Changing ISP from BE

[trooperiziz]

So BE are getting worse, general website speed is slowing down and has been for a while, support is less helpful than it used to be, and people are asking if they have enough bandwidth for their current users. Which if that is the cause, then I can't see a proper fix coming soon.

If I was to leave, who would I go to?

I'm after no throttling and proper unlimited (or at least an ISP that won't get pissed off if I download 400Gb on a random month).

Virgin? No cable at my gaff.
BT Infinity? No fibre at my gaff.

That just leaves Sky and their top range product doesn't it? Is there any other ISP that can provide a proper service? Anybody on Sky? What are they like?

[maffski]

Before I switched to BE I used to use Zen, not cheap but I've still never heard a bad word said. I finally left because BE could do ADSL2 before BT had upgraded my exchange.

[Podie]

Limited options. Zen would be my other option.

[V8mate]

If you can't transfer onto a dedicated modern comms line - Virgin/Infinity - I'd suggest that it makes little difference who you transfer to.

If any company has carried out a LLU on your local exchange, go with them. Else you're just thrown in with 'the rest' on BT infrastructure, so go for price/customer service: PlusNet seem to do well on both counts.

[Podie]

From what I've been told Plusnet throttle a lot of traffic. Few guys in the office have complained about them of late.

[Digger]

Go to that website (samknows or something) which tell you which ISPs are connected to your local exchange.

Here you go

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

[s1962a]

I'm with BE and have been noticing issues with some websites loading slowly. Had an interesting one last night where PH was taking ages to load. I tried restarting my router and that didn't help either. I finally tried connecting through a VPN and that worked perfectly with no lag loading up sites. I wonder if it was a DNS issue or something like that?

I've not noticed any speed decreases with usenet traffic either.

[V8mate]

s1962a said:

I'm with BE and have been noticing issues with some websites loading slowly. Had an interesting one last night where PH was taking ages to load. I tried restarting my router and that didn't help either. I finally tried connecting through a VPN and that worked perfectly with no lag loading up sites. I wonder if it was a DNS issue or something like that?

I've not noticed any speed decreases with usenet traffic either.

PH is often borked evenings and weekends. I wouldn't always blame your ISP or router.

[Digger]

Funny you mention that. I am with Be as well and experienced exactly the same issue with PH running very slow yesterday. Never happened before and bizarre as it seems was definitely something the router didnt like about PH, as all other sites were fine. Was the same on 3 devices (HTC iPad & a laptop). Rebooted the router and even changed the channel number! I had to resort to using my HTC as a Wifi hotspot to resolve. What i forgot to try was a wired connection.

Seems better today. Bizarre

[LordGrover]

Simple enough to swap DNS servers to prove/eliminate bethere's servers.

[Digger]

How do you go about choosing alternative DNS servers? Obviously i know how to change the IP addresses in the config settings.

[Podie]

Google public DNS - 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

[Digger]

Just been on the Be forums and there is a small scale bunfight going on. Seems as though there is an ongoing issue with the Be/o2 network. So far the Admin/Techs are keeping schtuum!

Thanks Podie. Will investigate.

[Cheese Mechanic]

maffski said:

Before I switched to BE I used to use Zen, not cheap but I've still never heard a bad word said. I finally left because BE could do ADSL2 before BT had upgraded my exchange.

Ideed, Zen are superb. Monthly rolling contract as well, none of this sign up for a year nonsense.

While they continue in the way they have , there is no way I will change. They have been peerless.

[LordGrover]

Podie said:

Google public DNS - 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

or OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220

Edited by LordGrover on Friday 20th April 15:05

[hornetrider]

Digger said:

Funny you mention that. I am with Be as well and experienced exactly the same issue with PH running very slow yesterday. Never happened before and bizarre as it seems was definitely something the router didnt like about PH, as all other sites were fine. Was the same on 3 devices (HTC iPad & a laptop). Rebooted the router and even changed the channel number! I had to resort to using my HTC as a Wifi hotspot to resolve. What i forgot to try was a wired connection.

Seems better today. Bizarre

Very interesting, I had it too and also thought it may be a DNS problem, as some sites were lightning quick and some were not.

[boxst]

Zen are great but have very stringent download limits.

I'm with Be* and even though they a having sporadic issues I cannot find any other ISP that matches them. I do not download lots of data although have started to watch more Icefilms so it has probably changed in the last few months.

I will stay with Be* until BT upgrade my exchange to Infinity (June) and even then the packages from BT throttle and the ones from Zen are extremely expensive.

[tim2100]

funny' I noticed that my be connection was dog slow last night.

hopefully get BT FTTC in June.

[bitchstewie]

It's not DNS, Be's core network is intermittently fked.

[Digger]

In the grand scheme of things i guess i am lucky. My router stats have shown a connection speed of over 23.5 Mb for the first 3 years but for the last few months has dropped to below 20 Mb.