Which provider is best?

Drodough

tentonine wrote: »

The key thing is to organise this as soon as possible. According to the BT website, they can activate your line and broadband on the day that you move in. However, you have to tell them far in advance. If the existing owner has broadband, that can tie the line up for a long time before BT are able to remove it (and you can't place an order while the line already has broadband). I moved house over the summer and the previous owner did not tell them about the move until about a week beforehand. That was not enough time and I had to wait over three weeks before the line was cleared and my broadband was available!

I will try and get my estate agent to check if the buyer has cancelled their services- thanks for the tip!!:beer:

Drodough

tentonine wrote: »

One other thing - if the house has extension telephone sockets, this can cause interference. Providing that the master telephone socket is of a fairly new design, you can something called an iPlate (available for about £10 from online stores or perhaps only £2, depending on which ISP you go with). This would remove the interference and allow for slightly higher speeds (so you might get closer to 8Mb/sec rather than 5.5Mb/sec if you get one of these).

Finally, depending on the provider, you can potentially save quite a lot of money if you order your new internet and phone service by clicking on the link to your chosen provider's website at www.topcashback.co.uk rather than ordering over the phone.

Thanks again tentonine- am scribbling all this down in my diary!! :j

Drodough

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

Personally I'd go for Post Office to get the line set up and activated, Zen Internet for the broadband and a Freeview box.

I think the BT Vision thing needs a 2Mb connection to work - which it looks like you might just be able to get - and you have to have the broadband from BT as well.

When you move out of a cabled area, you generally say goodbye to decent broadband. Phone lines just aren't made for broadband signals. The average ADSL connection is only about 3Mb so your situation isn't unusual.

Where we are, 3G is actually 50% faster than ADSL.

Wow I didn't know the Post Office did phone lines! I take it they pay BT for it? Can I get the Zen Internet if I dont have the LLU thing? I will get googling what you suggested and check it out. Freeview- might not give me the kids channels I'm after? But I will google that, too. Thanks for the suggestions

I'm really shocked as was so happy about leaving Virgin Media and having a BT line- I thought the world was my oyster and I could choose whatever and whoever I wanted = better connection etc. How wrong could I be!!!:mad:

[Deleted User]

I imagine that is the basic BT package with only 10GB usage allowed per month? Please check that and think about whether it will be enough for you.

It is definitely worth looking at other ISPs. BT do not necessarily have the best service (although I went with BT anyway on the grounds that it might be easier to get a problem with the phone line fixed - some ISPs have been known to blame it on BT, then BT blame it on the ISP, etc...).

Do you watch much TV? If not, you could get BT Vision with no contract. There would be a higher up-front cost (I think about £30), but a lower monthly fee. You would then also have to pay on demand for content that you wanted, but it could be cheaper if you only watch occasionally. Also, please note that BT Vision are not really any match for Sky in terms of content.

Drodough

I liked the idea of recording the TV- as always seem to miss the things I want to watch. We prob only have the TV on max 2-3 hours a day, so will look into that. I think the guy at BT said if I took all three I would get £15.50 off a month for 3 months, which covers the cost of the equipment, plus it worked out cheaper than paying seperately. But to honest I am baffled by the whole thing so might still be that the way you suggested is cheaper.

They didnt specify the GB amount- just that it was 'up to 20mb'. I will double check on that. to clarify- if I visit sites with big pictures etc, or watch video clips- even if i dont save them to my machine- does that count towards the usage GB? I watch lots of music videos etc but dont actually download them to store them? Sorry just trying to clarify whether I am a big user in terms of GB or not! Thanks:-)

[Deleted User]

Visting websites counts - downloading is any information that travels down your phone line (except BT Vision content - they count that separately).

Did the guy at BT mention whether you would be getting a TV package (such as a kids package) included for that price? Incidentally, BT Vision does not give you extra channels. Instead, you get a selection of programs to watch when you want to.

It is possible to buy a box to record TV for about £70 without having to get the BT box (so it is not worth paying a montly fee just for that feature or going with BT just for that feature).

There are three kids' channels on Freeview:
http://www.freeview.co.uk/freeview/Channels
Note that it is possible that you won't be able to pick up all Freeview channels without an aerial upgrade if the present owners haven't already done that. Freeview worked fine at my last house with an old aerial, but a few channels aren't available at the new house because they are transmitted at higher frequencies in this area and can only be received with newer aerials (which cost about £100).

Mark_In_Hampshire

The "up to 20Mb" thing is mildly amusing as at the moment it applies to barely a handful of people (a few thousand). Most people are only able to get "up to 8Mbps" which actually translates as an average of about 3Mbps.

Eventually as FTTC is rolled out - Fibre replacing the archaic copper phone lines in part, more people will be able to get "up to 20Mbps" however those are likely to be areas which are already cabled, so it's hardly an innovation - Virgin already provide 50Mbps services and shortly, 100Mbps which BT will never be able to compete with without huge investment since the infrastructure is so old.

If you have BT connect the line you'll be stuck with them for a year, if you have the Post Office connect it, you could switch the line rental to Sky if you also took their TV service.

A point to note - if it's a rural area the TV signal might be rubbish; our aerial can't pick up ITV channels when the weather is poor, but that doesn't bother us - might explain why the neighbour has a Sky dish though.

The BT offerings are not however comparable to a cable TV service, it's more like having a box with BBC iPlayer built in to it and a nice user interface.

Yes, the Post Office pay BT Openreach - a separate company responsible for the lines - to supply the line.

Yes, you can get Zen with this service. The restrictions work the other way around e.g. if you had an unbundled Talk Talk line you might then only be able to have Talk Talk broadband.

[Deleted User]

I just want to point out that, although Zen are supposed to have the best service and best reliability, they also have a price to match!

Drodough

Oh wow, so much to think about- thanks both, will print your replies and try to digest! Yes, it is a semi-rural area. The current occupiers have BT line and internet and SKy TV. No mention made of freeview- so guess I would need to do the upgrade thing? I have to say, the only channles we watch now are pretty much the BBC1,BBC2,ITV,Channel 5, occasionally BBC3, 'Fiver' and 'Tiny Pop'. I really cannot think when we have watched anything other than that is the last few weeks. So maybe Vision is a waste of ££££? I got excited about being able to watch some movies etc??

Tentonine- he didn;t mention which package, I kinda thought BT Vision was going to be a mega bundle of channels and movies. Guess I need to look into that a bit more carefully:o

So I think I will look into the following- the Post Office line to keep my options open, a freeview box, and zen internet. I guess this will be cheaper than the BT option? otherwsie i may be just as well going with the BT package?

Drodough

tentonine wrote: »

I just want to point out that, although Zen are supposed to have the best service and best reliability, they also have a price to match!

Ah, I was hoping they'd be cheap! :rotfl:

Oh I am in turmoil now lol- although very, very pleased I made this post as had NO IDEA about all this until tonight!!:eek: