Just wanna survey what the best ISP is really, thinkin about migrating pretty soon as i'm tired of the hopeless gits @ AOL knowing less than I do...

Does any other AOL customer ever find their answer to absolutely everything is SPYWARE, I was even advised to remove Spybot S&D and Zone alarm by them once....????

Anyway's, thanks for your help in swinging my mind guys n gals...I have a feeling the majority are gonna say BY in which case I am gonna have to migrate house as well....lol :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I used to be on Pipex who I found quite good, having moved to them from BT (who I had issues with). I understand Plusnet have quite a good following in Sheffield (and you can keep an eye on them here (http://www.opentopia.com/showcam.php?id=1999) ). I'm with Zen, and although they only do 512K, I've found them to be ultra-reliable. They also do the contract on a monthly rather than annual basis, migration is free, you get static IP's if you need them and there's no contention.
Check out adslguide.org too. Especially the compare page http://www.adslguide.org/isps/compare.asp

My vite goes for Freedom2Surf

However if i was in a cable area id probably go back to blueyonder

Originally posted by Hubert
My vite goes for Freedom2Surf

However if i was in a cable area id probably go back to blueyonder

I am with Onetel and have had no problems so far.

Used to be with ntl cable and I had huge problems with their CS, so wouldnt recommend them.

Originally posted by Hubert
My vite goes for Freedom2Surf

However if i was in a cable area id probably go back to blueyonder

F2S - defintely. I have our PAYG dial-up with theml and my ADSL is with Zazziazam - very good.

Used to be with PlusNet.

Alex

Blueyonder - IMO

Not had an outage (that i have noticed anyway) in the 10 months I have been with them. Plus £25 for 1mbps without the need for a phone line, or anything else, is great value.

The chances of anybody having used all of those ISPs is pretty remote. I've used quite a few broadband ISPs and I have to say that the best of them all was NDO.

I think most people who've used the net alot would probably advise anybody to avoid AOL and BTopenworld.

AOL has always been the domain of juvenile idiots, over-eager nazi volunteer power trippers (or hosts as I believe they are known as) and the brain dead "me too!" briggade.

The fact that AOL provided so much of their own content was a bit of a blessing. It kept some of the morons that used it away from the rest of the Internet.

The reason they always blame everything on spyware is because the tech support people read everything from a script and cannot deviate from it. For instance: just for fun, try asking how to share a non broadband connection. All they will repeat over and over again is "You need to upgrade to our broadband package to share your internet connection". You can go blue in the face explaining proxy servers, NAT, etc, etc and they will not deviate from the above line.

AOL software highjacks so much of your system that I don't think even tech support know what the hell is going on. Hence why I think they always blame spyware. It is their bloatware connection software that causes half of the problems.

They also have a nasty habit of buying up software companies and turning useful software into similarly themed bloatware crap (ex: ICQ, Netscape, etc).

AOL does have one use though. It's useful if you move house and need an a free Internet connection whilst your broadband is fitted (they have a 60 day free dial up trial thing). Just remember to install their software on a pc that needs formatting. The fact that your connecting to the net at AOL's expense is the icing on the cake.

BTopenworld is a different story. I'm not sure if its still the same but in the early days waits to talk to tech/customer support were sometimes 6 hours! Disconnections, problems authenticating, routing issues, etc were commong, Credit card billing was flakey (sometimes billing you twice, sometimes failing to bill you at all and then cutting you off for non-payment despite it being their fault) and despite often failing to provide the service they promised they would hold you to the contract.

(Sorry to any AOL users if I've offended you. I am not just repeating internet rhetoric, I have had several experiences of running popular internet forums and chat rooms and AOL does seem to have the monopoly on the "ju sux0r" morons).

What muppet voted for AOhell as a reliable ISP?! :loopy:

They are the WORST ISP on the Planet IMO, full of retards who think talking in "l337 speak" is "cool", and the WORST technical support I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with... BT Internet's were almost equally as crap but at least they spoke vaguely intelligible English..

And no, I am not a racist so don't even go there.

