BT Total Broadband questions

[dUnKle]

Moving into my own house very shortly and will require phone and broadband for as good a price as possible

Now I want a high(ish) download speed and good download capacity - looked around and it seems to be between BT and Talk Talk

Now with BT I have a few questions

(1) FREE BT Hub Phone - now in the blurb it reads

Free phone calls from 6pm to 6am evenings and weekends2 over the internet with Broadband Talk2. Find out more about

and I see you get a "special" phone with the package. Now my main thing here is can you use other phones (ie plug in the wall ones) and does this give you the free calls ?

(2) Wireless - I assume it is tottally wireless and that my PC and 360 will pick up the package fine ?


What I want really is this

A cordless phone somewhere in the house downstairs and a wireless router type thing near by. Then want a phone near the bed (just in case)

Will Total Broadband allow this and is there anything else I should be aware of ?

Would the 26.99 a month just be all I pay (with exception of none free calls) ?

I just want it to be simple to use (moving in with GF) and not have to worry about racking up phone call charges etc

I worry that with this I willpay 26.99 for option 3 but if we plug a phone in next to the bed and use that we will get charged for calls there (also does the 26.99 include the BT line rental)

[Andy98765]

Before you make the big jump also realise that BT its self offer free evening and weekend calls for a small fee on top of your rental (£3.95/month). A standard landline is much better quality. The broadband line with calls is useful if you need a second phone so look at all the call packages. What I must say is that BT Broadband (i have it) is very reliable and in a survey was shown to give the best throughput of most of the ISP's and you also get free Norton Internet security (£40 per year) with option 2or3.

[amflemi]

Don't forget however that the £26.99 does not include the standard BT line rental of £11!! So your total cost is £37.99 per month. Try having a look at some of the other providers such as orange, pipex and plusnet who also offer the free calls off-peak. I know that orange do "free" broadband if you are on a tariff that is over £30 but the download is limited to 2Gb however for £10 a month you can have the "unlimited" package. Also is it worth seeing if Sky Broadband is in the area that you are moving in to?

Rgds

Andy

[gra123]

i have the Bt option 3 now i wish i hadn't bothered. the quality of the calls over broadband is shocking the phone you have to use is the white plastic one that has to sit on the the hub it is very difficult to hear as there is a constant low buzzing on the line, and when i called Bt tech support they told me this is normal as it's the broadband line i'm using. so to sum up i now don't use this phone and just use my mobile as this gives me free call at night. if i could think of a way to get out of my Bt contract i would.

[Andy98765]

Don't forget however that the £26.99 does not include the standard BT line rental of £11!! So your total cost is £37.99 per month. Try having a look at some of the other providers such as orange, pipex and plusnet who also offer the free calls off-peak. I know that orange do "free" broadband if you are on a tariff that is over £30 but the download is limited to 2Gb however for £10 a month you can have the "unlimited" package. Also is it worth seeing if Sky Broadband is in the area that you are moving in to?

Rgds

Andy

But you still have to pay the BT rental of £11 a month for any ISP via ADSL broadband so that must be included in all tarrifs.

[Rygar]

A standard landline is much better quality

I am surprised to hear that the voice quality is bad. I assume it is VoIP we are talking about here with BT? Can't talk for BT but VoIP in general (Skype for example) is usually far, far better quality than standard landline voice calls. The only time this may not be true is you are suffering from high network congestion. A decent ISP and VoIP = Excellent voice quality that far exceeds the tinny effort of standard landlines. Of course VoIP to landlane then the landline bit is going to be the weakest link.

in a survey was shown to give the best throughput of most of the ISP's

What do you mean by throughput? Speed? Which survey? Surveys get carried out all the time naming different ISP's as the best in one way or the other. They can be very misleading and the marketing people love to manipulate the results to make their guys look good. I was A BT broadband customer for 5 years.
Reliability: Excellent
CS: Poor
Speed: Average for a BT Wholesale IP Stream product given my line conditions.

BT usually score fairly low in most of the polls I have seen. This one for example: http://www.dslzoneuk.co.uk/isp_ratings.php

[dUnKle]

Don't forget however that the £26.99 does not include the standard BT line rental of £11!! So your total cost is £37.99 per month. Try having a look at some of the other providers such as orange, pipex and plusnet who also offer the free calls off-peak. I know that orange do "free" broadband if you are on a tariff that is over £30 but the download is limited to 2Gb however for £10 a month you can have the "unlimited" package. Also is it worth seeing if Sky Broadband is in the area that you are moving in to?

