Any decent broadband providers ??

rhylbloke

Hi,
I've been with BT for years, and am currently paying £20 per month for unlimited broadband with an average download speed of about 18mbps ( plus weekend calls - which is irrelevant really, as we rarely use the landline ) plus £18 or so line rental plus £10 per month for my mobile ( which I also rarely use ) plus from next month they will also be charging me for caller display.
So, I was tempted by SSE's current offer for fibre plus line rental plus anytime calls for £21, and I thought that I would get a new cheap mobile and a pay as you go SIM card. Job done. But when I look at reviews on the broadband type websites, there are rafts of diabolical reviews for SSE. But then, whatever ISP name you put in, the result is the same :- loads and loads and loads of terrible reviews for EE, Talk Talk, PlusNet, Virgin, Sky, BT. I get the fact that most people who feel moved to review are probably those who have had a bad experience, but are there any decent providers out there ??
I'm tempted to stay with BT ( who, to be fair, have not been a bad service provider as far as I'm concerned ) and just ring and make leaving noises and see if they will cut the cost for me, or maybe give me fibre for the same price I'm currently paying ? Better the devil you know ??

[Deleted User]

Based on experience, I think Sky and Plusnet have the best service and both have offers for new customers.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/cheap-broadband

JJ_Egan

Zen or A&A are two with good customer service if you want to pay more .

AndyPK

18 Mbps is very good for ASDL.

£10 Sim is quite a lot if you hardly use it.

Stay away from SSE.

EE is worth considering.

You could get an EE Pay as you go SIM, and then sign up for EE phone/BB and get £2/3 off a month.

EE is owned by BT now
and you get free caller display.

I think EE also do a discount for the first year.
Pay line rental 12 mnoths in advance to save more.

or look at life mobile. They do good packages for £5 a month and use the EE network

Mister_G

I've been with Origin Broadband for the past two months. So far so good. They have a UK call centre, which I find is a must these days.

Don't know about how competitive they currently are, but I signed up to a fixed £520 in advance for 18 months for 38Mb fibre, including all UK calls, caller ID and line rental. That means no unpleasant price rise surprises until end of contract.

Maybe not the best deal around, but peace of mind for 18 months.

onomatopoeia99

Given all the prices you quote in the first post, it seems you want cheap. If you actually want decent, either of the ISPs JJ Egan listed would be good choies.

baldelectrician

I am with PlusNet and I find them excellent. I have been with them for a few years now.


I have had the misfortune in dealing with Virgin Media on my dads behalf and Virgin Media Business for myself


I actually thought VMB might have been better as they were offering a business level of service, three attempted orders for VMB
Once lost
One cancelled as the database had not been updated showing my property as serviceable
One stalled and having to have 'manual intervention' to place an order
I have lost patience with VMB and will cancel the contract on Monday if they have not done what they said they were going to do.

Anthorn

2016 Which? Telecoms Service Provider, Zen Internet. Comparatively expensive but you get a static IP address and their upload speed is very decent. i.e. Unlimited Fibre 1 up to 38 Mbps download, 9.95 Mbps upload, £43.99 including line rental per month plus £30 activation over a 12 months contract,

Personally, I recently dumped TalkTalk and went with Plusnet to be switch this coming 15 November.

rhylbloke

Thanks everyone who replied ( I thought you got an email notification when somebody replies on your thread ? Obviously not, or I've got it turned off )
Just to update, I know you don't have to ring your ISP for a code anymore, but I gave BT a ring anyway and said I was thinking of leaving because they had gotten too expensive. They knocked £15 per month off the broadband for 2 years, gave me another year of mobile at £5 per month and another year of free caller display. I'm happy with that ; saved myself about £22 per month and don't have to worry about changing to an unknown quantity. Always worth a phone call, specially when it's a free phone number.
Thanks again.

teddysmum

baldelectrician wrote: »

I am with PlusNet and I find them excellent. I have been with them for a few years now.


I have had the misfortune in dealing with Virgin Media on my dads behalf and Virgin Media Business for myself


I actually thought VMB might have been better as they were offering a business level of service, three attempted orders for VMB
Once lost
One cancelled as the database had not been updated showing my property as serviceable
One stalled and having to have 'manual intervention' to place an order
I have lost patience with VMB and will cancel the contract on Monday if they have not done what they said they were going to do.

I recently joined PlusNet from Sky and very much regret it. I'm just out of the settling period and yesterday, returned from a weekend away to find the service constantly dropping and unable to support catchup on the tv.


The drop outs appear to have been due to a faulty filter, but the speed I'm getting is nowhere near as good as I've had before. Last week they told me my incoming 'feed' was 5.7 but I've received an email saying it will stick around 5.3 (I've never had below 5.4 actually over wifi and got used to Sky's 6 to 6.4, but left to save money with what I thought was a company with a good reputation).