switching broadband provider

Good ISP? reliable kit?

This is my recipe:

ISP - I use Metronet (now owned by Plusnet). Totally reliable - never had a disconnection in 4 years at 2 addresses. Contract is 1 month's notice with no direct debit (why would I want to give anyone the right to help themselves to my bank account?) They are based in Sheffield - able to speak helpline local call rate but email service also good. Dead cheap (my bill rarely exceeds £12 / month) - see website - though i don't download masses of large video files or play games. When moved to current address Metronet very good at kicking ass at BT to get linespeed sorted. No connection other than satisfied customer.

My setup - Use own-sourced WiFi router (Belkin + Linksys spare) in conjunction with homebuilt pentium P4 + Intel-chipped Asus moboard + Crucial memory, all specc'ed for total reliability rather than overclocking etc. Live 4Km from exchange with local street telecomms wiring new 6 yrs ago. Regular download speed 2.5meg (Higher on occasion but fine for eod trading).

Currently watching for feedback on 3's mobile broadband (3.5g) with view to dumping BT altogether.
 
fibonelli said:
yep, Virgin media is verging on the ridiculous.

Lost my connection at 9.30pm last night only regained 30 mins ago. Apparently they've introduced a premium rate helpline number! wtf :(

Regular interruptions, no wonder I have internet radio on to warn me :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

yep, EVERYone got caught with that one- it made the bbc news!

have been meaning to source a back-up broadband set-up....
 
0007 said:
This is my recipe:

ISP - I use Metronet (now owned by Plusnet). Totally reliable - never had a disconnection in 4 years at 2 addresses. Contract is 1 month's notice with no direct debit (why would I want to give anyone the right to help themselves to my bank account?) They are based in Sheffield - able to speak helpline local call rate but email service also good. Dead cheap (my bill rarely exceeds £12 / month) - see website - though i don't download masses of large video files or play games. When moved to current address Metronet very good at kicking ass at BT to get linespeed sorted. No connection other than satisfied customer.

My setup - Use own-sourced WiFi router (Belkin + Linksys spare) in conjunction with homebuilt pentium P4 + Intel-chipped Asus moboard + Crucial memory, all specc'ed for total reliability rather than overclocking etc. Live 4Km from exchange with local street telecomms wiring new 6 yrs ago. Regular download speed 2.5meg (Higher on occasion but fine for eod trading).

Currently watching for feedback on 3's mobile broadband (3.5g) with view to dumping BT altogether.
Click to expand...

virgin will not contact BT, and BT will not contact virgin. I was literally left in a situation where i could do absolutely nothing to resolve a problem due to this. virgin are crap, & having examined the ISP's in the link i posted yesterday, i now see that there are many other contenders with only a 1 month minimum contract.
 
JTrader said:
virgin will not contact BT, and BT will not contact virgin. I was literally left in a situation where i could do absolutely nothing to resolve a problem due to this. virgin are crap, & having examined the ISP's in the link i posted yesterday, i now see that there are many other contenders with only a 1 month minimum contract.
Click to expand...

ispreview.com well worth a look
 
.....This site surely is a joke.....When I searched it came up with Virgin broadband as best of the lot and with gold star service......!!

....Avoid......
 
Referring to Timsk's earlier post on page 1 of this thread, I would also have to agree that IDNet offer a good service.

For me, they offered blistering speeds and my contract also had a 1 month notice period, rather than the other ISPs whom tend to lock you in for a minimum 12 month period. I'm not with them anymore as I've moved country, but I'll probably use them again when I return to the UK.

Can highly recommend them.

Mikey
 
JTrader said:
Broadband £8.95, Web Hosting, Colocation UK, Dedicated Servers, Leased Lines from NewNet plc ISP - ADSL / SDSL to 8M

Just switched to this ISP. They came out top of my filtering process! Hopefully they will be good.
Click to expand...

Looks good on their site. Note above is 1GB download, extra gb only 70p each and they calc a 1.5mb speed in comparison to my present 2.5 - 3.5 but that's no problem for eod trading. Annual contract and direct debit.

Keep us posted with results. Always nice to have an alternative (especially as they do free transfer)
 
For anyone who is a BT customer and happy with it (mine is fast and reliable but the tel. exchange is 200m away and I live in a village with an average age of 104 so heavy-users are probably in short supply)...

Phone up the 'I want to leave BT broadband number', this will be answered in the UK and in 4 rings or fewer, and sound serious about leaving. My experience is that they will immediately offer £4/month off.

That's £48/year to give to the spread betting companies :)

RGB.
 
JTrader said:
Broadband £8.95, Web Hosting, Colocation UK, Dedicated Servers, Leased Lines from NewNet plc ISP - ADSL / SDSL to 8M

Just switched to this ISP. They came out top of my filtering process! Hopefully they will be good.
Click to expand...

One week in, and so far so good.

They are based in Hampshire. The technical support lines are local rate 0845 calls. Although they have been a bit slow to get through to at busy or quiet times, but at 1.5-2.5 pence per minute with BT, this is not such a problem and i wouldn't expect to have to ring them often anyway. The TS are also much more helpful than virgin/BT etc. IMO - all UK based & offering a more personal & none-rushed support environment, with general advice & explanations also.
Very competitive price plans/contract terms.
 
The line was still a bit unstable as with virgin.net, as it woulddisconnect maybe 3 times if online for 6 hours on average.
So the ISP reported it as a fault with BT, who have themselves done more detailed tests, and now the connection is a bit slower -1.9mb compared to prevous 3.4mb download - BUT my connection has not dropped offline once, so it has been more stable over past 2 days since.
So if your BB connection is not as reliable as u want, tell your ISP, and if they can't solve it, BT will need to - and it is the responsibility of your ISP to foot the bill - as they HAVE to do all they can to provide as good a service to you as possible. Though they do say that if a BT engineer comes out & its your equipment at fault, u have to pay the £150 per hour costs etc...
 
The worst Broadband Provider I have ever used is TALK TALK from carphone warehouse. IT SUCK's. SIGN UP AT YOUR PERIL. Crap customer service, crap speeds, huge amounts of down time. I DISCONNECTED my BT phone line to get out of it. Once the line was disconnected there was no longer a mark on the line. I just had to pay BT to reconnect the line. THAT IS HOW BAD TALK TALK are.

I use BT, no problems and the customer service I recieve compared to the **** served up by Dunstone's sharp trading mob is like comparing Harrods to Poundland.

What's that saying....you get what you pay for....and you certainly do. No wonder Carphone warehouse shares are on the slide. Customer retention is shocking and I can SEE WHY !

Stick to training your Ciro Citterio Clad salesman to sell Rip off mobile phone packages to 75 year old women !!
 
Backup line?

Reliability and low latency are far more important to me than anything else, and I am happy with BT. BUT I would never never ever ever rely on a single line for my trading. What if one component in the chain breaks at the crucial moment? So, I have a laptop and a wireless modem as a backup.

Having a backup takes away the worry about BT performance.
 
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