UK Broadband - Here we go again :P

[Geffy]

Right, so well.

I am soon to be moving into a new flat in London. I need broadband like a fish needs water and I dislike caps as much as Jay-Kay loves hats.

I was originally looking at Virgin Media broadband but no longer than 2 hours after placing my order for their services I was told that they do not have broadband cable on my road and have to plans to put it there. Yay.

So I a now obviously having to share in the joy that is ADSL. So I am really looking for the lowest evil.

Here is a list of options I have looked at so far

• BT Total Broadband - Option 3
• Bethere Broadband - Be Unlimited
• Sky Broadband - Max up to 16mb
• Orange broadband - Broadband Unlimited

in no particular order

Any suggestions or impressions?

 

[ray_gillespie]

Virgin Media also offer ADSL broadband, have you looked into that? We get a great deal with uncapped 8Mbps broadband and unlimited weekend + evening phonecalls for £15 flat. Really good deal, check it out here.

I would NEVER go with BT, they are an absolute rip-off.

Good luck!

 

[Electronic Punk]

Bizarrely Pipex has been behaving for me recently, but it could still all go wrong so I can't recommend them at the moment.

Whereabouts in London are you moving to?

 

[Geffy]

they say that I am unable to get broadband from them when I slap in my phone number and post code. This could potentially be caused by the line not being activated for phone by BT yet though.

Am moving to the Royal Docks area, near the Royal Albert DLR station

 

[Electronic Punk]

hmm, try just your post code at www.samknows.com

 

[ray_gillespie]

Have you spoken to BT about that? When I moved into my current flat I had the same problem, I had to speak to BT who eventually activated my line. I could then sign up for any ADSL that I wanted. It may be that there's just been a delay on your line or something like that. Almost everywhere can get ADSL now. I would defo speak to BT about it sooner rather than later, I know what it's like to go 2 weeks without broadband internet!

 

[ming]

If pricing isn't an issue to you, then I think the following might be good.

1. Bethere
2. BT

I'm currently with Bulldog. Many people have complained about its service or lack of it in terms of stability. I haven't really had any issues with them that would make me want to move to another ISP. I have recently had a small intermittent problem which was resolved by asking them to cap my connection to around 3.5mbps (which is more than enough for my needs).
I'm keeping an eye on Virgin Media as they are available in my area. Only concern is that they only offer 256kbps upload speed on their cable broadband service, unless u opt for the top package costing £80 a month which offers u up to 768kbps upload speed.

 

[rushm001]

If you do subscrive to sky already I believe that you can get their broadband for £5 a month, which isn't too bad. 🙂

 

[Geffy]

hmm, try just your post code at www.samknows.com

thats a fantastic website, very good information available there.

BT line has apparently been activated, now we just need to find the phone point, couldn't see it last time I was in there, but it might be behind a blank face plate. in the living room.

 

[SPeedY_B]

I've heard nothing but good for BeThere, and Sky, however nothing but bad for Orange, with a little of both (leaning toward bad) for BT.

You could try searching for an ISP here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/search/package/advanced.html

p.s. SamKnows FTW 😀

 

[Geffy]

Orange LLU isnt in my area so won't be looking at them 😛

looks like it might be down to BeThere or Sky, need to ask the other folks I'm living with whether they want Sky TV.

 

[SPeedY_B]

I've been told that Sky are running via EasyNet, so they should be fairly reliable, however you're likely going to be required to take out a 12 month contract with Sky, which may be worth looking into.

 

[LordOfLA]

BeThere - Avoid sky like the plague until they lay their own end-to-end network 🙂

(SKy owns easynet)

 

[Geffy]

hrmm, Sky did tell my parents they could do 16mb for them then went back on their word saying we couldn't even get their 8mb so don't completely trust them.

 

[X-Istence]

Wow, broadband in the UK seems VERY expensive.

OOL in NJ is 15 Mbit down, 1.5 Mbit up for $50. Here in Az it i $70 for 12 Mbit down, 1 Mbit up. Both of those are cable. Optimum Online and Cox respectively.

 

[Geffy]

Given the current floppyiess of the USD yep 😉

 

[SPeedY_B]

Broadband isn't overly expensive here. A good connection obviously costs more than the readily available cheap packages. We just seem to be paying more as our speeds are comparatively crappy 😀