New Year, New Flat, New ISP

Loque

Loque

Loque

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Joined
14 Nov 2008
Posts
1,758
Location
South Shields
2009 is upon us, and myself and 2 mates are getting a flat. We've viewed a few flats, and think we've found the flat we want (just waiting now for the land lord to have it cleaned out before we move in)

Once we move in, we'll be looking for an ISP. Between us, we have about 5 computers that i'll be networking, so i've been doing a bit of research on what the best ISP for us will be.

My first choice was Virgin Media, because its who I am with right now, and while we all know this ISP has gone down the sewer hole ever since it became VM, its still a decent ISP (albiet overpriced. £37 per month for 20mb is pretty bad imo, but it's what I pay right now.)

BT has never been a popular company in my book, simply because its inferior in every way to cable, but its cheaper, and right now, cheaper is what we need.
So I hear lots of good things about Be Unlimited, and that it has good customer support etc. But its very dependant on your distance from the local BT exchange.
So I looked up the post code of the flat we're moving into, and to my suprise, its only 807 meters away from the exchange. Infact I know exactly where my exchange is, and I can walk to it from the flat, in less than 10 mins. if Anyone else wants to take a look, the postcode is NE33 3BT

So, I am thinking that Be Unlimited might be a good choice considering our location. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Cheers :)
 
I would definitely give Be a shout. Your distance from the exchange means you should get a decent speed.

Also, don't forget it's a 3 month contract.
 
3 month contract is fine, actually im suprised. I would have expected it to be at least 6 - 12 month contract
 
isnt be going down the same route as vm? could loook into going o2? if your a customer I am sure you get it pretty cheap.
 
not sure if I want to get involved with these mobile companies, but it might be an option
 
Be/o2 are essentially the same service (o2 own Be). Be do a rolling 3 month contract but charge a little more, o2 are cheaper (especially if you have an o2 mobile) but tie you in for 12 months.

You have got other choices though..

Obviously VM cable if it's available. Hideously overpriced if you don't take their TV/phone and hampered by STM, Phorm and whatever junk they decide to put on.

Sky, another LLU service like Be/o2. Generally decent but you need Sky TV to get their broadband.

Finally Samknows shows your exchange has been enabled for WBC, BT Wholesale's ADSL2+ service, which you can get through Entanet resellers like ADSL24. Not as cheap as LLU services like Be/o2/Sky, and with the addition of monthly caps. No idea how it performs, it's still early days.


I think the general advice if you're gonna be that close to the exchange is go with Be and see how they perform for you. If it isn't up to scratch you've only got 3 months, after which you can go elsewhere. If it is decent then you can consider switching to o2, saving a little money and tying yourself into a 12 month contract.
 
If there isn't already a BT line activated, remember you'll be stuck for 12 months for the voice service and you need to be paying for the voice service to get ADSL either via BT Wholesale or via a SMPF LLU provider like O2, Be or Sky.
 
Firstly thanks for your reply Daegan, very informative :)
Daegan said:
Be/o2 are essentially the same service (o2 own Be). Be do a rolling 3 month contract but charge a little more, o2 are cheaper (especially if you have an o2 mobile) but tie you in for 12 months.
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I know Be is owned by o2, but generally speaking, Be is not a mobile company, smothered with offer after offer after offer, which is what generally puts me off mobile companies; hundreds of silly offers and "bolt-ons" you just cant keep track of.
Be's "Be Pro" package is what I would go for since its only £21.50 per month, for 24mb (being so close to the exchange, i think its safe to say I should get over 20mb at least) and thats a huge saving over the £37 a month I pay VM for pretty much the same speed.

Daegan said:
Obviously VM cable if it's available. Hideously overpriced if you don't take their TV/phone and hampered by STM, Phorm and whatever junk they decide to put on.
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The 2 main problems I have with VM: overpricing, and STM.
The price might not be so bad, if the service wasn't limited by the STM (like the old days of Blueyonder)
With at least 3 computers all online and downloading at the same time, I think VM isn't really going to be an option for us.

Daegan said:
Sky, another LLU service like Be/o2. Generally decent but you need Sky TV to get their broadband.
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I'm not interested in Sky at all. None of us watch TV very much, and anything we do watch, we can get on freeview. (things like Top Gear on Dave etc) I watch WWE a lot, but I've downloaded it for about 2 years now, so I have no reason to get Sky.

Daegan said:
Finally Samknows shows your exchange has been enabled for WBC, BT Wholesale's ADSL2+ service, which you can get through Entanet resellers like ADSL24. Not as cheap as LLU services like Be/o2/Sky, and with the addition of monthly caps. No idea how it performs, it's still early days.
Click to expand...
Im not sure I know what BT's ADSL2+ service is, but if its capped, then its simply not an option. I've been using uncapped cable for about 9 years now, and im not about to start worrying about how much im downloading.

Daegan said:
I think the general advice if you're gonna be that close to the exchange is go with Be and see how they perform for you. If it isn't up to scratch you've only got 3 months, after which you can go elsewhere. If it is decent then you can consider switching to o2, saving a little money and tying yourself into a 12 month contract.
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I think I'll do exactly that. One thing I would like to know though: I've read that the "Be Box" is, for the lack of a better word, utter crap. Any recommendations as to the best ADSL router to use with Be?

