Best ISP in the UK?
Discussion
Been fairly happy with my ISP of the last 5 years - not going to name them - but they've basically not updated themselves or their policies in the meantime.
My line speed has gone up from 2MB to 12.5MB, but the monthly "fair usage policy" allowance (read: download cap) is still stuck at a measly 50GB.
Of course on a fairly fast connection like that the temptation to download loads of stuff is huge, so I have. Mainly TV shows and Linux OS packs over torrent. Also streaming a lot of video through the PC from LoveFilm, and BBC iPlayer on PS3 and Wii, Sky Player on the Xbox. Couple that to the online gaming, ebay browsing for watches and cars and vast amounts of donkey porn, I basically exceed the 50GB limit every month. My ISP don't seem interested in changing this policy, so now I am interested in changing my ISP.
I currently pay £17.50 a month (on top of my BT line rental) for my connection which is probably a hell of a lot by today's standards. Don't mind paying anything up to £30 a month for something that is truly unlimited, or at least gives you a 100-150 GB cap instead. I understand you can get deals with certain companies if you have a mobile with them as well? It all has to come through a BT line as we can't get cable here. Customer service is very important, if slightly secondary to limits and performance. So, has anyone got experience of:
a) BT
b) o2
c) Orange
and their broadband products? I'm not that interested in getting a new router or anything (got a fairly new Netgear one) just speed, download cap and customer service.
My line speed has gone up from 2MB to 12.5MB, but the monthly "fair usage policy" allowance (read: download cap) is still stuck at a measly 50GB.
Of course on a fairly fast connection like that the temptation to download loads of stuff is huge, so I have. Mainly TV shows and Linux OS packs over torrent. Also streaming a lot of video through the PC from LoveFilm, and BBC iPlayer on PS3 and Wii, Sky Player on the Xbox. Couple that to the online gaming, ebay browsing for watches and cars and vast amounts of donkey porn, I basically exceed the 50GB limit every month. My ISP don't seem interested in changing this policy, so now I am interested in changing my ISP.
I currently pay £17.50 a month (on top of my BT line rental) for my connection which is probably a hell of a lot by today's standards. Don't mind paying anything up to £30 a month for something that is truly unlimited, or at least gives you a 100-150 GB cap instead. I understand you can get deals with certain companies if you have a mobile with them as well? It all has to come through a BT line as we can't get cable here. Customer service is very important, if slightly secondary to limits and performance. So, has anyone got experience of:
a) BT
b) o2
c) Orange
and their broadband products? I'm not that interested in getting a new router or anything (got a fairly new Netgear one) just speed, download cap and customer service.
Got O2 at home and Uni. Connection has never once gone down, speeds are consistently excellent and the helpline is free and UK based should you ever need it.
We regularly download ~150 GB a month at Uni. Most we've ever put through is around 400 GB in a month. Never any complaints or throttling. Excellent service considering they're a mainstream company and very good value as well (especially if somebody in your household has an O2 phone)
We regularly download ~150 GB a month at Uni. Most we've ever put through is around 400 GB in a month. Never any complaints or throttling. Excellent service considering they're a mainstream company and very good value as well (especially if somebody in your household has an O2 phone)
Edited by wiffmaster on Saturday 30th January 23:28
I use BE which is the same as O2. You can get a cheaper deal if U have an O2 mobile, otherwise its cheaper to go with BE I think
fast speeds and definitley unrestricted - certainly to 150gb (at the moment and for the past year or 2!)
PM me if you wanna go with BE and we can do a refferal (think its 1 month free each)
fast speeds and definitley unrestricted - certainly to 150gb (at the moment and for the past year or 2!)
PM me if you wanna go with BE and we can do a refferal (think its 1 month free each)
BT are a f
king embarrassment to customer service, I wouldn't urinate them if they were proverbially on fire. I've never had Orange internet but do have a mobile contract with them, and to their credit they've been very helpful whenever I've had any problems. No experience with O2.
