moving back to ADSL but who...

deano

deano

deano

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
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2,261
Location
Kidderminster
Hi,

i've been with Virgin for about 5 months so far on there 50mb service (joke) this is the current speedtest



Have had various engineers out and been on to support for hours, and basically been told at peak times these are the speeds I will get. :(

So I have no phone line and will need to get one for ADSL, FTTC has an RFS date set : 01/06/2012 on Kidderminster exchange.

This also has O2/BE, SKY on LLU. But I believe I would then be on a 12month package and would need to pay to move from LLU to FTTC.

I was looking at plusnet which will activate my line and give me a rolling 1 month contract and free upgrade to FTTC when available...

Is that the best option...? or are there other ADSL providers I should consider?

thanks
 
You're going to very lucky to get an ADSL connection as fast as your current (underperforming) Virgin connection.

Couldn't you just get your Virgin package dropped down to match the speed it's actually capable of handling? Make the decision about your new provider once FTTC is available.
 
True I could drop to the 30Mb or 10Mb service, although my line when I was on ADSL ran at 7.5Mbps which isn't to far off there 10Mb service.

I'd prefer not to give them any more of there money ideally :) as the service has been shocking.
thanks
 
I'd also try to make sure your cabinet is going to get FTTC before you jump (find the Excel spreadsheets in the BT Infinity thread)
 
I have Sky Unlimited (20mb) and live within sprinting distance of the exchange and i get 15mb down and 0.65mb up.
I'd keep your Virgin connection if i were you. You might be lucky and get close to the same speeds on download but upload you might if you're extremely lucky get 1mb.
 
I'd stick with Virgin too.

I'm with Sky atm, and get good performance but it's still only 17Mbit down, 1Mbit up.
While Sky is uncapped, cheaper and faster than my previous ISP (TalkTalk), it's still nowhere near as good as my Sister's Virgin cable.

If this area were cabled I'd switch to Virgin without hesitation, as even a bad cable connection beats adsl hands down.
 
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sid-180 said:
smaller ISP's as they tend to offer better support i.e. TitanADSL, ADSL24, AQUISS.
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This is true, companies like Be*, adsl 24 are all good however, if you choose smaller companies and there is a problem, it's much harder for them to narrow down the problem as smaller companies operate on at least a 3 layer basis. 1st line resellers, 2nd line wholesalers, 3rd line supplier etc.

Again tho, smaller companies have a large focus on customer service and even fix problems quicker despite having to go through 3+ line bases. I'd recommend going on samknows.com and checking your exchange. Some companies may still be on there tho even if not listed, but its a good start.

I personally recommend Be*, ukonline and adsl24.
 
coolbeaNs92 said:
This is true, companies like Be*, adsl 24 are all good however, if you choose smaller companies and there is a problem, it's much harder for them to narrow down the problem as smaller companies operate on at least a 3 layer basis. 1st line resellers, 2nd line wholesalers, 3rd line supplier etc.
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Not true. Smaller ISPs often have better relationships with BT.

I personally recommend Be*, ukonline and adsl24.
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UK Online? They closed in early 2011...
 
KIA said:
Not true. Smaller ISPs often have better relationships with BT.



UK Online? They closed in early 2011...
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Second part about ukonline fair enough, but who said smaller ISP's didn't have a better relationship? I said they work off other's lines. Which is why fault finding can be harder for them as they don't own their own lines. If something goes wrong, they have to ask their supplier, whereas larger organisations can investigate straight away as they own their own lines. :S
 
coolbeaNs92 said:
Second part about ukonline fair enough, but who said smaller ISP's didn't have a better relationship? I said they work off other's lines. Which is why fault finding can be harder for them as they don't own their own lines. If something goes wrong, they have to ask their supplier, whereas larger organisations can investigate straight away as they own their own lines. :S
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They have direct access to tools and engineers at BT. Fancy going through first line support in India?
 
Go with BE for sure, you can get 3 month BE contracts if you wish, however It costs a little more (obviously) if you don't want the 12 month, outstanding service though

They have already started trialling their FTTC service also
 
KIA said:
They have direct access to tools and engineers at BT. Fancy going through first line support in India?
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Resellers generally dont have access to the BTW tools themselves, however can raise faults/run tests which will be initiated through the main suppliers who will run the line tests through BTW portals.

When you are effectively your own ISP. You will have all this to hand and can use BT tools directly.
 
KIA said:
They have direct access to tools and engineers at BT. Fancy going through first line support in India?
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I can tell you 100% fact that they don't have guaranteed access to BT engineers bud. My best mate while studying for his CCNA shadowed a BT engineer and was telling him how BT customers are always priorities when doing maintenance and fault finding (obviously) and that lines that they have re-sold are done on a rota. It's like me going to a shop and you asking me to get you something.

As for people saying Virgin, they don't give you what they sell in. Virgin run 'fibre to node' meaning the connection from the exchange to you is done via coax. It's still a good service, but i feel it's abit sneeky how they sell it.
 
coolbeaNs92 said:
I can tell you 100% fact that they don't have guaranteed access to BT engineers bud. My best mate while studying for his CCNA shadowed a BT engineer and was telling him how BT customers are always priorities when doing maintenance and fault finding (obviously) and that lines that they have re-sold are done on a rota. It's like me going to a shop and you asking me to get you something.
Click to expand...

It must be 100% fact because your friend said so!
 
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