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Cumbrian Male · 10-10-2009, 9:20 PM

I currently have Orange Broadband Max which I pay around £17pm inc. line rental for. I get a discount for having a mobile contract.

Due to my son returning from Uni to study locally our usage has shot up. Just under 50Gb a month as he downloads and streams a lot of US TV and music.

We have now been capped at 512Kbs during peak hours of 6pm-12 midnight.

Our line is capable of a max 2Mb speed and not yet scheduled to be upgraded to 8Mb. No cable in our area either, welcome to rural Cumbria.

What options are there as just about every thing has a "Fair usage policy" on their so called Unlimited service?

I am looking for a true unlimited or min 50 Gb monthly allowance. I can go with or without line rental to get the best deal.

Must be a reliable service, we have been with these since Freeserve days and never had an issue that wasn't easily resolved, in fact think I have only rang tech support twice in 10 years.

Anyway over to the collective wisdom.

macman · 10-10-2009, 9:46 PM

Impossible to say without knowing what your exchange is. What are your LLU options on that exchange? If O2 LLU service is available I would look at that (not O2 Access). What does samknows.com say?
Are you already out of contract with Orange, if not, you wil have to pay an early termination fee.

Cumbrian Male · 10-10-2009, 11:58 PM

Here is what samknows as you can see we got nothing.

Yes I'm long out of contract and just rolling along now.

macman · 11-10-2009, 7:19 AM

Unlikely that there will ever be any LLU options on your exchange as it's just too small.

jackieb · 11-10-2009, 7:32 AM

We're with BT. Never had any problems. Our internet useage must be huge (6 of us here so pretty much constant use - 2 desktops, 2 laptops, game consoles, ipods, etc)

I don't know how to check how much we use each month or i'd post and let you know.

DatabaseError · 11-10-2009, 9:43 AM

O2 Access.
Be aware it's not he fastest, and they have recently introduced traffic shaping, but they are 'unlimited' - including no hidden FUP

DrScotsman · 11-10-2009, 10:30 AM

http://adsl24.co.uk/broadband/home/

It's not Moneysaving I'll admit, but 60GB for £28.90 a month, 1 month contract. Alternatively go for a cheaper one and tell your son he has to download during the free allowance period - 12am to 8am weekdays, all day weekend.

I suggest you Google ADSL24 to see other people's reviews, but from what I read before there is no traffic shaping at all.

Additionally I don't think you need LLU, my exchange ~~didn't have Entanet~~ ~~still doesn't have Entanet~~. Okay, SamKnows says I don't have LLU but ADSL24's own checker says I do. Make what you want of that. In any case you don't need LLU

del1001 · 11-10-2009, 10:35 AM

You don't say if price is an issue, in which case I would suggest Zen, 50gb for £29.78 pcm

http://www.zen.co.uk/Broadband/S_Business.aspx

I would urge caution before signing with O2's Access product, it has not got a very good reputation, just take a look at O2's own forum for more info & opinions.

DatabaseError · 11-10-2009, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by del1001

I would urge caution before signing with O2's Access product, it has not got a very good reputation, just take a look at O2's own forum for more info & opinions.

I'm an access user, and I agree that it's not great...but it works. I have no problem browsing and streaming works 99% of the time without stutter, hopefully the newly introduced TM will improve the service (never thought I'd be grateful of TM), but it's too soon to judge.

If money was no object..I would have gone elsewhere! But, it isn't...and I'll accept a mediocre product for the price I pay.

Be aware than entanet also have their problems, and they count uploads + downloads towards the allowance!

macman · 11-10-2009, 1:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DatabaseError

O2 Access.
Be aware it's not he fastest, and they have recently introduced traffic shaping, but they are 'unlimited' - including no hidden FUP

There is still an FUP though on both Access and LLU packages-but which ISP's do not have some sort of FUP in place these days?

DatabaseError · 11-10-2009, 2:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macman

There is still an FUP though on both Access and LLU packages-

Crikey - you're right!

Quote:

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.

I can't find credible reference to it ever being enforced (a couple of posts 'a friend of a friend'), but that's not to say they won't start tomorrow.

~Chameleon~ · 11-10-2009, 5:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macman

There is still an FUP though on both Access and LLU packages-but which ISP's do not have some sort of FUP in place these days?

And why shouldn't they?

I don't see why the majority of us should suffer from time outs, slow to load websites and be unable to watch iplayer, play games etc without interruptions just because of a selfish minority who want to hammer their connection day and night! :rolleyes:

If they want to download 24/7 then their connection should be slowed right down to give the rest of us a decent internet speed!

1984ReturnsForReal · 11-10-2009, 5:22 PM

Try the words "sorry son, you are just going to have to kerb your useage"

456789 · 11-10-2009, 5:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DatabaseError

Crikey - you're right!

I can't find credible reference to it ever being enforced (a couple of posts 'a friend of a friend'), but that's not to say they won't start tomorrow.

They have started the traffic management in the evenings for Access - who knows where this will lead

But for the moment the LLU is still not managed/throttled/limited etc.

Cumbrian Male · 11-10-2009, 7:46 PM

I take it that with these I will still have to revert to a BT landline so quite expensive.

Any first hand experience with Zen and ADSL24 and any others?

Who or what is Entanet?

DrScotsman · 11-10-2009, 9:47 PM

Entanet is the wholesale distributor of ADSL24, so when you're looking for LLU-ness for ADSL24 you look up Entanet.

I am using ADSL24 and it does what it says on the tin, no problems, good speeds.

Cumbrian Male · 11-10-2009, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrScotsman

Entanet is the wholesale distributor of ADSL24, so when you're looking for LLU-ness for ADSL24 you look up Entanet.

I am using ADSL24 and it does what it says on the tin, no problems, good speeds.

OK got it. Still no LLU options on my exchange. The 30Gb option looks good and then top up if needed.

stebiz · 11-10-2009, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Chameleon~

And why shouldn't they?

I don't see why the majority of us should suffer from time outs, slow to load websites and be unable to watch iplayer, play games etc without interruptions just because of a selfish minority who want to hammer their connection day and night! :rolleyes:

If they want to download 24/7 then their connection should be slowed right down to give the rest of us a decent internet speed!

Agree entirely. When I worked for a very large ISP, the reason they brought throttling in was because on certain servers 5% of users used 95% of the bandwidth!!

Stebiz