I will put in a word for Plusnet here (
www.plus.com). Their telephone enquiry line only connets to ther British call centre and they claim to have won accolades for service from some of the computer mags. I've been with them since my exchange was BB enabled about 4 years ago and never had a problem. The only fly in the ointment is that they have been acquired by BT. This has not affected their service or prices - yet - and they seem to be successful in keeping the BT paper pushers at bay.
There are other excellent providers out there as well, however, despite my advice, a friend of mine has just signed up with Tiscali with the same problems as those described above. Despite this he still expects me to sort out his problems and get his broadband up and running.......... grr!
P.P.