Opinions on ISP's

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Ithryn
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Opinions on ISP's

Post by Ithryn »

I am moving in with the girlfriend this week in belfast, eek, and have been doing some research into the various ISP's. Im fairly settled on tiscalis package, £13 a month, up to 8mb, unlimited downloads, and free weekend calls, which i have been using previously, with very little complaint. However I thought I may as well ask for other peoples opinions on the matter.

So what do you lot think is the best value for money and reliable ISP available in Belfast? Oh and the area is not cabled for virgin I checked. Oh and my useage is very heavy so small download limits is a big no no.
Why? Why not?
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mikerob
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by mikerob »

A lot of ISPs just re-sell BT wholesale services so you don't tend to get many technical or price differences between them - just the degree of customer support (or not).

http://www.samknows.com is a website you can use to find out what ISPs have actually installed their own equipment in your local exchange (called LLU - Local Loop Unbundling) so you can investigate if there is an alternative to BT or BT resellers.

LLU operators tend to be faster than BT at rolling out faster broadband however they also only focus on areas with large populations, may only address business customers and customer support may be variable.
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ColinM
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by ColinM »

I use talktalk who do the line rental, all evening and weekend calls and 4mb broadband, 40GB for £16.99 and cheper in the first 3 months. Effectively BB is free. Contrary to any reports i havent had a problem in almost a full year.

Alternatively Orange will give you free BB if your phone contract is £30 or more per month but you only get 6GB. ( i got my knuckles rapped for constantly exceeding this so i changed to TT
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Ithryn
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by Ithryn »

thats a great site mike thanks.

talk talk seems good but I had heard from other gamers that they throttle the speed at peak hours often making online games unplayable.
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ColinM
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by ColinM »

As i say, I've had no problems, but I'm connected to a small exchange which is quite close to the house and and is llu enabled for TT. Cant speak for other peoples experiences.
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mikerob
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by mikerob »

All ISPs will do some throttling at peak times - it just depends how selective they are on the applications that they throttle.

I can't remember the exact stats, but a huge percentage of residential internet bandwidth is taken up by a very small % of users - basically people that download illegal DVDs, music and software 24 x 7 and this was the reason why many ISPs introduced bandwidth caps.
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Rooster
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by Rooster »

Be gratefull you have a choice and are not restricted to 32Mb in any 4 hours with a top speed of 512 kbps like most out of town customers stuck with Bt satellite
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Ithryn
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by Ithryn »

hmm, would any of you folks be of any help to me. since last weekend im getting disconnected every 5 minutes or so, and the rest of the time the speed is pedestrian. My ISP tiscali's customer support is a pile of tom kite, every time i call they run through a basic check list (plugged in, using a filter blaa blaa) before "running some tests" and discovering a fault with the line and promising to call back within 24 hours which they never do, im going mad here with next to no internet access.

seriously considering swopping isps but dont want the problem to come withme
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ColinS
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by ColinS »

Virgin Media have never let me down.
Some people say I used to be called Colzo. Don't listen to them people, I talk much less sense than Colzo.
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by Rooster »

Welcome to Norn Irn Ithryn, the home of 100% broadband coverage, as long as you are not in a hurry :roll:
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Re: Opinions on ISP's

Post by for dog and ulcer »

SKY package going in at home today. I have an option for broadband at an extra fiver a month- a saving of £17 a month on my current provider. Any views on the efficacy of their provision?
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