View Full Version : Broadband Providers
Mad Martigan
22-Jun-05, 17:28
Hi, I'm considering getting broadband in the 2 or 3 months.
I'll probably get a 2mb line with unlimited monthly downloads - have you any recommedations, or which Providers should i avoid.
Many Thanks :)
I'd recommend either Pipex or Nildram. I've been with Pipex for two years and very happy with the service. I'm on the 2mb service and paying £24 a month. Personally i'd stay away from he big names like AOL, BT and Freeserve. The site listed below seems to be the bet for comparing all the different providers.
www.adslguide.org
I'm with Pipex just now, haven't had any difficulties at all. Avoid AOL.
Brizer2k2
23-Jun-05, 00:14
I work for Nildram and any users on 512k connections (if the line supports it) will move to a 2 meg line for free sometime in July.
Hi there,
Please do not listen to these people who are putting down AOL.
I have had it now for 5 months and I can honestly say that it is worth every penny.
I pay £24.99 for 2Mb unlimited.
The set up took about 10 minutes and I have not had one spot of bother with it.
When using their broadband service you DO NOT have to use their software to connect to Broadband. Most people are under the assumption that you do.
You have free 24Hr support and you also get a free online support line which is fantastic for any queries you may have. Just like IM'ing someone.
You will probably find that the majority of people who bad mouth AOL have probably just heard comments that it is/was bad and have never actually used the software.
I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone.
Kind regards
Mad Martigan
23-Jun-05, 08:01
Thanks for all your help, I'm surprised at the prices you're paying for 2mb unlimited connections though, I've seen prices at only £14.99 inc free connection & modem. :cool:
AOL [lol] [lol] [lol]
Sorry...
I think the badmouthing of AOL stems from years of having to fix people's PCs that have gone amuck due to the AOL software. Its of the same ilk as people badmouthing Microsoft, if you're gonna say your the biggest and the best, make sure you are or prepare to be jumped upon for any and all problems.
I use PlusNet and find them very good, I'm awaiting my 2MB upgrade (unlimited) and will only be paying 21.99 a month for it, excellent online support, good pings for gaming, download rates are very good etc etc. No complaints from me at all.
I have been with Freeserve for the last 6 years and not a bit of problem, just upgraded to 2MB for 17.99 a month, it suits my needs. Even the changeover to Wannadoo makes no difference
I've tried quite a few providers over the last two years and keep going back to AOL. Its reliable and fast with good back up which is more than I can say for some others. It is more expensive, but as they say - you only get what you pay for.
Little Mouse
23-Jun-05, 10:47
I'm with a company call Plusnet which is a 2mb connection and I pay £14.99 per month. It comes with a free connection and a free modem.
Thanks for all your help, I'm surprised at the prices you're paying for 2mb unlimited connections though, I've seen prices at only £14.99 inc free connection & modem. :cool:
Probably not for an unlimited or non restricted/throttled service though. If it is then let us know where! :-)
Mad Martigan
23-Jun-05, 11:48
Thanks all for replying - especially Zael and Little mouse, I'm interested in this plusnet.
Have you had any problems with your connection or is it ok? Much downtime?
Thanks :o)
The thing I always hated about AOL was just how intrusive it was. They way the software replaced your network components with AOL branded ones. I'm sure they worked fine with AOL but when people tried to change to another ISP it caused no end of problems. The end user then thought the problem was with the new ISP and went back to reliable old AOL.
The Angel Of Death
23-Jun-05, 14:09
Again im with plus net now as well been online with them for almost a month now no problems excelent online support fast responces to enquiries as well (less than an hour for an email enquiry) all for £21 a month with a 2 mb unlimited commection
Little Mouse
23-Jun-05, 14:22
No problems at all, I know a few other people that are also with Plusnet and they have had no problems either.
You can pay £70 connection fee with only a monthly contract or free connection with an annual contact.
I ordered my all online at http://www.plus.net with no hassle. :D
Angel-Eyes
23-Jun-05, 14:26
Im with AOL and ive had no hassle at all!
Downtime? What's that? Seriously though, I have had about a half days downtime in all the time I've been with them, about 9 months and that was notified to me about 1 week in advance. My connection has basically been on 24/7 since I joined them without a hitch.
