Lost with broadband

gruner

Hi, just need a little help or advice please on what broadband... was going to go with the Tiscali broadband + line rental £20 with anytime free calls but people tell me about all the bad reviews. I have a BT line but paying Primus the rental so i hope this does not get in the way?
The choices i can find on broadband deals are.
TalkTalk phone + broadband (has a 18month contract:rolleyes: dont want that so much)
Virgin - Go national- as no cable- broadband + phone £12 month...does not includes line rental?? (12 month contract)
Or spend a little more £ and be capped to 5gb and go with IDNET broadband + phone £31 (1month contract)
They all have complaints from searching them but what are the better choices i have here?

Am so lost now, did like the idea of a whole package from Tiscali with anytime calls £20, Any advice from anyone or ideas

dylanuk

Don't be too put off by all the bad reviews you read... while those customers are complaining, generally speaking people usually only bother commenting when it's negative - when people have good service they don't bother as much telling people how good it is. This is a bit old, but it goes to show bad comments aren't always the whole story: http://www.chooseisp.co.uk/broadband-guide/news/tiscali-offers-best-customer-satisfaction.html

If you want broadband + home phone I'd probably go with Tiscali or perhaps Plusnet - they've got new packages out at the moment which includes Plusnet Value + Home Phone anytime for £20.64 (including line rental) - or evenings and weekends is cheaper at £15.74 - either way the broadband is only £5.99 - you have to be in a market 3 area though, generally if u live in a town or city you'll be ok.

Plusnet is good customer service, you get 10GB usage and then completely unlimited midnight to 8am (so you can schedule peer-to-peer).

I wouldn't go with Virgin non-cable - it's pricey and what's the point? You'd get the same service and better prices with a primarily focuses "BT Wholesale reseller".

I haven't heard of IDNET though, but it sounds expensive for 5GB a month.

Hope this helps!

theboylard

Quick comment before I go to bed!

If your broadband is important to you, cost is not the prime driver.
In the bb game, you do genuinely get what you pay for - ie pay peanuts and you'll get the service you deserve. But, the most expensive is not the best either!
If you do your research, decide what you actually want to do on the net.
Do you want to download films?
Watch lots of on-line TV?
Play on-line games?

Some of these activities will eat your bandwidth (your allowance provided by most ISP's), some require a low ping rate (the amount of time it takes to send a small "packet" of data to a server/website) so you need to be sure that the service can supply your needs.

You need to consider all options and I'd suggest a trawl of thinkbroadband.com for users opinions on practically every ISP in the UK.

You will always get folk who complain about their ISP - but you'll soon see where someone hasn't really done their reseach or where an ISP is generally quite good.

Good luck.

Inactive

Customer feedback results of the 3 ISP's listed.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html?isp_16=1&isp_23=1&isp_84=1&commit=Compare

It seems that you do get what you pay for.;)

macman

Some great deals from o2 if you are an o2 mobile customer (contract or PAYG) but only if you are on an o2 LLU exchange (check on samknows or or on o2 site). Their CS is free and very good in my experience.

gruner

Thanks all for the replys, some great info there for me to read up on, thanks.

Just found out that im stuck in contract till April with my Phone line with Primus. So i will just sign up with Freeola £19.56 p/m 10gb peak 170 off peak speed upto 8mb and only a monthly contract with £23 activation fee.
This should give me time to research some good bb companies and find whats best for me.

Cant think of any other way to get on line as stuck in that contract?

Thanks

macman

Unless you want to go for a phone+bb bundle, you don't have to wait until expiry of Primus contract to take out a broadband contract. It's still a BT line even if you pay the line rental to Primus. Or maybe you can sign up to the bb now and add the phone once you are OOC-most ISP's will happily let you upgrade to whatever you want while you are still in contract.
£43 is expensive for a one month service. Why not consider PAYG mobile broadband for a month? Would cost around £50 for modem and 5GB and then you still have the option to use that on a laptop or whatever once you have started your landline bb.

Inactive

£23 activation ??.. and 0871 = 10p a minute for service calls, at Freeola.:eek:

gruner

My thinking was, as i cant get a phone+bb bundle untill my contract is up with primus i would just go with the 1month contract bb providers. I know these are a bit more £ but freeola are the cheaper with connection fee (others are £45) and also give you alot more gb per month than others like IDNET, UKFSN etc + the 1st month is only £9.99 with them.
I would have keep my line with primus and gone maybe with virgin just for the bb but they need you to pay rental with BT, some of the other companies i liked just for bb i could not get in my area? so a little limited.
Mobile bb is still like £50 for the modem etc and im sure the service is not good as a land line bb in terms of downloads + speed? am i correct.

macman

No, mobile bb is not as fast and is dependent on the 3G network coverage you get in your area. Most urban areas are OK, a lot of rural ones are not. Depends how important it is to you to get high speed just for a one month contract (do you then have to give 30 days notice after that though?) I got my 3 modem for £40, some of the other networks may have better deals at present. Bear in mind that the money you pay to Freeola is gone after a month, if you buy a modem you still have the kit and can use it or resell it. So effectively you'll only pay for your data usage.

gruner

macman wrote: »

No, mobile bb is not as fast and is dependent on the 3G network coverage you get in your area. Most urban areas are OK, a lot of rural ones are not. Depends how important it is to you to get high speed just for a one month contract (do you then have to give 30 days notice after that though?) I got my 3 modem for £40, some of the other networks may have better deals at present. Bear in mind that the money you pay to Freeola is gone after a month, if you buy a modem you still have the kit and can use it or resell it. So effectively you'll only pay for your data usage.

Very true. Im outside an urban area prob more rural so dont think my coverage would be very well. Will only need 2-3months of bb untill my contract with primus ends and will then prob go for a phone+bb provider. Yes there is a 30day notice to end the bb contract with freeola.
May be i should just keep my line rental and calls with Primus and sign up a longer contract (prob 12months) and find a bb only provider that dont need me to be paying BT for line rental? Would work out more that a phone+bb package that was why i would sign with freeola with a 1month contracts untill my contract runs out with Primus?