Your thoughts on BT for line & anytime calls + BE Value for unlimited internet...

argeetee

Since 2002 I've been using Freedom2surf (unlimited BroadBand £13 pcm) + anytime unlimited Uk calls (Freedom2Talk £5 pcm) on a standard BT line rental (£10 pcm).

However since Freedom2Surf was taken over by Tiscali/Opal. the internet speed and customer support has (inevitably) degraded so I'm switching away from their proposed Opal "upgrade" (line rental + unlimited calls 24/7 + unlimited internet - for £31.99 VAT).

I'm thinking of keeping line rental with BT (£10 pcm)and taking the BT Unlimited Anytime Calling Plan (£5 pcm) - should allow me to make overseas calls via a 18185 etc. and use BE Value Broadband for unlimited internet (£14 pcm).

The total cost of this is approx £29

For me the issues are fast reliable unlimited broadband and unlimited calls to UK landlines with low-cost overseas calling (via third party).
What do you think to this deal? Is it the best out there (by my criteria) or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or guidance. Argy

kwikbreaks

Be are reckoned to be an excellent ISP and if I were still on ADSL would probably be my choice. I'd probably stick with BT for line rental too as the savings by using others are small. When I was on BT I used 1899 (same idea as 18185) exclusively for calls as for me it worked out less than a call package. Now I'm on cable I use VOIP for outgoing calls instead.

argeetee

Thanks for the confirmation about BE. The one small gripe about BE is that for a static IP you have to take their £18 "pro account" and I'm wondering if I can get a similarly good service with a static Ip address for £10-14. Unfortunately Cable is not in my areas. Thanks, Argy

macman

What are your other LLU options?
If you can get BE then you can also get O2, so I'd look at them too more so if you or friend/family have an O2 mobile to get you the £5 discount.

kwikbreaks

Most ISPs serving the home market don't offer a static IP at all. Certainly none of the budget ones I'm aware of do and neither do Virgin Media for home customers.

macman

But is a static IP really essential-did you have this from F2S?

ybbon66

I have BE and BT line right now, I am changing to Virgin for everything but that is because the BT line speed is slower than it theoretically should be and we've had problems with Sky HD box (4th one in 2 years!).

Anyway, the BT Anytime is a contract, be aware of that if you decide to cancel and you're in the 12 month period you'll need to pay up. BE however are and have been really good, we pay £17.88 a month, not sure which package that is but I expense it as I work from home anyway so it's never been a concern.

I had pipex originally and got mighty p'ed off when they lost my connection consistently and last straw was a 3 day outage they swore blind was my router until they discovered it was their server - no router, no work so I went to BT, they were OK but we had a few minor glitches with them so we then switched to BE.

Had BE for 9 months now with no problems, there is a planned outage tomorrow which they informed me of last week (ie plenty of time). Their staff are friendly and very savvy too, if it wasn't that we're changing to cable I'd stick with them.

And no I don't work for them they have just been very impressive. Note that no matter what, you are still constrained by the BT line/exchange - we're supposed to get 12Mb but have never got above 7Mb/s with any provider, router plugged into the main socket, fast wireless, extra socket gizmo's etc but no difference in the end.

Oh and check their site, I think they might do their own lines in some areas too now.