Be or O2? (and a bitch at AOL)

Angilion

Angilion

Angilion

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I stick with ISPs - I've only had two since I went online at home in the early 90s and I can't remember why I moved from Freeserve to AOL abour 10 years ago. AOL was adequate once I got rid of all the AOL software and just used a DUN connection, as long as I never needed tech support. AOL tech support...isn't.

So it was adequate and I just carried on with it. Since AOL UK was sold off, it's been worse. Now they've managed to irritate me enough to leave, mainly by phoning me up with free offers because I'm been a customer for so long...and after a while they casually slip in the catch, hoping I won't notice it. For example, a free speed increase...but only if I agree to use AOL for my phone calls. Then a free speed increase and an improvement to the reliability of the service...which is apparently caused by not using AOL for my phone calls. My service wasn't unreliable until I refused the offer, then it suddenly became so. Entirely by coincidence, obviously. 3 months half price special offer...but only if I take out an 18 month contract. Etc. Now they're blocking various websites without even saying they are doing so. Megavideo is the only one of them I use at all and there is a workaround, but it's an added irritation.

So I'm going to move. It's a bother changing my email address on everything, but I've had enough.

I used the information in the sticky and have narrowed it down to two packages that seem to fit the bill for me:

Be Unlimited at £17.88
O2 Premium at £15

The only apparent difference is that the O2 package would be £5 more for a static IP and Be package has a static IP in that price, but I don't want a static IP anyway.

O2 owns Be anyway, so is there any difference? I don't really care if one is a bit faster than the other in practice, as they both claim up to 20Mbps and I'm content with the ~5.5Mbps ("up to 8Mbps") that I'm getting now. All I want is a connection, nothing more. I doubt if any other ISP is like AOL in that respect (who on earth would want AOL software?), but I'll ask just in case.
 
Now they're blocking various websites without even saying they are doing so. Megavideo is the only one of them I use at all and there is a workaround, but it's an added irritation.
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They weren't blocking these sites, there was a routing problem which has now been fixed.

So I'm going to move. It's a bother changing my email address on everything, but I've had enough.
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Just to let you know you'll still be able to use your aol email(s) after switching.
 
Be allow Fastpath, O2 doesn't (or didn't last I checked)

Be allow you to alter your target SNR yourself.

Be give you a static IP for free, O2 don't.

Be supports Line Bonding (coming soon), O2 doesn't.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

(Not suggesting for a second those are important and/or worth the extra couple of quid. Just answering the original question that's all)
 
from my experience, if you want to be happy go with be. When you speak to their cs they are technically very aware and quite often if you want a change to your account e.g. add extra static ips, increase your upload speed or change your noise profile they will do this while on the phone on within hours of receiving your support request. I have been with a few isps before e.g. f2s, bt, bulldog and never have i experienced this sort of experience. Also some of the services they offer just aren't available anywhere else (extra 8 static ip addresses, increasing upload speed). I hit 14Mb download and 1.6Mb upload. The other thing about be is that most of their users are powerusers/ people expecting high speeds. o2 will have a lot of people who don't care about that sort of thing, so O2 won't make sure their cs can deal with it.
 
I am with O2 and have been for the last year or so. I am happy with the 16Mbps and have only had one problem (it turns out it was an issue with the exchange that affected whe whole town).

You can get a discount if you have an O2 phone. I am only paying about £10 p/m
 
o2 are doing 2 months free at the moment. check quidco/topcashback for rebates as well.

happy o2 customer here. i couldn't give a monkeys about fastpath or static ips. :p
 
Thanks for the replies. They give me more to go on.

Another question - what advantage does a static IP have for an ordinary user?
 
Angilion said:
Thanks for the replies. They give me more to go on.

Another question - what advantage does a static IP have for an ordinary user?
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Saves potential hassle you might get from DHCP (Caused a few problems when I was on Dynamic with Be). Other than that it's only really useful if you're hosting and/or running a server.
 
i was with BE (for a second time) and had a nightmare with a line fault, took them months to admit there was a problem and finally sent a few engineers out who all said they had fixed the problem but within a day it was back

id had enough of disconnections and slow speeds it simply wasnt worth the £21 pm , so i changed to o2 , i still had the same line issue so phoned their CS who sent a engee out within a WEEK and it was fixed and STAYED fixed

i got 2 months free

50 quid cashback

£7 pm for a full 8mb (7.8mb)

CS has been fantastic for me (uk call centers) , ive asked them serveral times to change SN margin without any hassle

i would HIGHLY recommend !!



EDIT: just dont use their dns servers , change to opendns or google dns :)
 
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I signed up to o2 from Be £100 cashback through quidco and 2 months free. I already own an o2 mobile so it was £10.00 a month.... 2 months free! Cost nothing for a year. Brill!!!!

I was previously on Be*, moved for the above reasons.
 
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CSA said:
i was with BE (for a second time) and had a nightmare with a line fault, took them months to admit there was a problem and finally sent a few engineers out who all said they had fixed the problem but within a day it was back

id had enough of disconnections and slow speeds it simply wasnt worth the £21 pm , so i changed to o2 , i still had the same line issue so phoned their CS who sent a engee out within a WEEK and it was fixed and STAYED fixed
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Neither Be or O2 have engineers so it would have been BT (Openreach) that came out on each occasion. The chance the "engineer" solved the problem when you were with O2 is a coincidence and not a reflection on Be. If Openreach had done their job properly the first time you'd still be with Be.
 
Thats true , but it still took BE THREE MONTHS to send openreach out , where as o2 took ONE WEEK.

speaks volumes really
 
I went from a business Zen (£40 PM) line to O2 and haven't been happier. Not had any connection issues (since I got a recent Linksys router) and their techs upport was grade A in helping me setup the router.

I have a static IP but have an O2 phone so it cancels it out, also they dont mind you running hosted services like mail servers either. They can also change your reverse DNS name of your IP if you ask nicely! ;)

Not had any throttling issues though Hmmm.
 
Been with Be for 3 years now, very happy. Even though I have an o2 phone, it's not worth me the hassle changing over just to save a couple of quid a month.
 
bikes said:
Been with Be for 3 years now, very happy. Even though I have an o2 phone, it's not worth me the hassle changing over just to save a couple of quid a month.
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not worth the hassle? assuming you're on be unlimited (£17.88), the next 12 months will cost you £214.56. on o2 you'd be paying 10 a month so that's 120. but if you then take off the 2 months free and £50 cashback, you're now down to £50 quid for the year. a tidy saving of £164.
 
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