Broadband Isp Providers

[Dave-Ellen]

OK,

finally going to kick aol into touch........

which is the best broadband provider ?

Will be a heavy user.........cant do cable.

All advice greatfully accepted..........

will tell them i'm non business & 1 PC (will then do a network thingy)

[TonyGoose]

www.adslguide.org

[Steve]

BT has been spot on for me.. no probs at all! in all the years I have only ever known it to be down for 10 mins

[Monster-Mat]

im on T-dsl no help to you i know, but twas nice to get it out into the open

[Bazza]

BT has been spot on for me.. no probs at all! in all the years I have only ever  known it to be down for 10 mins

←

and me, home and office, had a few years as well, no real problems as yet

i am on unrestricted , cant be hassled with watching how long i spend on it

starting to look at 1mb connection, getting tempted :duh:

[Dave-Ellen]

that bt yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ?

[ColinBarber]

I'm with BT Yahoo, expensive but seem ok although I've never needed their support. My company pays for the connection, if I had it myself I probably wouldn't use them.

My brother in law has just moved from BT to Pipex and said their support is so much better - instantly get through without holding and speak to people who listen and know what they are talking about.

[Dave-Ellen]

tried the pipex website........asked me to put my number in........i did and again .............and again..............and again............not a good omen !

will have a look at BT.................

[Bazza]

that bt yahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ?

←

no bt broadband , :D

[aido]

That website Tony posted gives you good indications Dave, personally I've spent a few years now on DSL with Clara (and a few years on POTS with them before that) and changed a few months back to Zen.

In my experience Clara had been faultless for years but problems starting occurring with the service a little too often for my liking, so I made the move to Zen - then changed to the 1MB connection a couple of months back - would have liked to go much higher but the line is borderline for 2MB so they won't offer it :(

Zen have been fine so far (touches wood), no problems and everything just works - that's just the way I like it :)

[TonyGoose]

Been with Nildram for a couple of years now no probs.

Some guys at work use PlusNet and are pleased with them.

I'd say it may be wise to avoid the bargain basement isp's.

Seen several times now they go under or have big issues.

[Dave-Ellen]

Good stuff chaps............

am investigating........

[Steve]

dont Zen, Clara, Nildram, and all the rest use the BT infrastructure?

[aido]

Steve, sort of mate, all your data is tunnelled across the initial BT ATM infastructure to the ISP's network gateway - at this point you're in your ISPs network, this is why they're not always equal since only part of the same BT infrastructure is used...

Not sure if Clara switched to Bulldog or some Spanish ISP for their DSL nowadays, that was as I was leaving...

[TonyGoose]

dont Zen, Clara, Nildram, and all the rest use the BT infrastructure?

←

They all use the 'BT Wholesale' core infrastructure.

But they have differing capacity pipes into it from their own networks.

'BT Retail' (who you buy from) also uses 'BT Wholesale' infrastructure.

BT Retail is (in theory at least) completely seperate from BT Wholesale.

As such, it has to compete on equal terms with the other non BT isp's.

In fact, BT Retail are looking at local loop unbundling just like the others.

So, could end up with BT Retail putting their own kit in BT Wholesale's exchanges :duh:

[Steve]

I have used

Nildram

Pipex

Zen

and BT.. out of the 4 BT comes up trumps

Pipex being the worst... Still use Zen and nildram at work

Not saying any are really bad.. but more downtime than BT have ever done in 3 years

[ColinBarber]

My BT Yahoo/openworld connection used to drop now and again, mainly at night for a few minutes but once during the day for about an hour. However since upgrading to 1Mb it has been stable for months.

[MrADeveci]

NTL - Baby !!

[Wosket]

me ma's just got a 1mb deal from wanadoo for £17.99 a month.

good idea putting aol into touch if u can ever get rid of their software! had various clients who just cant get rid of the damn thing

[Kremmen]

I'm another Pipex fan (pronounced PipX apparently).

Been with them on a Solo500 for 2 years and never had a problem. I have also recommended 3 others who also have no complaints.

Costs me £23.44 a month (£19.99 plus VAT) with no download restrictions.

In a recent Which? magazine report they came 5th :)

[Rodders_UK]

I'm using a BT 1MB connection - been rock solid - very happy

[Rodders_UK]

I'm using a BT 1MB connection - been rock solid - very happy

[mcwatson]

I'm watching this with interest cos I'm also looking for 1mb connection. Only thing I can add at the moment is DON'T go near Tiscali. Been with them for a few years but last 12 months have been hell and it takes days, sometimes 2 weeks for their customer service people to come back to you. Link drops regularly and when its up, its much slower than it should!!

[mcwatson]

By the way, look at website ADSL4LESS.CO.UK. They do 512k link with static IP and no download limits for £14.99 and cheap migration.

Don't know what the service is like though! They are apparently going to release a good value 1MB link shortly.

[Lexus Jim]

pipex here on 1meg. pretty good