Which ISP?

[Fweddy]

This is kind of linked to the Virgin broadband thread but I didn't want to hijack it.

I'm moving into a new place soon and I have to pick an ISP to sign up with. But which one would you fine folk recommend? Reliability is most important, then cost and then speed.

 

[inactionman]

Be, if you are in an area they cover. They are cheap, £18 a month for ADSL2+ (I get 18mbps), just don't use the provided box.

If you are an O2 customer get their version, as it's cheaper, although I think it has usage limits.

 

[Furr]

Be, if you are in an area they cover. They are cheap, £18 a month for ADSL2+ (I get 18mbps), just don't use the provided box.

Yer if you can get Be* they're ace.

 

[dysfunction]

Be* are the best ISP I have ever had...

 

[MYstIC G]

I'm with Sky. Had no problems, they upgraded the router firmware last night so they're committed to their network, cheap too if you've got a dish.

 

[RandomBastard]

mmmm enta net

 

[nath]

What's Be's tech support like? If there are any techies who have experience with this, that'd be best. I find that when talking to tier 1 tech support, if you know more than they do then thing can get very irritating, very quickly.

 

[inactionman]

They are in Eastern Europe, pretty good, better than Indian script monkeys anyway.

 

[Mabs]

ZEN, always
cos theyre ace
oh and they just won a WHICH? award for something

 

[Raven]

I am with BT (only ISP in my area) If you have a problem you spend an hour on the phone to ranjit shusheet going through several script cards along the lines of how the planets are aligned to your water pressure before they deduce there "is a problem on your line" and get an engineer to "have a look at it"

Once they have turned off the bandwidth throttles it usually sorts its self out though.

 

[GReaper]

Check the Samknows Broadband database for your exchange and see what you can get.

 

[Krazeh]

Have to add another vote for Be*, had a few probs with their Bebox but replaced it with a Netgear DG834N and had absolutely no probs since. Connect at 19Mb/s and, given a fast enough site, can download at 2MB/s.

 

[Tilda]

What's Be's tech support like? If there are any techies who have experience with this, that'd be best. I find that when talking to tier 1 tech support, if you know more than they do then thing can get very irritating, very quickly.

I've found Be very irritating when it comes to technical support.
We're using the supplied box and the wireless dropped out a lot.
They were useless, refused to send a new box and were generally script-bound zombies! Very frustrating when I knew that there wasn't a problem with our line, our computers and that it was purely a problem with their box. I gave up eventually when they insisted that there was then a problem with our line and it was BT's responsibility.

 

[Krazeh]

The supplied box is bloody useless imo, Thomson must just be giving their routers away to ISPs because I can't come up with any other reason for the number of ISPs that send them out to customers.

 

[old.user4556]

I hear all good stuff about Be.

Personally, i'm with o2 (runs off the back of Be) and they're fantastic if you're LLU and o2 has their kit available. I'm also an o2 mobile customer, so for £7.50 a month i'm getting an "up to 8 Mbps per second" and getting exactly that. I download at about 850 kbytes per sec. Their tech support are also in Scotland iirc (well, they all have Scottish accents) and have been decent the two times I've phoned.

 

[Furr]

The supplied Be box is useless! oh and warning! 54Mbps wireless networking generally won't cut it. Lots of people complain that their speeds tests are around 4500 kbps. Which is not the fault of Be* but the result of the throughput of their network connection.
I took the plunge and went Draft N for my network, and so far so good. I get around 14000+ Kbps on speed tests. Never had a problem with them, although for the first week or so the connection does take a while to Sync properly, and every once in a while you may get an email informing you of some maintenance where you'll lose your internet connection. But this is rare and happens in the early morning.

 

[old.user4556]

Furr, you are exactly right with the wireless.

I was moaning that my o2 connection was connecting at 8 Mbits per sec, but my wireless PC was getting about 350 Kbytes from the web. I thought o2 were shit, but then my mate who is on Sky and connects at 7 Mbits was testing his laptop wirelessly and had the same problems as me. His wired PC was getting the full whack (as did mine when i ditched wireless).

I echo Furr's comments, 54 Mbps is hopeless.

 

[Fweddy]

Thanks guys.

According to that Samknows site Be is one of the few ISP's I'll be able to get and I have my own router already, so it looks like I'll be going with them.

 

[dysfunction]

I used to be with Zen and didnt have any real complaints but they are a lot more expensive than any of the others....when last I looked.

I would rather be with Be* than spend the extra cash.

Not really needed their tech support but if I have needed anything I just write a support ticket and things get sorted quite quickly.

 

[nath]

Zen don't appear to have an unlimited option for home users either - 50gb seems to be their max.

 

[Furr]

Thanks guys.

According to that Samknows site Be is one of the few ISP's I'll be able to get and I have my own router already, so it looks like I'll be going with them.

Check to make sure your router is ADSL2+ compliant, otherwise it won't work

 

[Starman]

Personally I'd suggest Be first, and if not Sky (Max).

 

[Calaen]

Been with telewest/virgin for 6 years now, customer service was very good, when my network was being over used due to upgrades in the area, I got 2 months free internet.

 

[nath]

Been with telewest/virgin for 6 years now, customer service was very good, when my network was being over used due to upgrades in the area, I got 2 months free internet.

Be that as it may, as I understand the general consensus on virgin is that their tech support is atrocious.

 

[Will]

Depends what time you call, during the day you might get the Liverpool office.

Off the record (like that ever happens on the intertubes), they are going to bring tech support back inhouse. At the moment it is totally outsourced (to IBM, iirc).

 

[nath]

Off the record (like that ever happens on the intertubes), they are going to bring tech support back inhouse. At the moment it is totally outsourced (to IBM, iirc).

And is that likely to be a good or bad thing?

 

[Will]

Good. I think management have realised outsourcing was as big a mistake as the 25p/minute number. IBM make their staff stick to very rigid scripts, which is very frustrating.

I could talk about it more, but its work, and really boring. And I'm in the office doing overtime at the moment.

 

[soze]

I have gone to sky now 16 mb £10 a month i run stable at 14mb and download at 1.3 mbs only been with them a month so not sure how they will be if i get a problem.

 

[Shovel]

Have to add another vote for Be*, had a few probs with their Bebox but replaced it with a Netgear DG834N and had absolutely no probs since. Connect at 19Mb/s and, given a fast enough site, can download at 2MB/s.

I'm with Be* as well and have been very happy with it on the whole, although I too have issues with the BeBox.

Since I've got a Netgear ADSL2 router here I was going to swap mine over as well, but I'm lacking the settings to manually configure it. Where did you get them from? Is it just a case of emailing Be* to get them, or has someone documented the process on the internets?

 

[inactionman]

Instructions here:

General Be Network Settings for 'any' router - Be and O2 Broadband User Forum

Make sure to be on a static address as Be can have problems with their DHCP servers.