Which broadband?

Pssst

www.samknows.com

Basically you need to go to that site,find your local exchange.

When youve found your exchange check which services are available and what,if any LLU presences are installed.

If O2 LLU is present then your on a winner.

If no LLUs are present then you will get the BT ADSL product.

The important issue is that although they will all say up to 8Mb or whatever, this is very much dependant on line distance and quality.

When your ADSL is enabled,your modem will be connected to the exchange equipment via two very small bits of wire otherwise known as your local loop. Over a period of time,some negotiation will take place which will set the best speed you can get. This is dependant on noise,power levels and attnetuation on the line.

To some extent,you can re-engineer your internal wiring and socketry to improve this.

AFAIK if you are left with the default BT wholesale product,they use network management to set and lock in your best speed for a period of time.

If you can get O2 BB on LLU exchange then thats probably the one to go for.

mrwibble

If you live some distance from the exchange and you have cable in the street then VirginMedia cable broadband is another option (sign up via Quidco). I am right at the end of a valley, can only get 2Mbps so VM are really the only option.

Having said that unless you are in the sticks, have cable in the street and need > 2Mbps -and it sounds like you are just surfing - then DSL is the way to go.

You will almost certainly get the option of a router in the signup process - if you have a laptop that gets moved around then a wireless router is a good option - you just connect it to the phone line, usually then you plug the desktop PC into the router and wirelessly connect the laptop. You can just connect the laptop via a wired connection as well if it just sits near the router - wired is quicker / more reliable than wireless.

Remember to secure your wireless connection as well if you get that - no sense in allowing all and sundry to access your personal data / hog your connection.

jestyenot

hethmar wrote: »

Ive been with talktalk since they first offered broadband. Its only recently my exchange was unbundled and now I get totally free broadband which is great. My phone is International 3 and I get all land line calls free 24/7 anywhere in the Uk plus several overseas countries. I think its about £11 a month. On top of that is the line rental of about the same amount.

Ive found them very good.

Go to the talktalk website and enter your postcode to check you get free broadband.

Does the free calls only apply to Geographic numbers, and do you have to pay for 0845 numbers etc........?

Lemmy_Caution

Fenris wrote: »

If you're used to dial-up and just want it for general smufing and e-mail you might do well to look at Pipex or someone like that.

What's smufing?

hethmar

jestyenot wrote: »

Does the free calls only apply to Geographic numbers, and do you have to pay for 0845 numbers etc........?

Only geographic - you can add things like cheaper mobile calls.

ih8stress

Thanks for the great responses so far everybody.

Hethmar: I'll check out the TalkTalk website to see if I can get the free broadband. I've heard mixed reviews on them but I guess most of them will be luck of the draw to some extent!
MrJ: I think my son will prefer the option of being able to use his laptop anywhere but it is something to consider, thanks.
Fenris: I'll post you a link to Samknows once I've worked out how to do it, as most of the info on there goes over my head I'm afraid.
Psst: See my note to Fenris.
mrwibble: How do I go about securing my wireless connection when I get it?

Thanks to everyone else for their comments.

hethmar

I hope you checked out talktalk as martin was listing it as best buy because you got £50 off til 1 May

Securing the wireless is quite easy, even I managed it. You will get a talk through on your ISP

aliballi

I've been looking for the cheapest package for my student daughter & although TalkTalk do offer cheap packages, somthing to consider as you have a BT line, is if you wanted to go back to BT line rental in the future this would be chargable (around £120) & under contract. Where as O2 is just broadband & as so you can keep your BT line rental (+ £70 cashback is available through Quidco).

P.S. if you do go for O2 remember to take the medium sized package as it has 3 months free, so will work out cheaper over first year, then when your contract finishes after a year downgrade to basic package.

hethmar

You keep your BT line with talktalk - just you pay the rental to talktalk instead of BT

The_Wall

On the whole I've found TalkTalk to be alright, as long as you do not need to contact their Technical Support. Although talking to colleagues this can be the same for other providers.

The phone line got physically cut, and yet I still had to go through numerous tests before they did a line test, which proved there was a fault, and called out an engineer. I do not understand why they could not have the line test first, given the nature of the fault

So what you also need to bear in mind is that getting support from TalkTalk is via an 0870 number, which is free as long as you are phoning from the landline number. Which is a bit of a problem when it is the phone line that is not working.

The only other thing I have noticed is that sometimes the broadband seems slow or that getting a connection can be difficult, or both. Having said that the router, not wireless, is on an extension socket, so it could be the line quality rather than TalkTalk.

Pssst do you have anymore information about how I can re-engineer my internal wiring and socketry? Would like to see if I can improve things myself, before having to contact Technical Support :eek: