Best Broadband?

[Number47]

I know there are so many different suppliers and it is used for so many different reasons but which broadband supplier would you recommend? I am in central Thurso close to the exchange and am looking to renew with an up to 8 meg connection but AOL is very up and down from over 5 meg to below 1/2 meg. Is this the norm or should I be looking elsewhere? I am not worried about which bundle is good value but want to know if all companies are giving exactly the same service up here.Thanks.

[lazytown]

I use Plusnet and never have any problems with them.
I also recommed them to friends and family.

They also have 1 month contract periods unlike some ISP which tie you in for 12 months.

http://www.plus.net

[Julia]

I'm with Madasafish, never had any probs whatsoever and I get the 8mb service.

[Metalattakk]

I know there are so many different suppliers and it is used for so many different reasons but which broadband supplier would you recommend? I am in central Thurso close to the exchange and am looking to renew with an up to 8 meg connection but AOL is very up and down from over 5 meg to below 1/2 meg. Is this the norm or should I be looking elsewhere? I am not worried about which bundle is good value but want to know if all companies are giving exactly the same service up here.Thanks.

All ISPs provide their usual service to our exchange. Location means little. Keep in mind that Tiscali's service to our exchange will differ massively from BT's service or any of the Entanet resellers, for example, even though they use the same wires to provide us. ;)

It all depends on what you use your connection for and how much you are prepared to pay, whether you're happy with 'outsourced' support desks or whether you need a phone package bundled as well.

The ISP I use has a one month contract so I can ditch them fairly cheaply if things go Pete Tong. Most of the major (i.e., cheap) players tie you into a minimum 12 month contract, which is fairly expensive to extract yourself from if you're not happy after the first two months, for example.

If you are an online gamer, you'll need an ISP that provides steady low sub-70ms pings. None of the major (i.e., cheap) players can offer this reliably.

If you're a heavy user (torrents, VoIP, YouTube, etc.) you'll be looking for a hefty monthly download limit. If you're a light user (just emails, surfing) a large monthly download limit isn't a big deal.

The ISP I currently use offers me constant low pings for gaming, a huge 330GB per month download limit, a one-to-one UK-based support structure (seriously, I sent an email at 1.30am one morning concerning a small billing issue, and got a personal reply from the guy that owns and runs the ISP 20 minutes later. My gast was truly flabbered..) and a steady 6.5Meg connection, and I'm based a little further from the Thurso exchange than you (600m in a straight line).

And the best thing about the ISP I am using just now, is the openness and transparency they employ. They are happy to make public the status of their Centrals, and you can find out which Central you are connected to quite easily.

I am with UKFSN, who are a reseller for Entanet. I pay £19.99 per month for a superb service. I am happy, and if I am not I can leave when I want.

Check this link - http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php - and you'll find that 7 of the top 10 rated ISPs are Entanet resellers. You can't go wrong with any of them, in my opinion. They're all much of a muchness, as they essentially sell the same product, but each offers slightly different policies.

But, as I said, it's all down to your own requirements. Good luck.

[Number47]

Thanks very much for your help everybody it's certainly answered lots of my questions. When it comes to services it certainly helps to call on other peoples experiences.Mind you I was delighted with E7even broadband til they did a runner with everyones MAC codes!Thanks again.