Which broadband companies are any good?

[Handyman]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I used to have talk talk, and provided you have no issues (as happened with me) they are fantastic. However, if you have problems, they can be, and are, abhorrent.

Personally, I would recommend Sky (maybe get a package deal of some kind?)

Ditto all of the above Oscar, when it works they are fine. If you have a problem it's a nightmare getting something done. I have now moved to BT but it's proving to be more expensive as they sneak little extras in. I have land line with them as well and already I have issues with directory and premium rate calls we didn't make.

Regards, handy

[mgfboy]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I'm with sky and they do seem to do some good packages and they often have cash back deals though quidco etc.

[cymruambyth]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Well, hopefully a final update!
I decided to stick with BT and go through a cash back site to try and recoup some of the money I was going to have to pay. They gave me a date in August for an engineer to visit even though there are 2 working BT lines! I phoned BT India to try and change the day.....that was fun. The assistant wasn't very clear and didn't know what she was doing and had to get help all the time.
I asked t speak to someone in England and got put through to a very helpful trainee in Truro. He explained that it was his fist day and that he would need help from his supervisor. After much discussion they came up with the suggestion that the phone line is transferred into my name. The bill can be paid from the executors estate however I wouldn't incur any cancellation charges AND the bonus is that although I will be paying for a higher spec package, it doesn't have long to go so I won't have high cancellation costs
I started off cursing a company that is supposed to specialise in communications and ended up with someone who actually wanted to help and with who with assistance thought though the problem.

[ScabHunter]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I've only just seen this thread, because it was started while I was having a bit of a break from the site due to the pressures of work and having to work 16 hours every day to meet deadlines.

The best broadband provider in the UK is Infinity Developments Network, although the standard isn't quite as high as it was in 2006-7 when they had a lot fewer customers and could provide the type of service which is unheard of from the big names. If you sent them an email in those days, you got a reply within five minutes from a technician, not somebody in an Indian call centre. I only ever had one problem with the service, and that was when I first signed up. It literally took less than ten minutes from sending the email to having the problem completely resolved by one of their senior engineers.

The only problem in those days was that IDNet didn't do telephone services, so you had to rent the telephone line from somewhere else. That is no longer the case, and you can get everything in one package. IDNet also offer one month contracts – none of this 12 or 18 month “we'll make you pay us even if we are so terrible you never have a service and your business goes bust because of it” crap. They are prepared to let people leave because nobody ever does. I pay a year in advance to get the discount, but you certainly don't have to.

I've no idea how it compares in price to the big companies because I haven't bothered to look – I'm not going to risk losing four figure work contracts just to save £12 a year in broadband fees. If the service goes down, I don't want to get incoherent replies from service centres in the Third World where English in a luxury. Never skimp on broadband or hosting, because they are your lifeblood.

Everybody has got their own experience of large companies, and their experience is not always the same. All I know is that when my father died in 2007, British TeleCON signed me up as a customer without my knowledge or consent, using my name and my late father's account number, and started sending me bills. I took it through every stage of the complaints procedure, and at every stage I was ignored completely. I never received any reply whatsoever from any level right up to the top, not even an acknowledgment that the complaint had been received.

I took the case to the Ombudsman, expecting them to be as useless as the Fobbing Off Service, but they actually dealt with the complaint properly and awarded me fair compensation. I can only speak from my own experience, but British TeleCON is the one company in Great Britain I wouldn't touch with a thousand foot barge pole.

I've had IDNet broadband for over six years with scarcely a problem. It took ten minutes to get the initial set up resolved, and then there was a slight problem when the service was upgraded to ADSL2. This wasn't IDNet's fault, it was just that my router was not compatible and had to be upgraded. Apart from that, the amount of downtime has been infinitesimally small, just an hour or so in the wee small hours when they are probably doing routine maintenance.

The other broadband connection I've got is a Vodafone dongle which connects through the cell phone network. As far as I know, Vodafone is the only service which doesn't charge a monthly fee, so I don't pay anything unless I actually use it. It is slow and extremely limited, but it lets me carry on the business when I'm not at home.

SH

[ScabHunter]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Sounded brill... till I checked their options on their website: unlimited B/B is a heart-stopping £107/month!

I guess not everyone needs unlimited D/L but when I had a limit I always exceed it so much I ended up paying through the nose!

Wow, I suppose it depends what you use it for. I'm on the lightest and cheapest package, have never come close to the limit, and I'm on line virtually all day every day. It is a skinny allowance from 9am to midnight but I'm usually up at 6am so I just download anything I need in the first three hours. I paid just over £300 in March for a year, that was with the phone line included.

The site has changed completely since I last looked at it, but it looks as though the services are pretty much the same.

If I needed to do any heavy downloading I'd just go into my local Wetherspoon at 7am when it is virtually empty, pay a quid for a coffee, and do the download in there. I've done that many times in the past.

SH

[ScabHunter]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Uhmmm, I'd rather have unlimited B/B at home

Well, I've never come close to the limits on the cheapest package, so if I did sign up for unlimited I'd just be flushing something like £75 a month straight down the john. It all depends on what you use the internet for. If you're into films, TV programmes or online gaming you'll obviously need something heavier. With IDNet, uploads are not counted as part of the allowance, so I can sit there using FTP all day and it has no effect.

I've just had a butcher's at the alternatives and none of them appeal in the slightest. Sky looks reasonably priced, but I personally know people who have signed up to Sky and they say customer service is atrocious. You're also locked in to a 12 month contract as you are with all of these cowboys. Saving a few sovs and ruining your business in the process? Nah, I don't think I'll bother.

Talk Talk is cheap, but I actually spent some time in someone's house once and the Internet connection was so bad it was barely usable. They said that was typical and they couldn't wait to get out of it. They were on a long contract, of course, so they had to wait to escape.

All but one of the providers list the services as “Unlimited – restrictions apply”. Well, if restrictions apply then it is not, by definition, unlimited. Seems more like a sales gimmick than a reality.

There is also the consideration that Sky and Virgin will be constantly spamming you with offers to upgrade to their TV and other media services, and some of the pricing may only be available to people who do take combined packages. As I don't own a TV set, I wouldn't have a lot of use for these things.

I've had six years of near-faultless service from IDNet, so I'll not be moving. Professionalism and reliability are far more important to business customers than trying to save a few quid, and with these extended contracts you've got just as much chance of losing money as you have of saving it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

SH

[cymruambyth]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I am also with BT and have had £10 per month knockrd off my package by telling them that I was going to leave.

Used the same technicque with Sky and have a diacount of 30% per month

[ScabHunter]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I just don't have what it takes to haggle...

I find that rather difficult to believe.

As long as the communication was made electronically, I don't think the undisputed Queen of the Exotic Emoticons could ever fail to get their point across.

SH

[cymruambyth]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I just don't have what it takes to haggle...

Just remember they can't see your face!

[IF]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Just remember they can't see your face!

Why what's wrong with Flowers face?

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Why what's wrong with Flowers face?

do you really want me to answer that


* time I left and hid for a week or 3

[IF]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

do you really want me to answer that


* time I left and hid for a week or 3

Norty Niddy

[cymruambyth]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Well that certainly brought a smile to my face.

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

I'm just fetching my missile launcher and catching the first train!

Try this one:-

[IF]

Re: Which broadband companies are any good?

Try this one:-

I do worry about your weapon fascination TTC!!