View Full Version : Best ISP?
Admiral Huddy
14-02-2008, 10:48
As per title really, I've had a client ringing asking that she wishes to replace her current ISP (AOL) with a more reliable, faster service with good customer support. My feeling is that the latter requirement is going to be rather difficult.
What do you think ?
Pros and cons?
Marmoset
14-02-2008, 10:57
I'm currently with Eclipse on their Evolution 4 package. I've been with them for about 2 years and have only had about half an hour's downtime in that period. Their customer service has been flawless but, as with any ISP, I've heard of people that have had problems.
Others that have been highly recommended to me are Demon, Nildram and Zen.
The main drawbacks are that all of these companies are quite expensive but I reckon you get what you pay for. Various friends and family members have been drawn in by cheap offers from companies like Tiscali and AOL and then ended up regretting it when they turned out to be sh*t.
I used Eclipse for many years and they were great but they were taken over by Kingston a couple of years back and although I had very little downtime (apart from a few hours when their backbone collapsed a while ago) they became a shadow of their former selves. Poor pings, very slow data transfer and blatant packet shaping in the evenings blocking peer to peer traffic which they lied about when questioned. I'd previously recommended them to a girl at work and she dumped them after her first year with them due to speed problems. I'd not point anyone their way ever again.
Apart from them, the only other ISP I have experience of regarding ADSL is ukfsn.org who I've found to be very helpful and I've had excellent performance with little or no slowdown during peak times at all.
Marmoset
14-02-2008, 11:10
I used Eclipse for many years and they were great but they were taken over by Kingston a couple of years back and although I had very little downtime (apart from a few hours when their backbone collapsed a while ago) they became a shadow of their former selves. Poor pings, very slow data transfer and blatant packet shaping in the evenings blocking peer to peer traffic which they lied about when questioned. I'd previously recommended them to a girl at work and she dumped them after her first year with them due to speed problems. I'd not point anyone their way ever again.
Fair enough. I don't use P2P or play online so I haven't noticed the traffic shaping or crap pings. As for data transfer, we're on 8Mb and I get consistently high transfer speeds whatever time of day I'm on.
Not calling you a liar :p, just saying that IME the transfer speeds are exactly as they should be. ;)
I use Be (www.bethere.co.uk). Excellent service, free ADSL2 router, free dynamic IP, 20MB and we pay £18 per month for unlimited, but it's less for a limited tariff.
One thing that people will probably say against them is that they use Asian call centres, but the guys actually know their stuff, even if their English is a little ropey from time to time. They do have an online help ticket service, which is always answered within 24 hours, IME.
Excellent ISP - the best I've ever used. Zen also used to be worth looking at, but not so much anymore
leowyatt
14-02-2008, 11:17
We've been with VM now for 18 months and only had around an hour downtime when everything went off.
I use Be (www.bethere.co.uk). Excellent service, free ADSL2 router, free dynamic IP, 20MB and we pay £18 per month for unlimited, but it's less for a limited tariff.
One thing that people will probably say against them is that they use Asian call centres, but the guys actually know their stuff, even if their English is a little ropey from time to time. They do have an online help ticket service, which is always answered within 24 hours, IME.
Excellent ISP - the best I've ever used. Zen also used to be worth looking at, but not so much anymore
Sounds like a bargain, I need a new ISP soon/now, pipex contract for 12 months is just up so I would like to move. Download its now at just below 1mb, down from around 4mb last month...just as Tiscali took over..........strange. :shocked: Be looks good, the other alternative is UKfsn but they seem to be a lot more expensive.
I use Be (www.bethere.co.uk). Excellent service, free ADSL2 router, free dynamic IP, 20MB and we pay £18 per month for unlimited, but it's less for a limited tariff.
One thing that people will probably say against them is that they use Asian call centres, but the guys actually know their stuff, even if their English is a little ropey from time to time. They do have an online help ticket service, which is always answered within 24 hours, IME.
Excellent ISP - the best I've ever used. Zen also used to be worth looking at, but not so much anymore
i'm Be too.
they've since been bought over by o2. you can still get a service from both companies though which confuses me, but it's on the same network.
if you opt for o2 all your support is based in glasgow.
free dynamic IP
How generous of them :D
I'm with BT, and I get great speed, and enjoy the extras (BT Vision and the talk stuff). No experience of the customer service and they aren't the cheapest.
How generous of them :D
it used to be £4, but they stopped charging for it - hence the happiness! I also used to pay £24, but they dropped it to £18!