Cheers :)
 
tolien said:
If there isn't already a BT line activated, remember you'll be stuck for 12 months for the voice service and you need to be paying for the voice service to get ADSL either via BT Wholesale or via a SMPF LLU provider like O2, Be or Sky.
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Yeah, im aware you need to have a BT phone line to get ADSL, but thats pretty much standard with most companies (you need Sky TV to be able to have Sky broadband etc)
 
Loque said:
Im not sure I know what BT's ADSL2+ service is, but if its capped, then its simply not an option. I've been using uncapped cable for about 9 years now, and im not about to start worrying about how much im downloading.
Click to expand...

BT Wholesale, distinct from BT Retail. Whether the ISP you sign up with caps or not is up to them, not BT.
 
I'm in the same situation as you and decided to for VM rather than BT + Be. VM do phone + 20mb for £20/month for six months then £30 after that. In the new year they will probably have even better offers.

If you can sign up online through quidco you can also get £80 back (don't quote me on this :) ).
 
Loque said:
One thing I would like to know though: I've read that the "Be Box" is, for the lack of a better word, utter crap. Any recommendations as to the best ADSL router to use with Be?
Click to expand...
Personally I use the supplied Thompson box, but only for its modem, running it in bridge mode and using my own router. With no NAT or wireless to handle it copes fine.

You'll find most people recommend going on a popular auction site, picking up a cheap Sky branded Netgear DG834GT and re-flashing it, either with official Netgear or DGTeam/uberGT firmware. Linksys WAG160N and Netgear DG834N are other good options if you want wireless N. All those feature Broadcom chipsets so should give good sync speeds. Alternatively you could consider a separate modem and router, like a Linksys AM200 and a Linksys WRT54GL.
 
sparkey196 said:
I'm in the same situation as you and decided to for VM rather than BT + Be. VM do phone + 20mb for £20/month for six months then £30 after that. In the new year they will probably have even better offers.
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hmm, thats very interesting. £21 for a phone line and 20mb internet is nice, but again, im really not down with Virgin's throttling when you download too much. With at least computers using the internet and downloading, I can see that becoming a problem, very quickly. I talk to my flat mates about it, and see what they think.
sparkey196 said:
If you can sign up online through quidco you can also get £80 back (don't quote me on this :) ).
Click to expand...
Thats interesting, i'll take a look at that.
Daegan said:
You'll find most people recommend going on a popular auction site, picking up a cheap Sky branded Netgear DG834GT and re-flashing it, either with official Netgear or DGTeam/uberGT firmware.
Click to expand...
If I do take Be, i'll do exactly that. Cheers.
 
I have no problems with VM myself, I guess i'm in a good area.

Personally I wouldn't call £37 for 20mbit hideously overpriced ...though several years ago I paid £56 for 64kbps (sometimes 128kbps) ISDN.
 
BlackAle said:
I have no problems with VM myself, I guess i'm in a good area.

Personally I wouldn't call £37 for 20mbit hideously overpriced ...though several years ago I paid £56 for 64kbps (sometimes 128kbps) ISDN.
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in this day and age though, when new customers are getting a phone line and 20mb for £20/month, current customers paying £37 JUST for 20mb alone, have every right to complain. I mean its not like the 20mb service is the only service i have from VM. I have VM tv and phone line aswell, yet they still charge me £37 for the 20mb alone.... horrendous.
 
Loque said:
So I looked up the post code of the flat we're moving into, and to my suprise, its only 807 meters away from the exchange. Infact I know exactly where my exchange is, and I can walk to it from the flat, in less than 10 mins.
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This made me laugh. 807 metres away, and "less then 10 mins" :p?

I think the problem is the broadband market in this country is so poor. The only decent ISP I've ever used was PlusNet, and I can't use them at present.
 
GinG said:
isnt be going down the same route as vm? could loook into going o2? if your a customer I am sure you get it pretty cheap.
Click to expand...

o2 is Be

Why not cancel your current contract, and say your moving.

Reason being see what retentions offer you, as the new customer offers are usually quite good.

i.e online atm its £10 for first 6 months(with phone line) so £21 first 6, £31 thereafter(dunno if you want tv)

You also get a £50 credit, anda possible £80 quidco!

So given that,

21*6 = 126
31*6 = 186
VM Rebate -50
quidco -80

All in all £182 for the year, and can be setup the day you move in, unlike Be/etc as you need the phone line up, and then say up to 2 weeks after that BB comes online
 
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DireEmblem said:
Why not cancel your current contract, and say your moving.

Reason being see what retentions offer you, as the new customer offers are usually quite good.

i.e online atm its £10 for first 6 months(with phone line) so £21 first 6, £31 thereafter(dunno if you want tv)

You also get a £50 credit, anda possible £80 quidco!

So given that,

21*6 = 126
31*6 = 186
VM Rebate -50
quidco -80

All in all £182 for the year, and can be setup the day you move in, unlike Be/etc as you need the phone line up, and then say up to 2 weeks after that BB comes online
Click to expand...
thats interesting actually, how exactly would I go about getting that? im guessing quidco is a website?
 
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