Broadband providers

[paul1968uk]

Hi

Wanting a bit off help from you guys on here that are running different isp providers to let us know how you find them or if youve had a bad 1.

We are currently using BT but was thinking off leaving them and moving over to sky broadband but heard ppl saying there not good so not sure so would like your help

rgds
paul

[ayjay]

I'm with IDNet, pretty much trouble free service, staffed by real people (in the UK) that answer the phone promptly and give help if required.

I had a problem with my email account a while back and I was talked through every stage to sort it out, they took the trouble to open up a copy of Thunderbird and check everything I was doing whilst on the phone, (I had a full-stop or a .net or something in the wrong place somewhere which stopped it all working).

http://www.idnet.net/

[paul1968uk]

any more ppl with help

[Cannyfixit]

Virgin media here,only a couple of breakdowns in 10 years so cant complain and i always get the speed i'm paying for,we did move to BT for a short time big mistake slow as hell and not interested when you phone up so went back to Virgin

[Inky Pete]

Have had no problems with BT since I got Infinity.

Previously I've had broadband from Post Office (up to 8 meg package and was regularly getting 6, never dropped out in 2 years), PlusNet (again, an up to 8 meg package but got drop outs and rarely saw above 2. If I complained I was told it was down to my line but it would magically get faster for about a fortnight before slowing down again.), Talk Talk (bloody shambles!), and before that it was with IBM through work.

[inspire]

I have been with sky nearly 4 years and never had any problems I have to pay £5 extra for unlimited use but all in all never had a problem

[Megaross]

Been with sky years and it's been non stop problems, it's slow 256kb/s is the best i've got on a supposedly 16mb package. It also consistently drops out, sky arent interested, neither are BT. They just blame each other and never send anyone out. Tried new routers, new microfilters, new extensions, no extension. Nothing works.
Definitely wouldn't go near them, it's my parents house and they wont leave sky.

At my place (uni) we have virgin media, solid 2mb/s, never drops. Standard router struggled to cope with a 5 person house (baring in mind it had 23 devices connected) but i've put in a cisco small business one for £30 and it's top notch.

In an ideal world sky telly, virgin broadband.

[big-all]

talk talk here probably 3 probs in the last 8 years
they are going fibre optic in this area soon

i like the whole package
i pay £112 line rental up front yearly =£9.50 a month [about £13 if you pay monthly]
i get free phone calls all the time including 0845 numbers
i pay £20.50p a month and that includes 500 mins to mobiles
internet is about 3- 4 meg or somwhere about there 'no down load limits
all this works out at £30 a month

[RichieP]

Been with Virgin for 7 years. Only lost connection twice and the engineer was here within 24 hours to fix it.

As someone who attends to a lot of broadband problems, they are the one I have to deal with the least.

Don't just look at the cost. For the sakes of a couple of quid per month you need good technical support if you do get any problems.

[paul1968uk]

We carnt get bt infinity here or virgin so would need to be looking at something else, with bt at present we have had a few problems with speed issues and when you phone there always in a forign country and you then never get any joy

[cm84]

If fiber optic is available in your area then use Virgin. If not then there are a lot of good ones but O2 are a sister company of BE broadband. BE are very good. Dont go with a package from O2 including home phone because you will get several calls per day telling you that you are entitled to PPI claim back!!!

[christian1985]

were with sky, and have been for about 4 years, never had a problem at all, always fast and reliable when it comes to downloading and general surfing. but internet connection and speeds are like mobile phone coverage, some areas are better for different companys, just depends where your based really.

[DougJones]

I have been with sky for 5/6 years now, get 7.02mb at last check 10mins ago. Any queries I've had have been resolved over the phone completely to my satisfaction.
Have the package in with TV & phone (including rental) extra £5-00 for 24/7 free calls. Broadband £7-50 for unlimited download. I have looked at other providers, but when you look at the complete package costs there's not much between any of them. I think that the distance you are from a telephone exchange makes a big difference to speeds though, unless you go fibre optic, but then you pay the higher price!

[wine~o]

I'm with talk-talk, and apart from initial set up issues... (We don't talk-talk about those,,,)
speed and reliability has been good...Broadband and phone rarely go above £30 per month..