O2 my cheapest and best option ?

kaalia

Still looking for the cheapest ISP but with decent customer service. ( So Talk Talk and Tiscali are out. )

Currently I have no ISP or phone (land line) at home.

My requirements
Phone: I dont use a landline, so I really dont need it, but looks like I have to pay the obligatory BT line rental anyway. My company gives me a mobile phone and I use that for everything. And I dont have friends :-)
Broadband: At least 8 Mbps, would prefer not to have a monthly download limit, as I use VPN etc. I would say at least 5 GB per month.
TV channels : dont care.
Contract length : Dont mind upto 1 year.

Considered NTL (Virgin Media) broadband only, but they dont serve my area.

Looks like O2 is my best option ? I can get the SIM card and topup £10 every 3 months, i.e £40 a year, which comes to £3.30 per month and I pay 7.50 for broadband, which comes to £11.00 per month plus BT line rental (11.00). And I get wireless router as well for free. No connection charge.

Can any other company beat this deal ? It doesnt look like it.

Here is the "samknows" output :

Congratulations, you are in a broadband enabled area.
The following services are available in your location:

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT Wholesale SDSL
AOL LLU
O2 / Be LLU
Bulldog LLU
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
Pipex LLU
Tiscali LLU
Tiscali TV (via Tiscali LLU)
Virgin Media (Cable)

Full Details of SamKnows output :

BT ADSL :
You are connected to the Bracknell telephone exchange, approximately 1.71 km from exchange
ADSL is available in your area - Your exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services
According to BT Wholesale, your area should be able to support a 2Mbps or greater ADSL connection.

BT SDSL :
Yes, available

LLU x DSL :
Avilable : AOL, Or/Be unlimited, Bulldog, TalkTalk,
Sky broadband / easynet, pipex, Tiscali, Tiscali TV,
Unavailable : Edge Telecom, Entanet, Lumison, newnet, node4,
smallworld media, Orange, WB Internet, Zen

Cable : Virgin available
SmallWorld media cable unavailable

Wireless : All unvaailable

21CN : Some info shown which I cant follow

DatabaseError

sky can be cheaper

normanmark

kaalia wrote: »

Still looking for the cheapest ISP but with decent customer service. ( So Talk Talk and Tiscali are out. )

Theres no such think as a cheap ISP with decent customer service. If you want the good customer service expect to pay a little more than a base rate for broadband

Nex0

tonyhague wrote: »

sky can be cheaper

Unlikely as you need sky tv to get sky broadband.

Realistically your looking at £21 a month min on sky for up to 8meg but even that's not unlimited.

O2 I think personally would be the best choice in this case.

DatabaseError

OP doesn't mention NOT having sky...

Nex0

tonyhague wrote: »

OP doesn't mention NOT having sky...

They don't mention HAVING it either.

Quentin

kaalia wrote: »

Looks like O2 is my best option ? ..............I pay 7.50 for broadband

You need to act fast.

The £7.50 offer ends on 30/4/08 according to the website. You need to sign up by then.

[Deleted User]

I've got O2 - only had to call customer services once since i've had it (3 months).. call was answered instantly and it was a uk call center. Good customer service, cheap, no bandwidth tailoring.. great product.

shammyjack

normanmark wrote: »

Theres no such think as a cheap ISP with decent customer service. If you want the good customer service expect to pay a little more than a base rate for broadband

I beg to differ !

O2 broadband here, signed up for the 16Mb service delivered on the stated day had problems with only syncing at 8Mb although only 800 metres from my exchange.

Spoke to customer support who answered almost instantly and tried everything to improve the line but to no availe . I did some research of my own and discovered that I had an old BT F2 filter in my line which apparently adds 30Db of attenuation to an ADSL line, phoned O2 with my findings and they sanctioned Openreach to replace with an F3 filter which removes radio frequency noise while allowing full ADSL signal throughput , this was fitted the next day .

I now get this


Modulation:G.992.5 annex A Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:1,213 / 16,376 Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/GB]:171.09 / 2.37 Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:12.0 / 17.5 Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:6.5 / 16.5 SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:10.5 / 11.5

10 out of 10 for O2 !

shammy

kaalia

Thanks to everyone for the replies. No, I dont have Sky and dont intend to get it either. I hardly have time to watch the 4 basic free channels. Thanks Quentin, I didnt realize the offer expired. Looks like it is too late as I still dont have a BT line set up, and surely I wont have the BT line ready by tomorrow.

Quentin

It might still be worth trying - the offer is for sign ups (not completed activations) by 30/4/08 - (though maybe you can't sign up without a phone number).

If you speak to them about the problem they might have some way of backdating your application. Or maybe they will extend the offer anyway.