Try NDO, they get very good reviews and also topped the ADSL guide speed test last month. Free migration: http://www.ndo.com/ndo/Products/Migrate_to_NDO_Broadband_for_free/prdadslmigr.html


In a head-to-head comparison with the current leaders of this poll, Blueyonder, NDO compare favourably in all areas: http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp?blueyonder=ON&ndo=ON&cmp_action=Compare

Right so it is apparent that everyone shares the same opinion of A(lways) O(ff) L(ine) as me then.....btw I was one of the saddos that polled AOL but the question on the poll itself isnt what you find the best ISP, but what ISP you use...just thought i'd clear things up a little...also was hoping no-one has used them all, you'd have to be pretty hard to please if you have used them all...lol

Onto my next question now I am convinced (Well more convinced than I was 20 secs ago...lmao)...is it possible to migrate as far away from AOL as possible mid-contract, they say no but others say yes and as mentioned above and as I have said to them myself in many a phone conversation...they probably haven't got a clue themselves cos there is no way possible (No, not even AOL can use migrate and spyware in the same convo)

Never really had a problem with BT.. The only time they have messed up is when the got all the numbers mixed up at the exchange and it took them 5 days to sort it :suspect:

Other than that, no other problems in 4 years :D

Im with Tesco Broadband...no problems £19.97 per month free modem & connection 25MB of webspace for your own website and download/upload limits. Plus they also do a antivirus software which costs you 50p per month. Been with them 4 sum time and had no problems. Plus you earn tesco club points...lol :heyhey:

I cant believe Plusnet dont figure in the survey :confused:

Originally posted by AJ sheffield
I cant believe Plusnet dont figure in the survey :confused:

Why not? They're hardly a big player compared with the big names listed in the poll. There are hundreds of ISPs so I think he/she has just chosen the biggies for the poll.

Another vote here for Freedom2Surf - very good service for the last year that we've been with them. Fair price and uncapped although I'm not 100% they are still offering uncapped to new customers. If I was in a cable area I'd go back to Blueyonder though.

4 years of Blueyonder here, no real problems to speak of, apart from the occaisional outage, but they normally get fixed pretty sharpish.

Me too have 1mb on BLueyonder with no problems at all for about 3.5 years.
At work we use Plusnet, and they have regular outages, sometimes the email doesn't work for a day, or the whole connection goes off for a morning. It's really starting to become a problem. In the past couple of years, before that they scored really highly in the charts.

In this country we pay a bit over the odds for our broadband connections though. I'm sure the prices will drop soon. They are upping the bandwidth regularly at the moment to hold off on dropping the prices.

Originally posted by AJ sheffield
I cant believe Plusnet dont figure in the survey :confused:

They really are a tiny company; AOHell, Tiscapali etc are all mauch larger organisations than PlusNet/F8/Free-Online!

Cheers,
Alex

I use BT Internet and had no probs with it except when first started, but since then its been fine.

I would use Blueyonder but cannot get cable in the flats I am in.

Im with BT broadband, and i still have problems with the service I get. Every once in a while it just auto disconnects and I cannot get back online for a good 4 - 6 hours!! :cry:

This hasn't happend for a while (touch wood).

If i could I would go with Blueyonder without a second thought but I too cannot get cable, but yet the houses 50yrds down the road can (Grrrrr!!) :evil:

Im supposed to be getting 2mb within the next few months (believe that when I see it!) as i can only get 512 max.

Originally posted by t020
Why not? They're hardly a big player compared with the big names listed in the poll. There are hundreds of ISPs so I think he/she has just chosen the biggies for the poll.

Yeah but Plusnet could easily become as big name as the likes of Wanadoo, AOhell etc, they just need the exposure and word of mouth advertising etc.

Originally posted by Rich
Yeah but Plusnet could easily become as big name as the likes of Wanadoo, AOhell etc, they just need the exposure and word of mouth advertising etc.

Then they'll need to find a large advertising budget to even try to compete with the big hitters. I can't see it ever happening.

Anyone else use Tesco.Net?

