ISP Advice

qcamel · 17 July 2007, 20:43

After 12 years of 'putting up' with AOL I am moving. Got my MAC code on order but not picked my new ISP yet. Looking for some advice please.

I use a home PC which will be the primary machine for the connextion its running XP. I want to be able to connect wirelessly with a MAC and also with my XBOX360.

I download music and upload pictures.

I am a techno dinasaur so it needs to be a simple install and support service.

Any thoughts?

Ollie

Biggles · 17 July 2007, 21:04

Is their a good ISP out there ?

You horror stories about all of them.

I've used AOL for years now and its adequate. My connection speed has slowed down lately and I use Internet Explorer instead of the AOL stuff. But it always works.

rickuk3 · 17 July 2007, 21:09

Orange broadband I cant fault it, easy to install, great customer support and best of all the price £5 a month as I have an orange mobile phone.

bedajim · 17 July 2007, 21:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by qcamel

After 12 years of 'putting up' with AOL I am moving. Got my MAC code on order but not picked my new ISP yet. Looking for some advice please.

I use a home PC which will be the primary machine for the connextion its running XP. I want to be able to connect wirelessly with a MAC and also with my XBOX360.

I download music and upload pictures.

I am a techno dinasaur so it needs to be a simple install and support service.

Any thoughts?

Ollie

I use plus net seems to work well and is ok for my playstation connection

Andy Moore · 17 July 2007, 21:46

Have a look at Zen Internet, Global Internet and Waitrose. The were the tops in the last couple of Which? tests.

ashbypower · 17 July 2007, 22:09

Plus net for us, been 6 years now absolutly no probs www. hosted with them aswell and IRL registered thro' them

NautiAndNice · 17 July 2007, 22:16

We've had Pipex (in Surrey) for years - no probs until recently ... now tends to spontaneously lose connection quite regularly.

At least you have a choice though ... on IoW it's WightCable or WightCable!

laser · 17 July 2007, 22:28

Go with virgin media if you can it is a cable service and does not rely on your BT phone line, very good service, and ive never had a drop out on it

been very impressed with it, and at the moment, its only £10 per month, bit of a bargain really for a 2Mb service, which is more than plenty for what you want to be doing with it by the sounds of things.

If you want to use it wireless then you will need to get something like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/103185
this will work with the Cable modem that Virgin media will supply you with.

If you decide to go down the ADSL route (internet down you BT phone line) then you will need the following wireless kit: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/118662

Any questions feel free to PM me and ill do my best to help.

Rich

chris123 · 17 July 2007, 22:37

Another vote for Plusnet from me - I'm actually with Free Online, who are a part of Plusnet, and not had any problems in 4+ years - good price and good service.

Have a look here:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/

for other options and comparisons. Looking at their comparison page for some of the suggestions in this thread:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/co...p_84=1&isp_6=1

Zen seems to come out the best, though they are more expensive than others.

Cheers

Chris

Sarah G · 17 July 2007, 23:01

My company create websites and I cannot fault Zen and usually recommend customers to them. I use this for me as well.

They are really helpful - reasonably priced - not the cheapest but very reliable. They are the sort of company that say to you that the price has come down - rather than you having to chase the latest deal.

Really good.

I have had really bad experiences with Pipex, Demon or Thus as they are known as (accounts are a nightmare - they have no idea what they are doing).

Some clients use Tiscali which has been OK.

codprawn · 17 July 2007, 23:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by laser

Go with virgin media if you can it is a cable service and does not rely on your BT phone line, very good service, and ive never had a drop out on it

been very impressed with it, and at the moment, its only £10 per month, bit of a bargain really for a 2Mb service, which is more than plenty for what you want to be doing with it by the sounds of things.

If you want to use it wireless then you will need to get something like this: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/103185
this will work with the Cable modem that Virgin media will supply you with.

If you decide to go down the ADSL route (internet down you BT phone line) then you will need the following wireless kit: http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/118662

Any questions feel free to PM me and ill do my best to help.

Rich

The lower speed connections are fine but there are serious problems with my 20mb connection - or were. Sometimes I get the full 20mb - other times down to less than 1mb. NTL curry division said I needed a new modem and had a line fault. Of course I ran my own tests and found that it was an NTL routing problem. You used to be able to get around this by using different proxy servers but they have shut most of them down BEFORE fixing people's problems.

Never mind I have found a proxy server they have forgotten about and it is flying along but what chance would a normal user have???

Richard B · 18 July 2007, 08:00

Can someone correct me if I'm wrong...

There are only really two Broadband suppliers - Virgin Media (formerly NTL) and BT.

Virgin Media (formerly NTL) use the same cable infrastructure used to distribute cable TV and bandwidth is shared with your neighbours, so some "throttling" can occur when all the people in your segment (usually your road or street) are using the service.

BT supply direct (BT and BT Yahoo) as well re-packaging the service through suppliers such as AOL, Orange, Plus Net, Zen, Global, Waitrose and Pipex. It's a single (not shared) connection back to the local exchange, but bandwidth is dependant on distance from the exchange.

MikeCC · 18 July 2007, 08:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard B

Can someone correct me if I'm wrong...

There are only really two Broadband suppliers - Virgin Media (formerly NTL) and BT.

Virgin Media (formerly NTL) use the same cable infrastructure used to distribute cable TV and bandwidth is shared with your neighbours, so some "throttling" can occur when all the people in your segment (usually your road or street) are using the service.

BT supply direct (BT and BT Yahoo) as well re-packaging the service through suppliers such as AOL, Orange, Plus Net, Zen, Global, Waitrose and Pipex. It's a single (not shared) connection back to the local exchange, but bandwidth is dependant on distance from the exchange.

There's also LLU (Local loop unbundling) which allows operators to make the last connection from the exchange to you without BT. IIRC the service provider puts their own kit in BT exchange. Generally, this is only broadband and not the regular voice lines. It's one of the reason's TalkTalk had such a nightmare because they were unbundling exchanges, not just setting up connections.

The other issue on telephone lines is that of 'contention ratios' - ie how many people are sharing the bandwidth at various points on the route. Pay more for less contention.

There'is another option if you really want speed and certainty - leased lines, but you can add a couple of noughts to your usual phone bill for that.

bedajim · 18 July 2007, 09:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah G

My company create websites and I cannot fault Zen and usually recommend customers to them. I use this for me as well.

They are really helpful - reasonably priced - not the cheapest but very reliable. They are the sort of company that say to you that the price has come down - rather than you having to chase the latest deal.

Really good.

I have had really bad experiences with Pipex, Demon or Thus as they are known as (accounts are a nightmare - they have no idea what they are doing).

Some clients use Tiscali which has been OK.

Thus , businessserve or whatever new name they have, in my experience load of crap I'd keep well away

qcamel · 18 July 2007, 10:35

Well thanks everyone for a great response.

I think I am going to go with Zen. They won the Mac users award so great for that and do well in customer support and satisfaction results.

Spoke with them this morning and they have a setup sheet specifically for the Xbox 360.

Ticks all my boxes.

Kind regards

Ollie

Sarah G · 18 July 2007, 10:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by qcamel

Well thanks everyone for a great response.

I think I am going to go with Zen. They won the Mac users award so great for that and do well in customer support and satisfaction results.

Spoke with them this morning and they have a setup sheet specifically for the Xbox 360.

Ticks all my boxes.

Kind regards

Ollie

Think you've made the right decision - I've never regretted it.