Rgds

Andy

Bloody hell

I think it will end up being Talk Talk then

Its a shame BT do not just do a basic unlimited internet package - 37.99 is just way to expensive compared with Talk Talk

I know people dont like them but I am (at parents) currently with Onetel and have been for 3 years or so and never had problem - looks like will try and transfer

[PlasmaVirgin]

Not wanting to put you off, but I'm a freelance advisor who works in the Internet and IT industry and have heard a helluva lot of complaints about Talk Talk with regards to quality of service / customer support.

Just thought I'd warn you, as they seem to offer a cheap package but again it seems that you get what you pay for!

[dUnKle]

Not wanting to put you off, but I'm a freelance advisor who works in the Internet and IT industry and have heard a helluva lot of complaints about Talk Talk with regards to quality of service / customer support.

Just thought I'd warn you, as they seem to offer a cheap package but again it seems that you get what you pay for!

so who would you "advise" on

Living at home Mum pays the line rental and I pay £20 a month for unlimited 2MG Broadband with Onetel - been with them 3 years or so and NEVER had problem - it seems they are now the same company as Talk Talk

Understand Talk Talk had problems regards accounts being set up and activated etc

Now The way I see it is

20.99 with Talk Talk which includes line rental - Unlimted 2MB access and free calls or

11 a month to BT - plus extra for free calls plus extra for Broadband - now if only I could find an unlimited Broadband supplier for a tenner then that could be the option

seems Tiscali is my only other option

[Singh400]

Don't forget however that the £26.99 does not include the standard BT line rental of £11!! So your total cost is £37.99 per month. Try having a look at some of the other providers such as orange, pipex and plusnet who also offer the free calls off-peak. I know that orange do "free" broadband if you are on a tariff that is over £30 but the download is limited to 2Gb however for £10 a month you can have the "unlimited" package. Also is it worth seeing if Sky Broadband is in the area that you are moving in to?

Rgds

Andy11 quid?! We pay £9.35 for line rental, BB is £22.97.

Oh and don't go with Orange, seriously you'll regret it. I'd recommend BT - or Sky Broadband looks pretty good. I'm holding out untill everyone who wants to migrate has and then see what the service is like under heavy usage.

[canardo]

I went with BT option3 after hearing the horror stories about talk talk,

my bt line live on the 3rd oct, still waiting
my mothers talk talk line, live on the 25th sept was actually completed on the 15th and has been rock stable ever since,

If it works they are all fine but it seems BT is just as bad as Talk Talk in my opinion for supplying customer service, does talk talk use indian call centres as well?

[Tom Tom]

ispreview.co.uk
adslguide.org.uk

NTL or Telewest can be good for new customers.

[dUnKle]

It really is a mine field

On the cost issue it seems BT is VERY expenisive - The option 3 does not seem bad but when you factor in around ten quid for line rental its almost double that of Talk Talk

Also seems for every Talk Talk horror story there are just as many positives

My head hurts

[amflemi]

Do you have a contract mobile phone? Is it with orange? if you are on a tariff over £30 then you can have free broadband and off peak calls but you still have to pay the £11 monthy line rental (btw I checked the BT website for the monthly line rental and for all tariff it is £11 a month).

[dUnKle]

Think have found one

Nildram looks very good

[trevor.dowle]

Not wanting to put you off, but I'm a freelance advisor who works in the Internet and IT industry and have heard a helluva lot of complaints about Talk Talk with regards to quality of service / customer support.

Just thought I'd warn you, as they seem to offer a cheap package but again it seems that you get what you pay for!

As a freelance advisor, you would probably be better quoting from personal experience rather than from rumour. All ISPs' have their teething troubles at first, and it's early days for TalkTalk. Don't forget that the people with complaints are louder and more vocal than those with none!

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=384996&page=4

It's worth reading and noting that not everyone has an issue with talktalk, and this will be true of all ISPs

[Rygar]

I hear what you're saying but come on....the bad things being said about talk-talk are hardly rumours!

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=2802

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20061003.shtml

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/29/talktalk_lets_customers_leave/

http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/news.php?id=96639

And there's plenty more where that came from.

[Rygar]

Think have found one

Nildram looks very good

Unfortunately Nildram are yet another provider who have intoduced traffic shaping. Good ISP but not if you use P2P (legal or otherwise) or newsgroups.

They also seem to be having a lot of problems with spam & email viruses of late.

Which package were you considering? Price?

You are right, choosing an ISP is a minfield these days. There are very few good ones left. With faster speeds and much more content available on the net there is simply just not enough bandwidth to go round.

Have you checked what services are available on your exchange at Samknows? I would look to see just what is available to you. Any LLU providers for example?

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php