New customer - seeking advice

macman

Speed will depend primarily on distance from the exchange, but also on factors such as your internal phone wiring.
I would use the line checkers on the various ISP's sites to get another indication of speed.
'Up to' speeds are always theoretical and you never get 100%. About 85% would be very good.

gemstars

macman wrote: »

Factor in £75 02 cashback from Quidco and it looks a bit different. And if you get a PAYG 02 mobile it will cost you £40 per year to save £60. It's a no-brainer on cost alone.
Personally I wouldn't have Orange broadband even if it was free.,

Which o2 tariff is it that costs £40 per year? The cheapest I can find is £10 per month.

espresso

gemstars wrote: »

Which o2 tariff is it that costs £40 per year? The cheapest I can find is £10 per month.

Discount for Pay & Go customers subject to £10 minimum top-up every 3 months.

Simples!............

dave_dph

gemstars wrote: »

Does this mean that an 8mbps service will actually give me around a 6.5mbps speed and a 20mbps service will actually give me around a 16mbps service?

I'll compare all the packages available from the ASDL2+ providers now.

If Virginmedia (cable) is available in your area why are you looking at ADSL, ADSL2 etc?

If the speed is important to you, check your post code here http://allyours.virginmedia.com/ chances are you will be able to get 50Mb. Cable services are not affected by distance from the exchange and you are far more likely to get the advertised speed than with ADSL.

You do not need to take a phoneline with them, or with BT. If you want a phone service then set yourself up with a voip provider once you are connected to VM. You can get a traditional geographical number for your area and also use standard telephones (with an adaptor). Take a look at www.voipfone.co.uk for starters.

I have used cable broadband since 2001. I've only had one issue in that time and they immediately diagnosed the problem through the support newsgroups and dispatched a new modem.

Quidco are also paying £65 cashback at the moment, but this has gone as high as £150 in the past. You only have to take one service to qualify for the cashback too.

gemstars

dave_dph wrote: »

If Virginmedia (cable) is available in your area why are you looking at ADSL, ADSL2 etc?

If the speed is important to you, check your post code here http://allyours.virginmedia.com/ chances are you will be able to get 50Mb. Cable services are not affected by distance from the exchange and you are far more likely to get the advertised speed than with ADSL.

You do not need to take a phoneline with them, or with BT. If you want a phone service then set yourself up with a voip provider once you are connected to VM. You can get a traditional geographical number for your area and also use standard telephones (with an adaptor). Take a look at www.voipfone.co.uk for starters.

I have used cable broadband since 2001. I've only had one issue in that time and they immediately diagnosed the problem through the support newsgroups and dispatched a new modem.

Quidco are also paying £65 cashback at the moment, but this has gone as high as £150 in the past. You only have to take one service to qualify for the cashback too.

Thanks.

I'm looking at ASDL because where o2 will work out about £250 per year and Orange £185, Virgin will work out about £342 for a similar service! :eek:

gemstars

espresso wrote: »

Simples!............

Thank you! I've found it (I'm ashamed to say by googling the sentence you quoted to find it on the o2 page.)

So being an o2 customer will cost me £40 for a year only if I buy a pay as you go mobile, the cheapest one being £20. Is that right?

So my plan should be
1. Get the landline reactivated
2. Order an o2 mobile and sign up
3. Sign up to their home broadband via a cashback site?

macman

gemstars wrote: »

Thank you! I've found it (I'm ashamed to say by googling the sentence you quoted to find it on the o2 page.)

So being an o2 customer will cost me £40 for a year only if I buy a pay as you go mobile, the cheapest one being £20. Is that right?

So my plan should be
1. Get the landline reactivated
2. Order an o2 mobile and sign up
3. Sign up to their home broadband via a cashback site?

Correct, but you don't have to buy an 02 mobile for £20. Just use an 02 SIM in any old unlocked mobile.

dave_dph

gemstars wrote: »

Thanks.

I'm looking at ASDL because where o2 will work out about £250 per year and Orange £185, Virgin will work out about £342 for a similar service! :eek:

Ok so once you have factured in BT line rental and the O2 up to 8Mb connection, you would be paying at least £137 for line rental alone. I accept that after cashback the O2 service becomes free for the first year.

The comparible VM product is 10Mb. After cash back this works out to £165 for the year, £28 more than the O2 deal. Bearing in mind you said you are likely to get 6.5Mb on the O2 standard LLU service, you are more than likely to get the full 10Mb on cable. The extra £28 is well worth it in my opinion.

gemstars

dave_dph wrote: »

Ok so once you have factured in BT line rental and the O2 up to 8Mb connection, you would be paying at least £137 for line rental alone. I accept that after cashback the O2 service becomes free for the first year.

The comparible VM product is 10Mb. After cash back this works out to £165 for the year, £28 more than the O2 deal. Bearing in mind you said you are likely to get 6.5Mb on the O2 standard LLU service, you are more than likely to get the full 10Mb on cable. The extra £28 is well worth it in my opinion.

Thanks for replying.

I'd prefer a faster connection than 8mbps.

However, if I did go for virgin media the 10mbps broadband with phone bundle (which I'm not sure if I can even get since my conversation with the guy in the orange shop) works out at £257. The 10mbps broadband only is £225.

I can't find any cashback site that offers money back on these. They all seem to only offer on either services that are not provided by cable or TV/Broadband/phone bundles only.

So to me o2 looks like a clear winner, unless I'm not factoring in something? I just want to make sure I'm working this out correctly.

macman

If you want faster than 8Mbps on 02, go for the Home Premium service, which is £2.50 more than the standard service.
This gives you up to 18Mbps. Use the line checker on the O2 site to give you an idea of the likely max speed your line can support.
This package also carries a higher cashback (£100 vs £75 on Quidco), so by paying an extra £25 in the first year (first 2 months free), you'll get £25 back. O2 Premium for the price of standard. If after 12m you feel the extra speed is not worth it, just downgrade then.