is Business BT Broadband better than standard BT Broadband?

dllive

Hi, Im about to move house and its essential I have good internet access. Because of the area where the flat is, I can only use BT. Ive heard that a standard BT internet connection really slows down in the evening and they throttle your connection on various websites (YouTube, BBC etc..).
Because of this, Im wandering whether its best to just go with BTs business package because, although more expensive, I presume the connection will be more stable and will get a faster connection.
Any thoughts, comments or past experiences would be welcome.

kwikbreaks

If you can get BT broadband you can use virtually any ISP as BT Retail just sell the BT Wholsale product which is available from many ISPs.

IMO BT is a poor choice of ISP.
http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

macman

Who told you you can only use BT? Completely untrue. And that's probably the worst option you can pick.
About the only advantage of a BT Business contract is that you may get a higher priority should the line go down.
https://www.samknows.com, exchange search, look for your LLU options. Almost any of them will be better than BT.

dllive

Hi,
Yes, everything I've heard about BT is bad. I've had a look at Samknows, and it confirms there are no other providers. There are red crosses all down the LLU operator presence list. Does that mean Im stuck with BT!?

macman

dllive wrote: »

Hi,
Yes, everything I've heard about BT is bad. I've had a look at Samknows, and it confirms there are no other providers. There are red crosses all down the LLU operator presence list. Does that mean Im stuck with BT!?

No it doesn't. Did you not read kwikbreak's post? You can use any ISP that resells BT's Wholesale product, which is most of them. What samknows is telling you is that there is no LLU presence on your exchange. But you can still find better prices and service than BT.

dllive

Oh - that's fine then! Looking at the list Kwikberaks posted, I havnt heard of hardly any of those companies. I've had massive problems with TalkTalk in the past. It took 8 months to get a connection with them, although Im still with them after 2 years of no problems. Maybe its 'better the devil you know'. You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but do I use BT for my phone line, and speak to TalkTalk about the internet connection only? Or shall I ask TalkTalk to do everything (phone and internet)?

sablelady

I also live in an area with BT as the only operator. We had BT business broadband for a while and it was rather expensive and dropped connections almost daily. When we decided to switch I spent 45mins queuing on the phone :eek:(albeit for free).

I have used plusnet since 2006 and very rarely drops connections. We had one total outage last september which lasted for about 10 hours and they provided me with a temporary dial-up number if needed. However Plusnet are now owned by BT.

dllive

I've heard good things about PlusNet, although if they're now owned by BT who knows what they're going to be like now!

macman

I You've had massive problems with TT, why consider them now?
They'll be no cheap deal anyway if not available LLU.
The reason you haven't hear of some of those companies that come near the top of the survey is because they don't spend all their income on advertising like TT and VM, they invest some of it in decent customer service.
Plusnet are owned by BT but run entirely independently, which is why the rated service level is much higher.

sablelady

I don't think it is really much of a problem as they are treated as two separate companies. BT bought Plusnet in 2007. We are now about to upgrade our BB package and switch our phone service to them also.

Inactive

If the OP requires reliable broadband, look at the likes of IDNet or Zen, both are extremely reliable and have excellent customer service with only 30 day contracts.

It seems with Broadband, the bigger the company ( Talk talk etc. ) the worse they are.