Which way to get Broadband?

Hi all, Having had many problems with my ISP support I want to change supplier, but to what? I would ideally like fibre broadband only (no land line included)

The only way I can get fibre here on the Isle of Wight is with BT with a land line phone line included

I found a Satellite broadband only supplier but they will supply a self install kit only, and I would sooner pay for a survey first to make sure it is in sight of the Satellite as I am in a built up area!

This leaves the choice to either SKY Satellite or other like: Talk Talk or Virgin As I know very little about them any thoughts welcomed. Mick.

Reply to
Mick IOW
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Try Orpheus Internet. I've just had Fibre to the Cabinet (100yds away) installed. My phone still comes the way it has done for years.

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01702 462385

No call centres - just a real, very friendly, person.

Reply to
charles

Firstly it seem like you have been hoodwinked by the marketing. "fibre broadband" is almost in variably Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) with your phone line making the connection from the cabinet to you.

FTTC service. Fibre To The Premisis (FTTP) might be available but if you are baulking at a POTS line rental you really aren't going to like FTTP rentals. B-)

One assumes you are also relying on a mobile for voice telephony. This might not be wise, very few mobile phone cells have any backup power. BT Telephone exchanges have big batteries and backup generators to keep services running in the event of a power cut. The FTTC boxes have backup batteries as well but don't know what up time they have.

If you know the satellite they use there are app for smart phones that will show where in the sky they are. Satellite is OK but tends to be expensive, have quite low data caps and latentcy approaching a second.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

In message , Mick IOW writes

If you can get it from BT, then any other ISP offering fibre broadband will be able to supply you as well.

however, you won't get it without paying for a landline - (I assume you mean that you have a phone lien just don't want to pay line rental)

Have you looked at the costs and the performance - it generally only makes sense for people who can't get broadband via the phone line.

Sky isn't satellite, it is via the phoneline - what they offer/the cost depends on whether or not you exchange is unbundled (they have their own equipement in the phone exchange basically) TalkTalk similar.

Virgin only available if they have cabled up your area, as they use their own network.

Personally , at the moment we are with Plusnet - the service has been fine - but by all accounts it can take ages to get an answer on the phone from support - but then I've never had to ring them.

worth having a poke around the thinkbroadband forums:

Some good things have been said about pluse8, cheap landline rental with broadband and no contract:

Reply to
Chris French

In message , charles writes

And, unfortunately, like most smaller providers, expensive if you use down/upload much.

Not really a criticism as such, just a reality of the market

Reply to
Chris French

Mick IOW scribbled

What problems? Broadband works or doesn't. If you've problems with speed, that's unlikely to improve if you change ISPs. Broadband hardware to your door comes from either BT or Virgin. There are no alternatives.

Reply to
Jonno

Or, as in my case, neither!

Reply to
Broadback

True, but some ISPs are better at kicking BT to get it fixed.

Reply to
Bob Eager

Well you don't say what your issues are.

To check whether you can receive satellite use:

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though satellite is very much a method of last resort.

I suggest that you post in the

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forums for advice.

In generally you will have to pay for a phone line

Reply to
Michael Chare

Think you'll find they all charge pretty well the equivalent of the BT line rental even if they supply the cable.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Or just use BT direct. I've not had one failure since changing to them some years ago. With the previous Talk Talk, it was a couple of times a year, and always a pain to get fixed.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I think you will be hard pressed over there. I don't know about satellite broadband, I doubt it actually exists, its probably sky using btt fibre. After all it can only be one direction and the delay factor would make it too slow.

I do not know of anyone who does not include the phone line rental as to be honest this is where their revenue comes from. It really costs nothing to shove in a phone line so its part of the broadband and anyone not getting broadband and who pays their rental costs, is, in my opinion being fleeced. Myself and not looking at cost as the bottom line I'd say ignore Talk Talk as their customer service and ability to communicate with each other is lacking causing many peoples blood to boil when anything goes wrong as their tv box and router often do. Sky seem to have a good reputation for getting things fixed, and so do Virgin, which of course comes into the house on a coaxial cable from a fibre system to the street. As you say, all need you to rent the line as well. Brian

Reply to
Brian-Gaff

Try IDnet also. If BT has fibre, and copper, any decent ISP will sell you bandwidth and phone over their actual hardware.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

'Line rental' is a red herring - someone has to pay for the wires whether you use the phone or not. In fact, having a phone on your line can slightly subsidise your broadband (because they hope they'll get call revenue from it). So don't worry about line rental, just measure the total cost.

Do you not have access to WightFibre?

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos

It does - the usual scenario is you use dialup or something else for upload and get data back down via the satellite. I've never used it although it's supposed to be fairly fast but very poor latency.

Reply to
Richard Conway

Nope.

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Base package: Down 5 Mbps, Up 1 Mbps, 2 GB cap, £20/month plus hardware (£5/month or £145 purchase, I think)

Top speed is 22 Mbps down so is not "Superfast broadband" which is defined as 24 Mbps or above. Highest data cap is 40 GB, we get through 200 GB/month...

Delay is an issue for anything realtime interactive but has no bearing on speed of the link.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

With the smaller providers you tend to get what you pay for though. Some have very heavy size 13 boots that they are not afraid to use. They also offer we'll fix your line within a month or you can leave and not owe a penny:

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Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Look at

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Some good deals, at least for year 1.

Reply to
Vortex11

Oh sure, and I was with A&A a while back, but I don't really feel I can justify the extra cost, probably £50 with A&A, when I get unlimited

80/20 FTTC from Plusnet for £20. Just cross my fingers and hope I never have to ring them :-)

Actually , had our first problem this week - some problem with the phone line took out the voice service. Fault was diagnosed via a fault reporting webpage, and it was fixed in 3 working days (which is down to OR anyway, and would seem to be a pretty normal time for a domestic line)

Reply to
Chris French

Hi Theo, no I cannot get Wight Fibre, I am in the middle of town and they only have their cables around the town, their box is a 5 min walk away.

They also do a satellite Broadband service for my area but a building opposite me blocks that! Mick.

Reply to
Mick IOW

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