still stuck with dial up? help

key215

been with tesco pay as u go dial up. 1p/min for the last year but starting to get bills of £15 a month. i realise it would be much better and value for money to get broadband. but confused with which provider to go with. any suggestions would be most welcome?

i also spend a couple of months per year abroad, so would like to be able to cancel contract at anytime. is this possible?

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Take a look here http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp
and then if you find one that you like, then go here and read what their customers are saying about them http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/ just scroll down the page to "User Comments on Isp's" it will give you a rough idea if their customers are happy or not.
If you want to cancel within the year, go for one that has a monthy contract, and then you can cancel at anytime, but this will de-activate your broadband line, so if you want to sign up again, most isp's will charge you a one off fee to re-active your line again,(so if you want it back on again, it might just be cheaper to pay the mthly fee, even though you're not using it.)
Always read the "Terms & Conditions" and "Fair Use Policy" before you sign up to anyone.
And don't look at Tiscali/Toucan even though cheap, not really recommended.
At the moment Freeola, who are a reseller of Entanet, who have quite a good rep, are doing a 3mth trial for £14.99, which then reverts to £24.99 mth, but then you could migrate to someone else, if you wanted to, and they giving free activation, UK based tech support, upto 8mbs, 30gb on peak, 300gb off peak per mth, so they might be worth a look.
http://freeola.com/broadband/
I'm actually with UKFSN, another reseller of Entanet, same download limits, but mine is £19.99mth, but very happy with at the moment and a lot of people are using Freeola for the first 3mths and then migrating to UKFSN, because its cheaper per mth.

ollym_3

Virgin.net is a well-known brand that offers broadband WITHOUT a contract - most broadband connections require a minimum 12 month cotract.

http://www.virgin.net/internetaccess/broadband/planthree/

For £14.99 you also get up to 1MBps speed and 3 GB cap.

Just so you know, 3GB cap is definintely enough for most people. I run a website and was a VERY heavy user with Wanadoo/Orange and still didn't top 2GB, plus the market is very competitive at the moment, so most companies will be lenient - they certainly shouldn't kick you straight off.

Edinburghlass_2

Virgin will, however, charge for leaving before 12 months

Leaving Virgin.net Broadband:
If you ordered Virgin.net Broadband on or after 7th June 2005 and you wish to leave, you'll need to give us 30 days notice of your cancellation. In addition, while we don't tie you into a 12 month contact (unlike most broadband providers), we do reserve the right to apply a £50 cancellation charge if your service is cancelled within 12 months of activation. Unfortunately, this charge is necessary due to the cost of activating your broadband service.

espresso

ollym wrote:

Just so you know, 3GB cap is definintely enough for most people. I run a website and was a VERY heavy user with Wanadoo/Orange and still didn't top 2GB.........

:doh:

Most people would definitely disagree with you about less than 2GB usage per month being a VERY heavy user!

:rotfl:

ollym_3

espresso wrote:

:doh:

Most people would definitely disagree with you about less than 2GB usage per month being a VERY heavy user!

:rotfl:

Well, I'm assuming I wasn't going over - like I said, I imagine these days there is some room for manoeuvre.

I don't really download much music or films either - just web pages and email.

I am on the net about 12 hours each day.

espresso

ollym wrote:

Well, I'm assuming I wasn't going over - like I said, I imagine these days there is some room for manoeuvre.

I don't really download much music or films either - just web pages and email.

I am on the net about 12 hours each day.

There is no need to make wild assumptions! Download and install Netmeter for free. It is a very useful program that will provide the information.

:T

paul_h

Try this bandwidth usage calculator to 'guesstimate' your likely usage...

http://zenadsl.com/zenbroadband.aspx?page=512

...and don't forget you can get unlimited dial-up for as little as £4.99 per month.

https://www.fast4.net

Hope this helps! :j