Finding new ISP (UK)

[miggols99]

I am currently using Sky Broadband, which is great value, but has terrible support, very restrictive (I changed the firmware from Sky's own on the router to get better reliability but they didn't like it) and very unreliable (before the upgrade the internet cut out frequently). So I'm looking around for a good ISP people can recommend for someone in the UK. I don't want any download limits if that's possible, and lets me do what I please (it slows down if I download an ISO or something large).

[benerivo]

I'd take all ISP recommendations with a pinch of salt. I'm with Sky and it's fast and has never once cut out. I've heard so many conflicting experiences with ISP's that i now believe it's just the luck of the draw for what service you get. Virgin may be a good safe choice as a cable connection is very reliable, and i know existing customers can haggle the price of their packages. Don't go with Tiscali, as nearly everything i've heard about them is negative.

[gn2]

Is there really any truly unlimited ISP in the UK, they all have some restrictions or another buried in the small print as far as I know.

I'm with Namesco who are very open about their bandwidth allocation.
Not the cheapest by a long way but excellent and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Surfanytime are worth considering, but again not unlimited downloads.

[miggols99]

Is O2 any good? I have had a look around and most seem to point to them. Others seem to have very high prices...Here's what I've found out:


Tiscali - Definately no
BT - No
O2 - Yes?
Be - Not sure
Virgin - No due to bad experiences with NTL (previous name of Virgin)
Surfanytime - Too expensive

[tenmillionmilesaway]

I'm with plus.net and have always found them to be reliable. They place download limits during peak times (mine is 8gig for the month) but midnight to 8am is limit free and does not contribute to your total for the month.

Its also very easy to track your usage so you can tell when you are about to go over your limit (after which you get throttled).

Richard

[intense.ego]

I am with BE (bethere.co.uk) and they are excellent. Fast speeds (24meg down 1.3meg up), pretty reliable, almost completely unlimited (download over 350gb a month and still no complaints), and is only 18 quid,

[Kernel Sanders]

If you can get BE, go with them :guitar:

[Cadmus]

I'm on Be, I think I came on just after they did my local exchange and there was a fair bit of outage, but they text you and tell you when there's work on (these day's it's usually 3-4am, and it's getting less frequent). The speeds are blistering and they don't give a toss what you do with the bandwidth (up to some stupid amount).

"Hey, why's my torrent only going at 1.2kb/s? Oh... wait... that's 1.2Mb/s" :)

[Paqman]

(I changed the firmware from Sky's own on the router to get better reliability but they didn't like it)

How did you manage that? I wasn't able to flash the firmware on mine.

[ssam]

have a look through http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=690432 a few of us recommend ukfsn

[helliewm]

I stick with BT because I can pay them quarterly on my phone bill. I bought me own Draft N Belkin router and did not use their Home Hub. I do not use their BT Internet email account I use Fastmail and Tuffmail. BT are fine I have had no problems and excellent uptime. Its never been down in about 4 years. So yes in terms of reliability I would go for BT. I have their Option 3 package. I have to admit they are not cheap.

Helen

[steeleyuk]

I'm with Eclipse. They're pretty reasonable and usually I get good speeds. They only have a download limit in peak hours too if I remember right.

[epimer]

I'm also with Eclipse. Only complaint would be that it can get a bit slow around peak hours (9-12 weeknights), but then I am on the lowest contention ratio option. Other than that, great service, no fuss, and haven't come close to the peak time download limit yet.

BeThere does look good, though, and I can get it in my area. Might see about switching. 24 Mb/s for £18!

[zeDuffMan]

BT is fine for me. I can download at 800kbps and torrents are only throttled between 6pm and midnight. As long as you don't regularly download more than 125GB per month (how does anyone do that anyway?) you won't run into problems with the fair usage policy that they have on the "unlimited" bandwidth they offer on Option 3. And although I've heard people having constant problems with the Home Hub, mine works just fine and I can connect to the net through my Mac and my Xbox 360 at any time with no problems whatsoever. An all-round decent experience, really.

[markp1989]

im with AOL, i dont know the price because i dont pay, my parents do, but we have been usong them for as long as i remember, it says that it is unlimited, and i have been using it for about 5/6 years adn never had any trouble with limits, i have downloaded over 20gb a week without any letters or internet slowing down.

how ever, there customer support it totaly ****, i phoned them up because my router was not getting a connection to the internet, and they started asking me where i got my computer from ands told me to call the manufacture which i didnt, after abut an hour of arguing they sorted it out

[proalan]

reviving an old thread because I'm looking for a new ISP in the UK

I was with AOL who were great until carphone warehouse took over and ruined what used to be a good service back in early 2007.

Can anyone recommend some reliable and honest services (unlimited!=40GB cap)?
Although I'm not a download junkie and I have no problem with capping if its reasonable.

My BT line is capable of 8Mb downtime and 1Mb upstream.

I've read good things about www.bethere.co.uk

I would appreciate any suggestions or recommendations.

[wrtpeeps]

If you can get bethere / o2, I'd go with them.