Broadband Internet access

[Knot Competent]

We've just had a phone bill from BT, and realise that our 2Mb access is costing us £77 + VAT per quarter. :shock:

I can see us moving to another provider in the near future, but would appreciate some advice from those in the know. We only got BT broadband available in this area for the first time about three years ago. Can we now get, for example, Tiscali to be our provider, or are we still limited to BT? Tiscali are charging £53.97 per quarter for what seems to be the same level of service.

Does anyone have any advice, or can name a supplier to avoid like the plague?

Regards, John in Bideford, where we're having gas street lighting installed soon!

 

[mr]

Hi
Id have a look at the Nildram offering, they do various levels of service at various pricepoints and have always seemed reliable and helpful. www.nildram.co.uk

 

[Michael S]

Hi John,

You could do worse than looking at:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

Tiscali is, by all acounts, one to avoid. I've heard good things about both Zen & F2S but can't vouch for either. If you aren't a heavy user then you can perhaps save quite a bit with a capped service.

-Michael (who uses NTL broadband )

 

[Alf]

John,

Stick Broadband into the forum search and you should find lots of useful and/or confusing stuff.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Knot Competent]

I've spent most of the evening looking at all the offers, Alf, and it doesn't help that I don't know what my usage is. I mean, I know it's quite heavy, but HOW heavy is heavy? It seems caps of 2, 6 and 30 GB are available, but the thought of joining up then having to upgrade, or try to downgrade (now there's a laugh!) fills me with dread.

John, confused and heavy of heart.

 

[RogerS]

John

Do you really need 2Mbps? Take a look at Metronet or Zen 512Mbps rates...both ISPs are first rate. I just dumped BT broadband for Zen. The migration was seamless. Dead easy too. But Metronet are also very price competitive.

Roger

 

[Knot Competent]

It's all right for you, Roger. You live in Malvern. But where I live is waaaay down toward the end of the telephone line, and the signal is so weak it just trickles by. In it's dying breath it just reaches Alf, even slower than here, and stops dead just before Lands End, where they still send messages by semaphore.

But seriously, dial-up used to drive me daft, and 1 whatever-it-was Broadband was so much better, then went to 2 whatevers, which is twice as good. As I get older I find I become more impatient, not more mellow and forgiving as I expected to, and I don't think I could go back to snail-speed internet access. I can remember sitting waiting for something to download, wondering if it would complete before I died! I sometimes nodded off, and woke up to find the blessed thing had disconnected on me while my eyes were shut. Oh, this is bring the memories back! NO! I couldn't go back to that, any more than I could go back to putting two jumpers on if it was cold, rather than bump the central heating up a notch or two. But thanks for your suggestions, I'll follow the leads you've given me.

Regards, John

 

[wizer]

i think you'll be hard pushed to really notice the difference between 1 and 2 meg

 

[Knot Competent]

I think you could well be right, WiZeR. I really didn't notice much improvement when BT upped it from 1 to 2 thingies, and it'll save a bit of cash to go back a step.

John

 

[Alf]

John,

You could run a usage monitor for a bit and find out how heavy a user you are, or go for an uncapped service...

Cheers, Alf

 

[Knot Competent]

Alf,

Wassa usage monitor? Big green lizard with a flicking tongue? Would I know what it was if I saw one?

I'd be grateful if anyone can tell me how to monitor my usage, as I don't have a clue.

Regards, John

 

[Alf]

Something like this.

Cheers, Alf

P.S. Took far too long for the monitor/lizard penny to drop. :lol:

 

[ike]

Beware the small print of Tiscali's generous looking package. Whatever service you receive (or not as the case may be) it ties you to min 12 months payment- by credit card only, - so no simple cancelling your direct debit and two fingers if they pee you off. Also if you move somewhere else where you can't get their service - tough, you still have to pay for the remainder of the contract.

Ike