Broadband. Who's the Cheapest? Article Discussion Area

BexTech

Sit outside someones house who has an open wireless network.

PoppyDee

Can anyone tell me how I keep a broadband provider but get rid of my landline. I never use it preferring my mobile.

Cheers,

BexTech

PoppyDee wrote:

Can anyone tell me how I keep a broadband provider but get rid of my landline. I never use it preferring my mobile.

Cheers,

You can only get rid of your landline if you are on cable broadband, as cable doesn't use your landline for their broadband service, it is via a separate co-ax cable (which can also be used for their TV, though you don't have to have their TV either).

OK you could use two-way satellite (many satellite services are one-way and you need a dial-up modem for the upload) and wireless (if available) but it's expensive and not as good.

thephunkypheel1

JohalaReewi wrote:

As a long term Plusnet customer I can honestly say that customer support has taken a nose dive over the last year. Plusnet have been their own worst enemy by revamping the web and telephone support making it harder to get to a real person and taking longer to responf to help request. At the same time, they have been rolling out MaxDSL and LLU projects which have not gone well and left many users with patchy or no broadband connection and no way of getting support. The ADSL Plusnet forum turned into a Plusnet bashing forum, but a look at the official Plusnet User Group forum is not rosy either. http://usergroup.plus.net/forum/

Agreed.
Had no dire problems with them until recently when my connection was maxed. The VMBU tool for reporting bandwidth used (PlusNet are one of the few ISPs that include downloaded + uploaded data towards your cap)
has been consistently reported as having faults, they have just imposed "network management" on my account for exceeding the paltry 4Gb peak allowance.
I would accept this except for a few facts.

1) since reading about it in their forums 4 months ago I have monitored our bandwidth use using a series of my own reporting tools.

2) I know for a fact it [their report] is a least 1.2Gb off the mark

When I went to use their online ticketing system I found it had just been replaced by the now standard substandard
'please read all our help and faq bullsh*t regarding completely unrelated problems faced by noobs in the hope you will get fed up and accept the problem' It just takes your round in circles.

A technique most commonly employed by unscrupulous companies to save them a whole lot of money. Probably due to the fact that they couldn't drastically cut their costs with LLU due to the deployment problems commonly reported in their forums.
I suppose the shareholders must be appeased.

I ended up ticketing their feedback department which looks identical to the old ticketing system but is not for general probelms (refers you back to the help/faq loop.) I could care less, I want to speak to a person.

Anyway, I suppose we have screwed a good deal out of them, but I don't know how much they pay for off-peak data.

£14.99 a month split between three people so £5 each and we never exceeded the peak time usage before (even when it was 3Gb) and typically we use 20-60Gb p/m off peak.

What I would like to know now is if anyone has any recommendationfor a switch based on these details.

Connection

Prefer MaxDSL as I know I synch at 6Meg and get good download speeds on our exchange. I also appreciate the faster uploads.

Typical usage anything between 2Gb-4Gb peak 20Gb-60Gb off peak
per month although has been known to go into the 90s once or twice.
Obviously can use another ISP with peak/off-peak constraints but might be nice to switch to one one that has large download limit included and
can be used whenever needed.

Packet shaping is not ideal but is acceptable.

No gaming support needed but, one person on network has recently added Tesco Internet phone, I am unsure how much bandwidth that is likely to eat up but would probably only be used between 8am-4/5pm

any other consideration? We are all really cheap, so don't think anyone here wants to pay more that £7-£10 p/m per person for the privilege of being with a more customer orientated ISP.

One more thing, I am told by Planet-Talk who have our phone that we can get an unlimited 2Mb connection with no FUP for £16.99, am I right to smell a rat? Apart from this thread, I can find no other information about this on the net. Anyway like I said I don't really want to lose the MAX benefit. but am suspecting this may be one of the better options, if true.
Anyone have any details on this? I think they said you have to be with them for phone to qualify for the service at this price.

Phew!
Well anyway time to catch some zzz's

TPP1

deefadog

Hi all, moving in 2 weeks and i have a BT line, I want to get cheap broadband - 1MB will be fine, unlimited use would be good.

I remeber Primus had a good deal around £12.99 and now there is tiscali for £12.99

Are these the best deals? or any good?

Thanks

mrJ_5

avoid tiscali... but a better deal is always around the corner... but cheapest does not nessisarily mean good.... let alone unlimited - the 2 words do not mix!

Art_2

deefadog wrote:

Hi all, moving in 2 weeks and i have a BT line, I want to get cheap broadband - 1MB will be fine, unlimited use would be good.

I remeber Primus had a good deal around £12.99 and now there is tiscali for £12.99

Are these the best deals? or any good?

Thanks

Tiscali has a bad name for service. I personally would avoid them. I know nothing about Primus.

Before deciding visit the following site which will give you details on all ISPs and you can check their ratings as well.

http://adslguide.org.uk

Regards,
Art.

deefadog

Is there a comparison website on price as well? can't seem to find any info on that site?

Cheers

Art_2

deefadog wrote:

Is there a comparison website on price as well? can't seem to find any info on that site?

Cheers

For price comparisions have a look at the broadband section of uswitch.

http://www.uswitch.com

Regards,
Art.

deefadog

Thanks! i have used these before, only problem is that BT will not be connected for another 2 weeks, then i'll have an active telephone number which uswitch requires to search!

Hope i am not without broadband for too long!