View Full Version : Best Broadband Provider
Hi could anyone recommend the best Internet provider for up here In Caithness?currently have plus net but considering changing.Many Thanks
Everyone has their own Idea in which is the best ISP, usually it is the one that they have at the present time. I personally have Orange and I would say that they are not bad, not great, but not bad either.
Now my son has PlusNet and his B/B Speed is 3 times faster than mine and he pays the same price as me. So if it is speed that you are after I would say that PlusNet is better than Orange.
There is good and bad with every ISP and sometimes you are better with the Devil you know rather than take the risk and switch.
Many Thanks Kodiak for your reply :)
JUNEHALLETT
14-Jun-12, 21:13
I am on bt and they have been very good and it is a speedy connection.
Don't go with Orange if you download a lot. I was with them (about 6 years ago now) on an unlimited package & they disconnected me with about 3 days notice for downloading too much...
Was with AOL after that, everything was fine for the first 4 years & would have recommended them at the drop of a hat but I then moved & everything went to pot. Ended up with very slow speed & despite countless calls & promises they failed to rectify it so had to break my contract & go with another ISP.
So am now with AAISP & would recommend them but dependent on your internet usage as they charge by the "Unit" & you buy as many "Units" as you want a month. Works out very expensive during office hours (0900 to 1800 Mon to Fri) but very cheap out with office hours so for me I do all my heavy downloading when it's cheap & just general web browsing when expensive. As for speed... They seem to have squeezed every last drop out of my line & have never had such fast broadband.
bluechesse
15-Jun-12, 00:41
Im afraid I have absolutley no idea who is the best. But, after extensive research (20 mins on the net and 3 phone calls and a complete tattie loss with Sky), I can tell you that TalkTalk are about the cheapest deals. They supply you with a router thats about as much use as a bucket of sand in the desert, their customer care is pretty woefull at best, and if you need to speak to someone you would be quicker actually walking/swimming to Bangladesh directly than attempting to contact them over the phone. And at least once you got to Bangladesh you could communicate your problems using drawings and hand signals. Unfortunately these do not work over the phone and unless you fluent in Indian your pretty much goosed. BUT, they are cheap!
I suppose it depends on how you define 'best': stability? price? extras? support? Sky and BT are 'good' neutral choices if you don't know what you want.
I'm with AAISP, but they're not for everyone.
I fell out with BT big time and would not return to them under any circumstances.
I was migrated to Talk Talk when they took over Bulldog/Pipex from whom I had received excellent service, and touch wood, so far this has continued with the new service provider.
Got a really good deal on line-rental in advance far cheaper than BT which is paid annually and for 11 a month have unlimited broadband, fast speed, free calls to 0845, 01, 02 and 03 numbers also free international calls to various destinations from quite a comprehensive, discount to mobiles (never use that).
Thompson router which does the job
Only once had a language problem and that was as much as the chap couldn`t understand my punjabi and transferred me to a colleague who was in Egypt.
No language problems with AAISP, you phone them (only ever had to do it once) & you get through to a UK office & talk to someone who knows what they are doing rather than just following a script. Only downside is that because it is their office & not a call centre it is only open during normal office hours.
As for price...
All of our broadband services have a usage based tariff. You choose how many units per month in advance and can change from month to month if you wish. Using too little or too much is carried over to the next month within limits and using way too much means excess usage charges. The amount of usage you get for each unit depends on the time of day and what type of line you have. Only download counts, not upload. A unit is at least one gigabyte (GB) of peak download. Your usage does not have to be whole units at certain times, you can use some of a unit during the day and some in the evening, etc. Daytime usage is 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday and uses units the fastest.
2 Units (minimum): £20.00
3 Units: £23.90
4 Units: £27.80
5 Units: £31.70
etc
A Unit consists of ...
Daytime usage (9am-6pm Mon-Fri): 1.25GB
Evening/weekend usage (all other times): 50GB
Any unused Units are carried forward to next month (max 4)
So as you can see... If you only use the internet in Evenings & Weekend then it is £20 for 100GB of download data per month, not bad value I think...
Another important factor is that there is no traffic shapeing or throttling of speeds at any time, you pay for the bandwidth & you can do whatever you want with it.
No language problems with AAISP, you phone them (only ever had to do it once) & you get through to a UK office & talk to someone who knows what they are doing rather than just following a script. Only downside is that because it is their office & not a call centre it is only open during normal office hours.
As for price...
2 Units (minimum): £20.00
3 Units: £23.90
4 Units: £27.80
5 Units: £31.70
etc
A Unit consists of ...
Daytime usage (9am-6pm Mon-Fri): 1.25GB
Evening/weekend usage (all other times): 50GB
Any unused Units are carried forward to next month (max 4)
So as you can see... If you only use the internet in Evenings & Weekend then it is £20 for 100GB of download data per month, not bad value I think...
