O2 v AOL

vansboy

Hi All!

I'm with ...
BT for line rental, their standard cost

AOL for broadband & all geographic calls 24/7, £6.99/month
plus Macaphee security £2.99/month & been with them 12years without major issues. I hardly use the landline though & do experience repeated buffering on you tube & any other video clips. I don't download movies or do any gaming, but do use the internet for 2-3 hours each evening, on different sites.

As I'm an o2 mobile customer, would switching to them for broadband & landline improve the you tube etc experience for me, do you think? Their current offer makes it pretty cost comparative (with exception of inclusive calls) if I did move to them.

Thanks in advance

VB

hareng

If you had have asked this question about 4 months ago then yes O2 would have been your best move for LLU. New packages came out but will still be far better than AOL UK.
Need to do your homework on current ISP offerings taking notice of the throttling, sorry traffic management you are experiencing. Nearly all the biggies do.

standinman2009

Don't forget your AOL will have unlimited downlods as its a retention deal i too am on the £6.99 package including unlimited phone calls which is now £7.20 since the VAT rise ,but the best value ive found and ive as yet to be throttled back ,i average about 60 GB a month downloads.
Other packages can be cheaper but have download limits usually 10 gb which is not alot .I found the nearest package from the rivals with unlimited downloads was nearer to £30 so its up to you really .

stilltheone

You can safely lose the McAfee subscription. You can buy the Suite for £6.79. Possibly less, I haven't looked.

penrhyn

As per above, or use one of the free ones Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast.

To the OP, changing ISPs won't change your speed, however if you post your router line statistics then we can advise.

Naf

I would recommend getting rid of AOL IMMEDIATELY! Its a nasty piece of work, makes a total mess of your PC.
O2 are excellent (I am with the company they purchased when they started offering broadband: Be).
I would, however, urge you to consider Be Unlimited. At £25 per month its slightly more expensive than 02's The Works, (for existing customers) but there's only a 3 month contract with Be, the usage is truly unlimited with the most reasonable Fair Usage policy I've ever come across, and the customer service is outstanding.

vansboy

penrhyn wrote: »

As per above, or use one of the free ones Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast.

To the OP, changing ISPs won't change your speed, however if you post your router line statistics then we can advise.

Hi!

Thanks for that!

How do I discover the router statistics you mention, please?

VB

Naf

penrhyn wrote: »

To the OP, changing ISPs won't change your speed, however if you post your router line statistics then we can advise.

Depends, sounds like they're on a fairly old AOL tariff; could even still be just 2Meg and high contention ratios. Moving to someone like Be the contention ratio will be lower, plus they'll make the most of the line.
There again, just the removal of the AOL software from the PC will speed up the whole system, and especially internet browsing.

penrhyn

OP try this link, should help with the line stats,

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

As previous poster pointed out you could only be paying for a 2mb service, worth checking out.

vansboy

penrhyn wrote: »

OP try this link, should help with the line stats,

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

As previous poster pointed out you could only be paying for a 2mb service, worth checking out.

I've cliked on Kitz & from what I can see from the image that shows BT 105 modem...
State Data
Modulation G.DMT
RX Data Rate 7616 kbs
Tx Data Rate 448 kbs

So not sure what that all means!!

Also, where should I look to find out if I'm paying for 2mb service, please!!

Thanks again!

VB

Naf

It means you're currently connected at barely 1Meg. Do you live out of town , a long distance from your exchange?