Mad Martigan
23-Jun-05, 19:23
Thanks all for your input, it looks like my broadband will go to plus.net.
Free modem, activation and no connection fee for a limited time - good eh?
Cheers :D
We've been here many, many times before, so let's update the results from three months ago (http://www.caithness.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=40322&highlight=#40322).
Look at the ISP comparison test on the ADSLguide (http://www.adslguide.org.uk) website for the five ISPs that have been mentioned above, namely AOL, Nildram, Pipex, PlusNet and Wanadoo, together with Eclipse because they came out best last time. The results of the test are here (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp?aol=ON&eclipse=ON&nildram=ON&pipex=ON&plusnet=ON&freeserve=ON&cmp_action=Compare).
Of the six, it's worth nothing that AOL and Wanadoo are the bottom two in all three categories of Speed, Reliability, and Customer Service for each and every one of the last six months. This doesn't mean they are bad, it merely suggests that the others are better. I can't argue with the Speed Test, but the Reliability and Customer Service ratings are more subjective, and it may be that customers of smaller companies feel more loyalty to their ISP. Well, maybe...
Of all the ISPs mentioned last time, Tiscali still come out worst, with One Tel not much better.
From today's tests, there's not much between Eclipse, Nildram & PlusNet for the top spot, with Pipex losing out a bit on its Customer Service rating.
Personally, I wouldn't touch AOL with a bargepole for precisely the reasons that Zael and Donnie espouse. As a friend so nicely put it, "AOL software craps all over your hard disk." Having said that, halkirk1 and kenimac1 tell us that AOL are ok, and I ain't gonna argue with them here.
FWIW I use Pipex and they are fine: they have a huge, fast network; I've had no problems at all; and I've experienced no more than a couple of hours downtime in the last 20 months so I haven't had to use their customer service.
If I were to choose a standard supplier & service today, I would probably go for PlusNet's 2Mbps service because of price/performance & service.
If I were to upgrade today, I would probably go for Bulldog's (http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/) 8Mbps LLU service. This seems hard to beat pricewise, but it's had mixed reports, especially regarding customer service, and it probably ain't available in Caithness.
Plus.net's free connection and modem are only free if you stay with them for 5 years. If you leave before that they ask for the modem fee and connection fee to be repaid, minus a percentage for each year you have remained.
They also throttle download speeds at certain times on the £14.99 package so that web and email speed remains constant.
It was the non free "free" connection and modem that put me off.
teddybear1873
23-Jun-05, 21:06
Alot of people go on about saying AOL being rubbish but in my point of view i'd say there fine but only if u use a seperate router. i use a Netgear DG834 router and i have no problems with AOL but i stay clear of there software that they supply...
Hi
Broadband is good but overrated if you are a home user who does not download hundreds of illegal mp3s and or movies, the costs add uo over a quarted and is much more than you would expect.
I get free BB but would not have it if I had to pay even £15 a month, save up and get a faster PC
orkneyman
23-Jun-05, 22:25
Hi
I had aconnection with Pipex which latterly was 1mb and was steady as a rock and very very fast.
I wanted to go to a 2mb connection but Pipex was too expensive for an unlimited line so after doing some homework migrated to Plus net.
Big regrets, speed was inconsistent and latterly tech support was blaming evryone and everything apart from their own network.
The last straw 2 Fridays ago was a download speed of 7kb/s. When I phoned them again they blamed everything else bar checking their own system again.
I asked for a migration code under their 45 day guarantee and moved to Onetel. I pay the equivalent of about 20 quid a month as all my calls go through them as well and the speed is outstanding.
Constantly downloading at 240kilobytes per second, ie a meg in 4 seconds. Tech support is in Stornoway.
Highly recommended, sorry but Plusnet were awful!
Hi
Broadband is good but overrated if you are a home user who does not download hundreds of illegal mp3s and or movies, the costs add uo over a quarted and is much more than you would expect.
I get free BB but would not have it if I had to pay even £15 a month, save up and get a faster PC
I disagree. Even for home users the difference is noticeable whether used for general surfing and email or downloading. There are loads of legitimate downloads out there, whether software, music or other file types. Lets face it Windows Updates alone can be very large and time consuming to download on dialup.
