Need help Please.

Godiva500

Myself and my husband have been with AOL for about12 years, with no major problems. Now though we have really been messed about so have decided to change our provider. The problem is which one.
Several questions -

What information do we need from AOL to enable us to make the change?

Which supplier is fastest?
Which supplier is most reliable?
Which supplier is cheapest?

The package we have at the moment has free all calls apart from 0900 numbers, for 24 hours, and unlimited BB for £10 a month.
We would like the same if possible.

We have Sky TV, but not sure whether they are the best supplier.

Out neighbour has BT and has more than double the speed we have
with AOL!

All advice gratefully received

Vron

Mark_In_Hampshire

Godiva500 wrote: »

What information do we need from AOL to enable us to make the change?

If you're going to cable, then nothing. If anything other than cable, you ask AOL for a "MAC code". You may have to just keep on saying "MAC code please" like a parrot for ten minutes while they try to persuade you that the world will end if you move suppliers.

Godiva500 wrote: »

Which supplier is fastest?

In most cases, Virgin Media cable (not Virgin Media National via ADSL over phone lines, an entirely separate and poorly rated service)

Godiva500 wrote: »

Which supplier is most reliable?

More debatable. I'd suggest Andrews and Arnold, IDNET and Zen Internet.

Godiva500 wrote: »

Which supplier is cheapest?

None of the above. Probably Plusnet.

Godiva500 wrote: »

The package we have at the moment has free all calls apart from 0900 numbers, for 24 hours, and unlimited BB for £10 a month.
We would like the same if possible.

Are you leaving out the line rental aspect in the £10 a month?

If your frustration centres around customer service then at that price level I'm not sure you'll see much improvement.

For example, if you moved both the line and the broadband to Zen Internet you'd be looking at something like £30 a month all in for a 10GB a month usage allowance without all the free calls.

Godiva500 wrote: »

We have Sky TV, but not sure whether they are the best supplier.

Sky's LLU service is very well rated. To see if you can get that go to www.samknows.com > Availability Checker, put your phone number in and see if "Sky" comes up in the LLU list on the right hand side. If it's available it's a good choice. If not it's a bad choice.

Godiva500 wrote: »

Out neighbour has BT and has more than double the speed we have
with AOL!

This could be a myriad of things. It's tempting to think that two adjacent houses should get roughly the same speeds, but there are factors like line length and quality - they don't necessarily take the same route - which can mean otherwise.

However AOL is appallingly rated for performance, so your suspicion that AOL is to blame may well be true.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/05/03/top-9-uk-fastest-of-the-big-broadband-isps-ranked-by-speed-for-april-2011.html

Note the above is the large players only, who rarely offer the best service, but usually have the cheapest prices.

shifty27

The previous poster has a very good answered post.

Sky are pretty much monopolising tv at the minute.

Why not try to get sky talk and broadband. I think it's something like £18 a month for calls and unlimited broadband (line rental included).

There isn't really a most reliable supplier. Really all of the following llu services should have 24/7 reliable broadband:

- o2
- be broadband
- sky

Try and haggle a better deal for the sky talk and broadband addition.