Recomended broadband for cheap but reliable service?

mac.d

cashmonger wrote: »

Why do all provider reviews seem to attract extremely bad feedback online?

It's not just that people tend to make more noise when they are unhappy and you don't hear from all those that are happy, it's also the fact that people are very price sensitive with their broadband, so tend to grab cheap sign up deals for the bigger ISP's like Sky, BT, Plusnet, etc (who can be fine, but deal more in quanitity rather than quality), or chase cheap deals (Talk Talk, SSE, Origin!) and end up with smaller ISP's that can't cope with the demand and end up having negative experiences.

The budget offerings tend to be hit and miss, the bigger players tend to be more reliable but if you hit problems, customer service and getting things fixed can be hit and miss. The more expensive ISP's will tend to be better and crucially, will offer far better customer service when trying to get things fixed.

As JJ Egan has already pointed out to you, cheap and reliable do not go together.

onomatopoeia99

cashmonger wrote: »

Why do all provider reviews seem to attract extremely bad feedback online?

Not all. Go read the reviews for Uno or A&A (AAISP) on ispreview. However, those are proper ISPs.

AndyPK

cashmonger wrote: »

was fine.
I am talking about after the grace period of the first year is over. I am finding it hard to find the REAL price since they hide it deep in there terms and only show the first year in huge numbers, which is much less than what you will be paying later, all over the place to lure you in.

I know what you mean. It would be nice to just stay with a comms provider at a sensible price. (and just keep switching energy provider where there are bigger savings)

So with that it mind. Stay away from BT and Virgin who are very much focused on a cheap first year.

If you goto the suppliers website, it is usually clear what you will pay after the first year.

You shouldn't need to pay more than £30 a month.

EE ASDL is worth looking at.

or talktalk or plusnet are sensible.

cashmonger

Regarding the cool off period how does it work? I have read two different things on here; one stating that it goes into effect from the moment you make the order, the other stating that it is in effect only once the service is operational.

So which is it? since it can take weeks to get setup so it could be over before your service is even online.

With hyperoptic I had 31 days from the day it came online so I was able to cancel it due to having to unexpectedly move house (their service was great otherwise btw but won't be available at new location) but I don't know if that is the same for all companies by law?

If it is a month from day of activation then trying out a more budget budget provider is not so much of a problem then is it since you can just cancel after having tried it for a week or two once you have a good feel for how it is shaping up. Though I won't bother going for origin; directsave telecom is in my sights now. I am just looking at their code of practice and it does say 28 days; though at the top it says from placing the order but that is for businesses so I don't know if that applies for residential customers too.

Hmm I can't send an enquiry via their website; that isn't a good start. It keeps saying 'from email address empty' even though that field is filled.

onomatopoeia99

Cooling off period is usually from date of order, not date of activation.

phillw

cashmonger wrote: »

Any better deals for a similar price? and I am talking about after the grace period of the first year is over. I am finding it hard to find the REAL price since they hide it deep in there terms and only show the first year in huge numbers, which is much less than what you will be paying later, all over the place to lure you in.

You have to switch every year if you want a decent price. BT for example are offering £150 cash back, if you're signed up to quidco you can get a further £60 on top of that by going through them. Which brings the price down to less than £8 a month (you might save more with up front line rental as well, I've not done that yet).

There is some inconvenience in switching every year, but unless you're earning £100 an hour (in which case what are you doing wasting it on MSE) then it's still more cost effective to switch than spend that time working.

The cooling off period is from the date of the order and most providers won't arrange a switch before the end of the cooling off period. The exception is relish https://www1.relish.net/same-day but they are central london only and are more expensive than I would be prepared to pay.

If the activation fails then there is no automatic right of cancellation, but the longer the problems persist the more of a case you can make for them to let you out of the contract.

Reliability mostly comes down to your line, mine is terrible and it doesn't matter who I go to. I have to reboot the router every time someone phones me up. Now I'm going to be with BT then I'll hassle them to do something about it. I've been with pipex/talktalk/ee/plusnet (three times). Pipex were most expensive, the others offered cashback that made them super cheap and they were no more or less reliable. I did have a problem switching away from pipex as they were adsl2 while plusnet was adslmax & that doesn't play very nicely with terrible phone lines like I have (*)

* miles of 1970's aluminium with lots of joins insulated with dried out paper which disintegrates every time they come out to dig the road to repair another line which has failed, adding another join. I could get fibre or cable but compared to £5 a month it's no competition.

cashmonger

Well £21.95 from direct save is reasonable I think for a 'flat fee' where I don't have to bother with switching all the time.

I prefer it just be setup and forget about it and focus on working.

stockton_2

cashmonger wrote: »

Well £21.95 from direct save is reasonable I think for a 'flat fee' where I don't have to bother with switching all the time.

I prefer it just be setup and forget about it and focus on working.

Like you, I do not like to switch if I am being provided with a good service. I would kick myself if I ended up with broadband problems just to save a couple of pounds.

Some ISP's don't like customers to be out of contract and will ring you when your contract is ending and make you an offer for the next year or so. This is what my ISP (BT) did to me a month ago. I was happy with the offer and accepted. No haggling needed. Of course you need to have some idea of what the "going rate" is. Nevertheless, I find contract renewal quite painless these days.

AndyPK

did they offer you free evening calls for signing up for another 12 months?

stockton_2

No evening calls for me. I hardly ever use the landline for outgoing calls. They are free at the weekend, that is all.