Also if people have to pay £14.99 anyway for Anytime dialup, then they might as well pay the same and get broadband instead.
Brizer2k2
23-Jun-05, 23:54
I support ADSL for a living along with domain and web hosting (Unix and windows) and the problem with ADSL is that it is installed on a standard BT PSTN Line, therefore gets treated the same as a priority (i.e. very low) as the line itself. At the moment BT Wholesale have a huge volume of faults and are now taking 48 hours to respond to a fault logged with them. Used to be 24 hours 2 or 3 months ago
The number of people running businesses and working from home relying on Broadband without any dial up or ISDN back up is laughable.
Some people call up paying for a cheapo £15 ADSL service saying they are losing thousands of pounds in business expecting ADSL to be up 100% of the time and want BT to fix it asap ahead of other business users who pay premium prices for leased lines (thousands per month).
Leased lines do cost a lot but BT monitor them all the time and before the user calls in to report a problem, the fault is already auto-logged with BT and has to be picked up by an engineer within 1 hour and fixed within 4 or 5 hours max.
Another issue at the moment causing major speed issues is BT upgrading exchanges to allow for more Broadband orders to be processed and also upgrading to allow all users (if the line allows for it) on 512k to move up to 2 meg in July.
My company Nildram announced a 50 Gig Fair usage policy a few months ago because they noticed several users downloading scary amounts of data. Of course they were the first people to moan and leave to another ISP.
With regards to the fault process we use then it is unbelievable the number of tools I have to find out where an ADSL fault is. After a user has spoken to our desk they are in no doubt where the problem lies e.g. BT Fault or their own ADSL equipment.
In my experience supporting ADSL for over three years now (IT for 8 years) then most ADSL problems reported to an ISP are not ISP equipment but the amount of equipment users have using the same line as the ADSL is installed on.
e.g. fax machines, sky TV boxes, 3 or 4 telephones, alarm systems etc. etc.
Anyone has any probs with their Broadband then gives me a shout and if I am free then I will try to advise you.
:D Tiscali is only £14.99 a month with free modem
:D WELL the best for home use in the uk is my isp provider,TELEWEST BROADBAND im currently paying 17.99 per month for a 4 meg internet connection(special offer)normal price = 50 quid!,no caps on downloads either! www.telewest.co.uk but ukonline are offering an 8mb service www.ukonline.net ive registered for it! :D
I'm with Pipex just now, haven't had any difficulties at all.
I had Pipex broadband for a couple of years. Great service - no complaints at all.
I moved house and the landlord already had NTL (so no BT phoneline). I'd rather cut off an arm and beat myself to death with the bleeding stump than sign another contract with NTL! DON'T GO WITH NTL!
Please do not listen to these people who are putting down AOL.
You will probably find that the majority of people who bad mouth AOL have probably just heard comments that it is/was bad and have never actually used the software.
To be fair, I don’t think that most people would have any problem with AOL... but I do and here's why:
1) Over-marketing... CDs through the post. CDs in magazines. CDs on my desk at work. I think they've cut back on their free CDs now, but the damage is done!
2) The software... yes, it's possible to run AOL without using their software - but most people don't. I've fixed too many PCs with AOL-induced problems to think highly of their wares.
3) The pricing mechanism... AOL were one of the last providers to stop charging users by the minute for access. Again, whilst this isn't something that they do now (I think), the damage is done.
4) The IP addresses... they have a weird way of assigning IP addresses to users. Whilst most won't notice this and will happily do everything they ever need to do, it does cause problems for some. Certain security features and certain applications just don't work well with AOL because of their IP processes.
Anyway, as you can guess - I am not a fan of AOL.
:)
What is AOL's "weird way of assigning IP addresses to users"? What problems does this cause?
BTW I didn't mention Telewest's Blueyonder Internet service in my previous post because I know it's not available in Caithness. I live in a Telewest area and many (perhaps most) of the people I know have cable TV, broadband internet, and telephone service from Telewest. Everyone says the internet service is good, and they do indeed have great offers from time to time. However, I've heard many less-than-glowing reports of their phone service, but this is just hearsay...
