Spec me an ADSL ISP (again)

Phil99 · 2 Jul 2006 at 17:03

LoadsaMoney said:
Have to admit i was caught in that trap, for some reason its cool, l33t to slate AOL, and its mostly the ppl who have never used them

When we were with them on dialup the AOL browser was the most annoying thing ever, but I can't remember any problems with the service itself.

Now that there's no need to use the browser they don't sound like a bad ISP.

LoadsaMoney · 2 Jul 2006 at 17:14

All you need to do is go to your Network Connections, and create a new connection using the wizard, and voila.

benjo plz. · 2 Jul 2006 at 17:15

LoadsaMoney said:
All you need to do is go to your Network Connections, and create a new connection using the wizard, and voila.

Que?

LoadsaMoney · 2 Jul 2006 at 18:01

To use AOL without the software, just create the connection yourself.

tolien · 2 Jul 2006 at 19:53

Crappy latency and weird routing are the last lot of complaints I saw about AOL (eg routes to the BBC go via NY).
It's possible they've changed that though.

peteruk · 16 Jul 2006 at 19:03

OK well the time is nearly up for when we can sign up to a new ISP.

As it stands, AOL does appear to be the best unlimited 'non-dodgy' supplier

.

When we signed up to E7even, we were on a 1mb contract as that was the max we could get. However, since then, our exchange has been upgraded to support ADSL Max (quite recent - late march this year). So knowing this, I thought perhaps we could get 2mb now. On the advice of a friend, I went to www.samknows.com to get an opinion.

However, the results it gave were quite conflicting:

What do you reckon I can get?

By the way, for the record, I tried to work out how much our household uses, but I estimated at least 40gb a month, but more to the point, I really don't like feeling tied down to a usage limit at all.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Phemo · 16 Jul 2006 at 19:35

The Samknows results are saying that on fixed-rate ADSL, you can get 1mbit but no higher. If you go for a Max-based product, you'll get 2mbit or greater - you'll probably find it's a bit higher than this. Obviously it varies for everyone but at my parents' house I was told I'd only be able to get 1mbit even on Max - it's currently at 3mbit.

Anyway, with regards to ADSL ISP's I'd recommend Nildram. £26 a month if you don't go for a static IP and you get 50GB per month cap in peak hours with unlimited off-peak. Also, any of the 50GB peak quota you don't use gets rolled over to the next month. Eclipse may also be worth looking at, although I know they traffic shape.

Indy500 · 16 Jul 2006 at 19:37

Phemo said:
Eclipse may also be worth looking at, although I know they traffic shape.

Only during peak hours (6pm-12pm).

Phil99 · 16 Jul 2006 at 19:42

sr4470 said:
Only during peak hours (6pm-12pm).

Not so.

The traffic shaping is completely different from the 6pm -> 12pm usage allowance.

At the moment USENET/BitTorrent seem to be limited to 2Mbps during daytime hours.

Indy500 · 16 Jul 2006 at 19:43

Phil99 said:
Not so.

The traffic shaping is completely different from the 6pm -> 12pm usage allowance.

At the moment USENET/BitTorrent seem to be limited to 2Mbps during daytime hours.

Ah ok. Well, for me that wouldnt be an issue, as I cant get much above 2mb anyway. In fact, neither can the OP if the checkers are anywhere near correct.

ste_bla · 16 Jul 2006 at 19:46

tolien said:
Crappy latency and weird routing are the last lot of complaints I saw about AOL (eg routes to the BBC go via NY).
It's possible they've changed that though.

With aol 6 months ago;

No problems with speed (on 512k connection)
No problems with pings/latency (16ms Jolt.co.uk, 14ms bbc.co.uk)
Cant use Outlook Express to send msgs iirc
2/3rds of customer care is useless (the indian side)

LoadsaMoney · 16 Jul 2006 at 23:15

peteruk said:
OK well the time is nearly up for when we can sign up to a new ISP.

As it stands, AOL does appear to be the best unlimited 'non-dodgy' supplier .

When we signed up to E7even, we were on a 1mb contract as that was the max we could get. However, since then, our exchange has been upgraded to support ADSL Max (quite recent - late march this year). So knowing this, I thought perhaps we could get 2mb now. On the advice of a friend, I went to www.samknows.com to get an opinion.

However, the results it gave were quite conflicting:

What do you reckon I can get?

By the way, for the record, I tried to work out how much our household uses, but I estimated at least 40gb a month, but more to the point, I really don't like feeling tied down to a usage limit at all.

Thanks for everyone's help!

I rekon you can get 1mb as well, i used the Prodigy site to see mine and for 1mb and 2mb it says Amber, and says 1mb is likey on the line, but 2mb is unlikely, and im on 1mb fine here.

EDIT: Just checked the samknows one, and mines exactly the same as yours, so you can get 1mb.

EDIT AGAIN: Well thats interesting, when i put my postcode in to the samknows one as well as my phone number, i get all greens, rekons 2mb is available on my line, looks like ill be phoning AOL again and asking to test for 2mb, and if its a yes, ill say regrade to that then.

YET AGAIN: Nope must have been a glitch, just tried it again a few times, and its doing the same as just the phone number now, 1mb is amber, and 2mb red again, and its dropped my MAX speed down from 5.5mbs to 4mb, oh well.