Broadband. Who's the Cheapest? Article Discussion Area

Hunky-Dunc

Can anyone tell me is MSE available to Eire. Would it be any good to them. I have a daughter there who needs your guidance. thanks.

solitaire_3

Can anyone advise me on which broadband provider to use? Im a bit of a PC idiot and haven't got a clue which is best - it's all jargon to me!

Im with BT at the moment and have been for the last 3 years at first i had a 1MB service and i phoned them as i was going to switch to AOL as i they were cheaper but when i phoned up they went on about hidden things with AOL and then offered me a better deal so i got 2MB and pay £17.99 a month for it and 2 months free etc.. anyway the problem is even with 2MB and 512 MB DDR and upgrade of another 512 MB DDR my PC runs really slow!!

Im not sure if it's BT or my PC but im looking for another provider as im paying around £60 a month to BT in total with Phone line rental and call charges etc.. which are usually only around £7 - £10 a month as i only really have the phone line bevause i need the internet!

Anyway.. ANY advice would be greatfully received!

Thanks

rammell

solitaire wrote:

Can anyone advise me on which broadband provider to use? Im a bit of a PC idiot and haven't got a clue which is best - it's all jargon to me!

Solitaire, I think your best bet is:

1. Read through this forum... loads of useful advice here.

2. Have a browse on http://www.adslguide.org.uk to check out how much customer service calls cost, customer ratings etc.

3. Checkout switching services such as uSwitch.co.uk (careful though because they don't include all providers).

There are plenty of reasonable ISPs charging less than £15 p.m. for up to 2Gb. Good luck.

Edinburghlass_2

As your total BT bill is around £60 a month somewhere along the line you are paying a lot for the telephone aspect of your BT bill once the £18 a month for your bb is taken off.

First stop is Martin's article on Home Phones and check your telephone bill to find out exactly how much you are paying for line rental and calls etc.

You should be on BT option1 which is £11 a month if paying by dd for your line rental only. Then sign up for a CPS like Primus which will give you free evening and w/end calls and then sign for https://www.call1899.co.uk and https://www.call18185.co.uk for any day time calls and cheaper rates for calling mobiles, check this thread.

Once you have sorted out that side of your telephony bill I would then come back to the bb aspect and see if you can get a supplier that would suit your needs cheaper than BT.

Karen_L_2

Bulldog are advertising 8mb broadband for £9.75 a month (1 gig usage) for new customers signing up to a 6 month contract by 31st March. Includes free modem & internet security.

Art_2

Karen_L wrote:

Bulldog are advertising 8mb broadband for £9.75 a month (1 gig usage) for new customers signing up to a 6 month contract by 31st March. Includes free modem & internet security.

In order to get that price you have to transfer your phone service to them as well.

Also, compare their performance which has had a lot of bad press over the past year. I have compared them to Plusnet, Pipex and EFHBroadband and they fail on speed, reliability and customer service. Have a look at them at:

www.adslguide.org.uk

Finally, don't be fooled that you will get 8 mb speed. Many local telephone exchanges are not capable to deliver it. Also in order to get it from the exchanges that are, you will have to live within 2 Km of the exchange.

Regards,
Art.

jamichi1

Whatever your choice is stay away from Toucan. I made the huge mistake of being lured by their generous (or so it seemed in November) offer and joined them.
Everything went nicely up to the middle of January (apart from the fact that I never experienced the 2 Mbit speed that I signed for), when suddenly the speed went down gradually and steadily. In the end of January I started experiencing speeds as low as 6.90 kbit! I started e-mailing them - replies were scarce and ambiguous (i.e. "we are looking into your problem"), while their operators were polite but unhelpful. I have called their technical department several times as well (running huge phone bills), still having the same speed problems - between 3pm -11 pm it was IMPOSSIBLE to connect at all.
Finally after 3 weeks of pursue, the technical department told me that they had server and network problems in my area,which they would try to solve as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, I never got a callback (despite their numerous promises) regarding service/repairment status - just "apologies" everytime I phoned them (which believe me happened many times).
Finally, and because enough is enough, I spoke to a very sincere operator to whom I explained the situation and informed him that if I didn't get a solution I would go to OFTCOM. He did the trick and passed my details to the onsite technician who solved the problem almost immediately.
I have filed a compensation request, and I'm still waiting almost a month later - I'm also waiting for a phonecall from one of the managers on the matter.
On the above please add long waiting hours on the phone, numerous promises like "the problem will be solved by Friday" (in total fairness however, I wasn't told which Friday they meant) and money spent on net cafes in order to answer e-mails which couldn't wait.
So in two words: STAY AWAY
(and before anyone says anything: My computer was clean for viruses/spyware, no restrictions were imposed on my account and the problem was persistent almost on a 24/7 basis).

scootermacc

I am mid way through a 12 month contract with Madasafish.

I thought i'd be cheeky and try to get onto a *new* 12 month contract from today with them, to take advantage of the 'CHEAPER' promo offer.

Whilst they wouldn't let me do it, they have added details to my account notes that I wish to do this, and they've told me that when my existing contract finishes (May 2006), they will honour the current offer prices, even though they expire at the end of this month!

We will wait and see if it works...

Thought I'd pass this on to in case any other Madasafish users want to also try.
(the downside is their customer support number is 0870... why the ISPs don't use VOIP yet for Customer Services, I'll never know).

Chuffy

I still think Telewest/Blueyonder is great value - if you sign up online for the slowest speed (which is 2MB in my area) at £14.99 per month, you get £10 off your first bill. Do it via Quidco and get another £40. Total cost per year £129.88 = £10.82 per month for an uncapped 2MB service.
You can also use the 0800 numbers on saynoto0870 should you need to contact them.

Vital_Spark_2

Gooner, be careful with the Telewest package. I have the phone tv and broadband bag but the talk unlimited calls is not all it's cracked up to be unless you really talk an awful lot to friends and family.

Many companies now use the "local rates" numbers, which come up as nongeo numbers when on Telewest talk unlim.

I couldn't understand why I was getting bills of £70+, £80+ and even one of £100+ (as a dyslexic particularly numerically so, I find itemised bills a mess of numbers, which dance about the page), when all the calls I was making were local with a few to London, Einburgh or Glasgow landlines. It wasn't until I got my son to look at the bills that I discovered that I was paying large amounts for phoning companies like the TSB, who use these special "local call rate" numbers without a "geographical" option. Even DWP use a "local call rate" number nowadays.

So much of these charges were for sitting listening to an automated voice rhyming off options, which I'd forgotten by the time it came to the last one or listening to horrendous, monotonous, non-melodic music.

Got to scrutinise Martin's article on broadband:

Thank you ML.