What is AOL's "weird way of assigning IP addresses to users"? What problems does this cause?
I don't know the details but do know what he's referring to. We've experienced it at my work. We have certain services that can be accessed from outside of our network but only from the UK. Often AOL users have problems as it appears they are trying to access the network from outside of the UK when they are not.
What is AOL's "weird way of assigning IP addresses to users"?
They use dynamic IP address assignment. Nothing wrong or weird about that as such… most ISPs use dynamic IPs, but AOL's version of 'dynamic' is somewhat different.
With most dynamic IP addresses you are assigned an IP when you connect to your service/network. That IP is then yours, and yours alone, until you disconnect.
With AOL your IP can change at any time, even whilst you are connected. In effect you are only 'guaranteed' your IP for a single transaction. The security on some sites (such as certain messageboards) works by allocating each session a secure code that is matched against an IP address. So, in 'normal' cases:
1) You log in to the messageboard. The server assigns you a security ID and matches it to your IP:
SecureID: 45678321
IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.184
2) You browse a few pages and then find a post you want to reply to.
3) The server checks your IP, recognises it matches it against a SecureID. It can therefore tell that you have logged in and allows you to post.
Now the AOL example:
1) You log in to the messageboard. The server assigns you a security ID and matches it to your IP:
SecureID: 45678321
IP: xxx.xxx.xxx.184
2) You browse a few pages. On the second page AOL changes your IP address to xxx.xxx.xxx.145.
3) You find a post you want to reply to. The server checks your IP and doesn't recognise it. You are not granted permission to reply.
I've quite frequently come across sites which state that their security policy is not compatible with AOL connections.
Also, and somewhat ironically, AOLs email servers automatically mark any email coming from a host with a dynamic IP (except their own, naturally) as spam… and refuse to deliver it to the end-user. Nice.
I don't know the details but do know what he's referring to. We've experienced it at my work. We have certain services that can be accessed from outside of our network but only from the UK. Often AOL users have problems as it appears they are trying to access the network from outside of the UK when they are not.
Oh yeah, there's that too... AOL have one range of IP addresses and the master-servers for allocating those addresses are in North Virginia.
Whether you are in Brighton or Bali your AOL IP resolves to a server in North Virginia.
An AOL answer follows from a quick Google -- look here (http://webmaster.info.aol.com/proxyinfo.html). Apparently, AOL have lots of proxy servers and each successive request may come from a different proxy. I would guess the change of proxy server only affects web-based applications, eg it shouldn't affect IM clients such as MSN & Yahoo Messenger.
I would guess the change of proxy server only affects web-based applications
True, but then web-based applications are hardly rare.
Got to love AOL's answer though:
"webmasters should not make assumptions about the relationship between members and proxy servers when designing their web site."
in other words "We've set up our proxies slighly differently to most and our customers can't connect to your site because of it... so we'd appreciate it if you could rewrite your code to accomodate us" ;)
I still say that there is nothing wrong with Tiscali. I have been using them for broadband since January 2004 and have had nothing but good service from them. I have the 512k always on option for £15.99 per month that is currently running at 2.3mbps so I am extremely happy. :D I have convinced 3 friends to switch to Tiscali broadband and they are happy with them as well. :lol:
Just because your router or modem says it's running at circa 2Mbps doesn't mean that you are downloading at 2Mbps. Your ISP could be throttling your connection down to 1Mbps or even to 0.5Mbps.
Do the ADSLguide speed test (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/tools/speedtest.asp) to find out what your "true" download speed is.
My downstream speed was just under 20Mbps a few minutes ago. :D
Anyway, no-one is saying there's anything explicitly wrong with Tiscali. The ADSLguide speed tests indicate that many other ISPs are faster, and that they are more reliable and they have better customer service.
The ADSLguide reliability and customer service judgments may be entirely subjective, but Tiscali always seems to come out worst of the dozen or so ISPs that I've looked at over the last couple of years. If you're happy with what you get, then that's great! :D
:D my download speed on telewests 4mb service a few mis ago was...5.7 seconds to download a 1mb file! though it can be better when theres less traffic!. :D www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
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