Spec me an ISP, bitches!

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » June 2nd, 2009, 8:55

New flat, no t'internet yet (not got a BT line yet either)

Not planning to get any digital TV package this time so my broadband isn't tied in to Sky/Virgin/Tiscali etc.

Who do you use and what are your experiences of things like it being 'unlimited'?

Thanks!

Chickenz · Post by **Chickenz** » June 2nd, 2009, 9:06

Werd Bobbinz.

I'm with o2 now after using Pipex and Tiscali before. Excellent customer service, no speed capping (downloaded 60 odd Gb in a weekend and wasn't penalised) and good speeds.

Only problem with them has been their popularity. Loads of people signed up and their hardware couldn't cope but unlike other isp's who are burying their heads and capping people o2 are upgrading stuff to ease congestion.

Couldn't reccomend them enough.

amblin · Post by **amblin** » June 2nd, 2009, 9:10

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 2nd, 2009, 9:18

Be, no doubt.

Though, amblin lies, I have heard of a few people being asked to tone down their bandwidth use in the past, but I've done 500GB in a month with no issues, so it's not a cap anyone is ever likely to find

amblin · Post by **amblin** » June 2nd, 2009, 10:33

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 2nd, 2009, 10:58

amblin wrote:Blimeh, that's a damned high bar berk!

It's still got a fair use thing in the agreement I think, but I download a lots of stuffs and haven't hit any. The big thing is there's no throttling like there is on Virgin. Until they started that I'd've recommended them as the speed is better over long distance from the exchanges. Be will suffer that, so do check.

Yup, I'm a fair way from the exchange, and on a not great line, but get ~8meg, which is plenty

Post by **HereComesPete** » June 2nd, 2009, 11:49

Be. Simples.

Tiscali are fucking shit and actually fit llu vpn systems to throttle customers in very precise and direct ways.

Virgin have always been helpful but they do like to cap people who download a few things. And they are good at a longer distance from the exchange. But I can't see you being too far from any exchange in laaandahn tarn.

500Gb is high but not outrageous. It does creep up when you get a few films and discographies and some pr0n and a few games and such.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 2nd, 2009, 12:12

HereComesPete wrote:500Gb is high but not outrageous. It does creep up when you get a few films and discographies and some pr0n and a few games and such.

That made me curious, I think be really don't give a shit.

Berk's Usenet only downloads, so add x to that, given I'm usually on the interwebs too.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » June 2nd, 2009, 14:06

Be sounds good, called BT to get landline sorted but they want £125 for installation.

Bastards. Apparently there was no line there before so have to pay for new installation, quite what the phone sockets on the walls are for I have no idea!!.

Did find a BT offer for free installation but it's for an 18 month contract and you have to make 10 calls a month.

Looks like the only option I've got but it'll be a pain remembering to use the phone 10 times a month for 18 months

EDIT: Or go with Talk Talk who will do install for £60 if you sign up for their broadband

amblin · Post by **amblin** » June 2nd, 2009, 14:13

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » June 2nd, 2009, 14:19

amblin wrote:You what? If there are wall sockets and a corresponding cable heading into the ground then there should be no installation fee at all.

Tell them that there are sockets and to sort their obviously rubbish records out.

They did a 'test', hmm...
Will have to phone them again, might call Talk Talk actually and see if they can test if I have a connection.

EDIT: Talk Talk couldn't tell me but fee was £60 regardless, unfortunately it's a 24 month contract and they have an 80gb limit (Probably fine but never had a limit and don't like the idea of it)

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » June 2nd, 2009, 14:37

How much of a cupcake is your landlord? could be worth trying to hassle it into splitting the cost of getting the line installed if you're feeling cheeky (send the missus though, for obvious reasons)

And remember you'll get a month free on Be if someone refers you, which is jolly handy.

Post by **Dog Pants** » June 2nd, 2009, 14:41

Nooooooooo! Talk Talk are fucking awful. I've had three neighbours use them and all three have sent the kit back in disgust demanding their money back. Customer services are atrocious, my current next door neighbours waited three months for a connection, and was billed for them, before they finally managed to get out of the contract.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » June 2nd, 2009, 14:43

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:How much of a cupcake is your landlord? could be worth trying to hassle it into splitting the cost of getting the line installed if you're feeling cheeky (send the missus though, for obvious reasons)

And remember you'll get a month free on Be if someone refers you, which is jolly handy.

There'll be no chance of the Landlord paying!, all I can assume is that the previous tenants didn't have a phone line but someone in the distant past did and for some reason it's now not connected, I'll have a look tonight to see if I can find a BT master socket and follow the cable to see if actually goes anywhere!

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » June 2nd, 2009, 15:21

amblin wrote:You what? If there are wall sockets and a corresponding cable heading into the ground then there should be no installation fee at all.

Tell them that there are sockets and to sort their obviously rubbish records out.

As long as there is a master socket, you might have a small reconnection fee to make someone press a button (or if it's been off a long time, a bit of fiddling in the exchange), but they will be no need to do an installation at all.

mrbobbins · Post by **mrbobbins** » June 2nd, 2009, 15:25

Dog Pants wrote:Nooooooooo! Talk Talk are fucking awful. I've had three neighbours use them and all three have sent the kit back in disgust demanding their money back. Customer services are atrocious, my current next door neighbours waited three months for a connection, and was billed for them, before they finally managed to get out of the contract.

Hmm, really don't like the sound of this option then!.

Madasafish will do landline connection for £110 and can then choose my own ISP so it's either that or go for the BT offer and set myself a reminder every month to make 10 calls!!.

But hopefully I'll find a master socket tonight and BT will admit they are wrong and kiss my boots. Extremely unlikely me thinks.

Post by **FatherJack** » June 2nd, 2009, 21:09

I use Virgin because I don't have a BT line. It's only been down 2 or 3 times in the last year, usually just DNS. From what other people say I've been lucky in this, but they tend to be customers who've been there since it was NTL.

You typically get speeds just better than the next tariff down, so on 20M I get 12-16M, the up speed is absolutely awful, but latency is okay. I have been capped in the past, but it's only temporary and quite easy to schedule downloads outside the hours which incur this.

These days though, I don't file-share or use news anymore since most ISPs are happy to pass that info to the now more on-the-ball authorities, so I'm less bothered about limits, more about speed for downloading games patches quickly.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » June 2nd, 2009, 21:22

I also use Virgin.

We had to have a little moan about slowdown at this house, personally I reckon it was one of my housemates downloading copious amounts of WoW updates within a single week and incurring the cap, but apart from that it's all gravy.

Had one or two incidents where their dns was being flakey though this year, but I swapped to OpenDNS instead, little bit slower but works all the time.

It's been fine at my proper home for ages though.

Oh, and don't use their router, it's shittastic and falls over if you try and do anything with it.

Post by **Joose** » June 2nd, 2009, 22:46

FatherJack wrote:I use Virgin because I don't have a BT line.

I'm on virgin too, for the same reason.

It's only been down 2 or 3 times in the last year, usually just DNS. From what other people say I've been lucky in this, but they tend to be customers who've been there since it was NTL.

Yeah, I've never actually noticed it go down since its switched to Virgin (that's not to say that it hasn't, it just hasn't whilst I've been in a place to tell that it has). When I was in Derby it was NTL, and that was up and down like a yo-yo at times.

Post by **deject** » June 3rd, 2009, 2:11

Joose wrote:I'm on virgin too, for the same reason.

I read that as "I'm a virgin too..."