Best broadband on BT line?

[Games Guru]

Moving house soon, from telewest to a BT line.

Looking to hook up my pc and xbox to broadband.

Anyone have any experience of BT broadband 1Mb, or other companies that work on a BT line for broadband?

Cheers.

[-Spike-]

Fair bit of feedback on Adslguide suggests that BT don't offer the best customer support and to my knowledge I think they are also quite expensive.
Personally I'd go here (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp) and tick the boxes of the ISP's you might be interested in and see what it shows. To begin with try Plusnet, Zen and Eclipse and see what you get. Plusnet have some good deals at the moment but do cap unless you take their Premier offer. Look out for capping, it's becoming quite popular now, and unless you have a good idea of usage something you may wish to stear clear of.

[Duncan Craig]

Freedom2Surf have been good for me, my relatives and (neighbours ;-) ) for years.

I'm waiting to upgrade to 1Mb next week I hope, and F2S has one of the best feedback ratings and cost of ownership for 1Mb according to AdslGuide.

[soleus]

I've been using BTYahoo (and its predecessor) for a few years and never had any problems though I know alot of people did when it was first rolled out, but I think they are pretty reliable now. I also heard customer service wasn't great.

Now upgraded to 1MB and price compares favourably plus its not capped currently, though there is a rumour this may change at beginning of 2005 (sorry can't remember cap limits)

[Paul D]

Plusnet are now offering a 2Meg connection for just £19.99!
That includes domain name hosting, 250mb webspace and static I.P.
It is capped at 4gb per month, and costs about £2.16 per Mb if you exceed etc.
They offer a sliding price scale if more bandwidth is needed, up to £39.99 for unlimited use.

I upgraded to the 2mb service last month and it's been fantastic.

Speed test results over the month etc:-
07-08-2004 01:38:27 = 2021.2
31-07-2004 23:36:57 = 2053.3
30-07-2004 18:32:52 = 2056.1
30-07-2004 16:56:44 = 2022.7
30-07-2004 16:33:14 = 2125

:smashin:

[-Spike-]

I upgraded to the 2mb service last month and it's been fantastic.

I've been with Plusnet and their uncapped 2Mb package for only 2 weeks but would definitely agree with the above.
I had so many problems with my last ISP (French company ;) ) - so far customer service seems excellent and their speeds ain't bad either (see sig)

:)

[dave*b]

I have been using giointernet 500 and i have never had a problem all in £19:95 a month.

by the way they our using BT as their carrier.

also remember that for 500 you need to be 5miles from the Exchange and for 1meg, 3 miles and 2meg 1 mile.

[Paul D]

dave*b
The good news is that BT have been doing some testing, and are now getting faster connections from greater exchange distances.

4mb connections should be finishing beta testing in the London area soon.
I would imagine this should be offered country wide soon. ;)

[Games Guru]

Plusnet seems very expensive, and there is no way I would ever consider a capped broadband service. Fulabeer, you say "It (plusnet) is capped at 4gb per month, and costs about £2.16 per Mb if you exceed etc."

That seems a heck of a lot, for instance I will have to pay £2160 if I goto 5gb. That is just extortion!! Or have you got your sums wrong?

Cheers for the replies everyone :smashin:

Pipex seem the way to go, but I don't understand how I would get their service? Do I need to get BT to install an ADSL line, or would pipex do all that for me?

[dave*b]

Fulabeer,

do you know how close you need to be to a exchange in order to get this data rate.

[MarkR]

On the 2mb service it is actually £2.10 for every GB you go over. see here (http://www.plus.net/info2/residential/info_broadband_home.html)

[Paul D]

err yes that was £2+ per gb!!! :rotfl:

Power surfers may not find a capped service the best option.
But for everyday users, 4gb+2mb download speed should be fine @ £19.99pm!

dave*b
I will ask my BT source, and get back to you (if he is able to disclose that type of info) ;)