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which broadband provider?
daniel mason - 30/12/13 at 03:04 PM

im getting sick of talktalk now.the speeds are terrible meaning a 3min youtube vid can take 10-15 mins to watch in full and its been tempremental/breaking down.
what would you guys recommend? we live out of the cities etc and no fibre optic is currently available
im wanting unlimited useage,fast speeds but not interested in landline calls at all as i have a works mobile!
whats available?

Slimy38 - 30/12/13 at 03:08 PM

I have Sky, but we wanted the TV as well so it works out quite cheap. Unfortunately you can't have broadband without a phone line, so even if you don't make calls you still have to pay line rental in some form.

Plusnet gets the awards and would be my first choice if we didn't want TV.

richardh - 30/12/13 at 03:09 PM

avoid sky as i'm on them and have the upgraded "hub" and i can't buffer a 40 second youtube clip in under 3 minutes at any point in the evening.
Its not the line speed from the exchange but Sky's bloody throttling servers..................

richardh - 30/12/13 at 03:10 PM

avoid sky as i'm on them and have the upgraded "hub" and i can't buffer a 40 second youtube clip in under 3 minutes at any point in the evening.
Its not the line speed from the exchange but Sky's bloody throttling servers..................

Nickp - 30/12/13 at 03:15 PM

Plusnet gave us a big step up in both speed and reliability when we swapped from TalkTalk, recommended

daniel mason - 30/12/13 at 03:17 PM

im using sky tv but they dont have a broadband service in our area yet either! i was looking at the £2.50 plusnet package plus line rental but as soon as i try to book it goes to £9.99 a month not £2.50 so probably not in our area either

Wheels244 - 30/12/13 at 03:21 PM

Look no further than Plusnet - never had any bother.
And they're honest Yorkshire folk and as we all know - you can't get any better than that

Slimy38 - 30/12/13 at 03:22 PM

quote:
Originally posted by richardh
avoid sky as i'm on them and have the upgraded "hub" and i can't buffer a 40 second youtube clip in under 3 minutes at any point in the evening.
Its not the line speed from the exchange but Sky's bloody throttling servers..................


Sky don't throttle, they never have done... they DO oversubscribe though, so you're probably sharing your bandwidth with lots of other customers.

Edit: should have perhaps clarified that, Sky themselves don't throttle, but some of their products are bought off BT who may have their own policies for traffic shaping. It does depend on what service you have though.

[Edited on 30/12/13 by Slimy38]

twybrow - 30/12/13 at 03:50 PM

Another vote for Plusnet. If you do decide to go with Plusnet, let one of us refer you, and both parties get £50 as a reward...

splitrivet - 30/12/13 at 04:44 PM

Type your number with std code in here linky first and see who's equipments in your exchange.
Going with one of the alternatives should give you better speed, otherwise you are on a BT wholesale product.
Surprised youve problems with talktalk as I'm pulling 17 meg all day long but I am using their equipment not the BT wholesale version.
Youve tried all the normal checks to increase speed I take it.
Sky is only any good if they have equipment in the exchange otherwise your out of the frying pan into the fire.
Cheers,
Bob

[Edited on 30/12/13 by splitrivet]

britishtrident - 30/12/13 at 05:25 PM

Plusnet aren't what they were nowadays they are pile it high and sell it cheap but they are still the way to go. However you may as well wait until fibre reaches your area.

Usually the BT checker will give you a date for FTTC fibre availabilty in your area. http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/ADSLChecker.AddressOutput

unijacko67 - 30/12/13 at 06:50 PM

Talk Talk have had a bit of bad press, but I've just gone Talk Talk £7.50 per month. Its been no trouble and an easy swap.

scudderfish - 30/12/13 at 06:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by zetec
There is only one choice...BT, but I might be biased! See if you have fibre local then speed will not be an issue.


Do you work for them? Would you be able to find out why my cabinet (45) has not been connected for FTTC even-though my exchange (Harpenden) has had it for years?

Regards,
Dave

Irony - 30/12/13 at 07:12 PM

Plusnet are scum. Don't use, five weeks and still no internet

Slimy38 - 30/12/13 at 07:17 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
quote:
Originally posted by zetec
There is only one choice...BT, but I might be biased! See if you have fibre local then speed will not be an issue.


Do you work for them? Would you be able to find out why my cabinet (45) has not been connected for FTTC even-though my exchange (Harpenden) has had it for years?

Regards,
Dave


I believe (and I might be out of date here) there was a website where you could register your interest, and if a certain area got enough people BT would set it up. Then once BT has set it up, the other companies can then piggyback on it.

