Question Moving house - moving ISP?

[eksdee]

So I am moving house soon, I am currently with Virgin and have always had them as an ISP - well, began with Blueyonder and stuck with them after the switch to Virgin - with generally great service. Always had good pings and download speeds - until now. For the past few weeks my internet has been totally unstable, I have been getting about half, or less, the download speed I am paying for (20mb) and I am getting huge, intermitent packet loss in games (BFBC2, WoW, WAR) and on vent/skype.

This got me thinking - with the move coming, should I look at a new provider? I was hoping people could share their experiences and recommendations. What I NEED is uncapped, I absolutely won't consider any capped service as I download a lot of tv shows/movies/other things (horse porn). What I'd LIKE is 10mb+ download and 1mb+ upload.

Thanks in advance!

 

[leviathane]

how long you got left on your virgin contract tbh, cos they normally make you take out a minimum 12 month contract and get you to pay the rest of the months bills when you move.

 

[dysfunction]

Be There is uncapped but not sure if you would get 10MB+ download speeds as that all depends how far you are from the exchange...

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/homepage

 

[inactionman]

BE/O2 (if you have an O2 mobile) LLU product would be a good idea.

 

[MYstIC G]

Agreed Be/O2.

Sky are also pretty good but they tried a price hike on me for no reason so I binned them.

Whatever you do, if you're getting a "new install (TM)" make sure you whore out and get cashback. If you're really lovely you'll do it using my sexy personal link0r. If not search the net for Quidco or TopCashback.

 

[Ch3tan]

Remember that you won't know what speed you'll get on adsl until they do a linecheck. See if you can get current occupants if any to agree to let your chosen provider do one if they have a BT line. If not, you may find that you get a lot less than expected.

Cable is good for consistent and accurate speeds, Virgin though will traffic shape the hell out of your connection, it's a subtle way to cap without advertising it.

 

[ford prefect]

Remember that you won't know what speed you'll get on adsl until they do a linecheck. See if you can get current occupants if any to agree to let your chosen provider do one if they have a BT line. If not, you may find that you get a lot less than expected.

Cable is good for consistent and accurate speeds, Virgin though will traffic shape the hell out of your connection, it's a subtle way to cap without advertising it.

Good idea - they will also typically dial your connection down a bit as standard, so it always pays to phone your new ISP and scream WTF is this ****?!!!! down the phone at them, that usually gives you another 10-15%

 

[GReaper]

So I am moving house soon, I am currently with Virgin and have always had them as an ISP - well, began with Blueyonder and stuck with them after the switch to Virgin - with generally great service. Always had good pings and download speeds - until now. For the past few weeks my internet has been totally unstable, I have been getting about half, or less, the download speed I am paying for (20mb) and I am getting huge, intermitent packet loss in games (BFBC2, WoW, WAR) and on vent/skype.

If you're moving to a different area then you probably won't get the same issues as cable users share a local node. Obviously the thought of signing up again with the same ISP which has given you awful connectivity for weeks/months isn't fun.

This got me thinking - with the move coming, should I look at a new provider? I was hoping people could share their experiences and recommendations. What I NEED is uncapped, I absolutely won't consider any capped service as I download a lot of tv shows/movies/other things (horse porn). What I'd LIKE is 10mb+ download and 1mb+ upload.

What exchange will you be on, and how far away from the exchange will you be? Use SamKnows if you're unsure.

It's hard to recommend an ISP before we know the exchange and distance, and if cable is available. If you're close to an exchange then BE/O2 is a good choice if you're happy with up to 24Mbit, but if you've got no chance of reaching your 10Mbit goal then Virgin Media will be the only option.

 

[eksdee]

duh! lack of foresight on my part, wrote the OP at work.

this is my exchange: SamKnows - Broadband Availability - Stratford On Avon (CMSTRA) Exchange

i'll be within a 2 mile radius of it, perhaps even 1 mile.

 

[GReaper]

http://www.failand.org.uk/adsl2.jpg

Obviously the further away you are from the exchange, the lower the speed. BE/Sky are as close to genuinely unlimited as you can get, but if you're going to be up to 2 miles away then cable could be a better option.

That exchange is marked for FTTC by the end of next year. If you get into a 1 year contract then by this time next year you'll have more options.