Which ISP do you use

Camerashy

Silver Level Poster
Which ISP do you use and are you limited to any download capacity.
I'm currently with madasafish I pay £6 per month for upto 6GB download and if I exceed this limit I'm charged £2 per GB. Normally I can work within 5GB but with my new computer I have been downloading new software and that free game has pushed my use up this month to 11GB.
I have been very happy with them so far but wonder whether there are any better offers out there ie: combining telephone use etc.... my current telephone supplier is BT and I get free calls all the time (except 09 numbers)
Dave
 

Gorman

Author Level
I use Virgin on cable, not availiable everywhere i know, and do prefer the cable internet over adsl. I would never be able to use a service with a set limit other than a fair usage policy.
 

Meds

Moderator
Moderator
O2

They bought out Be Broadband who upgraded a number of BT Exchanges to improve connection speeds - now O2 has the same performance but is cheaper :)

I think I pay £14 p/m for upto 20Meg (I get around 15Mb on average) with unlimited download capacity.
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I use Virgin Media (not sure how much it actually costs for the broadband, I have a TV/V+/Phone/BroadBand bundle), so don't have a usage limit (apart from their fair usage thing).
It's been very stable for me, the connection has only disappeared once or twice in the last three and a half years
 

Al.Neri

Super Star
virginmedia cable for me, and I honestly can't fault it. it's almost always been bulletproof where reliability is concerned. I don't get the full speed I'm entitled to, but it's practically always been on since I switched to blueyonder years ago.

I think I've only lost connection half a dozen times or so since I've been using VM, and those times were when unforeseen circumstances occurred, or if they had maintenance was scheduled.
 

LDUK

Master Poster
I got 10mb Virgin (I get about 6mb). Not sure of the price, but upgrading to 20mb next month (should get about 14-16mb).
 

Sweeney47

Well-known member
You B's....

I pay for 'up to 8Mbps' I get about 2Mbps because BT, to save money, diverted my phone line so it takes 4.3KM to make 700M distance... my friend who is 4 times further from the exchange than me has a shorter phone line... But we get unlimited usage (subject to a fair usage policy of 300GB, If you go over 300GB you get capped at 1Mbps for 30 days from the day you breach it)

Cable isn't available in my area so that isnt even an option... We're not on any fibre optic list so no luck there. BT wont sort our phone line length 'because of the costs involved'... In other words when people are getting 100Mbps Broadband, Ill still be getting 2Mbps Broadband and the great thing is, Ill be paying the same price!!! Changing ISP wont fix this because its still going down our stupid phone line... This was a newly built house about 3 months ago so new phone lines had to be layed so its not like we've moved into an ancient setup, this was deliberate lazy cost cutting, but as BT themselves have told me "they only lay phone lines with the intention of supplying a telephone service" they dont have the competency to consider broadband in their calculations... I thought all the money we spent on line rental was for that stuff? Turns out its so the CEO can buy a new ferari every month...

/End Rant
 

Gorman

Author Level
Its not all roses, with Virgin im often cut to 300k if i download at 1.1 for a few gb, like when im getting a new game on steam..... hate it.
 

Valkyrie

Active member
speedtestc.png


I use BT. Amazing performance from the UKs top ISP.
 

Sleinous

Author Level
DW Sweeney, im in the same boat, our telephone lines date back from WW2 apparently. Anyway, BT Total broadband, no limit. By installing an iPlate, amazingly, I managed to triple my speeds to a respectable 700-800kb/s

Seems that the iPlate cuts out the old analog ringer in your primary incoming telephone socket, which was interfering with Broadband.
 

Phoenix

Prolific Poster


I have Tiscali with unlimited usage, it seems fast enough for most things and I'm fairly happy with it. It also includes a freeview type box with channels like comedy central and I think it's also a part of the phone bill.
 

Sleinous

Author Level
speedtestc.png


I use BT. Amazing performance from the UKs top ISP.

0.13mbps is abysmal... You should try teh free iPlate that all BT customers can apply for, it cuts out interference from your old analog bell in your main telephone socket. Worked for me :) I now get 600-700Kb/s dlds instead of 150-200
 

Valkyrie

Active member
0.13mbps is abysmal... You should try teh free iPlate that all BT customers can apply for, it cuts out interference from your old analog bell in your main telephone socket. Worked for me :) I now get 600-700Kb/s dlds instead of 150-200

I would rather switch ISP completely if I'm honest. Problem is, I'm bound by a 2 year contract :/
 

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I would rather switch ISP completely if I'm honest. Problem is, I'm bound by a 2 year contract :/

Ugh, 2 years.
Depending on whats causing the issue, changing to another non-cable ISP may not improve it anyway, cos it might be the phone line itself causing the issue (says the voice of experience, I've pretty much vowed to never ever use a non-cable line again).

If it's just really slow you probably can't get out of the contract, if your connection keeps dropping and reconnecting you may be able to get out of it (though this tends to work more if you've been having an ongoing arguement for about 2-3 years with them about the quality of their service)
 
Top