UK Broadband Providers.

[Laughing Man]

I am currently with UK Online, or as they are rapidly becoming know as 'the joke'. I have been with them for over a year and to be honest up until a week ago I would have recommended them to anyone looking for BB. However I am impetuous my loves and hates are short lived and can change at the drop of a hat.

So of the last six days four of them have been spent with the most god awful service I have ever encountered. To say slower than 56K dial up wouldn't be far off the truth.

Their service info says nothing wrong with their system
Speedtest doesn't load at all because the service is so crap
I have had to resort to file downloads to judge speed and these go from 30KB/s to less than a 1KB/s and constantly fluctuate

Now moving back to my impetuous and ever changing mood as far as I am concerned if I am paying for 8Meg unlimited to suddenly be reduced to less than dial up speeds from 4pm to about 10pm for no reason whatsoever moves their once very good service in to the realms of unacceptable.

I had this issue last year at about the same time which lasted for one day and a call to their support desk was about as much use as a waterproof tea bag. That ineffect means that when I do call their tech support it will be to request my MAC number.

So I am currently straining my way through the vast number of BB providers (a task in itself since I have to use my currently crap BB providers joke of a service to do the job.)

So far I've found Zen, Plusnet and Be all of which seem to offer good, RELIABLE (a key factor) service. Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[ChocoCake]

Well, I am in Canada, so I cannot really suggest anything to you. But I do have similar problems with my ISP. I am with Rogers Hi-Speed (So-called), and it is probably the most inconsistent ISP out there. I have a theory that it might be bottlenecked in my neighbourhood because of all the homes going in, and them just branching out, instead of putting in new lines, but it is still ridiculous. I cannot manage to get them over here, they keep saying I need to give them really random information (like Mother's maiden name), but all I want is a technician to come down and fix the fucking problem.
So ya...sorry I cannot help, just thought I would join in on the ranting.

 

[Dele]

If you download a lot of P2P files they might slow your connection speed though I am sure that is not the case. All I can say is whine A LOT (maybe they will do something) and try to look for a better ISP.

 

[Jamash]

I'm with O2, and because I have a mobile contract with them I get 8meg unlimited (fair usage) for £7.50 a month (half-price).

My house actually can't get broadband faster than about 3.5mbs due to the distance of the telephone exchange, so their minimum speed broadband is more than adequate.

Reliability wise, we've had a few network time outs (infrequent), nothing major or what I would describe as 'broken', but I thinks that's more due to our wireless network inside our house, than the internet being supplied to it.

Apart from that I haven't really had any problems with it, and it's hell of a lot better than AOL service which we had before. Their customer service is top notch too.

Also I've never had any problems gaming on X-box Live with it.

 

[Rezfon]

I use Sky Broadband and I've had no problems with them so far. It costs £5 a month for 8Mb with 40GB download limit. It does me for what I use the internet for, but you need to have sky tv for them to let you get it that cheap.

 

[ZantetsukenQ]

I wasn't a big fan of plus net. The service was rather toss at times and I would experience spikes of bandwidth. Currently Sky is sorting us out with internet, and there aren't any problems. The service is good, and the connection is always stable. You could also try BlueYonder (cable) broadband. Theres a £30 a month package for TV, Phone and broadband, which is always nice. Again, the sevice is really good, although I found that depending on how many users there are in your household, the connection can be really shitty and unstable.

My 2 cents .. or pence.

 

[Zer_]

I wasn't a big fan of plus net. The service was rather toss at times and I would experience spikes of bandwidth. Currently Sky is sorting us out with internet, and there aren't any problems. The service is good, and the connection is always stable. You could also try BlueYonder (cable) broadband. Theres a £30 a month package for TV, Phone and broadband, which is always nice. Again, the sevice is really good, although I found that depending on how many users there are in your household, the connection can be really shitty and unstable.

My 2 cents .. or pence.

WOW you euros get cheap broadband. Over here it's well over $100 a month for TV, Internet, Phone.

 

[ZantetsukenQ]

I wasn't a big fan of plus net. The service was rather toss at times and I would experience spikes of bandwidth. Currently Sky is sorting us out with internet, and there aren't any problems. The service is good, and the connection is always stable. You could also try BlueYonder (cable) broadband. Theres a £30 a month package for TV, Phone and broadband, which is always nice. Again, the sevice is really good, although I found that depending on how many users there are in your household, the connection can be really shitty and unstable.

My 2 cents .. or pence.

WOW you euros get cheap broadband. Over here it's well over $100 a month for TV, Internet, Phone.

Granted that the £30 package is only 2 meg (or is it 4), it's still a damn good deal. What kind of connection do you folks get for that $100 package?

 

[Darzok]

Sky broadband is poor don't get it what ever you do form around mid day til l2pm the 8mb deal is so god dam slow i would be happy with 5k never mind 56k.

 

[Laughing Man]

If you download a lot of P2P files they might slow your connection speed though I am sure that is not the case. All I can say is whine A LOT (maybe they will do something) and try to look for a better ISP.

My download is about 8gig per month. They have an unlimited fair usage policy that says nothing about P2P but since any P2P I do download I encode they can't tell what's what. Some new houses are going in where I live but the service loves to go on about it's low 20:1 contention ratio (the service I signed up for and pay for) and as for complaining. Well I don't complain I just do. My theory is simple why should I phone them spend x amount of time complaining and moaning to get the service I am paying for and should be getting anyway?

Like I said if I phone them it will be to request my MAC code and cancel my contract not to complain.

 

[Blue Sonnet]

I used to work for Vgin (edited because I want to work there again when they've stopped the layoffs, I don't want to get into any trouble!) so I've a couple of tips, and Tiscali used to be good service - I'll ask someone I know who is still with them and come back to you.

1: Almost all BB providers quote their price sans BT line rental, so remember this will up the price (I used to get some pissed off people on the phone once I explained Sky had 'forgotten' to tell them that when comparing to us)

2: The speed quoted is often shared via an exchange, so if a lot of people are online, you won't get the high speed you've been told you have. Watch the ads - every single damn one of them says "up to xMB speed"

3: Not a hard and fast rule, but try to get a provider which has a UK call centre - outsourcing tends to show more of a concern for saving money as opposed to customer satisfaction.

4: Avoid ones where you get a 'free' laptop - the contracts are more expensive than others, meaning that you eventually end up paying for the laptop after a year or two, and you're stuck with a contract for longer than you would otherwise.

I'll bet everyone knows these already, but saying it again won't do any harm...

Try to find some online forums where people discuss this - if there are service complaints, they WILL be online.

 

[kapzer]

o2 broadband = be unlimited. o2 use be's service, so either one of those two are magnificent providers - I haven't gone wrong yet, and never had a speed below 800kb/s download

Edit: They have a 24/7 UK call centre support line.