Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Geekofbroadband]

So I went on the BT website because I'm thinking about going back to them. And I had the option to get a new line installed for free or use my existing one, would there be any advantages in getting a new line installed? Apart form it being a "newer" cable our one is pretty old but is in good shape and is a copper line. Would it be on the same cabinet (ECI) if it was from the same telegraph pole?

[Weaver]

There are better ISPs around, depending on how much you want to spend, you get what you pay for. But to answer your question, if you've been having problems with your line, then it's more important that you get a good ISP to sort them out otherwise you could just get further problems with a second line too. If you look at ISpReview then you'll see that BT doesnt get particularly good ratings from users. You can ask for recommendations here.

Ordering a second line doesn't necessarily mean you will get a new line, it might well be one just picked out of an existing bundle. It's important if you get a second line that you have it run into the house so that internal wiring to the master socket, and from master socket to your modem or modem/router is kept really short. Asking to have the master socket re-sited is called "change point of entry" and may be a worthwhile investment in improving quality and therefore speed. Please ask if any of this doesn't make sense.

[Geekofbroadband]

Hi yes I do understand, the second line is unnecessary then. Which ISP would you recommend then? I would like a ISP on the "Speed Profile" so no Sky or TalkTalk, and a ISP thats easy to set up with 3rd party modems/routers such as a Billion. I was looking at Plusnet but their prioritisation turned me away even though it should be a good thing. The other ISP's where "Zen" and "BT"

[Weaver]

I use Andrews & Arnold. I've used Zen briefly as a trial too. Talk to aa.net.uk about their Home::1 deal. They aren't the cheapest but there's a good reason for that, as they really care anout 100% full speed and everyone you talk to knows more about it than you do, a refreshing difference. It doesnt matter what you level of expertise, they seem just dedicated to getting things sorted out  properly, with no fuss. As for kit, you can choose and use your own, or use their excellent, tested recommended kit it doesn't matter.

Take a look at ispreview, anyway. Lots of other posters on here have their own favourites such as Zen. Surprisingly a lot of regular posters on kitz use ISPs yet keep complaining about problems with them, Plusnet for example, picked out at random quite unfairly as there are plenty of others.

[Ronski]

I'm with Plus Net,  have been since 2003 and whilst theres a lot going on at the moment I'm not experiencing any problems at home or at work.

I've just looked at A&A and their prices are incredibly high and thats without unlimited data, there's no way I could justify those prices (I expect this applies for a lot of people) or get by on 300GB. With cloud backup and streaming we use well over 300GB a month.

A&A I suppose are the equivalent of staying in a 5 star hotel.

[Weaver]

The reason I get along well with A&A is because I use their night-time 1000GB per unit tariff and their evenings and weekends 50GB per unit, rather than doing heavy stuff in office hours.

If you needed to do a huge amount of streaming in office hours then it would get pricey. But the choice is yours. Unlimited services by their very nature will always be overloaded because of people going mad at the all you can eat buffet. I'm not here to be an A&A salesman :-)

Take a look at ispreview and you can read what actual users say rather than what non-users think it would be like. A lot of people like plusnet, my cousins use them for example, however there have been a lot of complaints about them on this forum, just a matter of fact.

I demand a full-speed service so that's why I picked the ISP I did, and tried Zen for a year too, on another line. You can read a huge amount about A&A’s policies on their website and can get them to fix your line or you money back. Much respect to Ronski, btw.

[Black Sheep]

'Surprisingly a lot of regular posters on kitz use ISPs yet keep complaining about problems with them, Plusnet for example, picked out at random quite unfairly as there are plenty of others.'

Ha ha ...... they do, but they tend to fall under the 'Pedant' banner. Anyone who sits and monitors their SNR 24/7 will always find an issue. 

My advice to the OP would have a look around, there are plenty of good deals around with all the competition. A friend of my wife's has recently secured a deal for BT Vision, FTTC Broadband, and the evil landline phone rental that is required (atm) ..... for less than half the price she was paying for SKY Satellite TV and Copper broadband, and the evil landline.
This is just an example as TV may not be a priority for the OP ??

What I can say is that if you have a good pair of wires as the higher percentage of EU's will have, then having the costly 'back up' service AA offer, will be just that ..... costly for nothing.
If you do come across issues once the service is activated, then I have had 'Directors letters' (High-level involvement) from all the top ISP players. It all comes down to the budget one has. 

[Weaver]

Much respect for Black Sheep's opinion, as a regular poster who really knows her/his onions. :-)

[Black Sheep]

Much respect for Black Sheep's opinion, as a regular poster who really knows her/his onions. :-)

Thanks Weaver    .   For info, I am a 'he' ..... and I'm in charge of the apples. Burakucat is yer man for onions. 

[burakkucat]

Burakucat is yer man for onions. 

b*cat bows and purrs  "ありがとう。"

[NewtronStar]

BT ISP is not that bad as people make it out to be it's usally a member you has never been with them that put them down.

Their phone support is quite good and forum support is fine for broadband newbies, but to get best deals with BT you need to be a new customer 

[Weaver]

And to be fair to BT, they get a lot of stick in the reviews because they have a lot of non techie customers who don't understand the issues and who blame BT for a ehole load of things that are nothing to do with BT or to do with the user's own machines or with wifi.