BE Broadband & Torrents

DopeyDylan

Hi All,

I'm considering switching my broadband supplier to BE. I like the look of their 'fast all day' approach as they don't throttle the bandwidth depending on busier times of day. I use my broadband for all the normal stuff (surfing and email) as well as xbox live gaming and downloading torrents. I currently get a lot of issues streaming iPlayer/4 on demand services etc, playing vids on youtube, or watching Sky viewer thru my xbox.

I've just got a few concerns and wonder if any of my fellow MSE's can help...

My questions are:
1) I've read that BE have throttled torrents in the past and even prevented their clients searching torrent sites. Is this still the case?
2) Are they as good as they seem?
3) Any better alternatives?

Any feedback on BE would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,
Dylan
:beer:

Woby_Tide

1) No idea where you've read that, if anything they are probably one who have been pretty much the opposite of that in the 3 years I've been with them
2) Yes
3) O2 technically on price, Be if you want that extra bit of functionality with control over your connection

DopeyDylan

Thanks Woby_tide! Just what I want to hear!

FYI, I googled BE Broadband torrent and found a few articles from early to mid 2009 indicating the issues I mentioned, but these could well have been a one off...

Glad to hear you are happy with them, as it instills a little confidence prior to switching!

Any more feedback still gratefully received!

socrates

DopeyDylan wrote: »

Thanks Woby_tide! Just what I want to hear!

FYI, I googled BE Broadband torrent and found a few articles from early to mid 2009 indicating the issues I mentioned, but these could well have been a one off...

Glad to hear you are happy with them, as it instills a little confidence prior to switching!

Any more feedback still gratefully received!

Their technical support department talks you through step by step - to help you open up a port to let the torrents in!

They do not throttle - you can get through to a human in next to no time - they are Bulgarian I believe - very polite, professional and helpful - true unlimited downloads with no hindrance - for now....

jadziad

Just to reaffirm what everyone else has said...

DopeyDylan wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm considering switching my broadband supplier to BE.
[...]
My questions are:
1) I've read that BE have throttled torrents in the past and even prevented their clients searching torrent sites. Is this still the case?

Be has never throttled. There are occasional instances where an exchange becomes congested - it happens for random people randomly perhaps once every few months. Normally it's because one of Be's links has gone down, or there's a major BT outage. This will happen at any ISP and is in no way specific to Be.

2) Are they as good as they seem?

I don't think anyone should sign up to Be, as they're superb for me and I don't want to share the speed with anyone else

3) Any better alternatives?

Not really, for people looking for decent speed and good customer service. Some people prefer O2 if they already have a mobile with them. Some people might prefer a more "polished" approach. Be doesn't offer email, their DNS servers have been known to be flakey (use OpenDNS or Google's 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4), the SpeedTouch range of routers are not particularly good (occasional overheating if put next to radiator, or sometimes even if not) but are fine for most people. During business hours they have a guy on IRC if you're either deaf or can't be bothered to move out of your chair to find the phone.

People who aren't on an LLU exchange need to look for a different provider: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

Any feedback on BE would be gratefully received.

You shouldn't go with Be at all - they suck. Honest....

DopeyDylan

jadziad wrote: »

I don't think anyone should sign up to Be, as they're superb for me and I don't want to share the speed with anyone else

You shouldn't go with Be at all - they suck. Honest....

lol... thanks for te feedback everyone...

I guess I'm gonna sign up and not recommend to anyone else too :rotfl:;)

mk-donald

You should assess ALL the Be & o2 branded versions - see my comparison at
http://cid-99aa6cf1226facfe.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/o2%20Broadband%20-v-%20Be%20There%20Broadband/a%20Colourful%20Comparison

You won't find any cashback referral sites for o2 Home BB this week (probably because they're rejigging their £ to incorporate o2 Home Phone too) but you can blag £40 by referring someone else in your family - so depending which features you need/value you could save £100+ over your 12m contract commitment IF the o2 branded version meets your needs, otherwise as others have said any Be/o2 LLU package won't disappoint you - just choose from them in an informed manner without the misinformation.

MKD

mk-donald

FYI: an update : two major cashback sites are back to giving £50 for o2 Home BB so if you were thinking of Be Value the comparison for first year, assuming you do try to blag £back:

Be Value first year net-cost = £125.48

o2 Standard first year net-costs =
£17.50
or £47.50 (if you top-up a mobile but never use/value the £30+ credit it)
or £62.60 if you decide you don't want to bother with an o2 PAYG SIM or don't have a friend/relative with an o2 Mobile # they'd permit you to use for discount.

For the other Be & o2 LLU packages you DO need to assess what value you attach to the variations between the Be & o2 bundle of technical options but there is an upto £134 saving over the 1yr commitment between the brands so chose wisely!

MKD