It may have been on the BT Infinity page itself perhaps?

JoelP - 30/12/13 at 07:30 PM

I get fantastic speed and coverage with my phone on 3. They do a tariff that is unlimited data including tethering, which might work out a lot cheaper as you could ditch the line rental. At home, I just use a 3 mobile dongle for my laptop, but that is capped at 3gb for about 12 quid.

JohnH - 30/12/13 at 07:43 PM

What ever you do,don't go with BT. Huge pile of s--t....... Keeps dropping out, if you have a problem you can't speak to anyone....... If I keep getting the s--t from them,I'll be moving to plus net. My mates with them and he says they are the dogs bits.

britishtrident - 30/12/13 at 07:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
quote:
Originally posted by zetec
There is only one choice...BT, but I might be biased! See if you have fibre local then speed will not be an issue.


Do you work for them? Would you be able to find out why my cabinet (45) has not been connected for FTTC even-though my exchange (Harpenden) has had it for years?

Regards,
Dave


I believe (and I might be out of date here) there was a website where you could register your interest, and if a certain area got enough people BT would set it up. Then once BT has set it up, the other companies can then piggyback on it.

It may have been on the BT Infinity page itself perhaps?



If your exchange is going fibre then no-need to register interest the only thing to do is check the date fibre becomes available at your street corner cabinet using the BT FTTC checker. In an exchange area after being upgraded not all cabinets get upgraded at the same time there can be 7 or 8 months between the first and last cabinets going fibre and some out lying areas won't be upgraded in the current round.

The procedure is you migrate and sign up a package with your chosen ISP who gets with BT to connect you.

britishtrident - 30/12/13 at 07:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JohnH
What ever you do,don't go with BT. Huge pile of s--t....... Keeps dropping out, if you have a problem you can't speak to anyone....... If I keep getting the s--t from them,I'll be moving to plus net. My mates with them and he says they are the dogs bits.


Plusnet are owned by BT and increasingly the service from Plusnet is dropping to BT levels

britishtrident - 30/12/13 at 07:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by scudderfish
quote:
Originally posted by zetec
There is only one choice...BT, but I might be biased! See if you have fibre local then speed will not be an issue.


Do you work for them? Would you be able to find out why my cabinet (45) has not been connected for FTTC even-though my exchange (Harpenden) has had it for years?

Regards,
Dave


Not all the cabinets in a given area get connected at the same time it can take up to 7 months between the first and last to go FTTC.
The only way to find out is to keep using the broadband FTTC checker

Wheels244 - 30/12/13 at 07:57 PM

My parting words to BT after I told them they were in breach of contract for their appalling service, and being asked if there's anything they could do to keep my custom -------

" I wouldn't stay with you if you was giving broadband away free "

I was with Talk Talk before them - got a letter saying they were upgrading and we would lose phone and broadband for 4 hours - no problem I thought - 6 weeks later ! I got both reconnected and promptly left them

Had not one second of bother with Plusnet and they're based in the UK and you get to speak to someone in the UK who invariably is English and not speaking from a script.

steve m - 30/12/13 at 08:22 PM

Im with Virgin, cant say if there the cheapest, or best, or quickest, but never had a problem (so far)

Steve

Peteff - 30/12/13 at 11:32 PM

We've been on Talk Talk for years now and we've had no problems, fast and only been down for a couple of hours in all that time. If your speed is dropping get a line check done.

woodster - 30/12/13 at 11:57 PM

quote:
Originally posted by steve m
Im with Virgin, cant say if there the cheapest, or best, or quickest, but never had a problem (so far)

Steve


Virgin for me and around here they can't be beaten , 2 iPads ,2 laptops, 2 phones and a TV all on wifi at the same time and even with my eldest down loading films it handles it no problem

Scuzzle - 31/12/13 at 12:59 AM

I'm with AOL which is essentially Talktalk, I live is a small village with limited connectivity so no cable or high speed for me. My internet is horrendously slow though, during the day it's fine but at night it just grinds to a halt. Two in the morning is the only time I can confidently stream video knowing it will play without buffering. Every time I threaten to leave them they come up with a deal I just can't refuse as I don't see BT which is my only other option being any better.

russbost - 31/12/13 at 10:29 AM

Used to be with Virgin, but bill kept on creeping up, switched to Orange, (now EE) speed has nearly trebled on the same bit of copper a long way from the exchange! The bill including line rental & all inclusive & exclusive phone calls is always less than £30. My father in law has Talk Talk which I would agree is really slow - also regulary seems to need a router reboot as it drops out.