Which ISPs to avoid?

MNuTz

MNuTz

MNuTz

Suspended
Joined
17 Mar 2004
Posts
4,934
Location
Market Drayton, Salop
Hi all,

Im still in the process of trying to find an ADSL ISP, but it seems that those ones that come across as cheap yet good get bad reviews ie Pipex.

Well, there are quite a few ISPs out there, we have had a few threads asking which ISP people should get, but which ISPs should we avoid at all cost?

Ill start with:

Virgin.net = bad customer support, its taken me 10 months to finally get them to cancel my account, and over the last 2 months the g/fs virgin account has had really slow periods and the line keeps dropping with a 'no dial tone' problem (despite the phone working and ive changed the cables between the modem and the phone connection)

On a side note, is there anything that would put you off a ISP?
 
aol = mostly foreign rubbish call centres, just taken over unknown future
ntl = bad billing + customer care
eclipse = llu + traffic shaping problems
sky = lack of tech support/activations
 
I'd avoid ISPs with traffic shaping and bad customer support. I don't mind paying a bit more to have a decent CS line, and I'd much rather have a fixed cap and a clean line than traffic shaping.

So, ISPs I've been with and would now avoid:

  • Plusnet: CS OK, but their FUP from 2004 onwards has been changing more often than most things. Metronet now come under their banner.
  • F2S: and the Pipex group - it looks like Nildram have started feeling the effects
  • Eclipse: Traffic shaping, crap CS, moving people to LLU without telling you

ISPs I wouldn't've even considered going with due to reputation:

  • AOL: Purely on CS grounds. The connection's good, apparently.
  • Tiscali: Needs no explanation.
  • TalkTalk: You offer something for free, Supply & Demand is going to cause you all sort of issues. Traffic shaping has become traffic blocking during peak hours, 18 month contracts, dire CS.

And for good measure, I'll mention my two favourites: Zen & IDNet. I've only had first hand experience with the latter, and they've been fantastic. For heavy users, my current favourite are Entanet International - particularly UKFSN as a reseller.
 
Last edited:
Hmm, so far i've not had a problem that required interaction with an AOL CS/TS bod, I Kind of hope I don't have to now... ever
 
the best thing to do is find a isp that no-one has ever heard of. that way you don't have to share bandwidth with anyone eles.

faster speeds for all!!!!!
 
33scott said:
the best thing to do is find a isp that no-one has ever heard of. that way you don't have to share bandwidth with anyone eles.

faster speeds for all!!!!!
Click to expand...
If no one's ever heard of them, they're probably a reseller... If not, they'll probably either become really popular or go very bust. Or one first, then the other.
 
33scott said:
the best thing to do is find a isp that no-one has ever heard of. that way you don't have to share bandwidth with anyone eles.

faster speeds for all!!!!!
Click to expand...

no, not really.

zen is popular, yet good speeds all around :) thats a ISP and a half.
 
Basically - you get what you pay for. :) If it is cheap and "unlimited", then it's going to be full of idiots abusing the network. www.adslguide.org is useful for getting some rough guide as to what people think.

If it costs more than the average, then you will filter out many of the "ISP Hoppers", and it will probally only cost you a few quid more over a whole year for a quality service.

BUT... you only really need customer support when things go wrong. I have used NTL Cable for 4 years, and have been very happy with the service... you only need to talk to support when things break. And the three times things broke in that time, the support (surprisingly) knew what was going on.

As an IT support engineer, I have experience of all the major call centres... and some are an absolute headache. A general rule of thumb is - the bigger they are, the worse the support. And if you see it advertised on the TV - run a mile away from it. Decent ISPs don't need to advertise (look at Zen for example...)
 
Pipex I have been with and would not recommend (though it was a year or two ago when I was with them)
I am with Nildram now and would not recommend them. In addition to all the problems with the throttling the last few weeks their DNS server have been really iffy (unable to resolve names so websites don't work), and last night both their DNS servers were down completely. Now I am using OpenDNS instead but it isn't really a solution.
 
I won't suggest who NOT to go with, but who to go with....

Zen, in my opinion is a very good ISP, was with them for quite a time, and only have good words to say about them. :)
 
Zen are very expensive for what you get: £25 and a 20GB cap. With Enta you can get 30GB peak and 300 off peak cap for <25.


Ping times with Aquiss:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>ping www.jolt.cou.k
Ping request could not find host www.jolt.cou.k. Please check the name and try a
gain.

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 9ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>

I live 1KM from my exchange.
 
Stay clear of Toucan what ever you do
There internet is hurrendous and there tech suppost is nion a joke.
There peak time seems to be 24/7
Drop outs about 10 times a day
Stay clear if you please :rolleyes:
 
fast24 - used to be fast and reliable when i first subscribed to them 4 years ago but they've been having constant problems and down time

orange - heard they are having lots of problems and down time

MW
 
Trifid said:
Zen are very expensive for what you get: £25 and a 20GB cap. With Enta you can get 30GB peak and 300 off peak cap for <25.


Ping times with Aquiss:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>ping www.jolt.cou.k
Ping request could not find host www.jolt.cou.k. Please check the name and try a
gain.

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>ping www.jolt.co.uk

Pinging www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=55
Reply from 82.133.85.65: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=55

Ping statistics for 82.133.85.65:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 8ms, Maximum = 10ms, Average = 9ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Wright>

I live 1KM from my exchange.
Click to expand...

Not bad! What time of day was that? I've just tried it here (NTL 10mb - Nottingham near city centre if that means anything) and best I could get was averaging 13ms.
 
jonnyc747 said:
on a positive note i would recommend onetel!
Click to expand...

Yup, have been using them for 4 years with no problem whatsoever, i think they're now owned by TalkTalk but i haven't noticed any speed issues in recent months so i don't think they're using the OneTel network for the free customers.

Plus i've got no download cap, which is rather nice, but that may be because i've got a rolling contract from 3 years ago, back when capping was a twinkle in their bank managers eyes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom