Cheapest Broadband Provider Discussion Area

RaihanT

Jo4 wrote:

My posts about broadband keep getting deleted! My father, sister and I want broadband but we are all currently with BT Yahoo Anytime which is £15.99 a month. We want to pay a similiar amount to what we are paying now but do not have a clue about broadband but I think we would prefer unlimited use. Who should we all sign up for? Can someone please respond as my father and sister want broadband desperately?

Hi Jo,

You can pay 15.99 for broadband unlimited if you want- through AOL. It is only 5 times faster (256K) but it is unlimited. It is normally 17.99 but if you ring AOL, they will give it for 15.99

If you want faster broadband (512k) you can get it faster from E7even and it is also unlimited however as always there is a catch. You have to be in contract with them for 12 months. 6 months contacts are 19 pounds each month. I am with e7even personally and have no problems so far (i can refer u and u get 10 pounds, pm me if interested).

If you are interested in any of these options, let me know and i can give u more info

RaihanT

LynnB wrote:

Hello - Need some help in finding the cheapest/best broadband provider for my nephew. At the moment he is using a pay as you go service which is working out very expenseive (not broadband). He uses the internet in the evenings during the week and at weekends, mainly to just look up things and maybe download pictures. Probably a light to medium user. I have read many of the posts in this discussion area and there seems to be so many different companies to choose from that I am now very confused!! Would preferably be looking to spend up to £15.00 per month if possible? Is it best to get unlimited access for a set price? Any help greatly appreciated - thanks!

Hi Lynn,

Im presuming that your nephew is a student so I am making suggestions on that. 512K broadband is probably your best bet as this is still a dramatic speed increase from dial up broadband and pictures should load much faster. Have a download limit (cap) would make broadband cheaper and is a good option as long as he doesnt download lots of music and videos. ]

The higher cap, the more expensive so the amount you spend depends on what you really need. BT broadband basic (15.00 for 3 months then 17.99 for 9) gets you 1gb per month and this should be fine if you downloading pictures. However if your nephew wants to download lots of music (average music file is about 4-5mb therefore you could download 200 of these) or videos (average size is 700mb therefore only 1 movie per month) then you might want something more. This is a 12 month contract.

However I would recommend you go for an unlimited service as they are not that more expensive. My ISP (e7even) offers £1.00 512K broadband if you sign up for 12 months. they are doing a free router at the moment but you have to pay 25 pounds for connection fee so keep that in mind. This is a limited offer according to their website.

Theres plenty of ISPs out there so its a bit of a jungle. go to adslguide.org.uk on the messsage boards to to get more information about an isp.

Jo4

RaihanT wrote:

Hi Jo,

You can pay 15.99 for broadband unlimited if you want- through AOL. It is only 5 times faster (256K) but it is unlimited. It is normally 17.99 but if you ring AOL, they will give it for 15.99

If you want faster broadband (512k) you can get it faster from E7even and it is also unlimited however as always there is a catch. You have to be in contract with them for 12 months. 6 months contacts are 19 pounds each month. I am with e7even personally and have no problems so far (i can refer u and u get 10 pounds, pm me if interested).

If you are interested in any of these options, let me know and i can give u more info

Thanks for responding! Do you have to buy your own modem? Is there a set up fee? I have a laptop and computer, will I have broadband on both? Can both computers be on broadband at the one time?

RaihanT

iglimpse wrote:

Phone with telewest but they cannot provide BB in this area until at least March (big city). Fed up waiting. Looking at the options, most providers seem need BT line, not cable (am I confused here?).

I work from home so some daytime use and lots at night for teens for music but not many games etc. Non techie and bit worried re what is involved and how easy to change it all. Any suggestions please?

Most ISP require a BT line because they use ADSL for broadband which uses phone lines rather than telewest that owns it own cable to provide the internet.

If teenagers want music then unlimited usage is definately th way to go and this eats bandwidth. For broadband you get your BT line activated then you connect to a 'router' that would allow the internet connection to be split to various places so you can do work while someone else donwloads. Its very easy to set up everything, its basically plug everything in and your ready to go.

