Who do I choose?

Damo1888

I've just recently moved into a flat which had Orange broadband, who also provided our landline. After weeks of ringing them up and filing a complaint with OfCom, they've finally removed the tags from the line and I'm now able to move to a new provider.

I've just ordered the Umlimited Evening & Weekend Calls plan from BT. That should be set up by Tuesday.

So I've got until Tuesday to choose a broadband provider.

I was going to go for O2, but have recently found out that the exchange closest to me (Bridgeton, Glasgow) is full and they're not accepting any new customers.

I've narrowed it down to 3 providers: BT, Tiscali and UK Online.

It is essential that I get unlimited bandwidth as the broadband will be shared between 3 people and quite a bit will be downloaded on a monthly basis. I see all 3 provide unlimited bandwidth, but FUP applies. They fail to tell you what their threshold is, so it's difficult to know which FUP is better suited to me.

BT's broadband costs £24.99 a month and includes:

8mb broadband
Unlimited bandwidth
Free router

I see that Tiscali's business broadband is good value for money. For £19.50 you can get:

16mb broadband
Unlimited bandwidth
Free static IP
Web space
No router

Finally, UK Online, which is £24.99 for their high end package, and that includes:

16mb broadband
1mb upload speed
Unlimited bandwidth
Contention ratio 20:1
No router

What I'd like to know is, does anyone know the bandwidth threshold for any of the providers and does anyone have any good or bad points on any of them?

I get the feeling that Tiscali's business broadband is truly unlimited bandwidth as it doesn't say anything about a FUP: http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/business/index.html?code=ZZ-MS-11CV&srccode=

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rikki

I don't understand what you mean about the exchange not allowing any new customers? You already have a broadband line you are just choosing a different provider.

DCFC79

Rikki wrote: »

I don't understand what you mean about the exchange not allowing any new customers? You already have a broadband line you are just choosing a different provider.

i thought that as wouldnt the other providers eg uk online use the same exchange

Rikki

DCFC79 wrote: »

i thought that as wouldnt the other providers eg uk online use the same exchange

I think I would approach o2 and leave it with them as they are your first choice.

All broadband providers will have to use the same exchange for your telephone line.

deklan99

O2 would have their own equipment in the exchange (LLU) with only a limited amount of lines available. Either the OP has to wait till there's a free line or O2 install extra gear if there's room and sufficient interest.
Wouldn't affect either BT IPstream providers or other LLU providers who would have their own equipment.

Out of the 3 options, UK Online would be my choice. It's part of the Easynet group as is Sky's LLU offering which is well regarded generally.

Damo1888

As far as I understand, each provider can only have so many customers per exchange and it so happens that O2 are fully subscribed.

I rang O2 today and they said that they currently aren't taking any more customers on the Bridgeton exchange and they don't know when they will be. I think O2 runs through Be, so there's probably no chance of it happening any time soon.

DatabaseError

ukonline is the only sensible choice.

saintlyboy

I would also go for UK Online or indeed Sky because soon they are completely removing the FUP from their 16Mbps package (Max) - although you will need to get Sky TV at a min. spend of £17!

Personally I would avoid Tiscali and BT is OK but you pay more for services you might not use like digital vault and wifi minutes.

You might also want to have a look at plusnet.

On the exchange front, each ISP can pay to put their own equipment (known as DSLAMs) in the local BT exchange (this is known as LLU unbundling) but each DSLAM is limited to a certain number of lines. So while there may be cubic feet of space in the exchange, it's the room inside O2's box that counts!

Good luck anyway!

DatabaseError

Mozkowitz wrote: »

I have never heard providers turn down paying customers for such a lame excuse before, particularly when they offer the whole wireless broadband, landline bulk package deals.

lame excuse? not having any more space in the dslam?
why link to a talktalk page? to paraphrase the page tag, "why pay for steak when you can have rotten offal for free?"