Broadband provider recommendations?

Energize · 24 Jun 2020 at 23:17

Hi I'm moving properties so looking at broadband providers, currently I'm on 200MB Virgin fibre, however I would be happy with 40Mb/s or more tbh, reliability is so much more important and I have found Virgin to be less than reliable in my experience. I don't need phone or TV services.

What is also important to me is the ability to use my own Ubiquity router as I already have prosumer networking equipment that works so much better than the crappy ISP stuff virgin has provided.

Now I know you can't give advice on specific deals without knowing my postcode or phone number, but I was wondering if there was more general advice on how good/bad the broadband providers are and if they allow me to use my own equipment?

Some examples of Providers that serve my area are:

Vodaphone Gigafast Broadband 200 18 month £28
Fibre 2 - for new BT customers only 24 month £27
EE Fibre Plus Broadband 18 month £27
Origin Max Fibre 18 month £27.30
John Lewis Unlimited Fibre Extra +Evening Weekend Calls Free Gift: £75 Gift Card 12 month £32.50
Plusnet Unlimited Fibre Extra Free Gift: £70 Reward Card 18 month £27
Xstream Superfibre Unlimited Broadband 12 month £27
Hyperoptic 50Mb Fibre with no phone (30 day contract) £26
Direct save Telecom Unlimited Fibre 12 month £25.
Origin Max Fibre 18 month £27.33.
Plusnet Unlimited Fibre Free Gift: £70 Reward Card 18 month £23

Thanks.

hyperseven · 25 Jun 2020 at 04:53

I would like to give you advice but in case I give the wrong advice I'm afraid I cannot help in fear of legal action from yourself.

SixTwoSix · 25 Jun 2020 at 08:18

Is this mainly for ebay use?

Joking aside though, I went with vodafone a year or two back and was rock solid, one issue in that time which was remedied quickly and despite general consensus, Vodafone CS were superb. Only moved back to BT for the new sign up discount after my 18 months was up.

Personally, as the prices between are negligible, i'd check out Topcashback for referrer deals (can easily get £80+ for new contracts) , see what offers the most and go with them.

Also if anyone is offering gift cards, you can normally stack those deals with TCB deals. My BT signup paid £110 cashback and I claimed a gift card on top of that for £80.

Begbie · 25 Jun 2020 at 08:19

I'm with Vodafone, and they're good actually. I had a speed issue, and they wouldn't stop phoning me till it was sorted.

kosymodo · 25 Jun 2020 at 11:36

I'd recommend Aquiss - recently switched to them and am very impressed with the speeds and their very prompt customer service

Caged · 25 Jun 2020 at 12:31

Are you sure you're served by both Hyperoptic and Vodafone Gigafast?

In any case, my recommendation would be Hyperoptic, take the 150Mbps (the 50Mbps service only has a 5Mbps upload speed) but don't forget it's £5 extra per month (which is excessive imo) to get a static IP address - without this you end up on CGNAT which is awful. They give you an IPv6 allocation, and I can share a full ER-X config if you like which should get you started.

Energize · 25 Jun 2020 at 12:52

Caged said:
Are you sure you're served by both Hyperoptic and Vodafone Gigafast?

In any case, my recommendation would be Hyperoptic, take the 150Mbps (the 50Mbps service only has a 5Mbps upload speed) but don't forget it's £5 extra per month (which is excessive imo) to get a static IP address - without this you end up on CGNAT which is awful. They give you an IPv6 allocation, and I can share a full ER-X config if you like which should get you started.

Thanks, I'm honestly not totally sure at the moment as I haven't moved into the property yet. It's just based on postcode. So will give an update in a few days.

A dedicated IP would definitely be useful for me.