BT Total Broadband yes or no

bubbles070

im still on dial up with BT and have been for a few years and only have just built the courage to go to broadband and wireless and change my computer (its 5 yrs old) and get a laptop, so i need a bit of help! i have no idea whether to go with BT total broadband or not? if i do, it would be option 1 (for 12 mths) but would also need to support the fax that we have aswell. im just not too sure about the cancelation terms & conditions. also if the fax will work? erm any decent feedback on bt broadband option 1 would be famtastic. Also what is a good (cost/reliable) ISP for a cable connection other than telewest? erm thanks

smarkmith

bubbles070 wrote: »

im still on dial up with BT and have been for a few years and only have just built the courage to go to broadband and wireless and change my computer (its 5 yrs old) and get a laptop, so i need a bit of help! i have no idea whether to go with BT total broadband or not? if i do, it would be option 1 (for 12 mths) but would also need to support the fax that we have aswell. im just not too sure about the cancelation terms & conditions. also if the fax will work? erm any decent feedback on bt broadband option 1 would be famtastic. Also what is a good (cost/reliable) ISP for a cable connection other than telewest? erm thanks

Hiya bubbles

Between the two, you're better off with Virgin Media (used to be Telewest).

I actually used to sell BT Broadband a couple of years ago, before I managed to get out of sales, but I'm still working for BT, so I still hear stuff. Most of this is based on personal opinion though :rotfl:

Go to https://www.bt.com/broadband and put your phone number in the checker to see what speed you're likely to get out of 'up to 8Mb'

Price:
BT's option 1 is £12.99 for 3 months, then £17.99 after. BT line rental of £11 by direct debit/£12 without direct debit is in addition to broadband costs.
Virgin Media is £18.00 a month as a stand-alone service, or you can bundle with tv/phone line/both for 2 for £20, or 3 for £30 a month. If you get Virgin Broadband, it's worth having another service for the extra £2!


Speed:
BT - depends on what your line can support (line length, quality etc) so check your phone number at the above link for this info.
Virgin Media is whatever the option says that you decide to go for. Being supplied over fibre optics, it's a much better signal.

Download limits:
BT - option 1 has a 5gb download limit. After this, you're warned once. If you continue to go over it, it's 30p per GB over the allowance.
Virgin - Unlimited usage

VOIP (voice over internet protocol - to make calls over the internet connection cheaply/freely)
BT - free evening and weekend calls to landline numbers in the UK
Virgin Media - not sure whether they do VOIP, but phone line rental, Broadband and free eve & wkd calls to landlines is £26.50 total per month.

Support:
BT - 0845 (local call rate) 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Indian call centres.
Virgin - 0845 too, or free if calling from a Virgin phone line. Unsure of opening hours. Only called them once and spoke to an english person.

Hardware:
BT - Home Hub is the wireless solution. A lot of complaints about how the connection keeps dropping, hub updates cause it to freeze etc
Virgin Media - Netgear wireless router. Good brand. Not sure if there are any issues with it working or not

Email:
BT - 5 included. You could keep your existing email address that you use with dial-up and transfer it to Broadband with BT
Virgin Media - 15 included. Still using '@blueyonder.co.uk' for the time-being, but they will be transferring whatever email address you set up with them, to '@virginmedia.co.uk' later.

Personally, if I lived in a cable area, I'd get Virgin Media for cable broadband, phone line and tv. You don't need to be in a cable area to get virgin broadband. My mother moved into a cable area 2 months ago. I had broadband and tv on a '2 for £20' package set up for her. She's very happy with it.

BT has launched a TV package called BT Vision. Never been advertised and I don't know much about it, but it's more like a pay as you go TV service and you have to have at least 2Mb broadband to even get it, cos it's broadcast to your TV via their broadband service.

Your fax will still work with any broadband option. Fax & phone will work at the same time you're on the internet.

Hope this helps! :beer:

Mark

billsavings

If you use Virgin Media ex ntl/telewest be prepared for their expensive phone service.

bubbles070

billsavings : such as what in terms of expensive phone service???
smarkmith : thanks for your detailed explanation - do you know if it will work with Windows Vista as my new PC may include it and its not listed on the min requirements in virgin website?

Browntoa

NTL/Blueyonder (now Virgin) were not supporting Vista, the PC will work with ethernet , loads of people were having problems with wireless ( a friend had to buy a new adapter and wireless modem as the Blueyonder ones use "bespoke" customised software to connect and it did not run on Vista ) but their support people will not help you at this time

BT have vista drivers at this time for all their modems

smarkmith

bubbles070 wrote: »

billsavings : such as what in terms of expensive phone service???
smarkmith : thanks for your detailed explanation - do you know if it will work with Windows Vista as my new PC may include it and its not listed on the min requirements in virgin website?

Hi bubbles070

Sorry for the delay in replying (I've been away). If you're still interested in knowing, BT BB is fully compatible with Vista. I set Virgin up on my mum's Vista PC - if you put the installation CD in on the first set-up, it doesn't (didn't early March anyway) install. I called their tech help and explained that the software wasn't installing. The guy said "you've got Vista I take it" and then "just plug the ethernet cable in and it's ready to run". That was with the wired modem. I'm not sure how it'll run on wireless Virgin modems.