Best ISP?

[Admiral Huddy]

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]

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.

[Feek]

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]

Originally Posted by Feek

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 , just saying that IME the transfer speeds are exactly as they should be.

[Jasper]

I use Be. 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

[Mondo]

Originally Posted by Jasper

I use Be. 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. Be looks good, the other alternative is UKfsn but they seem to be a lot more expensive.

[karbon]

Originally Posted by Jasper

I use Be. 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.

[Daz]

Originally Posted by Jasper

free dynamic IP

How generous of them

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.

[Jasper]

Originally Posted by Daz

How generous of them

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!

[leowyatt]

We've been with VM now for 18 months and only had around an hour downtime when everything went off.