# Who's is the best broadband



## pas_55 (May 9, 2002)

Following on from my post regards Pc V imac who offers the value for broadband service Aol or Bt plus any others comments this service ta!


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## jonhaff (May 20, 2002)

i think this depends on where you are and who can actually supply you.
The main contenders seem to be ntl ot Telewest. A number of others actually reply on BT to provide the networking ?! I think.
I have just taken up ntl whole package of TV/phone/broadband.


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## pgm (May 7, 2002)

I have been using Demon for about a year now and they seem pretty stable.
PS When you buy your imac they offer excellent support 
Regards
mac [smiley=pimp2.gif]


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## ^outt^kast^ (Jun 7, 2002)

i'm with pipex.....they are fine......actually they give a months free service for refferalls...so if ur interested.....ahem..let me know [smiley=cheers.gif]


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## KevinST (May 6, 2002)

Different types of BB...
All DSL (well, 98% of it) is provided via the BT infrastructure. Of the ISP's that provide BB over BT's infrastructure there are some very good ones and some very bad ones!
However, it's all using BT's infrastructure... and if that has problems, all ISP's are affected!
The only differences between DSL ISP's is when your connection finally get's into the ISP's network, the services they provide and the ability to provide good tech support is required.

AOL are very customer friendly, but you can't connect a router to their connection (as I've just found out @ a friends house) because they use special software... also this software stops any sort of ICS happening on the OS!
BTOpenworld have crap support, but my connection is generally good.
Zen, Nildram, Pipex.. all the major players are basically the same in terms of performance.

If you're in a cable area then you may have the additional option of using the cable company.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

If you have a cable area go for that - 512k sevice approx Â£20 a month and installation can sometimes be free or 1/2 price. For faster net - fastest currently available to home users - then Telewest offers a 1mb service @ Â£30 per month if u have other services installed.

Otherwise DSL on BT is fine just make sure u pick a decent ISP.


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## jonah (Aug 17, 2002)

i'm with Vispa they have a second to none service in my opinion and support is very good,if i had listened to bt i wouldnt have DSL now.
visit here http://www.ispreview.co.uk
they list isps and people have posted there own opinions of them none bias


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## Neil (May 7, 2002)

Very tempted to go for Pipex myself.

My only concern, and this may sound stupid, is why are they so cheap? ???

The initial costs are much lower, and the monthly charge is only about Â£23 vs about Â£30 for the rest.

Kind of implies the service isn't as good / slower connection / they're gonna go bust??!!

But then again I know everyone says they're really good, and I'm sure they recently won a Best Consumer Broadband award or something like that.


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## phil (May 7, 2002)

I'm with pipex. never had problems. Speed's always good.
Cable's a lot cheaper if you're in the right area though. I'm in a crappy ntl analogue area (SW london)


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## nutts (May 8, 2002)

I'm currently with BTopenworld, but now that I'm parting company with my company (so to speak), they won't be paying for it. SO, I have all the gubbins and want to find a cheaper service. Cable is out, as they havn't come anywhere near us here.

So does anyone know somewhere that I can transfer to and not have to pay for hardware, just connection?


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## Neil (May 7, 2002)

> So does anyone know somewhere that I can transfer to and not have to pay for hardware, just connection?


AFAIK, most of the Broadband ISP's offer you a connection-only service if that's what you want.

I've looked at the top few (speed-wise) from www.adslguide.co.uk and I'm sure most offer this.


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## KevinST (May 6, 2002)

Mark, you should be able to transfer to any ISP that does DSL.
Q: your DSL hardware, was that supplied by BTO (i.e. you got DSL installed in the early days where the ISP supplied the modem or router)? If so, then you'll have to return the hardware to BTO (it's not yours!).
If the hardware is yours then, as I said... you can transfer to almost any ISP. They all do a "wires only" service where all they supply is the DSL connection to your home and you have to buy and install the microfilter and DSL hardware.


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

I wouldn't know. I live in a highly populated area on the South Coast - no bloody broadband. :'(

Bet if the Government gets the go ahead for 400 bloody Asylum Seekers just down the road from my home, BT will install immediately <end rant> [smiley=devil.gif]


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## jonah (Aug 17, 2002)

Price normally depends on contention ratio most are 50:1 although u get a better contention with the higher grade packages.
Vispa were Â£35 but now are Â£27 customer service is what did it for me and they also have a forum and status page if ur having problems


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## nutts (May 8, 2002)

Got the hardware from BTO, but paid (IIRC Â£70) for it!

Contention rate on Home BTO is 50:1 and I can feel it. I did some timings the other day and opening various websites and refreshing pages was quicker on dial-up (achieving only 33k ) than it was on Broadband.

So may look for a lower contention rate.. 3:1 or 20:1, but don't want to pay Â£30/month.


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## jonah (Aug 17, 2002)

> So may look for a lower contention rate.. 3:1 or 20:1, but don't want to pay Â£30/month.


when u find one for under Â£30 let me know.
i will say my isp is a small comp based in manchester,so not many people have heard of them unlike BT, telewest,pipex ect sometimes pays to go with the small boys


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## Neil (May 7, 2002)

Anyone use Eclipse, or have any comments about them?

Just been looking on their web site and they look pretty good. They also score well on speed, reliability and customer service on adslguide.co.uk.

Quite tempted to go with them, all things considered.


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## NickP (May 6, 2002)

> I'm with pipex. never had problems. Speed's always good.


Ditto ;D


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## moley (May 14, 2002)

Like pas55 I'm looking for BB. I'm with Freeserve dial up - after I've got my soooper doooper new PC, I was intending to change to their BB offering - comments - not from geeks though - big ain't beautiful in their eyes.

Moley


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## Justhe1 (Jul 2, 2002)

I've been using NTL Cable BB for some time now with no probs.

line speed automatically upgraded from 512 to 600 for Â£24/month


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