Who Has The Best Broadband Service In the UK?

TheBlueRaja

BR to Some
Joined
19 Apr 2002
Messages
766
Hey Peeps,
Im looking for a new Broadband provider in the UK, However i wanted to know which provider you use and what you think of them? So - Can you Do this...

E.g.

Name:- NTL
Speed:- 600K
Maximum D/l Speed (Average) :- 65k
Reliability Rating (Out Of 10):- 8
Overall Rating (Out Of 10):- 5 (Due to Cap)
Cost Per Month :- 24.99
Comment:- (Not Necessary)

I was with NTL, but since they introduced their "Cap" of 1Gb per day I have canned the service and went back to Dial-Up until i find a good provider. (Now having the shakes cause i cant play UT2003 online).

Im really after what the fastest average download speed that you get is from your link is. This is the speed you get AFTER about 5 to 10 seconds on large files when your downloading. The first 5 - 10 secs vary wildly due to burst rates. (Ive seen 200 - 300k on NTL for a couple of seconds before it settles).

Thanks Guys...

P.s I will have a BT line..
 
Do you really download over 1gb? every single day of the week?
People really overreacted to this NTL cap.

Anyway, I'm not on DSL myself yet (exchange to be enabled June 4th) but i will be going with Nildram when I do, as they supposedly have the best overall speeds according to adslguide.
 
Nildram is the best broadband ISP in the UK, they top the charts if you compare them against the rest. Nildram is the network www.jolt.co.uk use for there broadband package, best ping of em all for gaming. i rent a server fron jolt, no 1 complains :)
 
Un4gIvEn1
Glad I don't live in the UK... I have a nice 3.0Mbps download and a 384Kbps upload. www.covad.com :)
Yeah, the UK is technologically retarded :p
We can get 2.0mb / 256k lines, but they're around the £140/month+ mark :huh:
 
Originally posted by SPeedY_B
exchange to be enabled June 4th

thats a coincidence

My exchange is being enabled on the same day

BT are going to busy that day

its about time

:cool:
 
Good going :D
How many people did you need to register in your area?
We needed 300 at first, but it got dropped to 250 about a month ago, then after one of the people in the village started giving flyers etc to people we got around 60+ registrants per 24 hours :D
 
Do you really download over 1gb? every single day of the week?
People really overreacted to this NTL cap.

No I don't, not everyday - but i did sometimes. And since they imposed the cap I felt resrticted in my surfing/downloading - and when I signed up, I signed up for an UNMETERED/UNLIMITED service. So screw them - I cancelled.

Besides, i can get it cheaper elsewhere so thats where im going.

Nildram is the best broadband ISP in the UK, they top the charts if you compare them against the rest.

Nildram Eh, I havent heard of them before, everyone i know uses PlusNet so i will check them out.

How much a month tho?
 
£22.99 / month, I'd never heard of them until a friend moved to a DSL enabled area and signed up with them, he's been there for quite some time now and not had a single problem, connected 24/7 and no restrictions on p2p apps etc.
more info

Plusnet are only £19.99 a month, but they have P2P restrictions, and the un-restricted package is £22.99 .. so they're effectively the same price, unless you 100% do not ever want to use p2p :)
 
Yeah, the UK is technologically retarded
We can get 2.0mb / 256k lines, but they're around the £140/month+ mark

Well... my service isn't cheap. I pay $80(USD) a month for it. It's the fastest service I could find in my area for the price.
 
Thats still faster and cheaper than in the UK :huh: , as I say, the 2.0mb is the fastest available to us at the moment. plus the fact that there's still a vast amount of people here that cant even get a 512k line.
btw £140 = ~$225
 
Originally posted by SPeedY_B
Good going :D
How many people did you need to register in your area?
We needed 300 at first, but it got dropped to 250 about a month ago, then after one of the people in the village started giving flyers etc to people we got around 60+ registrants per 24 hours :D

thats a belting idea :D

in our area they wanted 400 names
I did a two pronged attack to tackle the problem

1. ask everybody I knew in the area who's got a PC to sign-up & for them to ask their friends to sign up even if they didn't really want it

2. every time I signed on for about a month - I pulled a random phone number out of the phone book & give em that :eek:

I had to stop though when a BT operator told me that they ring em all up to verify their interest. :doh:

don't think it matters now though
apparently they want our town on B/B to help the manchester bid for the olympics

have you decided which isp your going to go with ????

I cant make my mind up > plus the initial cost of setting it up is a bit steep > so its going to have to wait till I'm a bit more flush :(

:cool:
 
Yeah, those flyers worked a treat, we were pulling like 5 people registering a month, then i checked on night and there was like 62 registered in a day then a further 20-ish the following day :D

I'm gonna go with Nildram, as they're said to be the fastest and my mate who lives in the town just north of us has had them for a while with no hiccups at all.
The initial cost is a bit of a wench isnt it. Gonna be around £40 to £60 to "activate" your line, depending who you go with. then the modem (I'm going for an internal PCI modem, £34.99 - link) can cost from £40 to god knows how much.

Still, if we've got til june, I have a bit of money at the moment, so i think im going to grab a modem before that cash goes a wondering :p then settle the rest of the costs nearer to the time :)
 
that modems a much better price :)
cool

yeah I'm sold on Nildram as well > like the idea of having the best ping for gaming :)

think I'll go for £29.99 package with 100 meg web space

mmmmmmm

wait a minute

whats this ????????

Contention Ratio 50:1

doesn't that mean that 50 computers connect to one port ????
excuse my ignorance > not much exprerience when it comes to B/B

so the more people use the service the smaller the bandwidth gets > is that right ???

:huh:
 
heh, im ok for webspace (already got 8 sites :p), the connection ratio, to my knowledge thats the MAX amount of people that can be sharing an 8mb port at any given time ... I'm not 100% sure on that though...
Looks like some research is needed. What i do know is that most ISPs actually offer the same ratios.
 
Contention is basically sharing. If you live in a house with teenage girls then you contend the bathroom with them - which can mean waiting ages to get in. Your electricity is contended - normally not a problem as there's more than enough to go around. However tell that to the residents of California last year who had rolling blackouts due to a lack of generating capacity. Everything in life is contended.

Regarding ADSL - there are two levels of contention on the BTwholesale network at the moment:

50:1 for the home user;
20:1 for the business user.

If you take the worst case scenario for the home user then that means you're sharing your 500kbs with 49 other people. If you are all downloading at the same time then you'll get 10kbs - about a quarter of the speed of a normal dial-up analogue modem.

BT thinks that this is sustainable - I don't. Cable companies appear to contend at a ratio of 15:1 which seems to work. Hopefully BT, once they've had enough "real-world" data, will come to a similar conclusion.
 
got it

ah the power of google :D

yeah looks like the 20:1 are more for business & cost a bit more

Nildram dont tie you down to a 12 month contract

thats a big plus

:happy:

edit

especially if you get caught in this nightmare scenario

If you are all downloading at the same time then you'll get 10kbs - about a quarter of the speed of a normal dial-up analogue modem.

:eek:
 
Well, they do on the package that I'm going to subscribe to :p
Not to worry, I don't mind a contract if its a good service :)
 
pipex are cool .
but sadld the phone lines @ my new flat didnt pass the woosh test.
so i went with cable insted , lucky me iam on TW's 2mb trial :D:D:D
 

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