Broad Band Suppliers

Dardalion · Post by **Dardalion** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 2:19 pm

Ive been having really bad problems with my NTL connection recently mainly at peak connection times (total loss of internet not just the game). Ping plotter shows awful connections with both NTL & OT hubs altho NTL have told me theres a cable problem in my area.

I must admit that this is the first trouble ive had in a year & a half but as our tv keeps blacking out (we have BB, TV & phone with NTL)(7 we cant get any interactive stuff on the tv my gf wants us to get SKY so im thinking about changing my BB supplier.

Can anyone recomend a good supplier? I pay about £25 a month for a 1meg connection atm.

tx in anticipation.
Dard.

nibs · Post by **nibs** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 3:26 pm

http://www.adslguide.org is your friend

I personally use http://www.nildram.net - easily the best gaming isp in the UK, plays host to 'Jolt' gaming servers, and stays the hell waway from BT's infrastructure. Current pricing schemes involve a 50gb monthly primetime cap, and a 25.99 monthly charge for 2mbit.

Although having a cap sounds bad, here its fairly reasonable, if you exceed your cap, your not forced to pay extra, your download speed is merely limited to 60k/s until the end of the month. Also anything you download fromt he hours of 12am-8am are not included in your monthly download.

Fail that, you can just trawl the forums on the website i mentioned and see what people say. I personally havent had an issue with this isp in 3 years. I dont get bad ping times, dont get packet loss, and the monthly cap wont effect me. Their only flaw is that they don't try to price competitivly low, they stay at a mid range pricing range, but do tend to offer a fairly high quality service, they also tend to go out of their way to resolve any issues.

Cromcruaich · Post by **Cromcruaich** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:23 am

I use eclipse.co.uk absolutely excellent service often top of the adslguide and a regular first place in pcpro reviews.

A HUGE advantage over most other ISP's is that it has UK based call centre with people who know what they are doing rather than having someone based in bangalore reading from a crib sheet (the only time ive had to talk to them is while setting up a connection for work where BT misidentified a line).

Additionally you can add unlimited email and ftp users through a browser interface, and you get 3 fixed ip's BY DEFAULT. You can purchase domains online and set up url redirects however you wish.

They also offer a 20/1 contension ratio, as opposed to a 50/1 which could effect you if you are on a local loop that has heavy internet usage.

there is a range of packages, some of which have download limits some of which do not - but to reiterate - they are a UK based company who use UK based employees, who know what they are doing.

btw, no ISP stays away from the BT infrastructure, every ISP uses BT cabling in the UK for cabling to all homes.

Cromcruaich · Post by **Cromcruaich** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:23 am

btw, NTL are consistently reported as under performing, so a change should result in an improvement!

nibs · Post by **nibs** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:43 am

when i talk of bt infrastructure i refer to the way they route data. it isn't the bt cabling that is generally the reason for a crap connection, its the way the data is routed.

Where as a lot of isp's do this through BT, Nildram have their very own structure through which they use. However i agree with you, eclipse are another top isp. if i were to move away from nildram id go there

Bebop · Post by **Bebop** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:57 am

http://www.pipex.net

Never had any probs, been with em over 2 years, excellent c/s which is what ya want

No restrictions on bandwith (unlimited)

Allows you to use ICS or a Router (i know some ISP's try to block it)

I noticed Crom mentioned Eclipse, before pipex i was with eclipse for 56k & was paying over £25 p/m for dial up! reason i did was because the so-called service said it offered 6 hour cut-off (unlike the standard 2hour with BT) so i signed up. BIG mistake, cut off every 2 hours sometimes under 2 hours, connection was poor & i was paying more than i would if i could get DSL. Reason why i had to go dial-up was because DSL or Cable was not available in my area at the time

Customer service for me were no help & tbh a waste of space. After i cancelled my sub with them.. (about 2 years ago) they STILL! try to bill me & try get payment from my bank account each month even though i have sent them emails & contacted via phone to tell them i no longer have an acocunt with them!.

ADSL side from eclipse may be different. But i would not recommend Eclipse to anyone after my experiance with them

Flobba Job · Post by **Flobba Job** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:54 am

yeah i wouldm also recommend Pipex, we're currently paying 31 pound for a 2MB line with no bandwidth cap, they are also very reliable, we've had no problems in about 2 - 3 years now

Arianwyn · Post by **Arianwyn** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:43 am

I'll 3rd Pipex, been with them 3 years & no complaints. The 1 time I needed to call their helpline the guy I spoke to was 1) helpful and 2) didnt try to insult my intelligence.

Bargain!

Ovi · Post by **Ovi** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 10:28 am

Pipex and Nildram are both part of the same company now, Pipex seems to marketed more towards the Business side, and Nildram for the gaming side.

I haven't seen much bad about either, however I use Blueyonder (Not usually an alternative option to NTL tho) and have been very happy with their broadband since I got it about 4 or 5 years ago.

Slightly off topic, anyone know of a freeware/shareweb App for tracking banwidth useage? Currently BY is uncapped, but I have always wondered what kind of bandwidth I use every month.