westf27
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 06:44 PM |
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Broadband supplier rethink
Been with aol for ages but they are not competitive anymore.Looking at o2 or Be.
Any thoughts good or bad
555
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BenB
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 06:48 PM |
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Whichever you go for make sure they don't restrict bandwidth like Virgin Media do.
If you go over a few hundred Mb they pull you down to a pathetically slow speed.
BBC Iplayer is basically a no-go, even a little bit of CoD fragging leads to no bandwidth for the rest of the day. Some days even when I haven't
been using my computer my service gets severely throttled (and its not even as if I've got a wifi router that could be "leaking" my
bandwidth to a neighbour who's hacked my WEP key!!!)....
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hobzy
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 07:07 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Whichever you go for make sure they don't restrict bandwidth like Virgin Media do.
If you go over a few hundred Mb they pull you down to a pathetically slow speed.
BBC Iplayer is basically a no-go, even a little bit of CoD fragging leads to no bandwidth for the rest of the day. Some days even when I haven't
been using my computer my service gets severely throttled (and its not even as if I've got a wifi router that could be "leaking" my
bandwidth to a neighbour who's hacked my WEP key!!!)....
Weirdly I have never had any issue with this with Virgin, despite knowing mates who have. That includes at least 3 hours of COD etc, plenty of video
(ahem) downloads and the wife using the connection at the same time on her laptop. I'm on the Large package and get a very consistent
9.5>10Mb at all times. It all started running well when they had to wire the modem seperately form the v+ box.
Was on XL for about 6 months and never dipped below 16Mb. Out in the sticks too.
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Gav
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 07:19 PM |
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I was with sky for a couple of years which was ok ish...
Moved to BE over 6 months ago which has been superb since!
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 08:03 PM |
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Another bad rep here for Virgin - slow slow slow.... perhaps Richard Branson is practicing for Ben Bradshaws job 
Chris
Spoing! - the sound of an irony meter breaking...
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UncleFista
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 08:45 PM |
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Just to add to the mix 
I'm with Virginmedia, I get top speed downloads and excellent latency.
It all depends on your area and how many people are using your local UBR.
Also, my son plays on his Xbox all day and has never hit the download limit. I limit my major downloads 'til after 9pm to avoid hitting it, but
I've downloaded 4 DVDs overnight before now...
I reckon the best thing to do is to have a word with neighbours etc and see who they're with and ask them how their connections are. All IMHO of
course
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 09:25 PM |
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Just got a fifty meg modem delivered today..from VM......
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clairetoo
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 10:01 PM |
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I'm with Virgin - only problem I have is that my 10meg is consistently around 3.5meg 
Its cuz I is blond , innit
Claire xx
Will weld for food......
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 10:13 PM |
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I'm at the very far end of a piece of wet string, and still get better than 5 Meg from PlusNet...
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 8/1/09 at 10:18 PM |
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Relevant link...
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stevebubs
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| posted on 9/1/09 at 12:28 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by westf27
Looking at o2 or Be.
They're the same company...
[Edited on 9/1/09 by stevebubs]
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britishtrident
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| posted on 9/1/09 at 07:54 AM |
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I was with Be and had zero problems with them, service was fast and reliable 16meg variable rate ADSL2+ which delivers 8 meg over my line.
However after being with them 18months they change their T&C and downgraded their cheapest services to standard variable rate rate 8 meg
although it is still ADSL2+. So i switched to O2, O2 are a sister company to Be and have better deals --- even more so if you have an O2 mobile even
a PAYG.
Both companies were 100% reliable and use a pretty decent Speed Touch wireless router ready ready set up just switch on and you are connected. Only
niggle was the isp user interface for seting up new mail boxes and reading webmail what have you is pretty poor.
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My other ADSL line is on Plusnet an 8meg variable rate delivering 4meg over my line -- actually quite good for the distance from exchange. Plus
net deals are also good, they also offer the same Speedtouch wireless router. One big advantage is they have a very good user interface for seting up
mail boxes, fire-walling, spam filters and web space --- Again I would highly recommend.
Plusnet are now owned by BT but are run as completely seperate company.
[Edited on 9/1/09 by britishtrident]
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Gav
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| posted on 13/1/09 at 03:20 PM |
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Point of note with the BE supplied router, while it is fine and dandy for the average user, if your an avid gamer you will have problems with it due
to the crap NAT implementation, which myself and many other BE users who play games have found out.
This can be sorted by sticking your PC in the DMZ but im never keen on that sort of thing.
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