to o2 or not to o2

Hamish453

Hi All!

About to move to new flat which can get pretty much any BB (had Virgin installed with previous owner but can get BT line).

Am skint so going to stick with freeview so just looking for cable or BB with landline - won't call out though. I used to be with Virgin and was great, however they seem to have really hiked up their prices - id managed to get down to £21pm for tv, phone &BB so to be a new customer and go up to £31 is mental!

So i think my best bet is 02 broadband, and just pay out for the BT connection. Over a year it works out cheaper than Virgin, and BT and Sky etc are extortionate too. £15 for o2 compared to £30ish is quite a big diff.

However....I've heard they are capping etc and am worried I won't get the usual BB service I'm used to (ie from Virgin). I stream tv online everyday and download the odd film/tv show each week so worried i'm going to reach my limit and/or the o2 speeds aren't going to be as good as the cable speeds... only 875m from exchange though so might be okay?

Any thoughts?

kwikbreaks

What speed were you looking at? To compare cable with ADSL you need to look at the 10Mbps product because that still beats the average ADSL speed for most properties although you could get lucky.

10Mbps cable + phone costs £24.99 according to the VM site although there is also first 6 months at half price and usually cashback if you sign up through Quidco or TopCashBack.

Another thing you need to consider is the cost of getting a BT phone line installed compared to cable (free right now I think)
===
Looks like the free cable install offer isn't running atm

Hamish453

As fast as I can for as little money I guess! ;-)

Arrgh I know, I wish id gone for the Virgin Media offer before Christmas, was free install and £50 credit!! However, didn't have a flat to install it in so hey ho!

According to o2, they offer speeds of up to 20meg 'depending on where you live'.....is there any way of finding out the speed i might get, or do i need to get a phone line first?

Thanks :-)

littlestargail

I've been on O2 for the last few years and have pretty similar downloading habits. There's never been any connection issues (or if there has it's been to do with BT) and the speed has been great. I think we're on the basic package. O2 do line rental now too so it might be worth looking into that to see if it's cheaper to get them together.

quietheart

Have had o2 for couple of years now, will keep my phone with them to get broadband discount. think they are great. you get a helpful human when you ring and don't have to pay over odds for doing so.
would recommend.

marisa

I have o2 Internet over a BT line in Leeds.

I have the 15/month package, O2 Home Broadband Premium,
reduced to 10/month because I have a phone contract with them, and I got first 3months free!

They seem to have upped the price for new customers now though

I have not noticed any limiting or packet shaping, or anything and I am a heavy user. :cool:

I find it the most reliable internet I have ever had!
Apart from the initial set up where they sent my o2 box to the wrong address, twice (2 different wrong addresses!)

CandyBar_2

Anyone signing up to O2 Broadband should absolutely make sure they read this before doing so:

http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New%2CKb=Companion%2Cquestion%3Dref%28User%29%3Astr%28Broadband%29%2CT%3Dbroadband_sharethis%2CCASE%3D24947%2C&sms_ss=email

Highlights: "File downloading" is limited to 50 kbits/s at peak times on the 'Basics' package. Even the most expensive package ('The Works') has a cap of 250 kbits/s. No, I didn't get the units wrong (so that 50kbits/s figure is 6.25kbytes/s!) There are also caps off-peak unless you're on 'The Works'.

fozmcfc

I'm on O2 Broadband, but it seems it is no longer the great product it once was. Seen many complaints regarding their capping and download limits changing for anyone signing up since September 2010.

I considered it a no brainer when I signed up, but it is no longer necessary the best broadband around.

thepearce

Made the mistake of "upgrading" recently. Was told I could "cancel" within 14 days.

What actually happened was I'm now on a worse tariff (100GB/month vs unlimited, 20Mb [traffic shaped so it's useless] vs 8Mb [unrestricted]). I won't be going back to o2 when I move. "Canceling" is not really possible since it's impossible to go back on my old tariff.