Need help from UK residents.

[smbm]

Hi

I'm due to be moving into a new house soon which doesn't already have broadband so it will probably be my responsibility to set it up. My question to you folk is:

Which supplier do you recommend?

I need unlimited downloads/uploads per month (time restrictions/fair usage policy is something I'll probably have to live with).

I guess a fast speed would be an advantage but anything 2meg and upwards will probably suffice.

The house I am currently living in is served by Toucan which is mostly fast and is competitively priced, their customer service is mostly non existent though!

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Tom

[bruce89]

Don't get Pipex.

[John T. Monkey]

I'm on Telewest (though you have to live certain areas for that) and I'm very happy with it. Most of my problems with the internet stem from the cheap router and the ridiculous amount of downloading my housemate does...

Customer services have their moments when they are well and truly crap, but most of the time they're good, and when my next door neighbour managed to cut my cable, they were excellent getting it fixed :)

[TheMono]

Your next door neighbour managed to cut your cable?!?!?! That must have gone down a treat lol.

[Rackerz]

NTL, 10Mb. You can't go wrong.

[ComplexNumber]

telewest broadband is meant to be the fastest. there's also BT.

[warlorddagaz]

I use BT, and am very happy with the level of service. However, it took several e-mails to finally sort out their SMTP server, but once I sorted it, everything worked fine.

--edit--
BT are meant to be rolling out 8meg, but I haven't seen anything yet - I'm still on 2.2, although aparently I can get 4. They offer up to a 40gig cap too, which would fill up the HDD of my PC, and is probably above most "fair usage" policies.

They also allow you to go slightly over you cap every month anyway, and if you go over too often will ask you to upgrade, so you could start with a lower one.

Hope this has been of help

[Footissimo]

I'm on NTL Broadband - think it's the 4Mb one, though I get confused as they seem to be forever upgrading it. They supplied a USB switcher thing, but I just stuck the ethernet cable in and it works a treat and has done for 3 1/2 years or so. They obviously must have caps on download / upload, but I've never hit them and I use BT a lot.

Even if it is NTL, it's pretty good =)

[patwack]

ntl doesn't have a usage cap any more and i've never had any problems

[Michael_aust]

IIf you want unlimited you are best going with A cable provider (Telewest, NTL). Most ISP who do offer an unlimited serive are starting to stop this given the costs BT charge for the bits and bobs.

I with EFH (Euro Fast Host), they do normal user ADSL connections, Business connections and various hosting things. I think they now provide you with a cheap single port router for free. So it is none of the trouble you have with usb modems.

The service has the occasional outages like all providers, but these are fixed swiftly. There was a problem with connection speeds for a short period, but this has been dealt with (it was caused by excessive users download 24/7 from p2p, bit torrent etc).


They do have a capping system in place. However the top package does have a quite high limit. If you exceed the limited you can either be capped (they cap everything except http traffic, everything else is still fairly fast, just not as fast as normal) or you can pay an extra £1.00 per GB you exceed.

They do not block any ports, they also have no problem with you running a server at your end if you choose.

You can have up to 10 pop3 email addresses.

The community is also nice, there is a forum, regular updates about outages are posted there.

The customer service is excelent, they cannot offer help with non Winows systems, but that is the same with all ISP's with the exception of uklinux.net

The customer serive is in Hull, England. The contact numbers are free phone. There is a freephone serivce status line.

They are not the cheapest provider around, however I would say the extra few quid is worth it for the customer serivce and no restrictions in terms what you can use it for.

site:
www.efhbroadband.com

forums:
www.efhbroadband.com/forum/

Michael.

[ice60]

don't get tiscali, they are the worst in the country, maybe you know that though??

i've used them for ages and am too scared to switch incase internet breaks forever :neutral: they recently had no working dns for a month :shock: (i just looked at the forum and it looks like they still have that problem) ](*,)

here's their broadband forum -
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=215

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/new/complain/complain.shtml

i use a different dns so i don't have the same problems as everone else, my connection is actually faster then it's suppose to be, but i suppose that would be the same with other isp's too :confused:

here's another link (look at the top with the big 'thumbs down' and the tiny amount of stars they have been given overall :( )
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/censura.php?cmd=details&itemid=260

btw, if i left tiscali i'd have nothing to complian about, i quite enjoy bashing them :-D

[Johnsie]

I use NTL/Telewest. They are merged now. Here's why they are a great deal:

1. Unlimited Bandwidth so you don't need to worry about downloading too much stuff.

2. And this is a biggy for me.... They let you have a server. I currently have a webserver running off one of my computers and it works great.

