Are you happy with your ISP ?

[I'd Rather Play]

My broadband (Virgin) is now always being interrupted, plus they now throttle me when downloading sample files.
Any suggestions for a good provider? A simple all-in-one package (TV, B.Band, Mob would be preferable).

[ezza]

AA Net are a good straightforward ISP that don't mess with your connection.

http://www.aa.net.uk/broadband.html

They don't subscribe to the government adult filter, you are opted out by default. If you want it you politley pointed to different provider.

They do mobile as well.

For TV you can use Freeview + Netflix.

If you go for all in one you will always end up with a big corporations with opaque policies.

[ezza]

Just noticed that they only do mobile data. So not got for mobile phones.

[BJG145]

What this topic is missing is a stock photo, something like this.

[ramthelinefeed]

I've been on TalkTalk for a good few years, and they are terrible
(after having been on NTL/Virgin for a few years, and they were terrible)
(prehistorically before that I was on Freeserve, and they were atrocious)

I've noticed that my TalkTalk DSL broadband has become much slower ever since
they finally launched fibre in Brighton...
They assure me that this is not because they're throttingly the DSL to make
people pay for fibre. But I think they're lying

[dmills]

A&A are decent particularly if you want to run your own servers or do things like setting up reverse DNS lookups (Or even your own DNS servers) so you can have your own servers deliver your outgoing mail (They are cool with things like this, unlike most of the big players).

They suffer (as do all the small operators) from the usual last mile problems inherent in having to deal with openreach.

Regards, Dan.

[Mixedup]

No. BT. Terrible - constant drop outs. Currently looking at RedRaw wireless, as the speeds on the fixed line here and where I'm due to move to soon are terrible. (Anyone else using that service?)

[Folderol]

I've been using Zen for about 6 months now (used to be on UKFSN). I don't know if they do all you want but they seem OK for what I want, which is general ADSL speed, website provision and landline phone. They also provide remote backup service.

[OneWorld]

No. BT. Terrible - constant drop outs. Currently looking at RedRaw wireless, as the speeds on the fixed line here and where I'm due to move to soon are terrible. (Anyone else using that service?)

I leapt on this forum in the hope I would happen across an ISP everyone raves about,but, not so. I am with BT and OMG, there have been times when I lose the will to live - the only time they have provided a 'service' that is never down, robust and predictable is when they collect the money from my bank account, except when they started charging me double, and the time it took to get that stopped was absurd.

In their favour I have to say for the main part it is reliable and the speed acceptable, but I pay absolute top dollar for it, more than the neighbour next door who is on SKY and his connection seems reliable and he pays considerably less. I have been temnpted to TalkTalk because of their seemingly low prices, but again and agai I hear talk of unreliability.

They had a woman from TalkTalk on Watchdog some months ago and she assured viewers all problems had been fixed, but she would say that wouldn't she.

I know a computer consultancy that has been in business some time, installing networks for small/medium businesses and public sector organisations and they wean customers away from the likes of Virgin, BT etc to ZEN, justifying the move because of ZEN's apparent excellent customer service and a relaible cost effective service.

[Offramper]

I was with BT Broadband and other than the clunky Yahoo mail I had pretty good service. I am on the edge of the town, 5kms from the exchange and on a road without Virgin fibre. So, no matter who I went with I would use exactly the same bit of copper. So the only change would be the service package, the DSLAM design and the contention ratio selected by the operator. When it got slow, I complained and we got up to 2Mbit/s (yippee... but it is 5kms of copper pair)

So recently took Infinity 2, 69Mbit/s and 801.11 ac so I have WLAN speeds to match. Nothing in life is perfect but I have to say I am quite happy with BT.

Dave

[Mixedup]

no matter who I went with I would use exactly the same bit of copper.

Not true. Hence my point about Red Raw wireless. You tend to get much better upload speeds on that kind of service too.

Satellite, on the other hand, is to be avoided despite the speed, due to the inherent latency in the sigmal travelling those distances..

[DGL.]

Suprisingly as they are owned by BT we have had no problems with PlusNet, Appear to know what they are doing and don't try to fleece you when you ask them something. The tools available on their website are also good too and you get a 5 pc licence for MacAfee if you have an unlimited plan. Also the helpline number is an 0800 number and is available 24/7

As has already been said TalkTalk are rubbish. We were with Tiscali for broadband only when they were acquired by talktalk. Fine for a few moths then without warning they cut us off. Turns out they did not want broadband only customers anymore and so decided to cut us off.

Also I would not recommend primus, my step mum signed up for it and they sent the equipment to the wrong address (a flat in their street) and would not do anything about it then when they tried to cancel and stopped the direct debit they still took over the line meaning that they have had to be put on a temporary number.
4 weeks later they are still having to use a this temporary number as they are still waiting to have their old number back. (they keep being told they have to wait 14 days to see if the previous user of that number wants to keep it or not, it's their frikkin number that they want back no someone elses!)