Another important factor is that there is no traffic shapeing or throttling of speeds at any time, you pay for the bandwidth & you can do whatever you want with it.
Your missed out there 2am to 6am tariff which is 1.00TB/unit
Your missed out there 2am to 6am tariff which is 1.00TB/unit
Hmmmm, didn't know about that, no mention of it on their website (http://aaisp.com/broadband-prices.html) or on my Stats page...
20CN daytime (09-18 M-F)
1¼GB
20CN evening (18-24 M-F)
50GB
20CN night (00-09 M-F)
50GB
20CN weekend
50GB
Hmmmm, didn't know about that, no mention of it on their website (http://aaisp.com/broadband-prices.html) or on my Stats page...
20CN daytime (09-18 M-F)
1¼GB
20CN evening (18-24 M-F)
50GB
20CN night (00-09 M-F)
50GB
20CN weekend
50GB
They don't publicise it because only there really technically minded users even care about it, but it's called the '20CN night special' it shows on my usage stats I'll screenshot it if you want. There's mention of it here (http://aaisp.net.uk/news-2011-10.html), here (http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/aaisp/4089432-new-user-initial-thoughts.html?fpart=all&vc=1) and here (http://status.aaisp.net.uk/apost.cgi?incident=85) or just ask support to confirm it. Keep in mind you need to download at least 10GB during those hours for it show.
EDIT: Down at the bottom of your monthly stats details page - the links on the billing tab of your normal usage page - you should see a link called 'Full' it should be just below the bit that says 'Note: Usage billing is from the date/time of your bill which may be slightly different than the period covered, e.g. if you are billed end of the month rather than on the 1st.' that link will show all the rates.
They don't publicise it because only there really technically minded users even care about it, but it's called the '20CN night special' it shows on my usage stats I'll screenshot it if you want. There's mention of it here (http://aaisp.net.uk/news-2011-10.html), here (http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/aaisp/4089432-new-user-initial-thoughts.html?fpart=all&vc=1) and here (http://status.aaisp.net.uk/apost.cgi?incident=85) or just ask support to confirm it. Keep in mind you need to download at least 10GB during those hours for it show.
EDIT: Down at the bottom of your monthly stats details page - the links on the billing tab of your normal usage page - you should see a link called 'Full' it should be just below the bit that says 'Note: Usage billing is from the date/time of your bill which may be slightly different than the period covered, e.g. if you are billed end of the month rather than on the 1st.' that link will show all the rates.
Thanks for the info, good to know, though I don't think it will make much difference to my download habits.
http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs23/f/2008/021/9/d/devil_ok_by_Scotsgirl_606.gif
secrets in symmetry
16-Jun-12, 14:25
What's the fastest speed you can get in Caithness? Is it still limited to 8Mb/s?
Crackeday
16-Jun-12, 14:53
Im with Post office which is basically BT BUT alot faster. When I was with BT my speed averaged 3/4 mb since switching to post office getting 6mb, the only drawback with their unlimited tarrif is they use a traffic management so you get disconnected if your heavily downloading.
Not bad though for 25.50 a month for phone and broadband.
What's the fastest speed you can get in Caithness? Is it still limited to 8Mb/s?
Pretty much yeah, BT have been saying they're going to up us to 21CN since December 2011 which would get us EFM (Ethernet First Mile) and ADSL2+ they keep pushing the date forward though. I think they're using it as a bargaining chip for that Next Generation Broadband project tender ran by HIE. That project is a farce BTW by the time they do anything, whatever they rollout will be last generation broadband they've got £300 million but I suspect they're going to waste it on crap or consultants as most public/government IT projects do. Some areas might get 21CN or better 3G coverage out of it but that's already last generation broadband.
Lots of people in the area don't even get 8Mb/s.
secrets in symmetry
16-Jun-12, 17:34
Ah yes, you mentioned the 21CN upgrade in a previous thread.
It was Kodiak's post about his son getting 3 times his own speed that made me think some parts of Caithness might have had ADSL+ by now.
Ah yes, you mentioned the 21CN upgrade in a previous thread.
It was Kodiak's post about his son getting 3 times his own speed that made me think some parts of Caithness might have had ADSL+ by now.
I'm guessing he went from 2Mb/s to 6Mb/s or something. Lots of ISPs just don't care about speed issues, it's suspect that some even purposely cap your line profile unless you complain for 'stability'. If I remember correctly the minimum BT Wholesale guarantee on an average 8Mb/s line is 1.5Mb/s (assuming your have a higher BRAS profile than the guaranteed speed)
I've had to have a tied-pair move done a few times because they oversubscribe the VC I was on.
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