3. The standard NTL modem supports ethernet which is good if you use a router or linux.

4. You can use your own router. I've heard thatwith other isp you need to use "special" routers

4. No need for any special programs to dial. Some ADSL companies need dialer software.


All in all I'm pretty happy with the performance. I also like that you can get TV off them too. It's easy to set up but like nearly all isp in the UK the tech support wont help you with Linux. Stay away from AOL and BT... They are far too limited in terms of bandwidth and what hardware you can use and are known in the industry as being unreliable when it comes to your connection staying alive.

[purdy hate machine]

I had nothing but problems with NTL which started from day one when they sent a colour blind engineer to install the cable, he eventually had to call for a colleague after struggling to tell the different coloured wires apart. After 6 months of connection outages and appalling customer service I dropped them and signed up for Eclipse Broadband (http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=home_res)who are wonderful. Check out http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ for a good comparison of UK Broadband providers.

[megadyptes]

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ might be of use. I've been with PlusNet for a few years and never had any problems. On the 'up to 8Meg' service the linespeed for seems to hover around 5-6Meg whenever I've run a speed test. No guarantees though!:)

[midwinter]

Interesting, lots of problems with NTL here also, by far the most incompetent company i've ever encountered.

[Johnsie]

Bear in mind that you get a faster upload speed with cable.... Not necessary for everyone but if you do a lot of uploading you should definitely think about it. I have had no problems with NTL and neither has anyone I know. I guess no isp can get it right all the time though.

You should also watch out for dodgy smallprint. Some isp have "fair use policies" which say they will charge you if you use peer to peer software or download a lot. I've seen some that even do that on their "unlimited bandwidth" packages:

http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=fixedfup_res

[Rackerz]

It depends were you live the country to whether the people at your NTL branch care about the problems your having. I'm in the south and there generally pretty good down here.

[lwr]

My parents are with TalkTalk at home. The customer service has been very poor, there were times to start with when I simply couldn't get online (although I think that it's been sorted), and it's not as fast as they said it'd be. But, it's a very good value package: all your calls, line rental, and broadband ('limited' to 40GB a month) for I think it's £21.50 a month. Can't be bad. I know a lot of people on PlusNet who are very pleased with the service, so it might be worth checking them out as well.

[public_void]

Don't move to Hull, you get one ISP, Karoo. They use different settings to the rest of the UK, with some broadband modems not working. Ones that do work need configuring by you, because none of the default settings apply.

[purdy hate machine]

You should also watch out for dodgy smallprint. Some isp have "fair use policies" which say they will charge you if you use peer to peer software or download a lot. I've seen some that even do that on their "unlimited bandwidth" packages:

http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=fixedfup_res

This clearly depends on your point of view. I have no problems with a Fair use policy if it means I get a good level of service when I need it. There’s nothing stopping P2P users scheduling their file transfers for off peak hours.

[Johnsie]

My point of view is that would be unacceptable for me. I like being able to download what I want when I want it without any restrictions. If you don't mind those restrictions then fair play to you. I however enjoy my freedom to download what I want when I want.

Now I suggest we drop the whole NTL vs. Whoever theme as we are both happy with the isp we use for our own reasons. All isp come with their good and bad sides, it just depends on your requirements.... I've tried loads.

[AndyCooll]

I want to add a further NTL comment. I've been with them for quite a few years now (7 or 8 IIRC, maybe more). Having the telephone, tv and Internet is great. And soon mobile too since NTL/Telewest/Virgin Mobile are now one company.

Sometimes I look at some of the TV ads and see cheaper deals with ADSL connections and feel I'm rather limited in thte choices I have (I believe other cable suppliers do exist).
And when things go wrong with NTL the Customer Services are poor.

However in spite of the above I've generally found their service to be reliable, I've never had any problems with download limits, ethernet cable issues (mine plugs straight in to the back of the TV set-top box), or anything else for that matter.

And in the end I always feel that the positive aspects of their service greatly outweigh the negative ones. So all-in-all I'm happy to recommend them.

:cool:

[canardo]

avoid bt was meant to be activated on the 3rd still waiting and doesnt look like it will happen any time soon :*(, no edgy for me for a couple of days as will get a copy of ebay and wait for postage

[bonzodog]

I'm ex-Uk, now in Ireland, but have stuck with ntl; I still think they are one of the better companies out there for DSL.

Ntl and Telewest are now the same company.

[ice60]

i always thought zen was the best, they have always been near the top whenever i have seen adsl ratings over the last 3 years, or so. does anyone know anything about Zen?

look how they compare at these links -
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top10.php