Broadband...the choices?!

[boeingbus2002]

Ive decided to follow suite and look into broadband as prices are becoming much more reasonable. Trouble is what are the little issues to take into consideration that "they dont tell you on the box"?
Bulldog looks like a great one, very fast but too pricey.
Wanadoo have 1Mbps at £17.99/month. The box you buy has two months free connection which effectively means you get the modem free. This looks like the better option, anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

[spannersatcx]

You need to check the monthly usage allowance for the £17.99 option you get a measly 2GB. Sounds alot! not really as if, like in my household, the kids play online games, as do I, you get 90mins a day, and I can tell you that's just not enough for us. You need to work out what your needs are to make sure that you get what you need.

usage chart

[maxell]

That is ok if you can live with the 2gb a month limit ( a 1mb connection can download that much in around 4 hrs if you get carried away )

have a look at this

costs a little more but its unlimited

or look Here

for more offers

[boeingbus2002]

Are the speed gains for the "slower" options really worth it?
The cheaper options are for 256kbps and 512kbps, I was thinking 1Mbps should be the minimum I should consider.

What happens when you exceed your usage? Can you pay for extra, or are you stuck till the following month!!!

Also, is there a degradation in speed at certain peak times, and how much is this a problem?

Is it obvious I'm confused?!!
Cheers

[longarm]

Have a look at www.adslguide.org.uk its got information on all UK suppliers and ratings for speeds amongst other information.

[Capt Chambo]

Along with www.adsl.com could I recommend www.uswitch.com.

Things to look out for are:- monthly download limits. Some are restrictive but may suit you. Also check and compare the initial cost of setting up. The one's that appear cheap at face value may actually have an exorbitant initial setup cost. Go for the ones that are offering a competitive monthly charge with a low set up cost as within a year monthly charges are likely to have dropped.

Based on the above I chose Pipex on PPRuNers recommendations.

Hope this helps.

[stagger]

I would recommend Zen - not the cheapest and no free modem but very reliable, unlimited and no 12 month tie-in.

Currently, £21.27 + VAT per month for 512kbps.

[Daysleeper]

The free modems are often pieces of junk anyhow. I would recommend a good router. It incorporates the modem function as well as providing a hardware firewall and multiple outputs, so you can run as many computers as you want and your ISP only "sees" one router.
I use a netgear one which has worked well for me, there are of course other brands.

[daw]

Freedom to surf - £22.50 unlimited usage at 512kbps. Never had any problems. Think they might offer free connection but check out their website for details.

www.f2s.com

[Devlin Carnet]

I am with talktalk.co.uk,
Free modem, free filters, unlimited downloads, 24/7 512kbps
(but always connects at over 1mbps0
Free evening and weekend phone calls,
19.99 month, superb

[John Boeman]

Worth checking these out: www.efhbroadband.com
Excellent service and the price is hard to beat!

[englishal]

I'd recommend Pipex, I've used them since 1995 for dial up and had ADSL for a year now,have just upgraded to the 2MB/s from the 1MB service.

No problems, no 12 month contract, excellent network...can't go wrong

[flyingwysiwyg]

If it's any help, I'd second the Pipex vote.

Like Englishal I've been with them on Dial Up and ADSL and my company website is hosted on the included Web Space.

Pipex Netmail is very good for those moments abroad without your own computer and also included with the package.

Perhaps not the cheapest, but extremely reliable!

you can find out more here:-

http://www.pipex.net/products/access/broadband/

F - Wyg

[Evo]

FWIW, I've been with Pipex broadband for almost three years, very happy with it. The only problems have been with BT, who occasionally mess things up, but a quick call to tech support (and it is quick, it's rare to be on hold) prods BT into fixing it.

[amanoffewwords]

Of course the only way to get broadband in the UK is via Telewest and occasionally NTL.

Telewest has served me very well for the last 3-4 years + they just increased the download speed to 1Mb (from 750k) for the same price (£25/month) [with no bandwidth limitations].

Peeps on 3Mb now get 4Mb - can't get that on BT et al.

I tend to recommend plus.net for ADSL. I've done 6 or 7 installs using them so far with no complaints and excellent support from them. Their website even tells you how many calls they have waiting or how it takes them on average to fix problems.


Charles

[boeingbus2002]

amanoffewwords..
What do u mean those are the only broadband providers in UK?
There are plenty of others..wanadoo..AOL..BT...BT YAhoo plus...

Maybe im getting confused with DSL/ADSL. If so..what is the difference here?

Everyone has positives to say...but are there any problems? Some of the independent ones are cheap..but theres the old saying.."if it seems too good to be true..it probably is"

So far Wanadoo 2Gb limit at 17.99/month for 1Mbps service seems the best to me...most other unlimited services were only 512Kpbs at higher prices!
Bulldog has the best at 4Mbps.

All this is probably irrelevent if BT say my line is crap!! doh!

[Fire 'n' Forget]

I agree with some on this thread, i would put the download limit as high a priority as the price/speed. 2Gb limit isnt enough if your on the net often, especially if you download music etc. Also remember 512/750/1Mb it dont matter how fast YOUR connection is, it depends on the server that your connected to's upload speed/congestion. I upgraded from 750k to 1.5Mb connection and i can honestly tell you i CANNOT tell the difference, and I play a fair few online games etc.

[boeingbus2002]

So far many of the options for unlimited downloads are at 512k speeds. Is there any real noticeable difference between the two?
Some of the independent ones seem "too good to be true", can they offer the service support of some well known companies?
What are the main problems that current users of other providers have now?

Thanks!

[FunkyMunky]

bb2002, when amanoffewwords says that Telewest is the "only" broadband provider, I think he means that once you've tried them you'd never go back to DSL/ADSL. The cable service is superb, and they have given us our second free upgrade in the past few months. Our 2mb connection went to 3mb, and now 4mb, for £50/month (expensive, but reasonable at the speeds we're now getting). All the Telewest services are unmetered (no usage cap) and you can't get such speeds anywhere else at the moment unless you live in central london and sign up to Bulldog DSL; and even then the Bulldog speed is "variable" in tune with peak/offpeak times of the day.

The support on Telewest is very reliable and with every package you get 30mb webspace (not much, admittedly, but has full Frontpage extensions support) and 5 large mailboxes with 5 addresses each, and for £4 a month you can take the webspace up to 100mb with full scripting (ASP/PHP/CGI/etc) support, if you need that kind of thing.

Unfortunately cable seems to be available in only a select few areas I'd try not to go with NTL, my relatives have had a lot of trouble with them (unreliable, sometimes capped service).

[Massey Man]

I have demon broadband, its 512, unlimited downloads, and is ultra reliable. I have had it for about 6 months now, its probably been down once.

Personally i wouldnt get one with a limit, i nearly did, decided against it, now im glad i didnt.

I will sometimes download 2gb a day let alone a month if there are a couple of films i want to watch!

You will be amazed once you get it how much you will use it.