Need new ISP what are my options ?

No3ntry · 11 Mar 2011 at 14:55

Currently with Demon and of late it seems they are constantly throttling my connection at peak times (I download very little so it isnt down to a usage cap or anything like that)

This is my exchange details.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EMASBOU

It tells me that orange and talk talk are the only LLu in my area. I had a bad experience with orange in the past where I cancelled pipex to get an 8mb service Orange gave me 2Mb and told me that was the best my line would give me, so i immedietly cancelled and jumped on 8mb with demon.
And I hear only bad things about talk talk so would be reluctant to use them.

any ideas guys ?

James

Mr_Orange · 11 Mar 2011 at 15:03

Have a word with someone like Vivaciti or Xilo. They might be able to do something. It will be a few pounds extra a month but they will be better connections as they don't throttle.

I'm with Xilo (pro 16) and I've had no problems what so ever with them.

sid-180 · 11 Mar 2011 at 15:55

agreed with the above plus 2 more niche ISP's i.e. TitanADSL and ADSL24 they are all damm good.

No3ntry · 13 Mar 2011 at 13:50

it seems they all do traffic shaping though ?
All I want is constant speed at any time for a reasonable price

Mr_White · 13 Mar 2011 at 14:33

Your exchange is about the same size as mine and I switched from Demon BT Wholesale to Vivaciti LLU and I don't get any traffic shaping on torrents and other P2P stuff running all day during peak times.

This was their response in regards to traffic shaping.

With reference to traffic there are some restrictions, these are that P2P and newsgroup traffic is run as a lower priority during office hours (mon - fri 8am - 7:30pm)

But since it's a small exchange, it doesn't seem that they actually need to traffic shape.

Vivaciti operate on 30 day contracts, so you've not got much to lose by giving them a go, I'm certainly very happy with them.

sid-180 · 13 Mar 2011 at 21:02

We used ADSL24 then moved to TitanADSL LLU and still with Titan on Fibre broadband where i work and i can say really good service smaller providers offer.

Mr_Orange · 13 Mar 2011 at 21:40

Xilo don't do any traffic shaping according to the FAQ near the bottom of this page:

http://www.xilo.net/adsl_broadband/

No3ntry · 13 Mar 2011 at 23:40

does anyone know if demon have a section on there website that would tell me my useage per month or even for last month ?

Just to give me an idea of what kind of useage cap i need to sign up for.

Thanks for the help so far guys.

James

Mr_White · 14 Mar 2011 at 06:54

No3ntry said:
does anyone know if demon have a section on there website that would tell me my useage per month or even for last month ?

Just to give me an idea of what kind of useage cap i need to sign up for.

Thanks for the help so far guys.

James

No, they don't.

You'll start getting warning e-mails for everyday that you're within 5GB near the limit, or their automated e-mailing system might just not send them out and they'll restrict you to 128k for about three weeks without sympathy if you go over the limit (I have plenty of experience with this)

Their FUP also operates on a rolling 30 days basis.

The only way you'll get a decent usage is on Demon business 2000 or 8000, £36 and £42 respectively, which have a 100GB FUP opposed to the 60/50GB of their other two BT Wholesale packages. (HomeOffice 8000 and Home 8000, one of which you'll be on)

Just switch over to LLU

No3ntry · 14 Mar 2011 at 07:38

Just checked out my bills for demon, looks like I have been with them since December 2006. my package is called home 8000, and they have never asked me to switch to one of the newer packages when they were created.

What is LLU ? is that ADSL2 ?
looking at my exchange it looks like our 21CN WBC date has been set for end of this month, if that is accurate I guess I may as well wait until then.

Samknows says that orange and talktalk are the only LLU operators on my exchange (am I right in my original assumption, that I should avoid both of these like the plague ? )

Regards
James

Mr_White · 14 Mar 2011 at 07:51

LLU will give you an ADSL2+ service, yes.

That's why we've been recommending Vivaciti, Xilo, etc, as they can take advantage of the TalkTalk unbundling to provide you with all the speed and usage perks of LLU, without having to put up with TalkTalk.

Vivaciti said:
the service is not provided by Talk Talk, all we use them for is the DSL tails and interconnect from the exchange, we then take an L2TP feed and manage all the data and backhaul ourselves.

WBC will just allow BT and their resellers to provide you an ADSL2+ service with BT hardware, which also means putting up with BT policy, whereas LLU providers aren't shackled by BT.

liamcrane · 14 Mar 2011 at 08:00

No3ntry id really like to know how you get on with this as i like you only have orange, talk talk & sky LLU in my exchange. How did you find demon any good?

Mr White hi mate, so will ISP's such as Vivaciti & Xilo be able to use other ISP's LLU equipment or would they have to use BT's hardware? Im looking to change im with virgin at the mo

Mr_White · 14 Mar 2011 at 08:10

liamcrane said:
Mr White hi mate, so will ISP's such as Vivaciti & Xilo be able to use other ISP's LLU equipment or would they have to use BT's hardware? Im looking to change im with virgin at the mo

I assume you mean you're with Virgin on an ADSL BT Wholesale package? not cable.

If you're only on BT Wholesale then any decent LLU package will be able to provide you with a much better service, as it's simply not possible to offer high/unlimited usage packages on BT Wholesale (and being 8mb max goes without saying

) without extortionate costs.

https://vivaciti.net/signup.php

Stick your phone number in there and see what packages come up.

Edit: After seeing your other thread, I see that BE have an LLU presence at your exchange, they'll probably give you better value

liamcrane · 14 Mar 2011 at 08:21

Ok mate cheers, i dont think virgin do an LLU service do they?

EDIT Vivaciti says im already on an LLU package?

I must admit i have never had an issue with them i only have a 3mb line and thats normally what im getting. Just spoke to sky and they told me my estmated speed at my new property round the corner will be 1MB!!!!!

I cant believe a brand new home would only support 1mb BB, there is a cabnit at the end of my road aswell!

Mr_White · 14 Mar 2011 at 08:22

Put your downstream attenuation in here http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.php and you'll get a fairly good estimate of what sort of speed you'll expect on any of the LLU services

Edit: I guess you're not in the new property yet so won't have that info

The ISP estimates are often very pessimistic, and I would be surprised if you see less than 3MB at your new property with an LLU service, you'd need an awful line to be that unlucky.

liamcrane · 14 Mar 2011 at 08:29

Yea i guess your right but surely a new home would have new better quality phone lines well you would think so hey?

Think i will go for sky LLU anyway after speaking to them i can transfer everything over for free other than a £30 connection fee for the BB so cant really complain there

KIA · 14 Mar 2011 at 16:44

Amazing Demon performance:

No3ntry · 17 Mar 2011 at 20:48

fluff I know that feeling very well.

Have just signed up to a vivacity phone/broadband package, for ~ £26 a month they say I should see around 15Mb download speed with my line.

They do traffic shaping during office hours (7 till 7 or something silly like that) but only on P2P and newsgroups. I'm happy with that if I'm honest

KIA · 18 Mar 2011 at 16:26

Nice one. To be fair to Demon their LLU package using C&W isn't too bad but the BT product is awful.