Reply to: Broadband ISP recommendations

[doodab]

Basically moving from one ISP to another where both use same wholesale provider at your exchange means only thing that is really changing is people who you will talk for customer service and who you send the check to

That was true in the early days and indeed until quite recently the BT IPStream products had fixed contention ratios but the latest ADSL2+ WBC tails have no fixed contention and highly configurable QoS. It also ignores the part played by the backhaul from the BT pop to the ISP and the ISPs internet connectivity.

[doodab]

Because if you don't you will going though a 3rd party (most likely BT wholesale) , which might be worse (higher contention ratios, worse equipment, slower at fixing problems at exchange so forth) than what you thought you were signing up for

Well, a it *might* be worse, but it could well be the best option. I wouldn't make avoiding BT at all costs a priority.

I was with an LLU provider for a while (bulldog, now defunct), and although they offered 8 meg broadband a while before BT the customer service they offered was abysmal. It took an age to get connected, and there were a few reliability issues at first, but the real problems occurred when they decided to bill me for someone else's account. Twice. On the second occasion they billed me the for the same (wrong) amount twice, and then had the cheek to cut me off because I hadn't paid *my* bill. I ended up taking them through the CISAS arbitration process simply because they refused to get my final bill correct, for two whole years, during which time they attempted to collect the "debt" (which was about £300 more than the £30 or so I actually owed them) via the courts. In the end I obtained compensation slightly greater than the entire amount I had paid them during the 18 months I was a customer.

My Zen (via BT wholesale) line, on the other hand, has flawlessly for the last four years, barring the two days they broke our phone for when they migrated us to the new 20mb service (although that *was* BT's fault, all our calls were going to someone else's house!).

[Platypus]

tulip service basically. ADSL24 Enta was good. Stable and I got my best download speed (just over 6meg) with them.

I was in the first 200 or so who volunteered to migrate to ADSL24's new supplier, Murphx which was, being trumpeted by ADSL24 as better than Enta.

My speed immediately lost a meg. Some nob told me it was 'just a synch' issue so I should reboot the router. Yeah right!

Since 12 April, my 'connection' last anything from 3 seconds to a couple of hours. It used to be stable for 250 hours on ADSL24 Enta.

With the frequent disconnects, my 'speed' is now in the toilet, down to 1.1meg although has recovered to 2.2meg. It never gets higher now.

Loads of people complaining on the unofficial forum about frequent disconnects and slow speed.

All this for £19.20 a month! Even tulip tiscali who I left managed to give me a good 3.5meg to 4meg for a tenner a month.

Right, thanks for the info. I used to get disconnects not long after the change over but as I speak now my connection has been stable for 207 hours (says the router) and I still get 8Mbps download speed (e.g. when a torrent is going full tilt). I'll keep sacrificing virgins to the sun gods in the meantime.

I hope you get it sorted.

[Not So Wise]

Why do you feel you *must have* an LLU provider?

You don’t have to, but if trying to improve your speeds generally better to, because if you don't you will going through a 3rd party (most likely BT wholesale) , which might be worse (higher contention ratios, worse equipment, slower at fixing problems at exchange so forth) than what you thought you were signing up for

For example, some study’s last year found anyone using BT or an 3rd party reselling ISP using them at local exchange were 20% slower at peak times, where anyone using O2 on a O2 LLU exchange had same consistent speed all day (but anyone using O2 on a non LLU exchange had same speeds as BT)

Basically moving from one ISP to another where both use same wholesale provider at your exchange means only thing that is really changing is people who you will talk for customer service and who you send the check to

[VectraMan]

Zen here too. I did have some flakiness a while back, but I don't think it was them, I think it was the line. But Zen support were very helpful. And I got a free upgrade from 8Mb to 20Mb last year (in practice I get ~16Mb).

[BolshieBastard]

Since the switch, my ADSL24 service remains fine (touch wood).

Out of interest, what problems are you having? You've got me worried now

tulip service basically. ADSL24 Enta was good. Stable and I got my best download speed (just over 6meg) with them.

I was in the first 200 or so who volunteered to migrate to ADSL24's new supplier, Murphx which was, being trumpeted by ADSL24 as better than Enta.

