Recommend me an ISP (which route? LLU or MAX?)

[PeterNem]

In around a month I shall be moving into rented accomodation in St. Albans.

I'm currently with Eclipse on MAX and up until recently they were fantastic, but their support and service have dropped a lot in the last few months. After 2 years of almost perfect service I now have a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth, especially after recommending them to loads of people, and fancy a change.

There will be two of us sharing the connection and using it for a reasonable amount of gaming, loags of general stuff (browsing, msn etc) and a moderate to large amount of downloading.

I wonder what people would recommend? Perhaps I'd have better luck with Max from a different provider? Or, there is the option of going the LLU route as it seems several ISPs have equipment installed at the St. Albans exchange.

There is also NTL cable, but I don't think this would be an option in a rented appartment as they wouldn't want to dig the carpark up for my cable!

The info about the exchange can be seen here: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange.php?ecode=LNSTB

The following ISPs have LLU services available here....

Be: RFS date set: 30/11/2006
Bulldog: Enabled
Carphone Warehouse: RFS date set: 31/08/2006
Easynet: Enabled
Edge Telecom: Not available
HomeChoice: Not available
Pipex: Enabled
Node4: Not available
Tiscali: Enabled
Wanadoo: Not available
Zen Internet: Not available

What are Bulldog like? Their Unlimited or Unlimited plus services look like the sort of thing I'd be after. (http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/residential/products/broadband/index.asp)

 

[Locky]

out of them id pick bulldog or easynet tbh

 

[dirtydog]

There is also NTL cable, but I don't think this would be an option in a rented appartment as they wouldn't want to dig the carpark up for my cable!

Have you rung ntl to ask them? I have had ntl cable in three different rented flats before

 

[PeterNem]

I'll definately ask them, but it's also an issue of whether the landlord would mind an NTL box etc being mounted on newly decorated walls!

 

[tolien]

I'd make sure you're still on Max for starters, since if Tiscali LLU's available, there's a good chance that either a) you're on it, or b) you're going to get moved to it if you don't watch Eclipse.

 

[PeterNem]

Hi Tolien, the account at my rented accomodation will be a totally new account. The Eclipse Max account is at my parents house and it'll remain active. We're on a relatively small exchange in a rural village, so there's no LLU service available here.

 

[tolien]

In which case you can disregard what I said

An ISP with a clue might be a better idea, especially if you wind up on Max.

On the hand, LLU doesn't have the same issues (but it certainly isn't perfect), but you might have issues migrating later on...

 

[PeterNem]

I have another quick question actually. I'll want to be up and running ASAP once I get moved in.

The place will have had a BT line in the past so the physical line will already be in place, it'll just need enabling again or whatever they do at the exchange.

Can I get them to do this and assign a number before I actually move in, and any idea how long it takes?

Assuming I can get this done before I move in, is there anything to stop me then also putting the wheels in motion to get ADSL sorted, as I appreciate this can take 5 or so working days for BT to handle the ISP's request.

For example, if I was to move in on the 15th of the month, could I phone BT on the 1st and say "Hi, need a phoneline, thanks", and then a week later phone the ISP and get that sorted. (Obviously this assumes the flat is empty at the time...)

 

[Phemo]

I have another quick question actually. I'll want to be up and running ASAP once I get moved in.

The place will have had a BT line in the past so the physical line will already be in place, it'll just need enabling again or whatever they do at the exchange.

Can I get them to do this and assign a number before I actually move in, and any idea how long it takes?

Sure can. Did exactly the same thing when I moved into my place a couple of months ago. I called up one day at 4pm to get the line enabled in my name and it was switched on by 6pm. I couldn't believe it.

So yes, if you call BT in the morning/afternoon then it should be switched on that very same day.

 

[tolien]

You could get both done simultaneously (assuming you went the route of BTw ADSL, whether it was Max or no), but you would need to talk to both BT Retail and your prospective ISP about that.
Avoids waiting for databases to catch up that your line's been activated, if nothing else.