Which Broadband Supplier?

nilrem_2

manda1205 wrote: »

BB has become pretty poor with dropping off a lot in the evening (although don't know if its our modem to blame or them).

It's not your modem I had exactly the same problem in the evenings.

we may end up going with BT with their 40gb and see if we do go over or not.

Why not do as I did, try the 10Gb package first then if it does not suit switch to the 40Gb one, I spoke to BT about this in May as I was concerned about the cap, they assured me that I could upgrade at any time.

A bit pants, but still a bit cheaper than AOL and hopefully a better modem.

I think it depends on what Modem you have ATM and which version of the Home Hub supplies.
BT do a type A and a type B it's pot luck which they send, I was unlucky enough to get a type A which works fine, it's simple to set up but it's not as good when one is a few Km from the exchange, the type B has a different chip and is better on long lines.

BT supplies a CD but you don't need any of that, basically you just plug the hub in and you are online!
If you have an existing router that works well you can just continue to use that by simply changing the user name in the router to [EMAIL="anything@btbroadband.com"]anything@btbroadband.com[/EMAIL] and it will work no problem.
My netgear DG834Gt works as well as the Home Hub.

nilrem_2

manda1205 wrote: »

Thanks very much nilrem. Can I ask how do you check your usage with BT? Can you do it on your online account with them (we already use them for line-rental and calls) or how does it work? Will I be able to look every day for example?

Yes it's simple and easy to use. Let me know if you sign up with them and I can send you a link which will take you straight to the usage monitor on your BT account page, if you save the password in your browser it just a case of clicking the link and clicking log in, BT will then show a graph showing your download and upload usage for the month. It's usually one day behind, mine is now showing usage at 00.00 as it was reset yesterday.

If you sign up to BB it will just add a BB section to your BT home page where all these things are shown.

I find it very useful as I use several different PC's and the BT monitor keeps an account of total usage whereas software ones only cover the PC they are installed on.

manda1205

Thanks so much, especially helpful to know yours was dropping off in the evenings too. We did think it was our modem as we bought a new one end of last year as our old AOL one totally broke. It is only a cheap tp-link one so thats why we were hoping to get better from BT.
I think we may start off on the 10gb one and see, as you say we can upgrade if we do. At least with BT you get English call centre, it gets very tedious calling AOL and neither parties understand each other!

nilrem_2

Re the Home hub (type A) BT supply I find that it does connect to the exchange at a slower sync speed but the actual connection speed of downloading is the same that the Netgear one provided.

I don't think you will notice a great deal of difference in download speed with BT over AOL because basically BT were already providing your connection anyway through their equipment, only difference is that BT charge you rather than AOL, my actual speed with AOL was 2.90Mb/s most of the time, it is exactly the same with BT.

(Your speed will probably be the same who ever you use unless your exchange is unbundled or upgraded.)

Harryo

You could use a free program to check your upload and download usage. I have found that Networx is the best for me. It gives you your upload and download speeds and you can enter on peak and off peak times to log your usage.

nilrem_2

Harryo wrote: »

You could use a free program to check your upload and download usage. I have found that Networx is the best for me. It gives you your upload and download speeds and you can enter on peak and off peak times to log your usage.

That will probably only work if you only use the one computer unless of course it is installed on all computers and added up. The advantage of BT's own meter is that it accounts for everything that goes through ones router.
Of course it's only of use if BT is your provider!

Also BT provides 5Gb online storage called digital vault, it's not a great amount but it's useful as any downloads or uploads via the vault do not count as usage from their cap, hence the BT meter accounts for this whilst a 3rd party meter would add the vault use in giving an inaccurate figure.

Donut_Lover

I've been with AOL for many years on a £7 unlimited usage plan.However,lately i've noticed the connection is so terrible. The unlimited download was the only reason for me to stay. Is the sky broadband any good?

macman

You are not 'stuck with BT'. If you have no LLU options (check by doing an exchange search on ww.samknows.com) then you still have the choice of any of dozens of BT resellers, even on a Market 1 exchange. There are few unlimited options on non-LLU services, so you need to work out what data limit you actually need.

nilrem_2

macman wrote: »

You are not 'stuck with BT'. If you have no LLU options (check by doing an exchange search on ww.samknows.com) then you still have the choice of any of dozens of BT resellers, even on a Market 1 exchange. There are few unlimited options on non-LLU services, so you need to work out what data limit you actually need.

There are many others the only problem is that if like me one is on a non LLU exchange it is getting very difficult to find an ISP that charges a reasonable price, The only one I could find was BT.

People on exchanges that are 'unbundled' get all the cream and I am very jealous of the low prices some are paying.
On top of the fact that people on LLU exchanges get the lowest prices they also get better speeds so not only are we paying more, in many cases it's for a much slower service!

macman

Plusnet are invariably cheaper than BT, and wil be available on your exchange. BT resellers have to pay BT the wholesale charges, and this keeps your prices relatively high.