Broadband choice....

[tobeee]

I know, it's a yawn-inducing subject, but my company have decided I should have it, and need me to sort it out for myself!

So, the requirement is for max £30/month, low/no start-up charge, 2mps speed. I doubt I'll be using it excessively (don't download music/movies etc.) but need it speedy to facilitate downloading stuff from company network, and to satisfy my general PH addiction!

Not sure what else I need to tell you knowledgable folk in order for you to tell me who to go with, but I'd appreciate your advice...

[Plotloss]

www.adslguide.org.uk

Very informative...

[RobDickinson]

BT are in the process of upgraiding all theit customers to either 1mb (cheapie) or 2mb lines where possible, for 'free'.

cheapie1mb is capped to 2gb, old 512k capped to 15gb, old 1mb capped to 30gog.

[Stu247]

Plotloss said:

www.adslguide.org.uk Very informative...

Probably the best source for info...you can compare providers etc.

I have been with Pipex for the last 3 or so years, never a days bother, billing etc all great.
Stable network infrastructure.


Their customer service has let them down in the past but I have never had to contact them so cannot comment.

Price wise they are starting to seem expensive up against the other ISP's with new pricing structures / regrades etc, but stay tuned, an announcement is due Wednesday which should, hopefully !!, put Pipex back in the game.

If you are going to claim back the cost via expense vouchers like I do, it's better to stick with one of the existing long established ISP's that have billing down to a fine art...

Stu.

[neil_cardiff]

tobeee said:

I know, it's a yawn-inducing subject, but my company have decided I should have it, and need me to sort it out for myself! So, the requirement is for max £30/month, low/no start-up charge, 2mps speed. I doubt I'll be using it excessively (don't download music/movies etc.) but need it speedy to facilitate downloading stuff from company network, and to satisfy my general PH addiction! Not sure what else I need to tell you knowledgable folk in order for you to tell me who to go with, but I'd appreciate your advice...

I would be careful with the cheaper alternative which give you fast yet capped services.

I've been explaining to more and more people as they ask me personally what to get that ISP's are now moving over to a pricing structure where you can have the fastest service you like (PlusNet should be trialing 8Mb at Easter Yay!) but you are put into a data usage band.

Now most home users will not have a problem, but I need to remind you VPN users (ie the ones who connect to a company network) that you will be constantly exchanging traffic depending on what you do on this VPN. Very quickly you'll exceed the low caps given by some of the cheaper ISP's.

To give you an idea of traffic, I monitored the traffic created by our ERP system and is ten times the traffic that our Windows server creates. Emails and all.

I recommend that all Remote Workers at my place to have uncapped service - anyway cost shouldn't be a problem, the reason why they want you work from home is to make more money - so I'm sure an extra £5-10 a month won't make any difference...At least when I explained it like that to my MD he suddenly stopped moaning about costs.

Oh, and make damn sure your IT department gives you a properly configured firewall to use, as you can spend thousands and thousands of pounds on your companys IT Security for the office, yet if one VPN user is unsecure, a hacker can walk straight on into your company network all trusted and unhindered. Don't find out the hard way like I did

>> Edited by neil_cardiff on Monday 21st February 16:26

[G Man]

Tobee

We use Zen www.zenadsl.com/ADSL.aspx?page=169 good speed, no tie in beyond 1 month and excellent customer service, not like BT

1 meg is very fast, 2 meg ohhhh, remember it's not just the size of pipe from you to the ISP but the size and number of people from the ISP to the internet

G Man

[Broccers]

Just joined ukonline.co.uk

Quite good so far and 2MB all time connection for 29.99 a month quite cheap too (no cap either).

Simon

[dave_s13]

As has been said, be wary of the so called unlimited packages availiable.

see here

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=156799&f=95&h=0

I've been binned for using P2P stuff. Bastards!

[Gaffer]

[redacted]

[voyds9]

dave_s13 said:

As has been said, be wary of the so called unlimited packages availiable. see here www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=156799&f=95&h=0 I've been binned for using P2P stuff. Bastards!

Ditto same supplier

[roadsweeper]

I'm with NTL and they are good. They are upgrading their speeds this quarter too so a 2Mb/s connection will be around £25/month.

Of course, you need to be in an area in which they operate!

[tobeee]

Thanks roadsweeper. I wanted to use NTL for the sky telly and broadbean, but my area is not cabled yet. Doesn't seem to stop an endless delivery of NTL sales bumpf through my door every week though!

[egoboss]

tobeee said:

I know, it's a yawn-inducing subject, but my company have decided I should have it, and need me to sort it out for myself! So, the requirement is for max £30/month, low/no start-up charge, 2mps speed. I doubt I'll be using it excessively (don't download music/movies etc.) but need it speedy to facilitate downloading stuff from company network, and to satisfy my general PH addiction! Not sure what else I need to tell you knowledgable folk in order for you to tell me who to go with, but I'd appreciate your advice...

i avoid BT on principle. incompetent and rip-off merchants.

so, i went to wanadoo several months ago - very good service, good helpdesk, helped me via phone to set up my wifi at home, etc which they didn't need to. recommend them.

ttfn

[xaney]

tobeee said:

Thanks roadsweeper. I wanted to use NTL for the sky telly and broadbean, but my area is not cabled yet. Doesn't seem to stop an endless delivery of NTL sales bumpf through my door every week though!

Remember that when NTL put through those speed regrades they are also adding a monthly cap onto your service and charging you £25 for the pleasure.

Fair enough if you don't use it much, but if that's the case why do you need the faster speed?

You don't get something for nothing.