I found Eclipse internet to be superb, very efficient and reliable. I paid £30 a month, but that was because there was a load of us using it, all of their rates have unlimited downloads but you pay more for quicker download speeds. Technically they have a "fair usage" policy, but with 8 of us downloading shedloads every month we never had any problems with it. They also do deals if you take out landline/mobile contracts with them, but I never investigated that.
king embarrassment to customer service, I wouldn't urinate them if they were proverbially on fire. I've never had Orange internet but do have a mobile contract with them, and to their credit they've been very helpful whenever I've had any problems. No experience with O2.I found Eclipse internet to be superb, very efficient and reliable. I paid £30 a month, but that was because there was a load of us using it, all of their rates have unlimited downloads but you pay more for quicker download speeds. Technically they have a "fair usage" policy, but with 8 of us downloading shedloads every month we never had any problems with it. They also do deals if you take out landline/mobile contracts with them, but I never investigated that.
With BE - On the whole they've been excellent, very fast and no problems with lots of downloads.
There were some problems on the line with faulty equipment at the exchange but that was sorted fairly quickly (once they knew about it BT took an age to properly diagnose the problem and were a nightmare as always)
Their customer support guys are in Bulgaria but speak perfect English and are very knowledgeable. No problem with them at all and they really put a lot of effort and time in.
I could get a very good deal with o2 but am a little wary of moving to them as the larger ISP's have been bad in my experience. Has anyone else switched? How do the support/speeds compare?
There were some problems on the line with faulty equipment at the exchange but that was sorted fairly quickly (once they knew about it BT took an age to properly diagnose the problem and were a nightmare as always)
Their customer support guys are in Bulgaria but speak perfect English and are very knowledgeable. No problem with them at all and they really put a lot of effort and time in.
I could get a very good deal with o2 but am a little wary of moving to them as the larger ISP's have been bad in my experience. Has anyone else switched? How do the support/speeds compare?
I use Be in Bristol and Telewest/Virgin in London.
Be aren't fantastic IMO - their customer service is top-notch but their speeds don't stack up - I've had 3 routers and I'm still nowhere near the 10MB I was promised.
Virgin are cheaper than Be but that's probably because we have Virgin Media in London - but they've been faultless. Internet is never slow, even on the same 10MB as Be. This is probably due to being very close to the exchange (hence a low ping) but still, Virgin are great.
If I had to recommend I'd say go Virgin. You've already lost it so might as well pretend you have it again
Be aren't fantastic IMO - their customer service is top-notch but their speeds don't stack up - I've had 3 routers and I'm still nowhere near the 10MB I was promised.
Virgin are cheaper than Be but that's probably because we have Virgin Media in London - but they've been faultless. Internet is never slow, even on the same 10MB as Be. This is probably due to being very close to the exchange (hence a low ping) but still, Virgin are great.
If I had to recommend I'd say go Virgin. You've already lost it so might as well pretend you have it again
rpguk said:
With BE - On the whole they've been excellent, very fast and no problems with lots of downloads.
I could get a very good deal with o2 but am a little wary of moving to them as the larger ISP's have been bad in my experience. Has anyone else switched? How do the support/speeds compare?
My understanding is that Be was bought by o2 so when you get an o2 LLU service it's running on the same hardware as the Be service. They might well use different customer services and other stuff, but the tech at the exchange and the connection quality should be the same.I could get a very good deal with o2 but am a little wary of moving to them as the larger ISP's have been bad in my experience. Has anyone else switched? How do the support/speeds compare?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Unlimited#Platform...
See which ISPs are unbundled on your exchange: http://www.samknows.com/
The non-unbundled ones all use BT's equipment and data pipes, all of which have a monthly data cap. If you are having speed problems with Be, chances are that the problem is with your phone line. It seems to be impossible to get BT to deal with these problems if you are getting more than 2Mbit.
The non-unbundled ones all use BT's equipment and data pipes, all of which have a monthly data cap. If you are having speed problems with Be, chances are that the problem is with your phone line. It seems to be impossible to get BT to deal with these problems if you are getting more than 2Mbit.
I'm on the hunt for a new ISP too and have been 'nerding around' the Think Broadband forums for some info.
I found a very in depth comparison between all the O2 & BE packages put together by one of the forum members.
http://tinyurl.com/5mzmrs
Someone really needs to get out more...
I found a very in depth comparison between all the O2 & BE packages put together by one of the forum members.
http://tinyurl.com/5mzmrs
Someone really needs to get out more...
Andrews & Arnold.
Primarily a business focussed ISP, but I use them for home. Always a proper technical person at the end of the phone, management, testing and stat pages for your ADSL links, and a stack of static IP's if you ask nicely.
Plus anyone who helped me with routing issues I had caused myself at 1am on IRC has got to be good.