My speed immediately lost a meg. Some nob told me it was 'just a synch' issue so I should reboot the router. Yeah right!

Since 12 April, my 'connection' last anything from 3 seconds to a couple of hours. It used to be stable for 250 hours on ADSL24 Enta.

With the frequent disconnects, my 'speed' is now in the toilet, down to 1.1meg although has recovered to 2.2meg. It never gets higher now.

Loads of people complaining on the unofficial forum about frequent disconnects and slow speed.

All this for £19.20 a month! Even tulip tiscali who I left managed to give me a good 3.5meg to 4meg for a tenner a month.

[PRC1964]

I'm with Zen too. They recently doubled their allowance to 50Gb on their £21.27 per month package.

I can't think of a time in the last six years when there has been a problem with my connection and I work from home almost all of the time.

[doodab]

@OP - Got a few minutes to kill, so to give you some futher info on your hunt, find out what your local exchange is, then find out who the LLU operators are.

While for example O2 or BE might be great for many people, if they are not on your local exchange (aka going though another reseller or forwarding the traffic) you will probably not want to touch them

Once you find out who they are look for the plans and reviews on each one individually

And just pray you are not on blocked and overloaded exchange like i am , then it is impossible to get a LLU operator with space and will probably remain like that for logn time (was told to check back in 6 months by all the ones on my exchange)

London, walking distance from Canary wharf and unable to get decent bloody connection, so much for digital britain

SamKnows Broadband - Availability - Broadband Availability Checker will help you find out who your providers are.

Why do you feel you *must have* an LLU provider?

[Platypus]

Time to switch from ADSL24 who used to deliver a good stable service when Enta were their supplier. Since switching to ADSL24 Murphx, its gone, well, tulip actually.

Since the switch, my ADSL24 service remains fine (touch wood).

Out of interest, what problems are you having? You've got me worried now

[Not So Wise]

@OP - Got a few minutes to kill, so to give you some futher info on your hunt, find out what your local exchange is, then find out who the LLU operators are.

While for example O2 or BE might be great for many people, if they are not on your local exchange (aka going though another reseller or forwarding the traffic) you will probably not want to touch them

Once you find out who they are look for the plans and reviews on each one individually

And just pray you are not on blocked and overloaded exchange like i am , then it is impossible to get a LLU operator with space and will probably remain like that for logn time (was told to check back in 6 months by all the ones on my exchange)

London, walking distance from Canary wharf and unable to get decent bloody connection, so much for digital britain

[Moscow Mule]

Opposite to a recommendation, don’t go near Demon internet.

Are they still going?

They were unmitagated ***** to me at one point (charging for a service cancelled 2 years previous) with quite bolshy staff - not a hint of service.

I reported them to the CC company for fraud in the end.

[Not So Wise]

Opposite to a recommendation, don’t go near Demon internet. If everything is fine then they are ok (but that can be said about any company) but as soon as you have a problem all you will hear in an Indian accent again and again is the following

“Reset router”,
“turn computer on and off”,
“Check on pc on computer”
“It’s your equipment at fault”

Even after trying 3 different routers and problems affecting half a dozen PC’s in the house and the whole thing being intermittent (it was obvious to anyone with more than 2 grams of IT know how it was a problem either at their servers or at the exchange).

And just completely forget getting to speak 2nd line personal for real investigation/solution, hell don’t think there is anybody working for demon in the UK except sales anymore

Sad really, way back when, they used to be one of the best ISP’s, these days would rate them at the bottom and charging a premium for the privilege

[Moscow Mule]

If you're in a cabled street, Virgin.

There's something quite liberating about 50meg download speeds.

[doodab]

I have been with Zen Internet for years, they aren't the cheapest but have good service, a one month contract so you can leave at any time and they are explicit about bandwidth allowances and costs. They also offer 1 or 8 statically allocated IP addresses at no cost which is handy.

[Spacecadet]

I'm with sky, the top level service gives unlimited downloads.
I think sky are the few ISPs who have stood by their unlimited means unlimited and not tried to throttle or cap for excessive usage.

Having said that, where I live the phonelines are crap and the best speed we can get is 3mpbs. Ping times vary wildly as well. Great one minute, shocking the next.