Which Broadband

[lurker]

This might sound like a strange question to most of you.
Currently I have no broadband at home, have managed on a dial up. Most stuff is done from work, SWMBO too.

I now want summat at home.
I believe Talk Talk is poor tech support.
I was thinking of BT or Virgin
Who is actually "behind" Tesco's
I don't want a wireless free system as I want to use my works lap top at home & for security these are not allowed.
My current dial up is Free-online & have had no trouble for 5-6 years.

Obvisous I want as cheap as I can.
I'm fairly computer illiterate regards fire walls & virus thingys & Spam traps all the rest ( that's what the IT Dept is for!!) so would like a system that covers this too ( if practicable).

What other things do I need to consider?
What recommendations do you have??



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[yo_chuci]

are you in a virgin area?
how fast do you want?
how much do you want to spend?
do you have sky?

what do you mean by "I don't want a wireless free system as I want to use my works lap top at home & for security these are not allowed." ?

or why don't you just look at plus.net (who have taken over free-online)
10gb allowance, up to 8meg speed (depending on distance from exchange as usual) 5.99per month? don't just sign up tho have a search around and see what others have...

for reference i have 10meg virgin with phone and weekend and evening calls £19 per month... if i didn't have virgin would have works own (staff discounts etc) or sky... i have sky so braodband would be free or £5 for better speed tho i think i'm to far from exchange as its bt based...

 

[lurker]

are you in a virgin area?
how fast do you want?
how much do you want to spend?
do you have sky?

what do you mean by "I don't want a wireless free system as I want to use my works lap top at home & for security these are not allowed." ?

or why don't you just look at plus.net (who have taken over free-online)
10gb allowance, up to 8meg speed (depending on distance from exchange as usual) 5.99per month? don't just sign up tho have a search around and see what others have...

for reference i have 10meg virgin with phone and weekend and evening calls £19 per month... if i didn't have virgin would have works own (staff discounts etc) or sky... i have sky so braodband would be free or £5 for better speed tho i think i'm to far from exchange as its bt based...

Hi Yo,

I think we must be in a Virgin area as they keep sending me cards :lol:
Currently BT and the thought of a combined package is interesting but how trouble free??
I don't want Sky

How fast -have'nt a clue but I don't download film music etc and have no intention of doing so.
How much - as little as possible for an silly person proof & trouble free system.

Ta for info about plus net - what sort of a reputation do they have.

I need to connect my works lap top with a "wire" before I can go onto the company intranett & my lotus notes etc.

 

[wizer]

I have just changed from BE to Sky. This was mainly down to cost, but also BE was getting slower and slower for web browsing.

First impressions of Sky are ok. My laptop and PC connect fine with their free router and web browsing seems quicker than BE. However, for some reason I am unable to get missus laptop to connect to it. I'm currently in the process of re-building it.

The price is nice. I think it goes in stages Free, £5 and £10. I'm on the £10.

If you are currently a sky subscriber then I think you get some further discounts off the whole service.

HTH

 

[yo_chuci]

thanks wizer... thats why i asked if the op had sky, so he could get the free service...

don't know what plus.net are like... just thats who your with so might be easiest to upgrade rather than swap... email addresses might be able to be kept to...eg i have ntlworld.com email addresses even tho they changed to virgin whenever...

most suppliers now supply you with a broadband router/modem. these are normally wireless but with cat5 plugs on back so you can run wired...
the laptop will talk to the router via and address given to it via the router so it can then go onto the t'internet. in shouldn't matter if its wired or wireless the address will be the same.

eg if someone was going to hack into your network they would do it via the router anyway (wireless or over internet), so how anything is connected to it doesn't matter. the security on the laptop will help fend off attacks just as the security on the router will fend off attacks.

 

[beech1948]

If its a company laptop then they may restrict your use of the laptop to a broadband link to the company site. Most corporate IT depts will not permit your personal broadband to be linked in as its not properly secure or virus controlled. Obviously you will check.

They may provide you with Broardband to work at home and so you could use the works access to the internet from the corporate site maybe.

That aside I have just moved away from BT due to cost and decididly average performance. I now use O2 for all I can eat for £10 per month...it is of course linked to my mobile phone account.

O2 own Be so you get a Be style support and performance and they seem to be fine.

The wireless router included is OK and has 4xports of ethernet connection should you want a wired solution..

regards
Alan

 

[lurker]

No Sky - I have enough rubbish with the terrestial stations thanks :twisted:

I need to look further at the virgin "package" I think.

My gut feeling was that BT were poor value

O2 not an option - I only have a company mobile

Any opinions on talk talk & tescos??

Do any of these incorporate Spam filters as I'm aware they are the bane of peoples lives ( my works system currently protect me from this so I am rather innocent /naive.

 

[andycktm]

If you go here

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/MYSEM

Do an exchange search it will tell you what you can get.
Plusnet were second to none when i was with them,but i would forget the capped gear.I'm also with o2 £7-50 a month brilliant

 

[lurker]

Thanks!
Thats the sort of personal recommendation I was looking for.

Just checked through Plus net about availablility -says I'll get 4 meg, smeg, MPH, whatever :roll:

,but i would forget the capped gear.

That bit above wizzed over my head -please explain (pretend you are addressing a half wit!)

 

[woodbloke]

We changed from AOHell to Tiscali which don't appear too bad. T'internet browsing is reasonable and we used Firefox as a browser - Rob

 

[bullseye]

I would give Talk Talk a wide berth as they bought OneTel who's CS was really bad.

