Orange Broadband - good UK provider?

[ehird]

Hi. Fishing around for a new ISP to break free from tiscali.

http://www.orange.co.uk/time/broadbandunlimited/

Stuff:
* BitTorrent doesn't appear to be limited (checked azureus wiki and googled quickly)
* Couldn't find much critisism on google

Now, they use an ethernet modem, so my question is this: will it work out of the box in ubuntu? (and hopefully other linux distros)

I don't want to continue using ueagle-atm-style stuff :( (I want to try out other distros too and they don't have them! And other OSes..)

Thoughts? :)

[Kieranties]

I don't use this myself but had to set it up for my mum back at home. To set up the box requires an application which is provided with it. Whether the application works well under linux, or wine in linux I do not know.

They have never had any issues with it since they have been connected. but you may want to ask a service rep before purchase

[ehird]

I'm assuming it'll support it by default since it's ethernet which is a standard. I've never heard of an ethernet modem that doesn't work with linux.

[DannyG]

i havent heard mich about Orange Broadband, but what i have heard is that they have rubbish service, in such that they have downtime with no explanations and support on the phone.

but don't hold me to this...

[stuh84]

I work for Orange Broadband customer support. Don't do it. Just don't. Or if you do, the moment a problem starts to appear, just get out of there.

Best I can say is the modem is quite easy to setup, PM me if you do get it and I'll take you thru it step by step.

Maybe because I'm on Customer Support and hear nothing but the bad stuff all day do I get scared of people using it, but still, there's a lot of crap in it.

[ehird]

Yikes. Would you reccomend a provider? Things I need:

- no capped bandwidth <-- highly important
- plug'n'play linux support <-- also highly important
- no capped torrents <-- ... also highly important

... so basically everything was highly important :P

[DannyG]

As far as your request for a linux supported modem, you should probably go for a modem-router. Plug it into the wall and your away, then its just a case of connecting via an ethernet cable.

I can't really reccommend any Broadband providers, I'm with BT atm and they don't cap torrents, but i'm on their top package and have a 40GB usage limit (which I exceeded and was threatened with a charge of £1 per 1GB if I do it again).

I've heard some good stuff about Virgin.net though...check out some reviews on www.ciao.co.uk

[ehird]

Virgin requires me to pay £70 for their ethernet pack which I'm really not doing.

[bigken]

i have being with orange from day 1 (about 8 years) it was freeserve in them days then wanadoo now orange must be honest I have always used a router but have never had any problems with the service the reason I have stuck with them is I have a orange mobile phone with 550 free minutes for 35 quids a month plus free broadband unlimited free broadband ;)

[bigken]

Virgin requires me to pay £70 for their ethernet pack which I'm really not doing.

one of the good things about virgin you can cancel anytime the only hold you to monthly contracts ;)

[DannyG]

one of the good things about virgin you can cancel anytime the only hold you to monthly contracts ;)

Actually I phoned them once enquring about their service, and you can cancel at any time but they do charge you for doing it if you've been with them less then a year. Can't remember how much it is exactly...

[Kernel Sanders]

For the UK, http://www.eclipse.net.uk/ ftw! :cool:

[xpod]

Theres always NTL:twisted:

I`ve been with them for my 8 months so far and twice they`ve taken double the bill out of our account and twice they`ve taken direct debits from accounts that had long since been changed....thereby costing me £35 each time until it was returned to us.

And on top of that they cut us of on 2 occaisions for not paying our bill...when it`s always paid(and sometimes twice).:-#

I get stupid automated phone calls and if i phone them the fun & games between a Scotsman and a pakistani trying to communicate are something else.
We usually end up both pi**ing ourselves with laughter as apose to getting my money back when it`s gone missing.

The daft git`s left my old internet connection on when i upgraded though so now i got 2 for the price of one.....

Their bloody hard work though old NTL.

Good luck regardless

[ehird]

Yes, I have heard many bad things about NTL ;)

One question about orange: when I've heard "the modem is easy to set up on linux", does this mean it's standard ethernet, plug-in-and-go? If it's anything else I'm definately not signing up...

[bigken]

take a look here (http://www.orange.co.uk/time/livebox/setup.htm) this might help

[ehird]

Umm... I can set up an ethernet modem. I'm talking about Linux out-of-the-box compatibility.

[bigken]

you could phone orange or google it see what comes up or ask stuh84
he work for them ;)

[Soarer]

I use Demon & TalkTalk (Carphone Warehouse) in the UK and both are fine. Demon tech support is good, although the admin & billing is often pretty grim. Works fine & they recently upgraded me from 1 to 3 MB download (it would be 8 MB if I was nearer the exchange). 21 GBP per month though.

TalkTalk is standard 1 MB, I pay 10 GBP per month on top of the Talk Talk call package (which is excellent value). Works fine and I've never had to call support. I believe you have to have a call package from them though. Depending where you live, you may not have to pay the 10 GBP per month.

[EDIT] BTW - both support an ethernet router, direct into Ubuntu with minimal set-up.

[.t.]

Use Zen! You can do what you want and they don't have only-capped services.

