Help with connection

[Jamienra]

My connection at my house is awful and I was wondering if anyone from the UK would be able to tell me what the best provider and router to get are

I'm with Talk Talk and I have a Netgear router, I usually have two Ipods, a laptop, an Xbox and 2 computers running at the same time, although even with just one of them running my connection is quite slow and the area I live in doesn't have the best signal.
Some people have said that I should go with BT and get a BT homehub but I just wanted the opinion of the escapist seeing as many of you are PC gamers and probably know the bet way to max your connection

So who would you reccomend?

EDIT: I am a little far away from my router but not far enough that it should pose a problem, I was hoping someone could give me the name of a strong router or should I just get a repeater

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

Oh [deity], I'm currently with Talktalk, and they are the worst internet provider I have ever used (And their routers are crap as well >.>).
Best provider I've ever had is AOL, I had a great internet connection with them.
Well, that's all I can say. Hope that may have helped.

 

[dsmops2003]

If you are connecting via wireless router your Internet Service Provider doesn't really matter. You are probably too far away from your wireless router. I have wireless at my house but I do not use it. Its only for guests. Wireless is 1) slower 2) less reliable 3) less secure. Try using a wired connection and see if you get better results.

Edit: if you are on wireless 1) secure your connection and 2) don't publish your SSID

 

[thejdcole]

Ok i use a BT homehub (wirelessly) and get about 200KB/s download speed. Which is awesome seeing as how i live about 5 miles away from the phone exchange. P.S. i also have 2 PCs and an Xbox running on my homehubs wifi.

*Edit* try hardwiring one of your PCs into the router and see if your connection improves.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

I'm currently just with BT, on their Total Broadband package with the standard BT Wireless Homehub router. I've never had less that two bar reception and usually have all four bars. The thing to do is go to the BT website and enter your postcode: they'll give you your area's coverage and an estimate of the kind of speeds you can expect.

 

[Jamienra]

Do you really need the wireless? In all honesty I used to use wireless because it was the lazy way out, but lulls in connection etc made me realise that it is a lot better in the long run to just route a 30 metre ethernet cable through the house. As for BT, my parents use BT in their house and the service is great, but it's quite pricey compared to others.

I think BE broadband was the best DSL provider in a recent survey

Sadly I do need the wireless as my parents dont want put any hokes in the floorboards or have the wire trailing around the walls/floors

 

[dsmops2003]

Go to your local hardware store and buy "fish tape" you can use this to easily run wire through walls and ceilings. You can buy wall plates with ethernet connections on them. I have done this in my house. Also having your house pre-wired with ethernet is a selling point.