I can say the above with the greatest of confidence as I worked in one of OneTels UK call centres and was sacked for doing my job right and actually caring. GRRR enough said

 

[andycktm]

Sorry lurker,i was just meaning a usage cap on it.
And Plusnet have caps.
o2 is £12-50 a month without a mobile.

 

[matt]

Can't complain about Virgin. I was with NTL before Virgin took over. I have broadband, TV, and phone - all in one with V+ for the TV. I've not used any other for ages so can't really offer a comparison.

The only word of warning... Although I've been with Virgin/NTL for a while, I have experienced their initial install about 5 times:

1. My previous flat analogue.
2. My previous flat upgrade to digital.
3. My wife's previous flat digital install.
4. My family home digital install.
5. My family home upgrade to V+.

So, I'd say I'm quite experienced... Don't expect it to go right first time. I fairly certain that on every single occasion I've found that I needed to be the conduit between the left and right hands of Virgin/NTL. In fairness to Virgin, only the last install was wholly theirs. All the earlier ones were NTL. What tends to happen is the installer is in and out in a flash, leaving you with a setup which will be "up and running in an hour or so once they've done their bit." Or something very similar. Invariably something is amiss and I've had to spend some time on the phone. The good news is that Virgin is very easy to get through to compared to NTHell.

Other than that... Service seems reliable on the whole and when it does go wrong they tend to be quick to fix.

 

[brianhabby]

I'm with Plus Net and can't recommend them highly enough. Yes they do have caps but you are unlikely to exceed them anyway. They also have a 'use as much as you like at night' deal which doesn't impact at all on your daily usage. This is really designed for those people who do large downloads such as films etc which you have indicated you are not interested in.

I'm not sure what the current costs are but you could easily check their website.

Plus Net also make it possible to actually get serious discounts off the cost of your broadband by recommending other users, what they call a referrals discount - recommend it to enough people and they could even finish up paying you...!

Something else to consider, especially if you might need their tech support help, is that Plus Net are one of the few ISPs that have a regular geographical telephone number - none of this 0870 nonsense.

Oh, and BTW, Plus Net are owned by BT but operate completely independently.

Hope the above is of some help.

regards

Brian

 

[andycktm]

Although Plusnet was a very good service 3+ years ago,they were already starting to get the old B.T greed when i left.
I mean whats all this???

Plusnet Unlimited Broadband starts at £11.99 a month for the first 3 months.
If you live in one of our low cost areas you'll then pay £15.99 a month thereafter.
If you live outside of one of these areas you'll then pay £19.99 a month thereafter.

Thats got to be discrimination hasn't it? i mean is it £15-99 or 19-99?
low cost area?

 

[Dave S]

eg if someone was going to hack into your network they would do it via the router anyway (wireless or over internet), so how anything is connected to it doesn't matter. the security on the laptop will help fend off attacks just as the security on the router will fend off attacks.

Use cat5 and no-one is going to sit outside your house in a car, with a laptop, break your wireless security and use your account for criminal purposes. (happened in our town last year).

I ran cat5 around my house, and I have wireless disabled on my router.

Dave

 

[kityuser]

I have experience with tesco, bt, tiscali, Bethere and hotchili (adslforless.co.uk).

Hotchilli were by far and away the best however pricey. Tiscali were the pits basically lied about the line rental package as they werent in my exchange.
Bethere is the ISP I'm stuck with at the mo. An ADSL2+ package that doesn't achieve any better speed than my old tiscali ADSL package. New tie ends, BT master socket in my house, bell/ring wire removed, changed port at the exchange....... all made no difference 3 meg when I should be getting 7 :?

tesco buy their service from other thus are always going to be more expensive, BT own the infastructure so can offer one of the best services (at a price!), in my experience (family and friends) steer clear of cable services (telewest aka virgin) as contention rates are poor and bandwidth is unpredictable (fine at 2AM but dives at 6-10PM).

horses for courses really, you get what you pay for (as learnt through experience).
I`d steer clear of capped services, however non-capped have FUPs....

Steve

 

[devonwoody]

You can usually work Virgin to the maximum discount, what ever quote you get they will quote cheaper, however they of course will up it at the next renewal and then you have to do a cold turkery on them.

Broadband on the whole is quite good, a couple of outrages in two years and they provide virus protection with their package.

 

[MIGNAL]

I've been with TalkTalk for 2 years. Customer service may be terrible but I can honestly say that I have never had the need to use them. Outages have been very rare. My speeds are excellent - at least they are if those speed checkers are anything to go by. Of course much of this depends on where you live, many TalkTalk customers are not experiencing the 7 meg that I seem to be getting.

 

[kityuser]

I've been with TalkTalk for 2 years. Customer service may be terrible but I can honestly say that I have never had the need to use them. Outages have been very rare. My speeds are excellent - at least they are if those speed checkers are anything to go by. Of course much of this depends on where you live, many TalkTalk customers are not experiencing the 7 meg that I seem to be getting.

careful of speedchecking sites, most ISPs prioritize the ports used to "appear" to be faster.

Best bet is to actually download a file and checkout the speed from the download stats, I usually use one of the linux distros from the UKC mirror, normally gives a very close estimation.

and of course sync speed of your ADSL modem is NOT necessarily your "internet speed" bottlenecks thru the BT backbone can cap off your bandwidth. The sync speed of your ADSL modem only indicates what comms speed you have with the modem in the exchange. Your actual speed is only going to be as fast as the narrowest bottle neck in the system (can be sync speed, BT backbone, ISP servers... the list goes on)

Steve