Are there any short term contract ISPs left in the UK?

mikeym · 28-06-2012, 11:45

Hi,

I have finally had it with Virgin, page loading time are now between 20-40 seconds on a good day and I'm completely disconnected on a bad day (there are many of them).

So I would like to switch to a new ISP and I guess my only option is to get a BT line reinstalled into my flat which I'm willing to pay for at this stage.

The only thing is I'm not entirely sure that I will be in my flat for another year. Are there any ISPs left that offer short term contracts or ones that are not prohibitively expensive to leave? I would have thought that providing your own ADSL router and a small connection charge say less than Â£40 and it would be in ISPs interest to offer them, but a trawl of the internet has shown me that if there are ISPs offering short term contracts they're keeping quiet about it.

Hopefully you can help me find one though.

danielf · 28-06-2012, 11:49

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beport...ttermcontracts

Â£25 pcm (or 30 with increased upload) for a three month contract. I'm not sure why they say it's up to 16Mb. It used to be upto 24Mb, which is what I signed up for a couple of years ago, and I'm still getting that.

Generally speaking, it's a good ISP as well. I've had some issues with them, but I guess that'll be the case with any ISP.

mikeym · 28-06-2012, 12:02

I'm on BE now at my friend's because Virgin is down at my house again. I didn't think they were still offering short term contracts (I couldn't find them).

The only other option I've seen is Tesco offer 30 day broadband contracts but they sound terrible.

danielf · 28-06-2012, 12:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeym

I'm on BE now at my friend's because Virgin is down at my house again. I didn't think they were still offering short term contracts (I couldn't find them).

It's on the home page. Just click the 'also available on a 3 month contract' link under the pro and unlimited options.

I used to be with ADSL24 years ago. They were good at the time, but I think they had some major mishap after I left. I don't know how good they are at present. But, they do 1 month contracts. Might be worth looking into.

qasdfdsaq · 28-06-2012, 13:06

BT aren't particularly expensive to leave; early termination charges are regulated now and they charge something around Â£4-6 a month to buy out remaining months on your contract.

But yes other companies offer 1/3/6 month contracts but usually won't subsidize your installation costs when you do that

---------- Post added at 14:06 ---------- Previous post was at 14:03 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

I'm not sure why they say it's up to 16Mb. It used to be upto 24Mb, which is what I signed up for a couple of years ago, and I'm still getting that.

Advertising rules change.

mikeym · 28-06-2012, 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Advertising rules change.

That's good to hear, it's no point everyone advertising a mythical top speed that no one could hope to attain.

I wish someone would do a bit of proper research into the speeds delivered by Virgin. I found that with their service no matter how slow and glitchy my connection was the speed test sites always showed my advertised speed. Either they heavily prioritise traffic from those sites or they just cache whatever data those sites use to test your data rate.

danielf · 28-06-2012, 14:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeym

That's good to hear, it's no point everyone advertising a mythical top speed that no one could hope to attain.

I have a sync rate of 23.5 Mbps on my previously advertised 24Mbps Be line. In my case, up to 16Mbps would undersell the line.

**Paul M** · 28-06-2012, 14:17

Tesco do a monthly contract.

craigj2k12 · 28-06-2012, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeym

The only other option I've seen is Tesco offer 30 day broadband contracts but they sound terrible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul M

Tesco do a monthly contract.

kwikbreaks · 28-06-2012, 18:24

Worth taking a look at the Post Office who do a white label BT line and ADSL - from memory they weren't too bad on short term deals although I've never used them myself.

mikeym · 29-06-2012, 08:54

kwikbreaks, my friend with BE has a line from the post office which is a month by month contract, and I would definitely consider them for this, but their broadband is a 12 month contract.

m419 · 16-07-2012, 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwikbreaks

Worth taking a look at the Post Office who do a white label BT line and ADSL - from memory they weren't too bad on short term deals although I've never used them myself.

Yep,they do a no minimum term home phone service,however,the broadband part is 12 months.

Matthew · 17-07-2012, 22:19

Check PlusNet out, they used to do short term deals month by month, worth a look cannot fault them.

**Chris** · 18-07-2012, 07:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beport...ttermcontracts

Â£25 pcm (or 30 with increased upload) for a three month contract. I'm not sure why they say it's up to 16Mb. It used to be upto 24Mb, which is what I signed up for a couple of years ago, and I'm still getting that.

Generally speaking, it's a good ISP as well. I've had some issues with them, but I guess that'll be the case with any ISP.

The advertised speed must now be achievable by a set proportion of subscribers, rather than the theoretical maximum the service could support under ideal conditions.

qasdfdsaq · 18-07-2012, 15:52

10% being that set proportion, which makes it meaningless to 90% of the population anyway :-/