I get broadband from Namesco but gradually over timeI have switched so my email is elsewhere and my web pages are elsewhere so what am I buying? Could I just abandon Namesco and life would go on as usual?
Anna
You mean apart from the fact you then wouldn't be able to get online and connect to any of those services then yes - life would go on just fine. It'd be exactly the same for you as it was before the advent of the internet.
Yes I'm probably missing something but I still dont understand what Namesco are giving me
BT have enabled my line for broadband which I assume is a one off thing. I have a domain name which I think means that I have my own IP address. What else do I need apart from services to connect to (email, web pages, newsserver ... I have all of those)
Anna
more or less, yes. If you are using an ISP for transport only, and don't have a fixed IP address, you can migrate to another transport with relative ease. Its not JUST totally trivial though..sending email may require you to patch into the new ISP's mail relay, depending on how you are currently doing it.
However you can't dispense with a broadband supplier altogether: someone has to transfer your packets to ad from the internet, and the cost of this is far far greater than the costs of hosting email or web pages, by and large.
You are paying for providing and maintaining the infrastructure over which you access those services.
You could apply your argument to an ordinary phone line once it is established. What do you think the rental is for ?
Andy
You pay BT for a phone line. And for nothing else.
You paid Namesco a possible setup fee (either explicitly or implicitly) which they paid to BT to enable the broadband. For that, BT connected your phone line to their data network.
Your ongoing payments to Namesco pay for the connection between the BT network (your bit) and Namesco; also for Namesco's infrastructure, and their connection to the Internet. Your data flow between your computer(s) and the Internet via BT's network (paid by a part of your fees to Namesco, passed on to BT), and then Namesco's network.
A way to connect to those services. You pay Namesco for that (and they pay BT part ofg it, for their part in the process).
OK I will alter my question a bit!
I pay UK2 to host my web pages and manage my email. So copying and editing your paragraph above, is it still true?
Anna
How do you get to UK2's network? Via Namesco....it costs money to connect to the Internet at large. You need *a* connection to the Internet at large....BT don't provide that, but provide a wholesale connection between them (and the phone users) and ISPs who do provide it. BT will connect you to *one* place - in your case, Namesco.
This is your comprehension problem (which is what you are enquiring about) - the rest (email domain name etc) is all irrelevant. BT *allow* Namesco to give you an internet connection using their wires. You talk, via the BT wires to the Namesco routers, with whom you are registered. Without your Namesco subscription (or a competitor's) you would see no internet. Your BT phoneline is not "on the internet". Others, who pay BT, such as Namesco, ARE on the internet and you connect to them and onwards via BT. This is done because BT have the "local loop" (ie the connections to individual houses) already in place and have been forced to "unbundle" the local loop to allow other ISP's to use this connection. The alternative is cable, where the ISP connects to the individual houses (eg Virgin media). They generally make it pay by offering TV and phone services as well.
As you are only using Namesco for the internet connection, you could go to any Broadband-over-BT-line supplier and choose the cheapest (including BT itself who can fulfil this role too) without worryning about which frills you don't get (as you don't need any).
Right. Checking your phone number establishes you have a broadband service on it.
looking at your domain reveals
whois kettlenet.co.uk
Domain name: kettlenet.co.uk
Registrant: Anna Kettle
Registrant type: UK Individual
Registrant's address: The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
Registrar: UK2 Limited [Tag = UK2NET] URL:
Relevant dates: Registered on: 09-Feb-2003 Renewal date: 09-Feb-2009 Last updated: 02-Feb-2007
Registration status: Registered until renewal date.
Name servers: ultra25.uk2.net ultra26.uk2.net
WHOIS lookup made at 13:53:01 15-Dec-2008
So you are registered with uk2.net, whoever they are and they host your website. And your email.
I guess namesco is just your actual connectivity provider.
Well you need *A* connectivity provider, but it doesn't have to be Namesco
could be any of many ISP's.
depending on what you want.
Thankyou Bob and all
You have convinced me that Namesco are actually providing me a service for the money I give them, so thats OK. I suppose the only other question I have is should I stay with Namesco? I have been happy with them so the answer is probably yes, but is there a good cheap bare bones ISP that I should be thinking of using?
Anna
yes. theres no point in uk2 hosting your stuff if you cant get to them to update the website or download the mail, or indeed if you want to post here, you need to transfer that info off your cmputer to here..thats what you are paying namesco for: the right to use their transit to the internet, irrespective of websites or email or in at anything.
Lets say that you rent a shop and have a post box in a local town. Say its Clare. Now how are you going to get to Clare to run that shop and collect the mail? you have to drive there along someone elses road. That's Namesco's road right now.
Following up to Anna Kettle
I'm the same as you, well probably uglier. I have email and web hosting with one company, they hold my web pages and route my email to where I tell them to send it. I have a BB conection from virgin and I connect with web pages via that, although I upload my webpages via a telephone connection to the web host.
Nothing you have is useless *but* you might find that sourceing everything, possibly including TV and mobile from one big company might get you a deal, but then theres the eggs and baskets argument.
Anna, have a look at
Suffice to say that the two things that cost money are traffic, and support.
If you buy more of either than you need, you are paying more than you need. If you buy less than you need, you will be unhappy.
In particular study the ratings in that site: you will find that the top names are small companies you wont have heard of. The bottom is occupied by large names you WILL have heard of.
Small is actually quite beautiful, with ISP's.
Oh no. if that ISP gets to be a pain, you have a MUCH bigger job ditching them.
Anna is exactly right in what she has, for her business.
The only issue is wehether Namesco are providing the most cost effective service.
Thanks, I will do that
Anna
Actually Anna, I just looked at Namesco ratigs.
If you are on the 14.95 service, they are pretty well rated.
well enough that I wouldn't actually bother to change. You MIGHT shave a couple of quid off that with a rather draconian limit on when and how much you can transfer at any given time.
But I would say you are in about the right price/performance/support bracket already.
So advice here is 'if running well, leave well alone'
Yes I've just been looking at Kitz and I think you are right. Namesco price is reasonable and I have been happy with the service, so its DO NOTHING I think
Cheers Anna
Following up to The Natural Philosopher
i think that sounds sensible
hey, then mine is perfect too! :-)
Namesco are giving you an IP address that allows you to send and receive data on the internet. This IP address is associated with your PC's connection to the internet, which is through BT's wire and from their exchange to Namesco's own servers. An IP (Internet Protocol) address is made up of 4 sets of numbers between 0 and 255, and is usually given as something like 212.58.251.195 (IP address for the BBC homepage).
Your own IP address will be one of the set of IP addresses allocated to Namesco which may either be personally assigned to /your/ connection (static allocation), or allocated to you on the fly whenever you connect to their servers (dynamic connection).
You then use this IP address to communicate with the IP address of the host company for your mail service and the IP address of the host company of your web server and the IP addresses of the BBC, google, amazon, etc etc etc. As well as allocating IP addresses, Namesco are charged by the backbone data network providers for the cost of data transfers starting or ending on 'their' IP addresses.
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