Help me choose between two ISPs ...

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18 Oct 2002
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466
Morning there. I've just moved into a new place and am trying to decide which ISP to go with. I think I've narrowed it down to two but figured it is always a good idea to get some input.

So the requirements: I've a BT line that I'm stuck with so it has to be ADSL - the connection is mainly for a bit of work (when I work from home) and possibly a bit of downloading at the weekend.

The choice: I figured I go with either BE or ADSL24 (or one of their resellers).
Pros for BE are that for £18/month it's fast and unlimited and I get a box that should replace my seperate ADSL modem and wireless hub (though their box might be useless).

Pros for ADSL24 or The Free software Net (one of their resellers). Well they get really good customer review and let's face it there are geek-points to be had for using the free software federation as an ISP. The connection is probably slower than Be and for £16.50 you get an on peak cap of 3gb (low) or for £20 that goes upto 30gb.

Both give me static IP which I want. So what do you think - what should I do?
 
Ah I'm really glad I asked about this ... Just checked out samknows apparently our exchange (New Cross) is due to get WBC in August - what is WBC though and why do I want it? On the same site I was quite surprised to see LLU operators present at the exchange includes Be but not Enta
 
The Enta enabled exchanges are where Enta take hold of the traffic from BT. It doesn't effect you in any way if they are at your exchange or not.

WBC is ADSL2+ through BT. In other words in August you will be able to get ADSL2+ from any ISP that offers it with Enta most likely being the first to the table in May.
 
Right I see. That makes the choice even more difficult! So Be or Enta, Be or Enta. I'm thinking Enta, not really sure why but I guess they seem to get better customer reviews and that counts for quite a lot...
 
It's not BE or Enta, as stated you get it through a reseller of the Enta network, so you need to look at customer services etc or the reseller for a good review on that portion of your decision.

As for the connection itself, whilst it's going to be relatively the same across Enta resellers, a lot of people use them and some of the pipes get congested quite easily, although you can keep re-connecting till you get a better one.

Can't comment on BE never used it but i have Aquiss and can't fault them at all
 
As for the connection itself, whilst it's going to be relatively the same across Enta resellers, a lot of people use them and some of the pipes get congested quite easily, although you can keep re-connecting till you get a better one.

Not going to be a problem on ADSL2+. They are going from 3.5Gb/s of bandwidth to 20Gb/s (possibly more, that only includes the publicly confirmed interconnects).
 
Thanks for your help everyone. I've learnt quite a bit today. Anyway in the end I've opted for ADSL24 - good user feedback, reasonable size ISP (resells Enta) and I figured with the upgrade to ADSL 2+ in the pipeline it was probably a good option.
 
WBC is ADSL2+ through BT
I read that BRAS profiles will still be used!

I've decided to migrate to BE if the planned unbundling of my exchange goes ahead at the end of June if only to get away from BRAS profiles.

It's either this or wait another 13 months for the 21CN/WBC upgrade.
 
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