Who is the best Unlimited Broadband ISP?

im with "orange", though I was originally with freeserve then wannadoo (and now orange). but at some point along the way they threw in llus at my very nearby exchange. My download speed is about 6.8Mb/s and my up is only about 130 Kb/s, some of the up speed issues are related to me being up here in Aberdeen. Bethere are apparently available at my exchange on the 30th so i'll finally be able to get a proper up speed. My current experiences with orange have been fine, very rare for the connection to go down or be abnormally slow, and I am able to host game listen servers from time to time and do various other intensive network activities without them caring, but their automatic scamming system may have glitched somehow and not caused me a problem :/ the best ping I can expect to get in a london counter strike server is about 50. I know of neighbours who are with aol, also with llus, and who have extremely rubbish connections.
-----
edit:
yeah so, bethere seems like the best (can't wait till I get it)

further edit:
my attenuation is about 16.0, seems my line is capable of good adsl2+ speeds, orange say my package is for 8Mb/s down so I presume im only on adsl2 at the moment.
 
Last edited:
exia said:
Any updates mate? Just received my MAC code from AOL and about to sign up with Be.
Click to expand...

Yep! Its all up and running. Went a lot smoother than i thought. Internet was working in the morning so i had a shower, came back (about 11ish) and it wasnt working, so i plugged in the new BE box and it worked straight away!

My old download speed was around 200kbps down.

With BE i now get around 850kbps to 900kbps.

For £2.50 extra per month im over the moon :D

Go for it!
 
Clawz114 said:
Yep! Its all up and running. Went a lot smoother than i thought. Internet was working in the morning so i had a shower, came back (about 11ish) and it wasnt working, so i plugged in the new BE box and it worked straight away!

My old download speed was around 200kbps down.

With BE i now get around 850kbps to 900kbps.

For £2.50 extra per month im over the moon :D

Go for it!
Click to expand...

Sounds a bit low, what is your signal to noise ratio and attenuation? I'm switching to be in July and am hoping to milk my 7snr/15att for 18Mb down 2Mb up
 
If I choose be pro would they let me downgrade to be ultimate if i decided i didnt need the pro features? Because they say that when you select upload plus they only enable it if its actually going to benefit you, so if that is not the case for me then i would be paying extra for nothing - but i dont know if i can find out if i can get upload plus whilst on be ultimate, to then upgrade to pro. O2 have a grace period at the start of the contract, bethere dont mention any such thing in their faqs etc.
 
Clawz114 said:
Yep! Its all up and running. Went a lot smoother than i thought. Internet was working in the morning so i had a shower, came back (about 11ish) and it wasnt working, so i plugged in the new BE box and it worked straight away!

My old download speed was around 200kbps down.

With BE i now get around 850kbps to 900kbps.

For £2.50 extra per month im over the moon :D

Go for it!
Click to expand...

Cheers, yep went for it :cool: activation on the 15th.
 
Clawz114 said:
With BE i now get around 850kbps to 900kbps
Click to expand...
Post your line stats. You may be able to get more.


Bozebo said:
I'm switching to be in July and am hoping to milk my 7snr/15att for 18Mb down 2Mb up
Click to expand...

15att should give you the full speed of 24.5Mb or very close to with a bit of tweaking.

This is my connection
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 24574 kbps 1399 kbps
Line Attenuation 13.5 db 6.8 db
Noise Margin 6.7 db 3.8 db
 
Tripnologist said:
Post your line stats. You may be able to get more.

15att should give you the full speed of 24.5Mb or very close to with a bit of tweaking.

This is my connection
ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 24574 kbps 1399 kbps
Line Attenuation 13.5 db 6.8 db
Noise Margin 6.7 db 3.8 db
Click to expand...

sounds good, im close to my quoted 8Mb down on this connection, so it all seems promising
heres my line info from my router:
Connection mode : G.DMT
Type : Interleave
Noise margin (dB) : 6.7
Attenuation (dB) : 15.0
Attainable download rate (kbps) : 9024
ADSL status : Connected [0]

Downstream Upstream
Rate (kbps) 8096 448



Internet protocol : pppoa
Encapsulation : VC-Mux
VP : 0
VC : 38

Mode : Permanent [1--1]
Click to expand...

cant be bothered making it format correctly :D
edit: nevermind the formatting managed to remain :/
 
Here is my router stats... I think this is what was asked for :confused:

Uptime: 1 day, 4:54:36
DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,217 / 7,276
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 19.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 21.0 / 40.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 7.0 / 6.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / BDCM
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 1 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote): 0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 10 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down): 675 / 16,029,831
CRC Errors (Up/Down): 675 / 162
HEC Errors (Up/Down): 1,021 / 134
Click to expand...
 
