My broadband supplier (Be) has been taken over by Sky and they've just transferred my account over. Turns out Sky are going to charge me a 50 per cent 'supplementary charge' because I don't have their TV or phone service - I'm on BT.
Any recommendations for a good cheap basic broadband supplier, in particular one that provides e-mail customer support (I find their websites impossible to use) and doesn't insist on tying me into a long contract? I'm in London so plenty of infrastructure.
ADSL24
Try something like:
There are the obvious companies to avoid - those with poor customer service records.
Have a look at PlusNet - I use them both at my main home and at my holiday flat. They're based in Sheffield - and speak English rather than Indian when you phone them. Their on-line support system is quite good - you can raise a support ticket to which they usually respond within a reasonable time, or you can phone them.
Their prices are quite competitive, and they always do OK in Which? reports, etc. You can get an even better deal if you move your phone line to them as well as your internet service.
PlusNet PlusOne
I would recommend Plusnet, provided that you are not likely to call on their support in the near future. I have been with them for 10 years and been happy with performance and support, but last year they ran a very successful marketing campaign of advertising and reduced prices which resulted in such an increase in their customer base that management and support services were swamped. They are still trying to catch up, with a new support office in Leeds, but there is still a way to go, as evidenced by the continuing feedback on their forum.
I am looking at Zen and A&A, who appear to have a very sound reputation, both in the past and currently.
Depends a bit on:
What you use the net for. How much you download (streaming video or iplayer etc down loads is around 1 GB/hour viewed). How technical you are. ie if you need support it's beacuse you have already done all the normal fault finding stuff (reseated connections, tried different modem/filter, checked line for noise etc) and now need Level 2 or 3 assistance.
To get the best deal you probably need to move your phone to them as well, and use the line rental saver. 12 month contract.
Look at the
If support in the UK is important to you, and you want a service that doesn't block stuff, treats you like an adult, try Zen Internet. No long contract for ADSL and they also support top-end routers
>
What support is anyone likely to need? I use sky and it just works. Its also cheap, fast, no limits and they only block what the government has insisted all ISPs do.
They also have a news server!
On the very first day that Sky announced the acquisition of Be, I must have been one of the first customers to quit (for Plusnet) instead.
*smug*Oh dear. I'm not hearing such great transition stories - just lock in.
I have a private client who uses Sky. Try installing a different router to the one they supply. It took three calls and 2 hours just to get the router settings out of them and username/password for the Vigor. The crappy routers they supply don't do what people need, multiple VPN connections (IPSEC & Dial-up), VoIP out of the box, deep inspection firewall, timed services for the kids, selective site and service management you can group ...
Wait until something goes wrong with the connection and try and get support for that lot. It also doesn't work out-the-box all the time, I've seen multiple disconnects from PPP negotiation failures, so-called always-on setting in their router not being always-on.
With Zen I've had one fault on my home circuit in 5 years, and 2 in ten years at one of my clients (one of which was BT cutting through a bunch of copper and fibre while digging up the road.
Or A&A, though their simple Home::1 tariff has a 6 month minimum. Not the cheapest provider but you get what you pay for IMHO. Support doesn't start with "reboot windows" and if there is a line problem they won't accept "fixed" from BT or TalkTalk until they have confirmed with you that it really is fixed.
Plusnet is a BT Group company. They appear to be heavily into traffic shaping to maintain a stable network and are only just starting to trail IPv6. A&A don't traffic shape(*), aim to never be a bottleneck and have had IPv6 for years... I don't know about Zen.
(*) Well you can opt to reduce how fast thier LNS's feed data to you to leave a bit of space for realtime applications such as VOIP. AIUI this is based on packet size, little ones get priority over big ones.
Plusnet don't traffic shape all accounts, and are pretty open (and technical) about what they do when they do.
A&A don't traffic shape(*), aim to never be a bottleneck
Same with Zen you get what you pay for, they state there is no contention on their networks. For IPv6 it's a sore point and people are nagging them, that's the downside so far.
PlusAnother
I've had pretty quick responses recently on enquiries both by ticket and (free) phone.
They're still far more open and responsive than any other ISP or phone company I've ever dealt with.
For 10 years I had hardly any need to contact Plusnet support and on the odd occassion that I did they were very helpful, then I decided to change to a FTTC connection which resulted in major ongoing problems which unfortunately coincided with their support infrastucture problems.
I am using a Netgear dualband router not a sky one. It took about 3 minutes to find the password and there is no need to involve sky at all. Its even easier now
There aren't many people that need that subset. You missed out support for dual channel and dynamic dns which a lot more people probably do need.
Hmm, I have had a short period of disconnection while they replaced a failed board in the DSLAM. They were very accurate with their definition of the problem and the time scale. YMMV.
I have had one fault, as above.
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