Broadband - The freedom to choose a provider! =D

fozzeh

Morning all,
I'm in the process of sorting out my new house and BB is high on the list.
It doesn't have an existing line so need to factor that in (O2 quoted me £86 or £96 to get one laid as an O2 PAYG customer, TalkTalk said £40). Are BT still doing a free line installation?
Current on Tiscali (RIP) package of line rental, anytime calls, 8mb unlimited BB for £22.49 pcm. Not too bothered about the calls as, for the amount we use it, we may aswell pay for them. Currently trying to find out monthly usage so I can factor that in.

Any recommendations? I would compare but my net access is limited at the minute and don't get much chance at home. Ideally want reliability, good speed, little downtime, good value. Used for iPlayer and PS3 online gaming mainly…and Scrabble on Facebook! Downloading films isn't a priority. BT looks like a nice option as do O2…I had a bit of a problem with VM previously but may consider them again.

TIA

GM43

The only advice I can give is to not go to TalkTalk - their customer service is really bad. I don't think it's the staff's fault - I just don't think they've invested enough money in training them correctly. I'm going back to BT as soon as I can get sorted out.

spud17

fozzeh,

Usual advice is to put your details into

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker

But you obviously don't have a number, so you could try with just the postcode, it should at least give an idea of what's available on your local exchange.
Look for the LLU options.

As to BT broadband look at

http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

fozzeh

Tiscali 0 444.82
BT 38.19 406.63
Be* -59.40 504.22
Plusnet 91.65 353.17
O2 44.82 400.00
TalkTalk 74.23 370.59
Virgin -43.49 488.31
Tesco 62.82 382.00 Don't lay lines so needs adding


Here's what we have cost on saving against current package per 18 months and 18m cost (sorry for formatting). Includes line rental, package, set up fee and line installation (exc. Tesco). The rest seem a lot more expensive.

I'm considering O2 most at the minute.

duchy

What about a Sky Talk line ? (you don't have to be a TV customer)

Mine was free installation of line

fozzeh

Sky was £30 a month (£11 rental and £19 package). Tried to say this seemed excessive (£200 over 18 months more than O2) and call taker just tried to plug it comes down more with TV which isn't a massive factor until I can afford it.

BT rental is £9.49 pcm as per Martin's e-mail this week.

Checked samknows (using postcode and dummy phone number (as the other page where you didn't know number had a script fail)) and says O2 LLU is available.

Only a mile from the exchange too which can't be too bad...well, not as good as 200 yards which is present but hey ho!

borderline

Don't go with BT... their broadband speeds are awful (one of the worst ) and their Indian customer service don't know anything

mkgirl1981

ones of the plus points i think for sky was the customer service esp in technical department were always really helpful & knowledgable ....
in my experiance anyway