Looking for Fast Broadband, but not from the big five

QrizB

Jonboy_1984 said:

Vodafone apparently seem to block access to Tor

Not on my BB they don't ...

Nanako

Dolor said:

I am interested in ISPs that are ethical, anti-censorship, and have good customer support.

Try AAISP. Their CS is exceptional but it comes at a premium. Their CEO posts under Rev K Ramblings:

https://www.revk.uk/

He has posted a lot about censorship in the past.

I agree!

Before I joined Zen, AAISP were my first choice but i couldn't afford them at that time. That is no longer a problem, and I like them.

However, the speeds they can offer me are not great either

https://i.imgur.com/rsdDcAu.png

"up to" 32 mbps is not amazing, and they dont seem to be offering any fibre to the premises for my postcode

Nanako

littleboo said:

You need to define "ethical".  You mention Starlink, I think a lot of people would question the ethics of Elon Musk. What is your problem with the mainstream providers?

Starlink is still providing free internet across ukraine while refusing censorship demands. Ethically, i find him in line with my own thoughts. Starlink is pretty high up on my list, though i'm not ruling out the possibility of better options with cables

RE the mainstream providers, I have many broad, vague problems that are hard to define, but here's a specific one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_the_United_Kingdom#Court_ordered_implementations_targeting_copyright_and_trademark_infringement

A big set of legal rulings forcing ISPs to block certain websites, which only applies to the big five. Sci hub at the end, the most recent addition to this banned list, is particularly egregious.

And it is also not blocked on Zen. I don't want to move to an ISP that DOES block it

Nanako

Jonboy_1984 said:

Almost all services except Virgin travel through BT openreach cables.

That "almost all" is the part i'm interested in here. Which do not?

Nanako

BUFF said:

Have CityFibre not dug up your street yet (if they haven't they will, wait for the chaos)? That will give you an alternative to Openreach for carriers but whether they are any better/more ethical ...

Most ISPs will want a minimum term contract or you will pay a significantly higher price for freedom to leave.

There was a lot of digging up in recent years, but i think it was virgin who were doing it. It was definitely a lot of chaos for months

I just looked up my postcode on cityfibre.com

https://i.imgur.com/Ffdgm8k.png

so it seems the answer is no.

Not having a contract would be an ideal situation, but it isn't a huge priority. I could tolerate a contract with an ISP that fits other criteria

Nanako

400ixl said:

other than those with dedicated infrastructure like Virgin....

Unless you can find a provider who has their own infrastructure other than Virgin ....

Yup, and that's exactly why i'm here! Asking you guys.

Who else is "like virgin" ? Who has their own infrastructure?

HaroldWhistler

Nanako said:

MikeJXE said:

In my experience Leicestershire, Virgin do their own ducting and their cable is swapped at the point of entry at your home BT box, if you leave them just switch it back. If you do a broadband search on Money supermarket and others they will inform you what providers are in your area.

that site doesn't exactly have filters to show the things i'm looking for though. Anti-censorship isn't a searchable property :P That's why i'm here, asking humans

It does have some quotes with acceptable speeds from...

NOW broadband

BT

Shell ENERGY broadband

Vodafone

3

Plusnet

Onestream

Cuckoo

I don't know much about most of these companies, can anyone advise on how well each fits my other criteria?

I think the Openreach provider speed offerings would generally be the same if they're coming down the same line. So if you're looking for customer service, from that list you could go for Cuckoo. It topped the customer service poll if I'm not mistaken on the MSE Broadband poll. They also do 30 day rolling contracts and fix prices. The other alternative is if you were waiting for Full Fibre to be installed by  Openreach/CityFibre/Altnets etc you could go for 4G Mobile Broadband in the meantime. 

prowla

Where I am it's currently a choice between Virgin and a BT Openreach based provider.

CityFibre have been laying cables, but I'm not sure when their service will become available.

Another option is a wireless offering, but I'm not sure of quality and price.

littleboo

Nanako said:

littleboo said:

You need to define "ethical".  You mention Starlink, I think a lot of people would question the ethics of Elon Musk. What is your problem with the mainstream providers?

Starlink is still providing free internet across ukraine while refusing censorship demands. Ethically, i find him in line with my own thoughts. Starlink is pretty high up on my list, though i'm not ruling out the possibility of better options with cables

RE the mainstream providers, I have many broad, vague problems that are hard to define, but here's a specific one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_websites_blocked_in_the_United_Kingdom#Court_ordered_implementations_targeting_copyright_and_trademark_infringement

A big set of legal rulings forcing ISPs to block certain websites, which only applies to the big five. Sci hub at the end, the most recent addition to this banned list, is particularly egregious.

And it is also not blocked on Zen. I don't want to move to an ISP that DOES block it

Well yes, its hard to argue with giving free internet (apart from when trying to get someone else to pay for it instead ) to Ukraine. I was more thinking about the way  employees at Twitter are being treated, which is pretty shocking by any decent standard, and other allegations of poor employee working conditions in other businesses. The point being, very few large organisations are really ethical, the bigger they are the harder it becomes, so you have to compromise on something.

400ixl

Nanako said:

400ixl said:

other than those with dedicated infrastructure like Virgin....

Unless you can find a provider who has their own infrastructure other than Virgin ....

Yup, and that's exactly why i'm here! Asking you guys.

Who else is "like virgin" ? Who has their own infrastructure?

Most likely no one for your postcode which is why you have the choice of an Openreach ISP or Virgin.

What exchange are you on, that might give a clue as to when FTTP may be coming to your area.