Networks Broadband ISPs

I'm looking around for a new ISP, as I've just realised that AOL now has a download limit, even though I'm stil paying £30 a month.
I can't get cable or anything, so I'm just looking for standard ADSL/ADSL max providers.

Has anybody tried Orange? Any good? The included line rental/phone service looks quite good, but obviously if they block ports/throttle connections, then I don't want to use them.

Any other suggestions?

 

Orange is no good. Best ADSL ISPs at the moment are PlusNet and Zen Internet.

 

Another vote against Orange, I have a friend who was kicked off Orange for exceeding the limits slightly over two months. They can be a bit heavy handed.

 

Be are supposed to be good too.
Or Entanet.

 

http://www.bethere.co.uk (if you can get it)

 

Another vote for Be* - the customer service can be patchy sometimes (depending on which call-centre you get to), but for cheap, very very fast broadband, they're great.

Plusnet are also very good iirc.

 

tiscali have been offering 8mb broadband & phone line rental with weekend calls for £19.99, i know tiscali get some bad reviews but been using it for more than a year and no problems. alltough they do throttle back as soon as peak time starts but i think most isp's do now

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/talk/8mb-unlimited-anytime.html?code=ZZ-NL-12LG&srccode=

 

used to have a mate with tiscali but quit in favour of Virgin media. If you do go for tiscali if you download a lot (and i mean a lot) like my mate you'll be on the recieving end of loads of letters.

 

I would say Be if you get it, if not one of the first 2 that were mentioned, I would avoid Tiscalli and as such any of the "Pipex" brand like the plague as they have just brought them.
A friend of mine had no end of problems with Ticalli, and Pipex was fine for a while, but in the more recently times they went shite for me, and a friend of mine has just migrated (eventually, had problems getting the MAC) away from Pipex too because of major problems.

 

ive been with pipex for a while

the service is preety good and gaming online is no problem

i pay about 18 quid for 15gig limit

 

Plusnet are good customer service wise, but the speeds (for me) are up and down, all over the place.

 

I'll vote for IDNet. Ultimate customer service.

 

Wanadoo are poo. Fast, but keeps breaking down and takes an age to connect. But lets not mention thier customer survice or telephone support.

 

I think Be* have got even better than they used to be atm - they're moving out to more exchanges and getting increased competition. Atm I get unlimited 24MB (actual ~18MB) for £18/month with a static IP and plenty of hosting/emails if needed.

 

Don't forget the new (as in 14 days old) O2 Broadband offering. It's based on Be hardware/infrastructure but with great prices, particularly if you have an O2 mobile contract - ie £7.50 a month baseline - and is ADSL2plus based for extra speed. I got mine activate earlier today and still smiling... If you are going Be then be sure to checkout Quidco.com for opportunity to get £55 cashback.

 

If you have sky, get the broadband with it. £10 ~ 16 MB. which is a excellent price, we get just under 10MB out of our connection

 

Another vote for Be* if its in your area, otherwise Zen Internet however there unlimited packages are rather a lot more pricey, but at least they offer an unlimited service.

Check out SamKnows.com for info about services in your area.
Avoid going with Orange, my work uses them for staff that work from home, they have no end of issues with them.

 

What product are you on? This might help to explain the speed differences you seeing, http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/speed.shtml



Any ISP that wants to make money has to manage their network, simply throwing money at extra bandwidth isn't sustainable. One of the things that makes Plusnet different is that we are open and honest about it. We don't sell unlimited broadband and then slap an aup in the small print.

You want to know how we prioritisation traffic, look here http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/traffic_prioritisation.shtml. You want to know what speeds you can expect based on product, protocol and the time of day, look here http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/quality_broadband/speed.shtml. You want to see how our network is performing, look here http://www.plus.net/support/network_performance/index.shtml?supporta=networkp. Customer support stats, here http://www.plus.net/supportpages.html?a=212&supporta=rhmcallstats. If you want to download the Internet, just do it overnight and it won't be deducted from the monthly allowance. I frequently download binaries from usenet off peak at full line speed (~5Mb for me) and surf/game during peak hours.



And yes, I do work for Plusnet

 

Let's just say that Plusnet are looking into it, as someone there recognises that there is a problem. Atm, I always sync higher than 7mbps, but I am only receiving about half that speed at best from anywhere. I could be downloading a demo, Windows updates.. whatever. I don't stray near my monthly cap either.

 

not surprised to not see Virgin being suggested, when they are good they are really good, but when it goes wrong then their continental(far far away) support is pants. But I hear their business support is excellent.

Shame as before it became Virgin I was with Telewest and never had a bad thing to say about them for years

p.s. I am on 20Meg line(cable) and consistently get 15Meg