Which ISP decision?

therevelator

Hi, further to Sky not renewing a free line rental deal I had with them, I've thought looked elsewhere for a new deal:

Virgin Media do an all in package for £31.49 (£21.74 first six months) including line rental, which seemed good (presumably 24month contract).

Alternatively, I could go the freeview route:

TV - use current Sky box with Freesat card (£20 to purchase) - £0 thereafter.

Phone+Broadband only I found the following:

Be Internet: £27.38 (good internet service and includes line rental) - overall their service seems to be one of the best. £85 connection fee too (partly offset by first 2 month internet free).

O2: £24.50 (non-O2 customer - £45 connection fee)

Orange: £19 (first 3 months free - will require taking a one month deal with another co. in order to make the line Orange compatible.)

I compared all these companies on thinkbroadband.com and their service is reflected in the price: O2 not far behind Be, but Orange quite a bit further down.

Obviously, money is a factor but poor internet and customer service can be incredibly frustrating. So, I'm leaning towards O2. However, I don't really know - is there anything I ought to know about O2 before going ahead.

Also, in order to maximise the saving, I'll probably go for the most basic phone package and use 18185 for many calls; o2 don't block this number do they?

Also, what about the fact I used to be with Sky - the line has to be reconfigured or something if I move to another ISP. My speeds with Sky Broadband (20mb) at 9pm on a weekday night were:

Speed Down 9482.35 Kbps ( 9.3 Mbps )
Speed Up 809.54 Kbps ( 0.8 Mbps )

I assume speeds with other ISPs will be similar as the same exchange will be used.

Thx in advance.

macman

If you Sky line is already LLU'd (you don't say?) then you cannot take your line rental anywhere else but back to BT on a 'return to donor'. This requires you to take 12m lin rental with BT. Once the line is back with BT, then you can then apply or broadband with your preferred supplier, so you will have a 10 to 14 day gap in service.
It's not possible to go from one LLU provider direct to another (except, ironically for you, to Sky, in some cases).
O2's LLU service is excellent, Horange is dire.

kevrod79

Agreed,

I am a happy O2 LLU customer. Speeds are superb, as is customer service.

Kev