Who is the best Broadband ISP?

[punk 10]

How do you know?

 

Because the first broadband ISP I used was BTopenworld, the second was NDO, the third was Broadsurf and my current one is Zen.

 

I've also been pretty careful to research each ISP as I joined them, looking up online ratings and what not. Zen are ranked pretty much top for everything on http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ as are NDO. So it's not just a personal viewpoint.

[bensonhedges 10]

Can I tap into the collective knowledge of forum members please? I currently have BT Broadband and pay £24.99 per month for a 512mb connection with a 20gb download cap, which I use a lot of. I received an email from BT a couple of months ago saying I would get a free upgrade to a 1gb speed but on chasing this up today they say I am too far from the exchange to achieve that speed, the mechanics of which I understand. However they wouldn't offer me a discount on the price so I am left wondering if anyone can suggest a better deal? Tbh I'm not too bothered about a faster speed but I reckon the price I am paying could be beaten? I am in Chapeltown and there is no cable here so Telewest is not an option.

[Weazel2006 25]

Hi m8

 

I am with Bulldog atm and getting a 2mb connection. I was told by bt i couldnt even get one but bah proved em wrong.

 

They are doing alot of local loop unbundling and 2mb doesnt seem a problem even though i am about on the limit in terms of distance from exchange. I dont know if your line is capable of more than 1/2 meg but it might be worth asking bulldog anyway. There technical team was very responsive (both times the same day) so any problems you have might be taken care of.

 

They do have a bad rep for customer service but i have never encountered this and if so i think it is the offshore center after 6pm.

 

I went for the 8mb service which i cant get yet but i get 2mb down and 512 up.

 

Give em a call and best advice is shop around but avoid AOHELL

[Rich 12]

Yeah, anyone who willingly goes for AOhell should be shot IMO.

 

I've heard good things about PlusNET's services (and no, that is not bias cos they're in Sheffield) so maybe you could try them, Bulldog are OK as mentioned.

 

Personally I'm on Wanadoo 512k at £18 a month, I want to upgrade to 8 Mb for £3 a month less at £14.99 but the piece of crap exchange at Wadsley sodding Bridge won't let me

[Ann* 10]

Can I tap into the collective knowledge of forum members please? I currently have BT Broadband and pay £24.99 per month for a 512mb connection with a 20gb download cap, which I use a lot of. I received an email from BT a couple of months ago saying I would get a free upgrade to a 1gb speed but on chasing this up today they say I am too far from the exchange to achieve that speed, the mechanics of which I understand. However they wouldn't offer me a discount on the price so I am left wondering if anyone can suggest a better deal? Tbh I'm not too bothered about a faster speed but I reckon the price I am paying could be beaten? I am in Chapeltown and there is no cable here so Telewest is not an option.

Well, that's really odd....I use BT Broadband, and pay £24.99 per month for a 2Mbps connection with a stretchable 20Gb cap. BT Broadband's connection speed is 2Mbps as standard. 512kbps was upgraded about a year ago. I live about a mile away from the exchange and I get about 1.8Mbps.

 

I can't work out why you have been told that you're only being upgraded to 1Mbps, and why you're still on 512kbps?

[Skatiechik 10]

I am with freedom 2 surf and have a supposedly true unlimited bandwith (although now pipex have bought them they have started traffic shaping, lets hope it doesn't end up like plusnet) for £22.50 a month on 512mb.

 

Not much use to you though as i don't think they offer that deal anymore.

[bensonhedges 10]

Obviously I wouldn't touch aol with a bargepole. Who else does everyone on here use?

[SpiderPete 10]

I am on BT Broadband as well, on the 1mb and was told they couldnt upgrade to 2mb as my line wont support it, I have searched for others as I am thinking of moving and £29 for 1mb seems alot, but the others I have tried dont seem to be able to support more than 1mb, and I dont have cable either.

[evildrneil 14]

I'm on blueyonder and really happy with that - it even runs faster than my connection at the University!

[Martin_s 10]

Given that I've only been on Nildram for the last 4 days you can take this with a pinch of salt but overall the thing to avoid is the latest "buzz" in ISP's like Metronet (which is now Plus.net owner) or Zen which has a great rep or at least did until they did an offer and got swamped..

 

Instead I looked long and hard at Nildram who cost a bit more, but seem to have a long standing good reputation...

 

They won't be able to help you on the whole limitations thing but overall I've been impressed with the comms' and service to date.

[Weazel2006 25]

The reason i promote bulldog here is purely down to trust and honesty. I was told by bt when i lived with my parents that our house could not recieve broadband at all. The engineer carried out a line test and the line was too noisy.

 

A while later they started this plug and go deal where you buy the modem and they set up the line and no engineer. Guess what i had 512k line running flawlessly in fact my pings on average were either best or second best in any online games i went into and it was as stable as could be (even though i was really on the outskirts of getting any adsl connectivity.

 

That prompted me to change to bulldog who i have been with 3 times now. I moved into my own home got their 512k again (again bt said it was not possible) and great service again.

 

I did have financial troubles so lost my phone etc completely. The latest deal from bulldog with the phone line and 8mb got me back on my feet alot sooner than it would have.

 

I now have 2mb on a line with quite a fair amount of noise and they told me that they could push it as high as 3 but it would be completely unstable so i asked them to cap me at 2.2 which i almost always get.

 

Anyway the reason for the long detailed post is to show you that i wasnt just suckered in and told lies just to get my money, they were bothered to (try) my line to see what my own experience of the net would be.

 

They have no traffic cap and i doubt they ever will but anyway good luck with your search and it might help if other people could post their dealing with companies which at the end of the day makes a good or bad isp.

[wendygs 10]

This has been done loads of times and I wonder if you had thought to use the search button. Try demon. they offer a reasonable package