First Home, What Broadband?

kc1994

Hi all.

New to this forum!

My partner and I are due to move into a new build apartment in two weeks, and we were keen to know if there are any broadband providers which are known for being awful in "new" areas? Strong wifi is a must due to needing to work from home occasionally[FONT=&quot][/FONT]!

Any tips/advice welcome

Thanks!

Katie.

MoneyMate

Hi Katie for a start you can check your area out here

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/postcode_checker/results/?postcode=SN55SU

Then look around for best bargains :money:

Also a good idea to check out Cashback sites :beer:

JJ_Egan

Strong WiFi is dependant upon the router not the ISP .It is also dependant upon many other factors within the home .

Inner_Zone

Also if working from home you might need to consider the T&C's and might need a business contract if you require a good SLA.

DavidP24

You need to check what OFCOM classification you have and if you are going for standard broadband (not fibre) the distance from the exchange.

First thing is to Google

Samknows exhange checker

Find your exchange and checkout the exchange listing for your area

e.g this one

https://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WNDOR

shows it is a MARKET 1 exchange and has no LLU kit installed (Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin) so all deals are via BT Wholesale, Sky and TalkTalk may still offer a deal but the line will be a BT Line not their own kit.

this means you are best getting a long promotion because after the promotion if you do not leave you may pay more (£17.48 vs £9.99 with Plusnet) to be honest you need to go through the deal (ideally with a different browser) to see what the price is (make sure you specify they can't call you or just put the address (which should be the case if it is a new build area).

How far away you are from an exchange can mean really low broadband speeds, I know of areas where that combined with the way they shared the copper means speeds are less than half a meg, luckily these are often wired for fibre.

Here is another area

https://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EAWIV

This is a Market 2 exchange, it has at some LLU kit (Sky and TalkTalk but not Virgin) so here if you use a BT line via say Plusnet you will pay £9.99 but the LLU providers will have their own pricing. Believe it or not it is OFCOM that says we have to pay more in a Market 1 exchange! One thing to consider is that if you go with an LLU provider and then later switch back to BT you could pay £49.99 install fee as it is considered a new line.

This exchange is a Market 3 (more than 4)

https://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SMBK

This one has Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin

To be honest it is a bit of a mess, you find Market 3 exchanges with just two providers and you have some market 1 exchanges that charge as market 2, the only way to "know" is to start the sign up procedure and read the small print.

One other thing you may want to consider if you are a low data user is 4G, I got an EE MiFi router off ebay for £25 and stuck in an EE 100gb promo sim (sadly only available twice a year and last 2 months), it provided 17.77Mb/s Download and 6.78Mb/s upload speeds.

What you have to consider is the whole price, with a typical line rental of £17 on a broadband line and say £10 for the broadband, you are looking at £27 a month with no landline call allowance but if you mostly use your mobile why not? With line rental prices so high and the minefield of extra charges it is worth considering.

With no line rental and buying an osprey 4gee mini off ebay (so you are not tied in) £20 a month will buy you 15GB or £30 a month will buy you 25GB. These are no commitment prices so you could use them while you wait.

If these companies decide to get competitive and offer an unlimited 3g service for £10 a month and 4g for £15 a month it will be great. but with mobile phone operators merging from 5 to 3 that is unlikely any time soon. (BT will soon own EE so why would it want to compete with itself ? Stupid Government should never have allowed deal to go through.)

mgfvvc

You may need a contingency plan in place to provide broadband while waiting to be connected. Openreach aren't always good at connecting new builds

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jun/29/bt-openreach-broadband-phone-delays-new-build

I would suggest going with BT initially as when there are problems, you may find that BT are less affected than competing ISPs. Once you have completed your initial contract with BT, then consider whether you get a better deal or better service elsewhere.

teddysmum

mgfvvc wrote: »

I would suggest going with BT initially as when there are problems, you may find that BT are less affected than competing ISPs.

Is it not so that BT are not allowed to have preferential treatment over other providers, even though Openreach is a subsidiary ? We certainly had problems, when with BT, getting them to communicate with Openreach concerning a damaged external cable, which upset our phone link.


When my son took on his new build , I waited at the house to let in the Openreach worker and he told me that Openreach is at the mercy of subcontractors (he was one), who cannot always supply the workforce required; hence the holdups.

LazyTyper

teddysmum wrote: »

Is it not so that BT are not allowed to have preferential treatment over other providers, even though Openreach is a subsidiary ?

Yes, that is true.

I would like to see evidence of BT being given preferential treatment, and Ofcom would also be very interested if such evidence exists.

Most people seem to misinterpret the situation and presume BT to have a better relationship with Openreach.

DavidP24

When Openreach got told off for this they came out with a statement.

They said it was because of the massive amount of housebuilding

Yet in the same statement as if to appease they said they spend £60m in one year and £45M in the next.

So in a market where they knew there was massive growth in housbuilding they reduced their spend by 25%

Nice one BT!

A friend of mine had an issue with TalkTalk, after a lot of visits and everyone blaming everyone else, the advice from TalkTalk CEO office was to cancel with them and go with BT. They said BT would charge TT £1000 for the work required but if he were a BT customer they would not be charged. If he stayed with TT the line would not be improved.

He did that and sure enough BY upgraded the line, then he moved back to TalkTalk for a few years but is now back with BT as like me, he felt they no longer wanted to compete.

I would get a mobile MiFi and then once in ask the neighbours who they used and how good was service.

mgfvvc

LazyTyper wrote: »

Yes, that is true.

I would like to see evidence of BT being given preferential treatment, and Ofcom would also be very interested if such evidence exists.

A while ago now, Nildram couldn't get a connection to my house but the problems vanished when I ordered a BT connection. Nildram said "no point complaining" and Ofcom wouldn't take a complaint direct from a consumer.

Later a neighbour couldn't get a line with Wanadoo, when I told him to try BT, suddenly the problems vanished again.

LazyTyper wrote: »

Most people seem to misinterpret the situation and presume BT to have a better relationship with Openreach.

Some of us have real experience.

DavidP24

mgfvvc wrote: »

A while ago now, Nildram couldn't get a connection to my house but the problems vanished when I ordered a BT connection. Nildram said "no point complaining" and Ofcom wouldn't take a complaint direct from a consumer.

Later a neighbour couldn't get a line with Wanadoo, when I told him to try BT, suddenly the problems vanished again.



Some of us have real experience.

Wow, Nildram & Wanadoo, they are blasts from the past, late 90's in those days it was all dial-up.

I seem to remember Plusnet bragging about getting preferential treatment after BT bought them and TalkTalk and/or Sky complaining to Ofcom so they had to play it straight, sort of!

Things are different now, Plusnet quotes a MINIMUM of 10 working days for a line, some estimate 3 weeks, soon the Post Office days will seem efficient.