Best broadband.

Lokolo

cwtaylor wrote: »

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?

I think they charge a one off fee, however, not certain about this.

shopaholicleo

inamabilis wrote: »

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.

So is the mb just to do with speed? I think at home i have 2mb, but there's gonna be 4 of us at uni, is that not enough? Also as we're there for 9 months, can you just pay the disconnection charge to get out of the contract?

inamabilis

shopaholicleo wrote: »

So is the mb just to do with speed? I think at home i have 2mb, but there's gonna be 4 of us at uni, is that not enough?

Yeah mb is speed. Is a certain speed going to be enough is a bit of a funny question - it depends on what you intend to do.
If all 4 of you were using the internet at the same time then your speed would in effect be quartered - this could prove a problem if for example you were all using bbc iplayer or 4od at the same time.
Personally unless you know that all the users are 'light users' and wont be on the internet much i'd be more concerned with the limits some isps place on the connection - you could end up spending more than you expect if you go above these limits.

shopaholicleo wrote: »

Also as we're there for 9 months, can you just pay the disconnection charge to get out of the contract?

Yes, though as I said (I think!) the faster Be* broadband connection (and probably a few other companies) do not have 12 month contracts. For those that do have 12 month contracts often the disconnection fee will be equal to the price per month multiplied by the remaining months on the contract.
I have no idea why Virgin only charged me £20 disconnection on a £29 contract that still had 2 or 3 months to run, but i didnt complain especially when they offered to refund that and my installation charge if i came back to them at the start of the next term.

popularfurball

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.

There was already a line in our house, but because the previous contract with BT had been cut off the day the old tenants moved out, its not active - so you have to sign up for 12months with BT - Toucan/Tiscali etc require you to have an "active" BT line for them to provide fully comp package, so unless your lucky and someone is still paying for the line then you will have to go with BT (we were paying 9.50 or 10.50 online tariff per month). We also then had internet with Toucan - the internet was good - it worked even though our phone line broke!! (Yeah I know - figure that!!) and we were paying 14.99 per month - they put you in heavy users if you download crazily, but we didn't notice that much of a difference in the speed for this (plus, its avoidable providing you minimise downloading/streaming between 6pm - 11pm, so download while your out at uni


Virgin cable my mum and dad have, and is brilliant because it cuts out BT (I don't like BT....too long phone calls, unuseful service...) however they are now beginning to monitor downloads, so for example you might get in to trouble if films or music accidently slips down your phone line....

inamabilis

Got my virgin media connected today and in the welcome pack is a 'Connect a mate' page. Basically we can both get £30 off our bills if you mention my name - if anyone wants to do this send me a PM

princesslizzie

My house were with BE - https://www.bethere.co.uk

We never had a problem and it was easy to set up. Downside is a small connection fee, but they have no contract so if you have to live in your house for say 9 months, you can cancel your broadband without having to pay up until 12/18 months.