Eclipse ISP - Good, Bad or Indifferent?

[timsk]

Does anyone have any experience of Eclipse?
I'm in the process of completely re-vamping my whole computer system which will include starting afresh with a new ISP. The firm who are building my new machine recommend Eclipse and, although I've heard of them, I've know idea how good (or bad) they are viz a viz the needs and demands of the day trader. Any observations about them would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Tim.

 

[SpreadBunny]

If I were you, I would not go for cheap options. When you are trading, good CS and reliable service is important. Eclipse used to have a good reputation but they only seems to have 3 stars now. I heard Zen or Nildram is good.

Have a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps.html

 

[timsk]

Thanks SB and to the member who PM'd me.
I thought that selecting an ISP would be easy but, for a non-techie like me, it's turning into a minefield. The problem I'm having is that I'm not sure what I need. Perhaps some kind soul would suggest the sort of package I should be looking at that is suitable for day trading U.S. stocks with an eSignal feed (or similar) and direct access broker? I imagined that the different packages available would witter on about contention ratios as I've been led to believe this is important to traders. (Apparently I need 20:1 instead of the standard 50:1?) However, no mention of this on the sites I've looked at, including the link supplied by SB - above.
Well, as you have no doubt gathered, I'm floundering. Help!

Tim.

 

[SpreadBunny]

Don't make it too complicated. 20:1 contention is good and I think most of them are these days. Assuming that money is not an issue (you should be if you are successfully sb), key points of ISP that you should be concerned are "realibility", "customer service" and "the speed". I'd get broadband (1, 2 or 8mb) depending on what other thing you are intending to use e.g. download music, movie etc.

Why don't you compare various ISP and have a look at it yourself.

 

[timm]

Thanks SB and to the member who PM'd me.
I thought that selecting an ISP would be easy but, for a non-techie like me, it's turning into a minefield. The problem I'm having is that I'm not sure what I need. Perhaps some kind soul would suggest the sort of package I should be looking at that is suitable for day trading U.S. stocks with an eSignal feed (or similar) and direct access broker? I imagined that the different packages available would witter on about contention ratios as I've been led to believe this is important to traders. (Apparently I need 20:1 instead of the standard 50:1?) However, no mention of this on the sites I've looked at, including the link supplied by SB - above.
Well, as you have no doubt gathered, I'm floundering. Help!

Tim.

Well I am a techie and it confuses the hell out of me too! On the contention ratios, the standard "Home" products are 50:1 whereas the "Business" products are 20:1 - unless otherwise stated.

So look for a business ADSL line with whatever usage allowance you need. I recommend avoiding any ISP that insists on a 12-month contract.

I'm planning to change ISP and have been considering IDNet, NewNet or an EntaNet reseller like UKFSN. All are currently highly rated for reliability and speed which are my main concerns.

Good luck
Tim

 

[Tenapenny]

I've been with Zen for the last 6 months and have had no problems with them. When I first set it up with them I had a few queries and the customer service was excellent. It's a bonus that it's a monthly contract as well, so any probs and I am straight out without being tied into a lengthy contract. Check out their website and call them about the techie stuff, afraid I can't help you with that.

 

[timsk]

An Update

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. I've narrowed my choice down to IDnet and Zen as they are the two names that repeatedly crop up. I've phoned both companies and in both cases I quickly got through to a courteous and knowledgable person. (The cynic in me says that's just sales for you and it'll be a different story when I need customer support!)
In the meantime, I've been trying to get my 'Migration Authorization Code' (MAC) out of Freeserve, Wanadoo or Orange - whatever their latest name is. Talk about getting blood out of stone! Before releasing it, they were fairly insistent about needing to know my reasons for switching ISP and who I intended to switch to. To the former question I said (politely) that their product and service is pants and to the latter I said MYOB. Eventually they agreed to give me the code but then said it'll take three working days to generate it and send it. Unbelievable. And they sounded genuinely surprised when I said I thought their customer service is poor!
Tim.