Which ISP?

Sn00ks · June 22, 2009, 06:37:24 PM

It is time for the old question' 'Which ISP provider should I go for?'

How does the O2 Premium deal compare to others?
Up to 20mb, unlimited dowloads, free setup, free wireless router and cost is Ã,Â£15 per month.

Speed, reliability and amount of downloads are the main criteria. I'm about 1.2km from the exchange.

smilodon · June 22, 2009, 07:22:08 PM

You could try Zen Internet, or Zen or maybe Zen?

http://www.zen.co.uk/

OldBloke · June 22, 2009, 08:03:01 PM

If you're in a cabled area then get Virgin. It will be years before xDSL will compete for speed etc.

T-Bag · June 22, 2009, 08:24:50 PM

Yeah, at uni I'm in a cable area and Virgin are pretty good. I was on 20mb. Customer service wise they're worse than useless but for speed they can't be beaten.

Zootoxin · June 22, 2009, 08:42:07 PM

Which? List 02 premium as the best Unlimited Uncapped service.
I will be updating to them when the time comes.

smilodon · June 22, 2009, 08:55:47 PM

I am on 20meg Virgin and I'm wondering why. Who exactly will give me a 20 meg upload. The best I have seen was 17 meg from Microsoft. If no one can feed me 20 meg (or 50 meg for that matter) what exactly is the point?

Jamin · June 22, 2009, 09:38:15 PM

Two 10meg or twenty 1meg downloads at the same time.

T-Bag · June 22, 2009, 09:44:41 PM

Quote from: smilodon;280113I am on 20meg Virgin and I'm wondering why. Who exactly will give me a 20 meg upload. The best I have seen was 17 meg from Microsoft. If no one can feed me 20 meg (or 50 meg for that matter) what exactly is the point?

Downloading torrents. I can't think of anything else that you'll get 20mb doing. Even steam of several games at once didn't use more than about 17mb worth.

(before anyone says anything, not all torrents are illegal. You can get legal software from torrents, and it is often faster to get things like linux that way)

It's also useful if you share a connection. For instance in my uni house there were 6 of us. The connection let us all use things like youtube at once and still be able to game.

Sn00ks · June 22, 2009, 10:15:45 PM

Zen offer for Ã,Â£18 per month up to 8mb, 5GB limit, no router. No contest.
So it won't be Zen.
Cable was a thought as we are in a cable area. But the price seemed a bit high.

Just checked, Virgin fibre optic 10mb, unlimited, free router Ã,Â£14 per month, hmm tempting.

lionheart · June 22, 2009, 10:27:22 PM

Im with BE which uses the same network as O2 and Ive no complaints at all.
Ping is always good (24 tonight), I download as much as I want when I want and I never have any outages.
If you need regular help from tech support then Be prob aint for you cos thats in Bulgaria :g: apart from that :thumbsupsmileyanim: .

lionheart · June 22, 2009, 10:32:32 PM

Oh and Im on BE unlimited which is up to 24 Meg down , 1.3 meg up, static Ip and Ã,Â£17.50.
Be pro gives you 2.5meg up for a couple of quid more I think.

smilodon · June 22, 2009, 10:49:12 PM

Zen was more about it's near legendary customer service and unrivaled up time. I don't use ADSl but every time I see a magazine article that rates ISP's Zen always comes out tops. I am with Virgin which falls down every couple of months for half a day or so. If I ever need to call them, then they are an utter disaster. One of the worst customer service departments ever. I'd love an ISP that had a clue what customer service was.

Dingo · June 22, 2009, 11:39:36 PM

No, Zen are not cheap, but I have been with them for three years (and apart from one slight hiccup over a charge for a BT engineer, which they obligingly waivered) they have been SUPERB!!

I was previously with Blueyonder on cable, and in terms of every level of service, connection and competence, they were like a lost tribe in the Amazon compared to Zen.

Technical support is just that, very technical and knowledgable, their accounts department most courteous if you mishap a payment, and connection problems....just the one in three years, resolved within 48 hours by the aforementioned BT engineer visit.

In addition they respect their customers privacy, so have not signed up the the toady Government initiative to restrict some sites from customers.....so if your interest is "how do nuns get pregnant by sheep?" or "How many midgets does it take to fill a Jordan?" you can be assured of the answer. My 8mb connection is constantly in the mid 7's and download consistently mid 3's........so I can download a free book and read it the same afternoon!.......although some free books are really not worth it!!:g:

Do you want the Rolls Royce of ISP's or a clapped out Mini.....the choice is yours.

Gone_Away · June 23, 2009, 12:18:13 AM

Quote from: lionheart;280136Oh and Im on BE unlimited which is up to 24 Meg down , 1.3 meg up, static Ip and Ã,Â£17.50.
Be pro gives you 2.5meg up for a couple of quid more I think.

Wow I was just going to say the same thing.. you must have had a good recommendation from a m8 to join Be.

Also recommended is Nildram.