[Obor]

Don't know about orange. I use homechoice (http://www.homechoice.co.uk). For about £18 you get 2M broadband without limits and the eth modem they give you works out of the box with k/ubuntu. The downside is that the package is bundled with TV which you might not want.

[ehird]

"Although Homechoice isn't available in your area yet, we would like to be able to keep some of your details so that we can let you know when you will be able to get our service. "

It's cable, right? I can't get cable here :)

Also, I was looking for something a bit more than 2M.

I guess I'll just have to give orange a whirl. Can't be worse than tiscali.

[AndyCooll]

Theres always NTL:twisted:

...Their bloody hard work though old NTL.

Good luck regardless

I've been with NTL for about 8 years (through the Nynex, Cable & Wireless and currently NTl years). I've stuck with them because I've also got TV and telephone. 've found the actual services they offer to be quite good. There doesn't seem to be any download limits, uptime is good etc etc.

The problem with NTL of course is if anything goes wrong! Their customer services are extremely poor, from the initial phonecall right through to the eventual resolution ...they are indeed hard work.

:cool:

[ehird]

I can't even GET ntl here, it's cable.

[bigken]

I've been with NTL for about 8 years (through the Nynex, Cable & Wireless and currently NTl years). I've stuck with them because I've also got TV and telephone. 've found the actual services they offer to be quite good. There doesn't seem to be any download limits, uptime is good etc etc.

The problem with NTL of course is if anything goes wrong! Their customer services are extremely poor, from the initial phonecall right through to the eventual resolution ...they are indeed hard work.

:cool:

tell me one that is not hard work and bt wot a nightmare quote your line is ok sir bollocks they send a engineer out 10 days later who finds a fault

[ehird]

(^ what did he just say?)

[TheFlamingBush]

ive just got the virgin modem connection, as i have a duel boot xp/ubuntubox and needed a month by month account. Ive managed to get the xp online no probs, but i have been having problems getting my ubuntu to work with the new modem!.....boo hoo.....i really miss my Ubuntu!!! :-/

is there anyone who can help with this please!!!

I have wine installed, and it seems to be able to read the data off the cd fine, but it looks to place the drivers in c, which of course is insane!:-/..........so the error message just comes up. Now im thinking that i will have to reconfig my set up manually, and set up my modem to work with the ethernet connection?...is this right?

Im a bit of a novice at this so it might take a bit to get it working manually....i just cant figure out why the connections in the UK are so difficult!, in the Netherlands, i had two different accounts, first through my local provider and then through wannadoo and both times i just plugged Ubuntu straight into the box and was surfing in about two shakes of a lambs tail!, no stress no fuss!.......whats with all the reconfig ******** in the UK?

anyway...rant over!....ide certainly appreciate some help working this out if anyone has any ideas!...thanks!

[bigken]

ive just got the virgin modem connection, as i have a duel boot xp/ubuntubox and needed a month by month account. Ive managed to get the xp online no probs, but i have been having problems getting my ubuntu to work with the new modem!.....boo hoo.....i really miss my Ubuntu!!! :-/

is there anyone who can help with this please!!!

I have wine installed, and it seems to be able to read the data off the cd fine, but it looks to place the drivers in c, which of course is insane!:-/..........so the error message just comes up. Now im thinking that i will have to reconfig my set up manually, and set up my modem to work with the ethernet connection?...is this right?

Im a bit of a novice at this so it might take a bit to get it working manually....i just cant figure out why the connections in the UK are so difficult!, in the Netherlands, i had two different accounts, first through my local provider and then through wannadoo and both times i just plugged Ubuntu straight into the box and was surfing in about two shakes of a lambs tail!, no stress no fuss!.......whats with all the reconfig ******** in the UK?

anyway...rant over!....ide certainly appreciate some help working this out if anyone has any ideas!...thanks!

Buy a adsl modem/router look on ebuyer cheep as chips solve all your problems ;)

[BigDave708]

Hi. Fishing around for a new ISP to break free from tiscali
What's wrong with Tiscali? :???:

I've had Tiscali broadband for 2 years now, and I haven't had any problems with them (all torrents and p2p sharing stuff works and I've got a 2.3 mbps connection).

[Bigbluecat]

Been using Orange for years without a problem. Have never used their provided modem though. I use a Netgear ADSL WIFI router.

No problem working with Ubuntu.

[Rhapsody]

I'm with Orange, and they seem OK, if a little dozy. We phoned them up after years of paying £27.99 a month, intending to switch. At which point they told us they could lower our monthly bill by £10 without losing anything. SO WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT AUTOMATICALLY YOU IDIOTS!

I've also got a wireless router from them, but I've no idea how it works with Ubuntu since it requires an ethernet port, which this PC doesn't have. The ancient USB router we got back when they were called Freeserve still works though.

[TheFlamingBush]

Buy a adsl modem/router look on ebuyer cheep as chips solve all your problems ;)

Big Ken!.....i think you hit the nail square on the head! :)

adsl router it is!;)

[adam s]

I am just looking at the Orange option now - and although I already have an ethernet modem I would really like the extra phoneline (VoIP) and free national and international phonecalls they allow for just £5 a month......

[Soarer]

They cold called me yesterday to sell me this. I am not in a position to move at the moment, but it certainly sounded like an excellent deal.