Cost Cutting - Which ISP / Package?

mikeym

mikeym

mikeym

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15 Apr 2009
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1,253
Hello

I'm currently looking at cutting costs to balance income / outgoings and need to do something with our broadband / phone.

I've been sitting on a £17.99pm 'up to 20mb' (getting around 18.5mb) Plusnet connection waiting for fibre to come along that was originally due about 18months ago. This still isn't with us but we're told it is days / weeks away pending 'light testing' and commissioning of the PON.

I always get right up to my 60GB monthly limit, so need something fairly generous or 'unlimited'. I also do plenty of gaming (Planetside2, various racing games, etc), surfing, general downloading, BBC iPlayer, etc. We've got a laptop, desktop, mobiles, PS3 and TV that could all be accessing the internet at the same time and it's not unusual for multiple devices to be used at the same time.

Anyway, the best deal seems to be Talk Talk with 'up to 16mb' / unlimited and is significantly cheaper than anywhere else but all I hear is bad press about their customer service, etc. I did have my heart set on at least a 38mb connection with fibre but our budget seems to be ruling this out.

Once we do have FTTP - are there likely to be any better offers? For example, Sky and others have cheaper broadband options that aren't actually available to us at the moment but I'm not sure if getting fibre will mean these become available...

Thanks for any advice. :cool:
 
with Talk Talk they block Bit-Torrent during peak hours but one can overcome that by enabling encryption in uTorrent, this worked on my dads and i got super speeds - theres reports that it dont work well with some torrents though but most of them you can download ok... customer service is poor but not on their forums...you get too speak to people who know their stuff and can access your account and broadband settings - Talk Talk also allows FastPath so if your a gamer you can get this enabled and it will give you even better pings, your line stats are obviously good so FP shouldnt cause any problems.

if your plusnet connection is fine (just usage allowance) why dont you go unlimited with PlusNet? they have an unlimited package - because their fibre is really good and cheap - TBH as your getting 18Mbps then you must have a circa 21-22Mb sync in your router - that is a good connection and Plusnet are pretty good - is it worth risking moving to an ISP that may be suffering congestion or have poor line management (sky LLu broadand lol)

anyway looking at your exchange it would seem Talk Talk is the only LLu provider anyway - to be fair Talk Talk (in terms of the connection itself) have picked up a load in last couple of years, they advertise as upto 16Mb (like most) but you will get an upto 24Mb connection and should see similar to what you get now.

your exchange has 1 LLu provider and 1,800 premises it serves yet it has FTTC - annoys me that, I live 2 miles from a major city and my exchange has several LLU and serves 8000 premises yet FTTC isnt even on the agenda
 
I'd agree with KIA, you mentioned phone as well...if you have a landline call package which costs, then remove it and use one of the zero cost call packages as with a mobile you barely need landline these days.

The other alternative which might be viable depending on your habits, is to reduce your downloads and hence move to a cheaper package.
 
I agree - your already with a good provider and have a good connection... no point in risking it just to try and save a few pennies... most people regret it when moving to save money because most of the time you "get what you pay for"
 
snadge said:
I agree - your already with a good provider and have a good connection... no point in risking it just to try and save a few pennies... most people regret it when moving to save money because most of the time you "get what you pay for"
Click to expand...

And from memory Talk Talk come last in most customer service reviews. They're a bit like Santander in banking.
 
bertles86 said:
And from memory Talk Talk come last in most customer service reviews. They're a bit like Santander in banking.
Click to expand...

that is true, because like a lot of ISPs the call centres are off-shore (India) and there is the whole language barrier and these reps dont know anything about the service other than what they are reading out off the screen (script)... however they have excellent customer support forums where you speak to knowledgable reps in this country who have access too your account and connection settings.

when my dad signed up to Talk Talk he got letters saying he would be charged "x" amount and his online billing showed different and there was a whole ****-a-hoop about that - they gave him £10 credit for his trouble...turned out that the letters they were sending out didnt have the offers on.. oh and the wifi on the router was terrible - but ever since being connected his broadband has been fast and spot on
 
Thanks for the replies and advice. :cool:

The main issue is saving money but I don't think I will be doing it at the expense of potentially stressful / time consuming 'customer service' issues. It seems anyone I speak to in person who have an experience of Talk Talk have something negative to say. One of my friends had the same issue of being billed a different amount to that agreed as Snadge highlights. Lots of stories about complications when trying to cancel too...

I will need to speak to someone in person at Plusnet. If I try and change my service plan online, I don't appear to get anywhere near the advertised pricing of the unlimited service - with phone it comes to over £30pm. If they can match their advertised price then I may well choose this option - hopefully not an introductory offer only. I can understand missing out on half price for first 6 months but not a higher basic rate.

I'm currently paying £17.99 plus line rental with Sky which comes to around £400 per year. If I was going to go to Talk Talk, I would be saving around £200 per year but other providers like BT (even though they own Plusnet) I can make similar savings with cashback and other incentives.

@snadge - with regards to your comment on FTTC and 8000 premises v Capel's 1800 premises; Capel won the chance to get Infinity via the 'Race to Infinity' competition they ran. Not sure if we would have been overlooked otherwise but, as I say, we are at least a year overdue on the original estimates. Thanks for the comment on Bitorrent also - useful to know. Though on my current deal I set my Vuze client to start up during the off peak hours when bandwith is not counted towards the monthly allowance. Occasionally though, I want to use bittorrent there and then.
 
Seems a bit daft but the best deal available (excluding Talk Talk) was to switch from Plusnet to BT Unlimited Broadband Extra.

The best Plusnet could offer was £1 saving per month to get tied down to a 12 month contract.

Lets hope I don't regret it. On the surface all should be good - moving from 60GB monthly limit to 'unlimited' and 50GB online storage. Other than that everything should be pretty much the same as I have now, I think...
 
OUCH!!

for your sake I hope so - BT are one of the worst ISP's you can go with for regular xDSL broadband, but Iam assuming they have WBC at your exchange...this may or may not make much difference.

also BT block bit-torrent / P2P during peak hours , whereas plusnet dont (or just for 2 hours between 6-8pm on certain package, unlimited has no p2p blocks)

how much is the BT package you've gotten and how much is plusnet unlimited?
 
dacads said:
Virgin have always given the full advertised download speed for me
Click to expand...

Virgin Cable that is I would imagine, Virgin ADSL is a completely different story when it comes to "good speeds"

Virgin cable is good in areas where network load is normal, they also block P2P during peak hours but how much is dependant on network load in your area, which is a good system I think, I see some Virgin Cable users who cant download P2P at all and some that can at full speeds (during peak time)
 
so BT only charging £7-£8 month for Broadband am I right? line rental is about £15 these days for both i think... unless you pay for the whole year upfront you can get it for £10 month
 
well according to plusnet website...for unlimited broadband (£9.99) and phone (£13.99) its £432 ...? any reason why your total says £557 (Im assuming thats for unlimited too)
 
snadge said:
so BT only charging £7-£8 month for Broadband am I right? line rental is about £15 these days for both i think... unless you pay for the whole year upfront you can get it for £10 month
Click to expand...

BT Broadband is £21pm but 6 months free = £14pm
BT Line Rental is £10.75pm if paid upfront
Delivery charge on router (can't omit!) - £6ish
Topcashback = £5.05
Sainsbury Voucher = £25

Plusnet Broadband is £16.99pm
Plusnet Line Rental is £13.99pm

If only I could have taken the main advertised deal at Plusnet:
Broadband is £9.99pm
Line Rental is £10.49pm
Total - £368.64
 
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