Broadband - Sky, Cable or PhoneLine

Grumpy_Old_Duffer · 4 October 2006 at 11:52AM

I'm currently with Freedom2Surf using a BT line, but because Freedom2Surf are not open at weekends (when the network seems to go down the most!!!) and because of their recent poor service, I'm considering changing to another ISP in a month or so.

Looking at alternatives I'm considering either another ISP, Sky or Cable. If I go the ISP route I'm worried about going from 'the-frying-pan-into-the-fire' i.e. another poor ISP which I'm then locked-in to a 12 month contract.

Sky I have no experience of, but if their TV link is anything to go by, that keeps disappearing during bad weather!!!, so I assume the same would be for internet connection.

Cable supplier is Telewest in my area, but I've heard that if you go cable then the distance you are from an exchange makes no difference to connection speed, unlike using a BT line, which the further away you are from the exchange the slower your connection speed, hence the ISP's stating " ... upto 8Mb speed".

What are the pro's & con's of going these various routes? Is there an alternative I haven't thought of?

JezCooke · 4 October 2006 at 12:25PM

I'm with Freedom2Surf as well, not had any problems but I keep getting emails from them apologising for all the problems people are having (so they obviously are!).

Sky don't provide broadband via satellite (it's through your BT line like you have at the moment) so weather won't affect it, it is quite a good deal IF they have their equipment in your exchange (they don't in mine!) and you’re subscribing to Sky anyway of course

Not sure about Telewest, I'm in an NTL area and their prices are a complete rip off!

You could just change to another ADSL provider if you're not happy with f2s (I like f2s's 'no nonsense' approach to broadband, but then I haven't been having problems!). Depends whether the faults are with f2s or BT, (if it's BT then switching won't help!).

Tallymanjohn · 4 October 2006 at 12:42PM

NTL/Telewest is probably a bit more expensive for a broadband package - I pay £24.99 for a 4Mb unlimited service - reason I stay is that they seem to have got their act sorted & I haven't had any problems for 2-3 years now. I know they are pushing combined services - broadband, TV, phone (& now mobile I believe) and this probably makes the overall price better.

Great advantage for me is simplicity - once it's wired in you can connect any PC with a network card immediately.

I agree with you about Sky - I think they're going to have the same problems as TalkTalk - a friend with them has been waiting nearly 3 weeks for them (TT) to sort out getting him connected - currently waiting for another engineer to phone him - it will be sometime in the next 5-7 days!!

espresso · 4 October 2006 at 1:27PM

Tallymanjohn wrote:

NTL/Telewest is probably a bit more expensive for a broadband package - I pay £24.99 for a 4Mb unlimited service.......

You are paying well over the odds, when did you last negotiate your price? I know a customer who has just been given 2Mb unlimited for £8.99 continuous, so I would guess that you should get 4Mb for half what you are paying!

Tallymanjohn wrote:

Great advantage for me is simplicity - once it's wired in you can connect any PC with a network card immediately.

Surely you can do that with any BB if a router is used?

Broadband - Sky, Cable or PhoneLine

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