[yada]

I can second the plusnet suggestion. I've gone through several isp's over the years and thought all of their services were terrible (sky and virgin particularly so). Efh were cool too but expensive for higher speeds when i was using them. I haven't thought about a different isp since joining plusnet about 6 years ago, maybe more. Low latency. Low packet loss. No bullsh*t with them. Honest. Open. Upfront. Plusnet all the way baby! ha

[Hugh Robjohns]

I can third it! I was with Force 9 for years before they rebranded as Plusnet. Good packages and brilliant support. Sadly, the limiting factor for my area is the copper wire which restricted the bandwidth to 3MB/s (and less during school holidays and weekends!). None of the alternative providers could better that, and many wouldn't promise that much. No options for fibre at all for the foreseeable future.

Happily, we had a bucket full of government money to install a wireless network in the village and I'm now on a 25MB/s service (with 10MB/s up) which is very good, provided by a company called Airband.

[chris...]

Sadly, the limiting factor for my area is the copper wire which restricted the bandwidth to 3MB/s

24Mb/s isn't all that shabby.

(and less during school holidays and weekends!).

I'm assuming the bored schoolkids aren't using your piece of copper wire, so presumably that copper wire wasn't actually the bottleneck, during the holidays. Rather, it sounds like insufficient capacity provisioned to serve the exchange.

[Btyreman2013]

looking at getting zeninternet, I have used Virgin who were OK but now on BT and they are terrible. I can't even begin to explain without ranting how bad they have been.

[Gerhard Westphalen]

Here in Canada I use Shaw. My plan is 20Mbps and I usually get 25. Rarely does it go below that. A friend down the street gets 100 (his plan is 100). I'd say that my internet goes down less than once a month. When it does, its only for a few minutes. Maybe try finding a company that is related to Shaw there?

[TheReson8or]

I have TalkTalk, who have been atrocious , especially on customer support...so much so that I jumped to fibre as soon as it became available and then increased my speed for a small fee. Now get 40 mb/s on average.....but as soon as I can afford a business line with somebody else (when my contract expires), I will. Dave

[John Willett]

My broadband (Virgin) is now always being interrupted, plus they now throttle me when downloading sample files.
Any suggestions for a good provider? A simple all-in-one package (TV, B.Band, Mob would be preferable).

I would talk to Virgin - I am on Virgin and very happy and have always had very good service.

If you have interruptions, there is a fault which needs fixing.

If you *have* to go away from Virgin - my first thought would be PlusNet (I was with Force9 before getting the Virgin fibre package - or NTL as it was then).

[Hugh Robjohns]

I'm assuming the bored schoolkids aren't using your piece of copper wire, so presumably that copper wire wasn't actually the bottleneck, during the holidays. Rather, it sounds like insufficient capacity provisioned to serve the exchange.

It was a combination of both. My distance from the local exchange was such that 3MB/s over the copper wire was the absolute maximum it was possible to get as a business customer with Force9/Plusnet (and neighbours with other more familiar providers failed to get more than 1 or 2MB/s). No upgrading of exchange hardware ever managed to improve on my speed.

The reduced rates during weekends and holidays was mainly down to contention issues at the local exchange. Such are the realities of living in a country village.

Although my specific house was lucky to receive a rate above the Government's minimum broadband service, the village as a whole averaged under 0.5MB/s, and hence why we qualified for the upgrade money and a massively improved service via a Wi-Fi net system -- although still falling way short of the rates routinely delivered to urban-living fibre-optic customers.

H

[Sam Inglis]

We have a Virgin cable modem, and I've no complaints, though I rarely use it for anything very demanding.

[paul tha other]

years back i was on madasafish...who were ok..the got bought over by plusnet who were the worse thing i have ever been involved with...they used to cut off the conection when it suited them..the speeds where woefull and to top it of the last couple of months i was with them someone hacked into my wireless server and started burning the line ..downloaded gigs of stuff and i got a bill for £200 .now i realise that wasnt their fault but when i called up to see what was going on they were the most useless bunch of cun**S i have ever had the dis-pleasure to meet and started accusing me of downloads illegal softwere etc..now i am with sky and although they are not the best they are pretty far from the worst..speeds come and go but i am allways online

paul

[ManFromGlass]

the village as a whole averaged under 0.5MB/s,

H
[/quote]

Ha, 0.5? We are lucky to get that here in the wilds of Canada with our wireless Internet. (Insert comment about living in shoebox having to lick the road clean every morning before school) Although to be fair we sometimes get as much as 2.5 before school kids get home. Weekends are useless. The latest amusing episode in dealing with the provider with the overloading cell towers - "we are giving you 2 months of unlimited bandwidth for your troubles". I'm slow at math but what's .04Mb/s times unlimited? I think it's called reading the hard copy of SOS while emails arrive on snail's backs!

[The_BPP]

Am I the only person who's happy with TalkTalk?

I got their all-you-can-eat 36Mb fibre broadband, and I consistently get download speeds of 4.5 Megabytes a second, no matter what time of day it is.

It's never gone down. I guess the fun will begin if I try calling technical services, but so far, thumbs-up from me.

Presumably, Plusnet is for people that like a product from BT, but with decent support (unlike BT).

[OneWorld]

I got their all-you-can-eat 36Mb fibre broadband, and I consistently get download speeds of 4.5 Megabytes a second, no matter what time of day it is.

You're paying for 36MB but only getting 4.5MB and you're happy with that? Am I missing something here?