Updated Find the cheapest broadband discussion thread

alexei2k

Beware new O2 home broadband contracts.

The Basics package seems to have an advertised speed of up to 20 Mbps, but (very!) small print says your video streaming (ie iplayer, youtube etc) will be limited to 0.8 Mbps which renders those services virtually unusable. And this is not just during peak hours like usual "traffic shaping", but always, 24h.

You'll never find this info on their website unless you know exactly where to look for, and they do not send you T&C and it's impossible to find those published on their website - well, I was not sent, and could not find them online.

Got burnt myself, can't use iplayer any more (and this limitation was confirmed by O2 customer service - but only when I contacted them with the problem of speed). Will get out of this today (cooling off period), I consider I was simply missold this contract as I did mention I (occasionally) use iplayer, when purchasing on the phone, but there was no mentioning of the streaming speed limit. Also gonna start a complaint process for misselling.

brightonman123

was on Orange mobile b/b, getting too costly with their bandwidth charges..

Ideally would just fancy a wired connection, or any deals with free router/connection etc, and fixed monthly subscription?

mega speeds not essential..

emmitdb

Greetings All,

I have just signed up and away from BT.
As a result of reading up on this forum I decided to plump for the Talk Talk bundle of home phone and Broadband package.

The changeover day coincided with us being away on holiday and that break has broken down what grey cells I had. LOL

I used the links suggested by MSE to get the best deal and I am sure it said at the time that there was no connection fee.
However, on collecting the package from the Post Office, included with the router was literature that stated I would be liable for a fee of £29.99.
Has that fee been absorbed by the £30 "welcome credit" that was mentioned in another piece of mail sent by Talk Talk.

Your assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation

scooby75

Why why WHY do comparison sites, including ones lauded on here, never include the full cost? I just searched "broadband only" and the cheapest was £8. Only you need to take out line rental, so it's not £8 but nearer £20.

I didn't ask for line rental - I searched broadband only. I don't want or need a landline, nor do I need or want TV services.

Isn't there anyone at all offering cheap broadband without the need for a landline or other rubbish I don't want? Price fixing springs to mind.

pcyam

o2 are planning on increasing my broadband so planning on changing over to orange, I have been with them in the past and they were very good, speed and customer service. But that was a probable 3 years ago, has anyone had experience of orange broadband recently.

TIA

spud17

pcyam wrote: »

o2 are planning on increasing my broadband so planning on changing over to orange, I have been with them in the past and they were very good, speed and customer service. But that was a probable 3 years ago, has anyone had experience of orange broadband recently.

TIA

Unscientific, but scary.

http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

pcyam

WOW ccant believe theyre that bad now. they use to be so good when they took over the provider we were with, the only reason we left them was because we moved and the other property was setup to o2 cuz my brother was with the mobile provider and was such a good deal

greenalien_2

Although Plusnet places a 10GB limit on your monthly downloads, this doesn't apply between midnight and 8am. By making use of a feature in your computer called 'Scheduled Tasks' it's possible to instruct your PC to wake up at midnight, run any program you like, then shut down again at 8am. Some programs, such as the popular bit torrent client 'UTorrent' also have their own inbuilt schedulers. With a bit of effort, you can automate all your big downloads to fit into the unlimited download time, thus not eating into your 10GB allowance - and no need to stay up all night!

harryhound

scooby75 wrote: »

Why why WHY do comparison sites, including ones lauded on here, never include the full cost? I just searched "broadband only" and the cheapest was £8. Only you need to take out line rental, so it's not £8 but nearer £20.

I didn't ask for line rental - I searched broadband only. I don't want or need a landline, nor do I need or want TV services.

Isn't there anyone at all offering cheap broadband without the need for a landline or other rubbish I don't want? Price fixing springs to mind.

Unless you are on cable or an expensive mobile then you need a landline.
The copper loop that enters your home is almost certainly owned by BT and your provider is just reselling BT wholesale line rentals for that.
The good people of Hull could tell you otherwise but by all accounts they get a worse deal.

http://www.k-c.co.uk/

ratbert

I have O2 but I'm on one of those many exchanges which is not "unbundled". I need an unlimited service as I work from home and have kids.
I got a nasty call from O2 last month saying they were going to cut us off because we are using too much, apparently I'd downloaded 50GB in a month. The limit is 40GB, now I purchased an unlimited service, so I argued with the guy they were in breach of contract. He said but there's a fair use policy, and tried to claim I was a bad citizen because I'd used more than my whack. So I asked at what time of day did I screw others using the service. He couldn't tell me. All he said was you went over the 40GB limit. And if I did it again then my service would be terminated. Nice eh!

So could Martin's elves please note this somewhere, rather than implying O2 is a no brainer. And the limit is 40GB not the generous looking 100GB!

I've also found the iPlayer is unusable in the evenings due to the aggressive traffic shaping.

Incidentally, my service died last week and was off for 3 days, I thought the customer service really sucked, it took nearly 3 hours to diagnose the problem, during which I called back 3 times and was cut off once by them. They said they'd call me back but never did, so I had to call them each day to get an update. Finally on day 3 I suggested retrying one of the initial steps and the fault had cleared, they were just about to get permission to send a BT engineer out, which would have taken a further 3 days to happen. Either something timed out in the 3 days it was off which reset everything, or BT had done something in the exchange. Who knows.

So for all those good folks who get "invested" in by BT, spare a thought for the large group of have not's who are strangled by no investment, so I pay more for my broadband have less choice and an infer service. Another post code lottery system!