Primarily a business focussed ISP, but I use them for home. Always a proper technical person at the end of the phone, management, testing and stat pages for your ADSL links, and a stack of static IP's if you ask nicely.
Plus anyone who helped me with routing issues I had caused myself at 1am on IRC has got to be good.
Legmaster said:
I'm on the hunt for a new ISP too and have been 'nerding around' the Think Broadband forums for some info.
I found a very in depth comparison between all the O2 & BE packages put together by one of the forum members.
http://tinyurl.com/5mzmrs
Someone really needs to get out more...
That's great, thanks.I found a very in depth comparison between all the O2 & BE packages put together by one of the forum members.
http://tinyurl.com/5mzmrs
Someone really needs to get out more...
I get around 15mb at the moment on be, I notice that o2 is upto 20mb whereas o2 is up to 24mb. I presume that as I'm under both of those my actual speed will be unaffected?
mouseymousey said:
I doubt anyone cam touch Virgin's 50meg service at the moment.
To all those recommending Virgin, please note as in the original post I can't get cable here. Also, I fail to believe that Virgin could provide good customer service. They are the same company that used to be NTL, no?mouseymousey said:
I doubt anyone cam touch Virgin's 50meg service at the moment.
I consistently download at 5.6Mbps and there is no download cap or traffic shaping. It's not cheap, but it is good.
It's also not available to most people.I consistently download at 5.6Mbps and there is no download cap or traffic shaping. It's not cheap, but it is good.
I've put countless addresses into their checker and not one of them has been in a Virgin cable area. Even our Uni address in the heart of Manchester can't get it. The second it's available, I'm planning to switch.
Zad said:
See which ISPs are unbundled on your exchange: http://www.samknows.com/
The non-unbundled ones all use BT's equipment and data pipes, all of which have a monthly data cap. If you are having speed problems with Be, chances are that the problem is with your phone line. It seems to be impossible to get BT to deal with these problems if you are getting more than 2Mbit.
Oh, and thanks for that. Easily the most useful thing I've seen posted on here in a long time!The non-unbundled ones all use BT's equipment and data pipes, all of which have a monthly data cap. If you are having speed problems with Be, chances are that the problem is with your phone line. It seems to be impossible to get BT to deal with these problems if you are getting more than 2Mbit.
Looks like o2 have LLU in my local exchange, and I get two months free as I'm with them for my mobile. Can't find any mention of download caps with them though...
In that case it is about as close to a no-brainer as you can get in IT. I believe O2 have a 30-day cooling off period in which you can cancel with no penalty if you don't like it. I haven't heard of any download cap on O2 LLU. Unless you are less than 400 yards from the exchange and have a great line, you probably won't see more than 20Mbit anyway.
HereBeMonsters said:
Zad said:
See which ISPs are unbundled on your exchange: http://www.samknows.com/
The non-unbundled ones all use BT's equipment and data pipes, all of which have a monthly data cap. If you are having speed problems with Be, chances are that the problem is with your phone line. It seems to be impossible to get BT to deal with these problems if you are getting more than 2Mbit.
Oh, and thanks for that. Easily the most useful thing I've seen posted on here in a long time!The non-unbundled ones all use BT's equipment and data pipes, all of which have a monthly data cap. If you are having speed problems with Be, chances are that the problem is with your phone line. It seems to be impossible to get BT to deal with these problems if you are getting more than 2Mbit.
Looks like o2 have LLU in my local exchange, and I get two months free as I'm with them for my mobile. Can't find any mention of download caps with them though...
Usage from the Ts & Cs http://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/broadband
"4 What about excessive network usage?
There is no limit on the monthly network usage. However if we feel that your activities are so excessive that other customers are detrimentally affected, we may give you a written warning (by email or otherwise). In extreme circumstances, if the levels of activity do not immediately decrease after the warning, we may terminate or suspend your Services."
All the info you need (and lots you don't!) in the link I posted earlier.
I'm not one of their salesmen, just spent ages nerding up on the unbundled ISPs at my exchange.
HereBeMonsters said:
mouseymousey said:
I doubt anyone cam touch Virgin's 50meg service at the moment.
To all those recommending Virgin, please note as in the original post I can't get cable here. Also, I fail to believe that Virgin could provide good customer service. They are the same company that used to be NTL, no?Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff