Decent UK ISP?

Rambo

Rambo

New Member
Ok - here's the problem. We moved house a few weeks ago, and therefore we had to ditch our cable service as it wasn't supported in our new area. So, seeming as we were previously with Virgin Media (for our cable service), we decided to go with their ADSL package. Big mistake. The package was meant to be up to 8Mbps (and apparently we're only a few miles from the exchange, and our line was speed tested at 6.5Mbps). From 12AM to 6AM the speed it brilliant - I can download stuff at around 630Kbps, however, any later at it'll range from 15KBps to 100KBps (usually around 30 - 50KBps). The latency from all my websites also spikes up an extra 200ms (from 50 to 250ms!!!) - so playing online games is pointless (in fact, I often get kicked for a high average ping). I even went so far as to rewire our telephone extensions (I followed some guide on the internet), but nothing improved...

So I was wondering what decent UK ISP's are around which don't have a stupid "usage policy" on them. Who are you with and are they any good? (More directed at UK people).

Anyway, thanks for your time - hope you can help me out with this! :)
 
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Rambo said:
however, any later at it'll range from 15KBps to 100KBps (usually around 30 - 50KBps)
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ok am actually not helping you cause i dont live in the UK, but it seems its the first time you actually get 15kbps, hey Rambo i get 15kbps all the time men,
you guys are lucky to be downloading at 600KBPS + and when you get 15 you complain ?
what will you do if you were in my shoe ?:(
 
Well the quoted speed is always a theoretical maximum, when people start using that exchange the speed is going to drop quite violently because where you live is a large place. I can go from 200kb/s to 4kb/s at times!
 
For cable the only obvious choice is Virgin media. If you are interested in a DSL package then the only two I would recommend are BT (although their customer service is quite shite until you get someone who's english) and Zen (now they are on the more expensive side of the DSL line however they're worth every penny in terms of customer support and stability). With DSL it does depend entirely on your distance between your house and the nearest exchange. So to find that out go to:

http://www.samknows.com >> click 'Exchange Search' >> Hit in your phone number etc to find out all the information on your local exchanges. Make sure your not too far from the exchange if going down the DSL line. I think the max you should be distance wise is 3 miles. The closer in comparison to that the better.

Virgin media are in no way as expensive as most DSL providers though so I would consider them. Don't go with Sky, Bulldog, Pipex, AOL, TalkTalk or Tiscalli as judging from what I've read about them recently, they're not very recommended. The main three that stand out are BT (due to their being no usage rule depending on the package), Zen because of their stability and Virgin because it's cable and speed isn't affected by distance (although if your on one of those fight ratio packages, speeds will be up and down at certain times of the day).

If you do go on DSL, no doubt the ISP might attempt to offer you Max ADSL. If they do, tell them to run a test on your line and see what the max speed is, then to lower your line speed ability to a fixed speed instead of having it set to Max detection each time. Max ADSL is a pile of s... in the sense of disconnects every day or so due to your line constantly reconfiguring for speed changes. I'm on Max ADSL with BT and my line used to die twice a day without fail, however since I got them to fix speed my line, it doesn't do it nearly as frequent anymore.

Try the Availability checker on Samknows also, and see what is actually available in your area. Then go from there. But even if they don't list some providers (for example Zen's DSL), if you do have a working phone line connected to your house, that basically means any DSL provider is an option regardless.

Rove.
 
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robina_80 said:
i say bulldog, but im with Virgin Media and there too expensive
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i have the Size M 2Mb connection from Virgin media and i think its a good price at £18 a month because it has no limits on how much you can download :)

but i agree the better package Size: XL - 20Mb is expensive at £37:cool:

whatever you do dont go with AOL...they have problems all the time:D
 
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