ISP recommendations and recent bargains

['Press Start']

SO here are a couple of deals for O2 movers to grab from Sky if they move early:-
Fantastic with Sky TV

Sky Broadband Unlimited with Sky Talk Weekends and Sky Entertainment Extra+
Free
for 12 months
+ Sky Line Rental ?14.50 a month
(applies from month 1)

Join with Sky TV
Features

• Absolutely no usage caps
• We will never slow you down at peak times
• Unlimited Sky WiFi in 1000s of hotspots
• Sky Hub, our best ever wireless hub
• McAfee Internet Security; 12 month trial
• Inclusive weekend calls to UK landlines#
• 85 entertainment channels, over 45 in HD
• Enjoy On Demand with the most complete Catch Up TV service, including Sky Atlantic
• Free Sky+ box and free standard set-up

OR

Fibre Unlimited

Sky Fibre Unlimited with Sky Talk Weekends
?10 a month
for 6 months (then ?20 a month)
+ Sky Line Rental ?14.50 a month
(applies from month 1)

Join without Sky TV
Features

• Ideal for homes with heavy internet demands
• Absolutely no usage limits
• Unlimited Sky WiFi in 1000s of hotspots
• We will never slow you down at peak times
• Sky Hub included, our best ever wireless hub
• Inclusive weekend calls to UK landlines#
• Download free Parental Controls on up to 3 PCs
• Hassle free switching - keep your number

Not sure why Sky needs the land line though. I am unsure what to do

[ETC]

Sky tag lines mind (same as talk talk) you would have to go via BT to get it untagged if you ever left even if you paid for your line from openreach originally (happened to me)

[EvilBoris]

Right, I'm moving house this month and I need a new ISP.

Virgin have served me well, but they don't cover my area any more, am thinking of going for one of the FTTC 38/40MB packages. Andybody seen any good deals that are still valid?

[ETC]

Infinity is alright but take the speed they promise with a pinch of salt. Plusnet are cheapy BT apparently so if you can put up with the customer service I think they have a deal on

[Brad]

Boris. I know I moan about everything these days but heed my words: not plusnet!

[EvilBoris]

I'd already wrote off plusnet as being another talktalk or whoever, but that confirms it, I'm getting QOS isn't high up their list of priorities.

At the mo, it's between Sky fibre or BT Infinity, Sky is the cheaper of the 2 and doesn't have the longer contract, but I suspect that BT might have the slightly better infrastructure and not be sharing as much with all the cheapo ?5.99 broadband customers who might clog up speeds at peak times.

['Press Start']

I think I will jump to BT before Sky take over my line from O2.

Such a lack of choice with Fibre, surely this is holding the country's infrastructure back?

[EvilBoris]

There are quite a few companies that do it, the problem is the price rapidly scales up beyond that of BT,Sky and the larger companies

[charlesr]

I think I will jump to BT before Sky take over my line from O2.

Such a lack of choice with Fibre, surely this is holding the country's infrastructure back?

At my exchange, there is no fibre (or cable alternative in the area) and no plan for install. 6Mb max if you live next to the exchange. It'll be at least 5 years before there is any change to that. Fast enough for Netflix though.

[Brad]

I'm with BT. They are ... OK. Fast tech support with the benefit that they can't palm you off by saying it must be a problem with the phone line because that's their responsibility too. THe homehub is ok too unless you want to use Airplay in which case it doesn't work at all.

[fallenangle]

Finally swapped from dial-up to broadband with Talktalk. It went active just three hours ago. Had a few issues because I manually changed the IP address of my laptop to connected it up to my Xbox. The Talktalk router said I was connected but I was getting nothing, tried reseting it and the laptop - no good. When I finally remembered how to get into WinXP's network connection I changed it all to auto and volia - BB for the first time at the stunningly unimpressive speed of 3.5Mbs.

That is only just below what they said my average would be so I guess it's OK and for ?3.25 month for the first year, about a quarter of what I've been paying for dial-up, so I'm not too bothered.

What has annoyed me is that I've discovered they recorded my account details wrongly. Try fixing that online when you have to login with the account e-mail address and account password both of which are, apparently, incorrectly registed too.

A phone call will hopefully sort it out but I really could have done without this hassle.

[charlesr]

It's TalkTalk. Get used to it. All their money goes on XFactor ads, not on actually providing service.

[ETC]

It's TalkTalk. Get used to it. All their money goes on XFactor ads, not on actually providing service.

Ah Talk****e the only company I have ever felt it was a bargain to pay ?65 to leave early, utterly pathetic company What you save in monthly fees they make up for in the time you have to spend on the phone to customer support (in India)

['Press Start']

Anyone use Virgin? pros? cons?

Charles, I guess having a choice is better then no choice you're right. I would still rather run a few minutes down my street and get your views though!

[EvilBoris]

I've used Virgin Cable for the last 4 years, it's always served me well. I've had a few days of random down time in that time , but other than that it's always been good.