Will I ever have ADSL2+ enabled in my area, I hope that I will get it someday, until such time as that happens I dont see any options as to companies providing me with a strict monthly gb limit on my line, which seems to be set at around 50gb :(
 
I have been browsing around, and the only decent broadband provider that I can see is ADSL24, who offer a 60gb limit for £28.90 per month, but midnight-8am & all weekend is unlimited, which sounds pretty good to me.

Anyone heard anything negative about this company, as im very tempted to switch to them
 
Anyone with news on the ADSL24 ISP? I want to make sure they are worth the money, it is almost like they are semi-unlimited with the free weekends downloads without a usage limit
 
danceMB said:
Anyone with news on the ADSL24 ISP? I want to make sure they are worth the money, it is almost like they are semi-unlimited with the free weekends downloads without a usage limit
Click to expand...

They look ok based on their website - some nice prices for 24Mb/s down with them, and nice one month contracts. Though their LLU contracts are more expensive than Be and have less coverage. Also, they seem to promise 24Mb/s down speeds without using LLUs on their other services - that seems unlikely; perhaps that is only possible in select few areas (probably london).
 
It states that if you cannot achieve the 24 mb LLU services, then they will automatically offer the 8mb non-LLU service. I want to see someone that is using the 8mb service near the area of London/Sevenoaks/Westerham, as they would probably be connected to the same node as me, and want to be re-assured I would get the maximum possible service all hours, with no general slow down at all
 
danceMB said:
It states that if you cannot achieve the 24 mb LLU services, then they will automatically offer the 8mb non-LLU service. I want to see someone that is using the 8mb service near the area of London/Sevenoaks/Westerham, as they would probably be connected to the same node as me, and want to be re-assured I would get the maximum possible service all hours, with no general slow down at all
Click to expand...

The problem with non LLUs is the isp can't guarantee the speeds you should get as its up to BT and the exchange management when to expand their capacity - so you could be stuck on a cramped system and only get 4Mb/s out of the 8, or likewise a significant reduction from the 24Mb/s. Upstream bandwidths are likely to suffer more though.

Also, other isps would have better deals on the 8Mb/s speed - though of course if it is non LLU then it should be the same quality. However, they have a nice 1 month contract so it's not a problem to change if you are unhappy.

Annoyingly, you can't check the availability of their service on http://www.samknows.com

Also, I suppose it is worth mentioning that there is little need for 24Mb/s or even 8Mb/s down speeds if there is a monthly cap. 99% of web browsing is limited at the upstream data the server is willing to send to you - typically less than 350Kb/s. So a download speed of 8Mb/s would have no advantages over 2Mb/s. Only p2p tasks and many other uses that most people don't need can actually attain the full down speed of most people's home lines. The pursuit of better internet tends to be for people who want the best up speeds for no-delay gaming and hosting game or web servers: where a good up speed is required. Though that is the benefit of them - you don't pay extra for 24Mb/s. Or maby you would be paying more for 8Mb/s than you should? Ultimately, it's a one month contract - so it should be fine either way.

I am quite sure Be and some other llu isps are situated there, and ADSL24 probably have llus there too - though you are not looking for that quality of service yet you still want no general slowdowns, that is the primary benefit of llu services. Perhaps if an isp allowed llu services that were cheaper and had bandwidth caps it would suit you well.

Ultimately - most non-llu services in one area are the same (excluding line noise issues). There is little chance someone will happen to read this thread who is on the same exchange as you - one month contract though, I would suggest you go for it.


edit:
these pages on samknows.com show the availability of services in the exchange near you:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/NDSEV
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/e...y to drop only by a little during peak usage.
 
Last edited:
Anyone using plusnet....I am in the process of switching to them from Tiscali. Got there plus package designed for gamers where you get prioritised line. It has a 15gb cap on it for downloads.....I only download drivers from time to time nothing else...i do spend a good 4 hrs a night tho playing games or just talking to mates.....does anyone know if i am likely to use up my 15gb limit ....I dont want to lose connection due to gaming and going over my limit....not sure how this works tbh
 
I would have thought that all non-LLU providers would have the same speed, but I know this is not the truth, as with Zen I had an unlimited 2mb connection, then I moved to O2 Access, which gave me terrible speeds that were dial-up most of the time, and now I am with Cerberus, that gives me pretty much maximum speeds at all times. Most give you a limitation of 50gb month, but this ADSL24 gives you 60gb limit, with weekends & midnight-9am being unlimited downloads. I have not seen a service that lets you do this, but then at those times I cant imagine it being that great
 
danceMB said:
I would have thought that all non-LLU providers would have the same speed, but I know this is not the truth
Click to expand...

The factor's the ISP's network, so anything's possible. Exchange congestion basically doesn't exist any more.

Most of what Bozebo posted is nonsense or doesn't apply any more.
 
Be There by far, only true Unlimited ISP I know of.

Did some investigating before I joined (2-3 years ago now) and one of the technical support told me if you download 3,200gb over 2 months, you'll get a warning - I told him that it sounded like a challenge, got to ~700gb in 5 weeks and gave up, nothing else worth downloading!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom