Broadband - NTL or BT?

[Gone_Away]

Hey.. I'm in the process of buying a house and found one that is in both a cabled area and ADSL.

I'm not sure which one I should go for.. Also, if I go Cable, am I stuck with NTL or are there alternative ISP's?

I'd also like to hear from yous that are using either and what service is like if things go wrong and if you experience any significant packet loss etc. etc.

THANKS!

[Gandalf]

As I can only get adsl I can only comment on this.

Great! When I first got it nearly 2 years ago I was pinging at 20ms in CS (Version 1.0 had just been released)

Now, as the infamous BT backbone is getting a bit more use, I usually ping around 50 to 80ms. Depends on the server.

I used to be with iomart, they were brought by one.tel BUT they kept all iomart customers on the original iomart pipe! No more have been added since they were sold about 6 months ago, so I still get 55 - 60K downloads and consistant pings

I can't recommend one.tel though as a lot of new customers are having problems.

Check out www.nildram.co.uk for adsl (They also host the jolt servers)

and for general adsl info www.adslguide.org.uk

[Doorman]

I've got Blueyonder 1mb service.  Well cool! Strangely enough, when I went from 56k to 512k cable, my ping went from 180-sky's the limit, to 20-25. When I upgraded to 1mb I expected the same sort of improvement but no, it hasn't changed at all! :?  The service I get is at the moment great.  On the few occasions I've had cause to ring the 0800 helpline they've been very helpful. So if you get Telewest in your area I would say you cant go wrong.

[DogMeat]

Blueblunder are, quite honestly, a pile of cack.  Both my phone and net connection have been out since yesterday morning.

If you do use them, be prepared to put up with this sort of shit.  Oh, and forget using them for mail - they routinely lose customers email, we're talking thousands at a time here.  News has a retention of about 5 nanoseconds, so don't plan on leeching binaries via cable.

Billing is a joke - you cock up and they cut you off, if they cock up, expect a long drawn-out battle to get them to even acknowledge it, and even then be prepared for long games of telephone tag while you sit listening to happy messages about how they value your custom...

 :x  :x  :x

[Doorman]

Funny how one man's (dog)meat is another man's poison.

[Stryker]

Hey doorman, hope this info helps.

The game only needs about 2.5Kb/s in both directions.  So your blazing pipe that can handle 60Kb/s downloads is waste on CS that only needs 5Kb/s.

Its latancey that really counts!  If I were on a 64Kbit/s link sitting in the colo facility my ping times would blaze most cable users on most CS servers... why?  cos I'd be on commercial quality bandwidth while everyone on ADSL cable etc are on the rackem-and-packem and sell it 1000 times over crappy consumer bandwidth.....

[TeaLeaf]

When BT cruelly pretended to me that I could have ADSL I did some research and came up with Zen.  Try them.....their customers actually seem to liek them and they tend to appear well on the guide reviews.  Having said that, I voted for cable as it came out on top in a couple of surveys last month (always believe everything you read  :lol: )

Oh, and have a look here http://www.adslguide.org/  Lots of helpful stuff.

TL.  
Still suffering an ISDN line with neither Cable nor ADSL anywhere on the horizon

[smite]

At least you didnt have it and then have it wipped from under your nose by the potential of going from a 2 bed semi to a 4 bed detached.. it aint worth it.... move to a small house in an area where you can choose Cable or ADSL get rid of the missus and fit fridge next to pc..buy dark work clothes so you dont have to wash them spend all yur money on PC bits and pizza and beer and live the good life.....DONT EVER MOVE AWAY FROM BROADBAND YOU WILL MISS IT BELEIVE ME....GotdamnbleedinBtcrappyisdncrudsh*t :x  :x  :x

[Doorman]

Don't hold back smite, if there's something troubling you, you can tell us.
I'm sure everyone will understand. Now, what's the problem? :beer:

[TeaLeaf]

At least you didnt have it and then have it wipped from under your nose by the potential of going from a 2 bed semi to a 4 bed detached.. it aint worth it....

I have added ADSL compatibility to the official 'Things that must be surveyed before a house becomes acceptable' list  :lol:

TL.  

[Gandalf]

At least you didnt have it and then have it wipped from under your nose by the potential of going from a 2 bed semi to a 4 bed detached.. it aint worth it....

I have added ADSL compatibility to the official 'Things that must be surveyed before a house becomes acceptable' list  :lol:

TL.  [/b]

Along with close proximity to a pub, I trust  

(I'm within spitting distance of several!          )

[TeaLeaf]

Damn right G-man.  Must be a Free House though, none of this namby-pamby fizzy pop that masquerades as lager.  Give me REAL ale any day of the week - at least real ale doesn't have to be chilled to 4 degrees centigrade to make it taste nice  :lol:

So, I'm looking for a detached, hill-top home with glorious views over peaceful coutryside, within walking distance of a financially sustainable free house, with guaranteed ADSL and/or cable access, easy access to motorways and mainline railway stations, wihin a short commute of the office, within reach of major shopping facilities (for management use of course)....and did I mention that I would like it to have a basement swimming pool?  :lol:

TL.  

[TeaLeaf]

Oh yeah, I forgot.

join CAMRA now![/SIZE]

Do so here:  http://www.camra.org.uk

Adult membership costs just £16 a year; Student or Under 26 membership is just £9 a year.  

Really, you guys have NO excuse....join now and save REAL ALE from the nitro-keg fizz-nuts at the lager breweries!  

/advert off

TL.    
Card carrying member of the CAMpaign for Real Ale
In the other hand I hold my drink....get off, it's mine.

[SecretSquirrel]

Phew - thank the Lord !!
So you wont be moving to Downham Market then

[OldBloke]

So you wont be moving to Downham Market then

LOL