Best broadband.

cwtaylor

Hey all my first post here so don't be too harsh!

I'm starting Uni in Portsmouth in September and will be in private accommodation sharing a house with 3 others. We are all IT students and thus our first thoughts was broadband. I have looked on google and seen some reviews on student broadband recommendation but none have been that useful.

So was wondering what people here have to say including any personal experience. I'm with virgin at home through my parents connection and they have served me well. But we don't need a phone and BB bundle. I was looking at o2 they seem good for the price but you need a line rental which is more money. Virgin seem ok with there no line needed cable package. But i just want to here what you say..

So....what you gotta say?

Lokolo

Ok there are 2 types of connection:

Cable and ADSL.

Virgin do cable. Everyone else does ADSL.

Now problem with ADSL is the further away from the big hub thing, the lower the connection speed. So you could be paying for 16mbit and only get 2mbit. Whereas Virgin, WYSITYG.

Also, Virgin have a bundle - Broadband + Phone, which is cheaper than just Broadband.

Now - limits - all ADSL companies (O2, BT, Sky) have download limits which means if you go over you pay more. Virgin have similir but your connection is reduced rather than paying extra, unless you get their 20mbit broadband, where this isn't the case.

I am going with 20mbit Broadband and Phone with Virgin which means it costs £21 a month for 6 months, £31 thereafter.

inamabilis

I'm about to go in to my 3rd year of university - 2nd year of private accommodation and it really depends on what speed you need. For my first year of private renting there were 6 of us in the house so we decided we wanted a faster speed (more than 8mbs).
Be (O2) jumped to mind as its 24mb does not have a 12 month contract (just 3 months notice) or limits (except acceptable use policy) but this involves getting a phone line.
The cheapest line rental I could find was £8.99 a month (Toucan) but that's only if you're on a 12 month contract, otherwise it was £10.99 a month.
When I called BT to discus the actual phone line I was told it would be £100ish to 'install' (quoted because there was already a line there and I'm sure all they had to do was flick a switch!) the phone line. So for Be interent we're looking at:
£18/m internet
£10.99/m line rental - (might be able to find this cheaper, was last year i looked)
£24 connection charge (internet)
£100 installation (phone line)

For 10 months this is £414ish

Comparing this to virgin:
£29 a month (20mb broadband - special offer)
£30 instalation
-£10 saving online
-£65 quidco if i understand right - need to check this though
£20 disconnection charge for not completing the contract (this is what i got charged last year - cant guanatee it'll be the same for you but dont see why it would be hugly different)

For 10 months this is £330 (without the quidco since im not sure on that!).

As as said - all this is what I did last year. When I called up to cancel in july I explained that I would be comming back to them in september and they aggreed that when I did they would wavier the installation charge and refund my disconnection charge.

On top of this whilst virgin do have an acceptable use policy it's my understanding that they are the only company that can offer truly unlimited broadband as they do not need to lease bandwidth(?) from BT.

Hope this helps, sorry for the long post.

cwtaylor

thanks for that i think it has confirmed my thoughts. Have just rang landlord and he is going to check if there is a line in there already.

But I'm strongly thinking towards virgin.

inamabilis

from this page:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1016275&highlight=virgin+media+quidco

Looks like you can NOT get the quidco also.

cwtaylor

so i would have to get a bundle or package to get quidco on this.. which is 65 cashback after install

inamabilis

Wouldn't like to say either way - quidco doesn't make it very clear - best bet would be to email them.
http://www.quidco.com/virgin-media/

FreheitOverture

I'm on Be. Its £18 a month for 24mb/s. No problems so far and any queries I have had have been dealt with in 24hours. Had Virgin last year and it was appallingly slow. Not WYSIWYG at all.

Go with Be. Its worth it

Lokolo

Yeh I am planning on getting phone and net package and can't figure out if the one I am going to get is valid. Its crazy.

Southsea_Rock

cwtaylor wrote: »

thanks for that i think it has confirmed my thoughts. Have just rang landlord and he is going to check if there is a line in there already.

But I'm strongly thinking towards virgin.

I think everywhere in Portsmouth - certainly on the island - is cabled up, there might be a few places where the actual wallbox would still need installing, but the network locally is very robust and was well put-together when the original cabling and kit was installed in the streets.

Virgin (and previously as NTL) attract a lot of stick nationally, but I have found them to be very reliable over the 4+ years I've been with them, on the 20MB/s tier and getting excellent performance.

cwtaylor

kool well rang up virgin today and they have said our house is the only one in the street that they think is not cable??? I dunno, they said they are sending an engineer round to have a look. If there is not cable will we have to pay install?