Be Pro

drak3 · 13 Jul 2008 at 22:16

Hello all,

anyone had any experience with Be Pro (upload boost etc.)?

Any problems, or just the "normal" sacrifice of download frequencies for uploading?

Finally, as I do not have a BT line (new home) and used to have cable with VM (no BT) do I need to sign up for a BT line (pay 10.50) and then on top of that buy Be Pro?

Thanks a lot for your help!

tolien · 13 Jul 2008 at 22:40

You need a BT line to get Be.

My experience of Be Pro is that you need to keep poking Be with a stick to actually enable Annex M and hardware support for it is awful.

Defiance_co · 13 Jul 2008 at 22:45

I can answer the second part ........

Yes you will have to sign up for a new line, If you take an 18mth contract (usual one is 12mth) you can get a new line for £29.99

I've just had a line in took from thursday to following thursday for install

I chose the £10.50 with another £4.99 option (dunno what the heck it means but will check lol, think we get weekend free calls to landlines and weekday evenings or somert)

So in the end for adsl you will pay the rental and any accrued call charges to BT, Then your ISP (BE if you choose them)

So simply BT rental with calls and ISP charges

AbsenceJam · 14 Jul 2008 at 01:44

tolien said:
You need a BT line to get Be.

My experience of Be Pro is that you need to keep poking Be with a stick to actually enable Annex M and hardware support for it is awful.

My experience is rather different, must have had it turned on/off dozens of times over various lines and I've never had to chase them up about it (or about anything else for that matter). I've just opened a ticket and it gets done.
As for hardware support, well it works on any of the hardware Be supply which is all you can really expect; and also any recent Netgear or Draytek + various others. I don't think I'd buy hardware from anyone that still fails to support it at this point.

tolien · 14 Jul 2008 at 08:04

AbsenceJam said:
I've just opened a ticket and it gets done.

That's what I did, except they told me it was already enabled. When I pointed out that their router begged to differ, it mysteriously got enabled...

As for hardware support, well it works on any of the hardware Be supply which is all you can really expect

Given the hardware they supply is garbage, if the only router that supported Annex M was theirs, it would be a pretty unattractive proposition.

I'm not talking about tech support here: there's a minefield of devices that do ADSL2+, don't do Annex M and won't be firmware upgraded to do it.

and also any recent Netgear or Draytek + various others. I don't think I'd buy hardware from anyone that still fails to support it at this point.

Cisco's support's patchy (read: tiny fraction of ADSL2+ devices actually do Annex M) and they hardly qualify as a dodgy hardware vendor, especially on what's supposed to be a "Pro" connection...

FrenchTart · 14 Jul 2008 at 09:40

They also hardly qualify as a home user kit supplier...and Be's products are for that audience.

I also have had no problems switching between Annex.M and Annex.A in the past, and they've even been great about changing my target SNR several times a day when I've requested it via tickets.

I agree that the Speedtouches are pap though.

@the OP. Always always *always* get BeUnlimited first and then 'try out' pro with upload plus. You'll save yourself a lot of hassle and money if you go that route.

tolien · 14 Jul 2008 at 11:53

Aekeron said:
They also hardly qualify as a home user kit supplier...and Be's products are for that audience.

Be Pro? It was an example anyway - I was only pointing out that the OP should be careful that Annex M hardware support is nowhere near as universal as ADSL2+, there's no need for the Be fan club to jump in...

FrenchTart · 14 Jul 2008 at 11:57

tolien said:
Be Pro? It was an example anyway - I was only pointing out that the OP should be careful that Annex M hardware support is nowhere near as universal as ADSL2+, there's no need for the Be fan club to jump in...

BePro is still aimed at home users. They even dropped it's labelling as a home worker package when they changed it to BePro and reduced the price from £75/month.

"The Be fan club" isn't really a suitable statement for a mod to make. You've stated your experiences and opinions and I've stated mine. I've given unbiased advice to users on here and having simply had a good experience with Be hardly makes me a raving fanatic regarding their service.

I completely agree that Annex M support isn't amazingly wide-spread, but the recommended hardware (not Be's recommended hardware - hardware you'll get told to use if you post on a forum such as this one) has no problems with it. I have to admit that I don't have amazingly indepth knowledge about large business/enterprise usage requirements, but as I'm giving advice on a residental broadband service I don't really see this as a problem.

drak3 · 14 Jul 2008 at 23:40

Thanks everyone for your input. I phoned BT and ordered a line.

I will go with Be as they got an unlimited and well supported service (roumor has it at least!).

My hardware is an DG834GT which from what I gather is the "optimum" router/modem for Be (but I am not sure if it supports M) ?

Regarding "Pro", I can always start with "Unlimited" as someone suggested and then switch to Pro if all goes well and the line is healthy. Is there a "step-up/trial no obligation" offer or something?

FrenchTart · 15 Jul 2008 at 00:10

The GT supports AnnexM no problems.

Get unlimited and then see what your line stats are like. If your sync downstream is less than 15mbit then don't even think about Pro. If it's better, ring up Be and tell them you want to try out upload plus/pro. They'll switch you for a trial period I think.