Every Little Helps

Hi there,

For your own custom comparison, you can use the following tool (http://adslguide.org/isps/compare.asp) over at ADSL Guide.

To add Plusnet to the NDO/Blue Yonder comparison click here (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp?blueyonder=ON&ndo=ON&plusnet=ON&cmp_action=Compare).

AFAIK Blue Yonder requires you are in a cable enabled area so is unlikely to be as widely available as ADSL.

We offer ADSL packages starting from £14.99pm and now provide everybody at the highest speed there line will accommodate. Basically we no longer charge for speed! We are also taking part in BT Wholesale's trials for MaxDSL and as soon as the higher speeds (up to 8MB) are made nationally available, we will upgrading all our customers for free.

Yeah but Plusnet could easily become as big name as the likes of Wanadoo
It will haoppen but it will take time. Our intention at the moment is not to advertise in the mainstream. Compared to some of the larger players, the majority oof our customers find we offer a superior better level of customer support.
Anybody considering an ISP is advised to check out their forum (http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/) over on ADSL Guide. This will give you an idea of how satisfied their existing customers are. I'd certainly recommend a read before signing up with anyone.

Originally posted by muddycoffee
[B]At work we use Plusnet, and they have regular outages, sometimes the email doesn't work for a day, or the whole connection goes off for a morning. It's really starting to become a problem. In the past couple of years, before that they scored really highly in the charts.
Mmmm, I would disagree with the statement that we have regular outages. We are honest and open with our service status postings but I honestly can't think of an occasion over the last year or so where any problem has caused the ADSL platform to be down for an entire morning!! For those Interested you can check out our servcie status history here (http://usertools.plus.net/status/archive/).

Hope this is of help to some of you.

Kind Regards,

Originally posted by bpullen
Hi there,

For your own custom comparison, you can use the following tool (http://adslguide.org/isps/compare.asp) over at ADSL Guide.

To add Plusnet to the NDO/Blue Yonder comparison click here (http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp?blueyonder=ON&ndo=ON&plusnet=ON&cmp_action=Compare).




Oh yeah, it nicely illustrates how NDO hammer you in every area for every month. ;)

Indeed that may be the case. They do have a much smaller userbase and less capacity on their network though.

That aside, I wasn't selling our service. Merely clarifying a little about our products and offering unbiased support on what I suggest potential customers should do before signing up with any ISP.

From a personal viewpoint though, I have a 2MB ADSL connection with Plusnet and it has been faultless. NDO aren't really suited to me because I have alot of webspace/domain requirements and need unrestricted mailbox limits and the like. For what I do Plusnet are just a little more favourable than NDO.

Regards,

For what I do Plusnet are just a little more favourable than NDO.

The fact you doubtless get a free Plusnet account and would have to pay for an NDO account doesn't come into the equation then?

Of course it doesn't ;)

Regards,

Tiscali... Never had a problem with the service and it's good priced too

Tiscali... Never had a problem with the service

Looks like your pretty luck then!!

ADSL Guide Tiscali Forum (http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=tiscali&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0
).

Regards,

This poll is invalid. It asks 2 completely different questions within the poll and is misleading within the context of the title.
With only 1 opportunity to vote on 3 separate issues.

Voted for Blueyonder as we've not had a problem with the broadband, tv or phone since the cable was installed, and they keep upping the broadband speed without upping the cost.

Yes Blueyonder leads the way in Broadband Internet, they are crap at everything else, but for the net, I think beat everyone hands down. Not exactly cheap, but for quality the extra amount can be justified.

yup blueyonder it is for me. had them for 3 yrs +.Apartfrom the T.V. service breaking every week or so for the first year i've never had a problem. Upping the spped twice, for free has been a real bonus.

Originally posted by Rich
Yeah but Plusnet could easily become as big name as the likes of Wanadoo, AOhell etc, they just need the exposure and word of mouth advertising etc. Do you really want this? The more mainstream they get, the more common denominator customers they will get, tying their support lines up forcing them to lower the available level of tech support and ultimately force them to cut costs in that area, tailoring it for customers who take more help setting up (pensioners etc).