I assume you mean static IP :|
Yeah, though I would recommend not suggesting that to some ISPs - they just might take up the idea. :)
Surprisingly for many ex-PN customers here, PlusNet have been (mostly) behaving themselves in the last 12 months (the BT takeover may have had lots to do with that even though I'm sure denials would surface). They're not the value proposition they used to be though.
I assume you mean static IP :|
oops! leave me alone! :p
Admiral Huddy
14-02-2008, 12:46
How about Fast.co.uk?
looking at this table
http://ispreview.co.uk/
forget that.. they have a download cap :(
I'm hearing nothing but good things about Entanet resellers such UKFSN and ADSL24
Be and Zen have the reputation at the moment amongst the industry for home users. BTs exorbitant pricing of DSL uplinks mean most of us are doing traffic shaping. DSL services are close to the bone profit wise as it is, if we have to buy another uplink it'll hit massive loss level.
LeperousDust
14-02-2008, 17:22
ISP wise if they can go cable, go cable. Vigin/Blueyonder/Cableinet (whatever they want to call themselves) have ALWAYS been excellent, uncapped, reliable, and fast (none of this exchange distance lark). Pricing is similar or cheaper (if they use them for TV and phone too)...
ISP wise if they can go cable, go cable. Vigin/Blueyonder/Cableinet (whatever they want to call themselves) have ALWAYS been excellent, uncapped, reliable, and fast (none of this exchange distance lark). Pricing is similar or cheaper (if they use them for TV and phone too)...
I really wouldn't advise Virgin Media if they're near any major urban area or city as its liable to be over congested (an awful large number of posts about it in the virgin support newsgroups all reporting the same thing). Outside of those areas cable seems fine.
I've been with Virgin for years and never had a problem with them, the only major downside nowadays is if you download x mb a day they cut your connection in half :( and since I'm on 4mb as soon as I hit 700mb download between 4pm and midnight my speed drops to 2mb :(
I'm hearing nothing but good things about Entanet resellers such UKFSN and ADSL24
UKFSN user here o/
I was very worried when moving to my current house as it doesn't have cable. Traditionally I always had issues with all the ADSL connections i've had in the past. Bulldog (when they were good), Zen (same), Eclipse (same). Now I checked out the raving reviews about entanet.
Sure they throttle in the evenings, but not back to the stoneage. If your pipe is congested, you drop to 2mb, otherwise its 4mb (or higher if you are adsl2 at the exchange). You have 30gb peak and 300gb off peak which is not easy to use up! Web pages load quickly, good pings and full speed downloads when not 8-12pm.
One thing is get a decent adsl router. Again I got a Draytek and i'm impressed with that. There was a noticeable difference between that and a Netgear one I have knocking about.
LeperousDust
14-02-2008, 22:50
I really wouldn't advise Virgin Media if they're near any major urban area or city as its liable to be over congested (an awful large number of posts about it in the virgin support newsgroups all reporting the same thing). Outside of those areas cable seems fine.
I'm in Edinburgh, and its max speed all the time here (apart from when they throttle me for downloading over my limit...).
I've never experiences any congestion issues back home (and i certainly don't live out in the sticks there either!).
I've never used cable - apparently my road in Southampton doesn't have it :/
However, don't touch Virgin DSL with a pole. It's the worst piece of crap I've ever used!
Sure they throttle in the evenings, but not back to the stoneage. If your pipe is congested, you drop to 2mb, otherwise its 4mb (or higher if you are adsl2 at the exchange). You have 30gb peak and 300gb off peak which is not easy to use up! Web pages load quickly, good pings and full speed downloads when not 8-12pm.
No sign of any throttling here on UKFSN at any times and I'm on the 60Gb/330Gb option.
I'm in Edinburgh, and its max speed all the time here (apart from when they throttle me for downloading over my limit...).
I've never experiences any congestion issues back home (and i certainly don't live out in the sticks there either!).
Lots of folks in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and so on posting on the newsgroups. Quite shocking how much Virgin oversell the infrastructure.
leowyatt
16-02-2008, 11:36
Not sure if the VM people know but we're all getting a speed bump :) more details can be found here (http://www.virginmedia.com/evenfaster)
I have never had a problem with VM or NTL over the past few years. I expect over the next month that may change though as people get migrated to the 10Mbps service. From looking at Cable Forum, the 50Mbps service will be on an entirely new network so when people migrate to that then it will free up bandwidth on the current network. Cant really vouch for support as I haven't really had to use it that much
As for ADSL, I used to resell Enta Broadband a few years ago. Solid as a rock 24/7. Highly recommended
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