is a bit crap but fixed with a £10 Openreach VDSL modem and a £70 mesh network kit.

Not noticed it slow down at peak times either. Cheaper than the competition too *and* they gave me a free doughnut today from Gregg’s.

I’ve been with Plusnet for years, in fact since Metronet days. Very few issues, excellent support, reasonable price and they talk Yorkshire ont’ phone.

BT have refurbished/reboxed/return Mesh discs cheap in the BT shop at the mo.

I was on bt, no issues but went to plusnet as it was cheaper, ultimately the same service/company. Router is identical but white. Like the purist I’m building a collection of them.