If cable is coming in March then it is possible that you could sign up for a 3month contract with an ISP and then move to cable when it is ready. The advantage of cable is that it is usually faster and cheaper. However, a 3 month contract is expensive and not ISP offer it. My ISP e7even does a 3 month contact for 21 pounds (+connection(£50)+modem) for 512K speed or 26 pounds (+connection(£50)+modem) for 1MB.

RaihanT

Jo4 wrote:

Thanks for responding! Do you have to buy your own modem? Is there a set up fee? I have a laptop and computer, will I have broadband on both? Can both computers be on broadband at the one time?

AOL- they give you a few cheappy modem and no setup fee

E7even- they have 1/2 free connection at the moment so its 25 pounds instead of 50 and a free router

You can connect both computer to broadband and use it at the same time if you have a router which e7even will provide. If you want to use AOL then you wouldnt have to pay the connection fee but you would have to pay for a router which are quite cheap if you get them from ebay

RaihanT

gooner71 wrote:

Has anyone tried Homecall?

http://www.homecall.co.uk/ukoffer/b...usfreecalls.asp

For £35 (inc line rental) you can get 512k uncapped broadband and free telephone calls.

Had a sales person ring me about this a couple of days back and he even agreed that it wasnt a good deal.

They give 512K broadband, free calls and line rental included.

Line rental- normally 10.50 per month from BT
Free Telephone Calls- Join TalkTalk for free weekend and evening calls and 18866 for free daytime calls where its 1p for unlimited call duration (lets say this costs 2 pounds per month)
Broadband- 512K can obtained for 20 pounds max or about 15 normally

therefore £27 pounds if you get these things separately, Ill stick to what i have

Jo4

RaihanT wrote:

AOL- they give you a few cheappy modem and no setup fee

E7even- they have 1/2 free connection at the moment so its 25 pounds instead of 50 and a free router

You can connect both computer to broadband and use it at the same time if you have a router which e7even will provide. If you want to use AOL then you wouldnt have to pay the connection fee but you would have to pay for a router which are quite cheap if you get them from ebay

Thanks for answering again. Sorry for all the questions but my hubby, sister and her hubby, Mum & Dad have left me to get them all on to broadband and I do not want to mess up! Does the router have loads of leads? How do you set the router up? My computers would not be networked, sure they wouldn't? Would it be possible to network them when I would have broadband installed?

RaihanT

The line from the phone goes into the router. A CAT5 cable (fat ethernet one) goes from the router to the computer. The power cable goes from...well you know. Its very simple to set up and does come with instructions if you panic but you wont need them. Using my experience from e7even, my router was already preconfigured with my username/password so all i did was plug it in.

If you connected to computers to the router then they would be able to automatically see the 'shared folders' on each others computers where files that you want to share across the network can be placed in. it wouldnt be that hard to network it all properly so that they could see all the folders on the computer.

wasnt too sure what this meant: My computers would not be networked, sure they wouldn't?

Jo4

RaihanT wrote:

The line from the phone goes into the router. A CAT5 cable (fat ethernet one) goes from the router to the computer. The power cable goes from...well you know. Its very simple to set up and does come with instructions if you panic but you wont need them. Using my experience from e7even, my router was already preconfigured with my username/password so all i did was plug it in.

If you connected to computers to the router then they would be able to automatically see the 'shared folders' on each others computers where files that you want to share across the network can be placed in. it wouldnt be that hard to network it all properly so that they could see all the folders on the computer.

wasnt too sure what this meant: My computers would not be networked, sure they wouldn't?

Thanks yet again for your response! Have I got this right, I would be best to sign a 12 month contract with e7even for £?? a month and pay a £25 connection fee. Then will give me a free router and I then need to get a CAT5 cable which costs £?? ? My computer is 6 years old, but I have lots of things still on it and it does not have a 'shared folders', would it be possible to see any of the files on the old computer when I am on the laptop?

I meant was I right by thinking "By going broadband you would not be able to see what was on the other computer", if this makes any more sense!

RaihanT

If you want the 12 month 512K speed contract you pay 180 pounds UPFRONT (that's important as most ISP do direct debit monthly). You would pay 25 pounds connection fee. You get a free router which includes the cat5 cable to connect everything

Im not sure where the shared folder is on a windows 98/me computer but if it doesnt exist it can be created and you will be able to see the files.