Out of these providers, which would you have?

Turkey Machine · 14-05-2009, 15:32

I'm in a slight moral dilemma, as the Lowestoft exchange, where I live about half a mile away, only offers the following providers: AOL, Bulldog/C+W, Orange, Sky/Easynet, TalkTalk (CPW) and Tiscali. No Be/O2.

I don't want AOL cos they're AOL. Orange my parents have and are modestly happy with at 2Mbit but I've heard horror stories about awful connections and service with them. Bulldog/C+W I can't seem to source, but they used to be good (like 5 years ago they used to be good). Tiscali I'm not entering into a contract with while TalkTalk's taking them on, and Sky/Easynet want me to take TV with them, so that's out until I bribe them to give me just broadband!

I'm STUCK for ideas, I don't know which one to go for, and this'd probably be on top of BT line rental too! Ideas?

RyanB · 15-05-2009, 07:30

AOL, Tiscali and TalkTalk are likely to be the same company and the biggest ISP in the UK by the end of July. The only thing with them is that you can have "up to 24Mb" for Â£20.99 including your line rental if your area is TalkTalk LLU enabled. It's cheap and you can use up to 40GB a month in traffic before you get a nice letter in the post... The Customer Satisfaction scores are not great but they are working on it.
If you have a good connection and never have to contact them people stay for years.

Bulldog is part of Tiscali. C&W are business connections i think.

Orange is pretty good - they used to be Freeserve/Wanadoo (France Telecom) and again if LLU then you pay your line rental to them not BT. They also do 16-24Mb packages.

Sky are ok - but like you said they like to tie in your TV too...

ANY LLU provider may have a few issues with switchover to their equipment in the exchange - it is a chance that you take. I know that at least 98% of switchover to LLU equipment is successful and you will have the connection for years with no problems - but if your luck is as good as mine then you will be in that 2%!!!

I would shop around and compare all the prices - one company is as good [or as bad] as another and I know that they are ALL trying to restore confidence in their customer services and help as it has been very poor in the past.

hope this helps...

pedantic · 15-05-2009, 08:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turkey Machine

Sky/Easynet want me to take TV with them, so that's out until I bribe them to give me just broadband!

You could try ukonline as they are owned by Sky/Easynet, and you don't have to take Sky tv at all, just the broadband.

**Stuart** · 15-05-2009, 11:50

A poll might help. Do you want me to add one?

Turkey Machine · 15-05-2009, 15:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart C

A poll might help. Do you want me to add one?

Please.

ukonline sounds like a good find. 16Mb, am still looking for a 24Mbit provider from my exchange. Really wish Be* would move there.

---------- Post added at 16:09 ---------- Previous post was at 15:38 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuart C

A poll might help. Do you want me to add one?

Please.

ukonline sounds like a good find. 16Mb, am still looking for a 24Mbit provider from my exchange. Really wish Be* would move there.

**Stuart** · 16-05-2009, 20:07

Done.

As for your options, I am afraid they are even more limited than they appear. C&W took over Bulldog, sold their customer base to Pipex who eventually got taken over by Tiscali who are in the process of being taken over by Talk Talk. The last I heard anyway..

Ignitionnet · 17-05-2009, 09:12

The C+W LLU network is still present but is only available Wholesale. A couple of ISPs that use it, off the top of my head, are Vivaciti and Virgin's National service, though I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole but I understand Vivaciti are ok, and pricing is comparable to Be.

See if you qualify for their LLU service - if you have C+W on the exchange you should be just fine.

Turkey Machine · 18-05-2009, 19:06

The ISPs I listed are LLU'd on the Lowestoft exchange, so I imagine so. It's one more to consider I guess! Thanks Broadbandings.

kingabs · 18-05-2009, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

The C+W LLU network is still present but is only available Wholesale. A couple of ISPs that use it, off the top of my head, are Vivaciti and Virgin's National service, though I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole but I understand Vivaciti are ok, and pricing is comparable to Be.

See if you qualify for their LLU service - if you have C+W on the exchange you should be just fine.

I do belive TitanADSL also use C&W as i think i am using them through c&w and i have my speed test reults here http://www.speedtest.net/result/476527002.png

lsproc · 21-05-2009, 07:11

Do you live in the exchange or something?

Turkey Machine · 21-05-2009, 14:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsproc

Do you live in the exchange or something?

I live 500m from the exchange (it's like 5 minutes walk from me!), and those ISPs I listed in the poll are those according to Samknows that are at my exchange!

chickendippers · 21-05-2009, 18:28

Stay away from Orange, they constantly come bottom of customer satisfaction surveys.

rashlan · 21-05-2009, 18:48

I've been with sky for the last twelve months on their sky max unlimited connection package and its been flawless the whole time.
fwiw i'm connected at 15323 kbps and havent ever experienced slow down at peak times.
ps between me and my family we download over 300GBs a month.

Turkey Machine · 21-05-2009, 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by chickendippers

Stay away from Orange, they constantly come bottom of customer satisfaction surveys.

Noted, but my parents have 2Mbit Orange broadband, and apart from giving them a grilling when the spam increased exponentially after the Wanadoo takeover, it's been fine!

Seen mixed reviews about TitanADSL. Every ISP seems to have it's drawbacks, only good one I've seen is Be and they're not at the exchange.

onlythebest · 26-05-2009, 18:44

I know Talk Talk has many detractors, but as a customer of this ISP, I have to say that I have absolutely no problems with their service or Customer Care. I live in an area where the max is 4Mb, but then I'm not needing speed above that which I already have.

There have been a few times when I ran into technical problems with signal reception and made contact withn the Customer Care Dept. I have absolutely no problem in understanding the man/lady on the other side of the phone line. I commend their approach to problems and how they treat their customers - I don't get a lot of ******** and half-baked solutions to problems, and I don't have to stay on the other end of a phone for prolonged periods before a Customer Care staff member actually gets around to answer my call, as happened with some other ISPs I used in the past.

I also commend them for their follow-up after a problem has been resolved.
Lastly, I find the prices for Broadband and telephone services are very reasonable.