be or o2 internet?

binaryknight · 12 Sep 2008 at 17:15

moving away from pipex now my exchange supports be, but ive heard people say that o2 are basically the same provider? and gererally cheaper if you have an o2 phone.

i have a pay as you go 02 but this is most likely exculuded though my father has a contract 02

whats the opinion o2 vs be?

whats the min contract with both? i think ive read some where be is 3 months? id assume 02 is 12

any help appreciated

tolien · 12 Sep 2008 at 17:17

O2 are the same provider - the only difference is in the support, you're connected to the same equipment at the exchange.

NickM · 12 Sep 2008 at 17:27

Be Value is 12month contract, Be Unlimited or Pro you can give 3 months notice to cancel.
O2 is 12month.

binaryknight · 12 Sep 2008 at 17:40

NickM said:
Be Value is 12month contract, Be Unlimited or Pro you can give 3 months notice to cancel.
O2 is 12month.

just found that out as you posted after trawling the faqs, think i might go with be for the 3 months cantract

muon · 12 Sep 2008 at 17:49

binaryknight said:
just found that out as you posted after trawling the faqs, think i might go with be for the 3 months cantract

Remember to use quidco for £40 cashback as well as the free connection code.

http://www.quidco.com/bethere-co-uk/

So works out as ((18*12)-40)/12 = £14.67 a month for 12 months. Cheaper than o2 and you have 3 month rolling contract with bethere until 12 months.

Nick1881 · 13 Sep 2008 at 20:56

Sorry to thread jack but I was also thinking about switching to O2 or Be.

I currently have VM 20mb cable but recently I haven't been getting full speed at peak times and most days online gaming can be unplayable as my ping jumps around all over the place.

I had ADSL once before years ago and it was useless but it was with some rubbish company

I'm 1452m from the exchange, is this bad? Any idea what sort of speed I would get? Also if I could only get 4mb is it worth paying the extra for the higher speed services when I'm not going to get it?

Also I have an O2 phone so would it be worth me choosing them over BE?

Thanks

SpeedFreak · 13 Sep 2008 at 23:10

Having just switched from Be to O2 I can offer some advice. With be, because I am 5k from the exchange, I connect at 5mb, which in all fairness is great. Unlimited downloads for £14 per month was great. However, as I am an O2 mobile customer, I did a bit of research and realised they were one and the same. I swithched to O2 with zero downtime and my connection is now exactly the same as before. The O2 router looks nicer, but is a rebranded thompson and the same as the bebox minus the voip ports. O2 charge me £7.50 per month for exactly the same service and their customer support was excellent in changing over. All in all I'm happy.

Nick1881 · 15 Sep 2008 at 10:24

Did you have any problems with BE that made you change or was it just to save monies?

marmalade · 15 Sep 2008 at 11:49

If one has an o2 mobile of any which sort its obviously cheaper to use o2 than BE. Once joined its possible to up grade at any time if ones line can handle this. signing up thru quidco usually results in a bung back too. Always found o2 support excellent. Get a neighbours telephone number and put it into a line checker this shouold give some indication of speed - though anything but definative. The best results are with a router using a Broadcom chipset I'm using the 780wl with voip excellent.

Nick1881 · 15 Sep 2008 at 13:13

I just ordered O2 16mb, they said I should get up to 12mb I think.

Its a 30 day trial so I'll just cancel if its no good. I will still have my cable anyway and leave my dad connected to that.

If I have the O2 wireless could I quickly switch between it and the wired cable connection? Shame I cant use both as it would make 30mb lol.

FrenchTart · 15 Sep 2008 at 13:15

mr_x_plosion said:
I just ordered O2 16mb, they said I should get up to 12mb I think.

Its a 30 day trial so I'll just cancel if its no good. I will still have my cable anyway and leave my dad connected to that.

If I have the O2 wireless could I quickly switch between it and the wired cable connection? Shame I cant use both as it would make 30mb lol.

The easiest way to have it so you can switch between them would be to have two routers (one for each) and disable dhcp on one/both. Then just specify the IP of the one you want as your gateway.

A more elegant/better solution would be to use a load-balancing router, but that requires a bit more setup and for you to spend more money.

Nick1881 · 15 Sep 2008 at 13:19

well the cable will be staying on the buffalo router which is wired direct on a long network cable to my pc, I dont want to run another cable to my options are plug that cable in to the adsl router or use it wireless.

Can someone spec me a wifi card that will work too please...

FrenchTart · 15 Sep 2008 at 13:21

Just get one of the same brand/manufacturer as the router. You may want to purchase a cheap sky-branded Netgear DG834GT as your router from an auction site to replace the o2 box as performance/stability is better and it only costs about £15.

Nick1881 · 16 Sep 2008 at 10:45

Will this be ok? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...G 54Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter

Or is it worth me getting a 108mb/s one? like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... 108Mbps Wireless Desktop PCI Network Adapter

I cant see any PCI-Express ones

scoopex · 16 Sep 2008 at 12:49

ghost101 said:
Remember to use quidco for £40 cashback as well as the free connection code.

http://www.quidco.com/bethere-co-uk/

So works out as ((18*12)-40)/12 = £14.67 a month for 12 months. Cheaper than o2 and you have 3 month rolling contract with bethere until 12 months.

Thanks for that.

Paul11 · 16 Sep 2008 at 15:06

i just ordered be with the quidco voucher..

FrenchTart · 16 Sep 2008 at 15:49

ghost101 said:
Remember to use quidco for £40 cashback as well as the free connection code.

http://www.quidco.com/bethere-co-uk/

So works out as ((18*12)-40)/12 = £14.67 a month for 12 months. Cheaper than o2 and you have 3 month rolling contract with bethere until 12 months.

One thing to be aware of: The 3 month rolling contract continues forever. It's not a huge issue, just something to know.

muon · 17 Sep 2008 at 00:34

Aekeron said:
One thing to be aware of: The 3 month rolling contract continues forever. It's not a huge issue, just something to know.

You can downgrade to be value tariff and then only give 1 months notice on the 11th month. Obviously you only get 8mbps for a month though.

FrenchTart · 17 Sep 2008 at 10:58

ghost101 said:
You can downgrade to be value tariff and then only give 1 months notice on the 11th month. Obviously you only get 8mbps for a month though.

I thought it established a new contract when you did that? I guess my info is out of date.