Which ISP?

brandx

I'm currently with Supanet and I've never had any problems but it's just too expensive so I'm looking to change. I was thinking BT but Sky just mailed a good introductory offer so which would you recommend?

Ta.

penrhyn

I'd recommend Sky over BT assuming you can get LLU at your exchange.

brandx

Excuse my ignorance but what is LLU and how would I know?

gonzo127

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

go there put in your details and post back what you can get for example

The following services are available in your location:

• BT Wholesale ADSL
• BT Wholesale ADSL Max
• AOL LLU
• TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
• Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
• Orange LLU (Formerly Wanadoo)
• Orbital / VFast Wireless

penrhyn

As above Local Loop Unbundling is where ISPs install their own equipment in BT exchanges. The benefit to you is a better service at lower cost.

LucianH

gonzo127 wrote: »

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

Sorry but here's a series of questons. Who is samknows that runs the compare broadband site? Are they independent? Are there other sites thay provided a independent broadband comparisons?

gonzo127

samknows are independant however they do not provide comparisons, the site does however tell you what you can get at your local phone exchange whic will allow you to be more informed as to what you can get

bengalknights

Id recommend be as there truly unlimited with no throttling and a more than fair usage policy or if your not a heavy user and dont care about the throttling than o2.

asbokid

LucianH wrote: »

Sorry but here's a series of questions. Who is samknows that runs the compare broadband site? Are they independent? Are there other sites that provided a independent broadband comparisons?

That's a good point.. I've often wondered that.

There used to be a brief history of samknows.com. The website was started by a youngster called Sam Crawford. Since then, the site's humble beginnings have been airbrushed in a slick corporate makeover. The company is shown as registered to Bond House, 19-20 Woodstock Street, London, W1C 2AN.

What makes me curious is the impressive dataset which samknows has obtained. The dataset seems to be unique to that site.

Other long-standing consumer websites for ADSL, including the well-known thinkbroadband.com (formerly adslguide) do not carry anywhere near this depth of exchange information.

Even the BT Wholesale website does not offer the extent of data that samknows has somehow obtained on BT's own roll-out plans for 21CN, SDSL and FTTC. Why is that?

How did Samknows obtain the list of LLU operators with co-lo kit in BT's exchanges, and how did it obtain the exact dates that the LLU kit was rolled-out in each exchange across the country?

Also, where has Samknows obtained the subscriber line statistics for each exchange, and the full geographical addresses of the exchanges? It seems surprising that BT is willing to divulge all this commercially-valuable information, which also has implications for plant security.

In 2008, Samknows worked for the Office of Telecoms Regulation in authoring a broadband performance monitoring report. Perhaps it was through that working relationship with Ofcom/Otelo, that Samknows obtained the exchange dataset. Since then, its exclusive access to this data has made the Samknows site a popular resource for broadband consumers.

If it was through its relationship with Ofcom/Otel that samknows has obtained this dataset and updates, then the dataset should also be made available to any requesting party, in the interests of stimulating competition and innovation in this field.

brandx

I've used samknows.com and it came up with this:

The following services are available in your location:
BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
OnLincolnshire Broadband

So which should I go for?

Thanks.

gonzo127

out of those go for Sky i would say, their LLU option is one of the better ones, once it is up and running, although do bare in mind that the customer service is of the same (lack of) quality as the rest of Sky's CS however i have been on Sky LLU for about 3 years and so far havent had any major problems other than the fight i had to get my profile set up as i wanted it, however this was me being a pain as most people do not need or want to go into the amount of detail i went into to get my line profile just right, so if i hadnt been a pain i wouldnt of had any problems what so ever

as i am on unlimited i can also vouch for the fact that currently that is exactly what i get, some months i have used well over 500gb of bandwidth and have not noticed any form of slow down or throttling or other nonsense -so am very happy currently