Broadband providers in the UK - recommendations?

3stripe

I'm getting my BT phone line in a couple of weeks (5 weeks without net access!) Anyone getting a good deal on ADSL? I used an unlimited Pipex package previously which was great, but shared between 3 people so reasonably priced - looking for something under £20/month now I think...

Minisweeper

I'd recommend ntl/telewest (which is now ukcable) if you're in the area. Otherwise I've used nildram in a few areas with no problems and its pretty cheap.

Looking under £20 a month with no cap might be a bit more challenging though. And I'd recommend avoiding MAX services unless you're close to your exchange - I've heard bad things.

3stripe

Hmmm. I have never heard anything good about NTL's customer service which is what's putting me off that route. I'm realising that you can get up to 8megs but limited to 2GB for £17.99 from tons of different suppliers, so it must be a standard offer at the moment. I might actually go with BT I think and get their new 'hub' widget... and save my greedy downloading for when at work

Minisweeper

I'd be surprised if you heard *good* things about any customer service, anywhere, ever. Ntl's isnt terribly appauling though it's not fantastic either. The main thing is how often you have need to call them and for me that's not been for a very long time so far as my broadband service goes.

The 8meg offer is the adsl max product, which wont always be 8meg. And I've heard a lot of users who upgraded to it and then went back to their old service cause it kept dropping or running slowly or whatever.

I've also heard the new BT hub is dreadful. Though that was off a very cynical person... I think it's alright unless you're an 'advanced user' who might actually want to get into it and play with the settings a bit. It looks like a nice bit of kit in theory though.

Dinoboff

For the connection, depends where you live, which networks are available (cables, bt, other), if they are good in your area.

For customer service, my sister is using Wanadoo. She lost her connection for more than 1 month. Even, if I explain them it wasn't a problem with the login/password, with the modem (I tried with different ones) or with the computer ( I tried with 2 laptops)...They always made me check the login/password, reinstalled the drivers and reset the router... I don't think it is specific to wanadoo. What was really bad is that they doesn't seem to have records of your previous calls and that each time I called them I had to argue to not again have to check the password, reinstalled the drivers and reset the router...

After some few days, the finally planed to test her line. I had to wait one week and some calls for them to really test her line.

Then they had to ask BT to check what was wrong with her adsl line. I Had to call wanadoo, re-explain the problem to the wanadoo guy for them to describe it to bt guy, and wait for an engineer from bt to call me. Well it must be difficult for them to contact bt, because I had to repeat my call 3 times for finally receive a call from bt. They finally fixed the problem after one month of trouble and a £100 bill of classic internet connection. (also have to call 2 times to have her money back)

I myseld used virgin broadband. I didn't stay enought to compare the customer service.

I am now using Telewest since 6 month and I havn't get any problems.

timberford

i'm with eclipse up to 8mb for £15 a month. £9.99 for first 3 months.

cap is 20gb per month on peak (6pm - 12pm every day). off peak is unlimited.

adsl guide is the place for all the independant info.

3stripe

cheers guys. eclipse sounds like a better deal than most :)

giginger

http://www.bethere.co.uk looks quite natty.

Minisweeper

Hah. I just came here to suggest that. It's pretty limited area though.

giginger

Yeah, I wish I was in the limited area. I can get 1.5meg at best in my area.

3stripe

Not available in Glasgow until November from the looks of it.

Minisweeper

You're moving to glasgow? Give up spending money on broadband and put it into defences and armoury!

3stripe

I've lived in Glasgow for 7 years and not a scratch to show for it cheers!

Minisweeper

Well what you been doing with yourself then lad? Get in there!

3stripe

Not getting knifed = good

strawberries

thanks for the heads-up on Eclipse........looks the business for 15 quid a month (9.99 for first 3 months). I pay 25 quid a month with my present lot.

3stripe

I've just signed up for Eclipse... it's gonna be £9.99/month for the first year, unlimited off-peak downloads and 20gb/month for on-peak downloads!!!

If anyone's planning to sign up I can refer you on, give me a shout ;-)

3stripe

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm back online again at home

LoOkOuT

Had eclipse for a few years (I've since emigrated, so that's my only reason for leaving them) and can't complain about anything. Good service all around.

3stripe

I've had it up to ^here with Eclipse - slow service (sometimes only 5kbps) for 3 months, bandwidth throttling (esp on p2p), shite customer service, and even slower service in the evening (like 1/4 of the speed in the morning.

Hunt for new provider begins again.

I am almost tempted to take Virgin's cable broadband and ditch my phone line alltogther. But I ain't convinced by them quite yet...

Any of you guys still with Eclipse?

Lunch

I'm in Glasgow and on Virgin, have been for years.

20 mb/s down, 1-ish mb/s up. They'll cap you for a little bit if you go over a certain limit, but it's only for a day or so.

From wikipedia:

The cable broadband services do not have a bandwidth-cap, however on 3 May 2007 Virgin introduced traffic management. This means that customers have unlimited usage and need pay no extra charges related to the amount of data downloaded, however between 4pm (or sometimes earlier) and midnight, the system will reduce speeds after a customer has downloaded a certain amount of data (350 MB for the 2Mb package, 750 MB for the 4Mb package and 3 GB for the 10/20Mb package). The actual speed decrease depends on the package subscribed to, and ranges from 50% to 75%.

There are occasions where you won't get your full speeds but it's usually not enough to stop you using. Customer service is also great, but I've only ever had to call them a few times.

So yeah, another Virgin vote from me.