[Archived] Getting Broadband

[Eddie]

No doubt I'll be slated for this as well, but does anyone know of a broadband provider who can set it up in less than 10 days? Everyone I've talked to so far has said that it will take a minimum of 10 days to get it up and running. I've been amazed at how difficult it has been to get it all going here.

[Ricky]

Eddie, I think that is a standard time as it takes that long for BT and the ISP to get the line sorted (something like that anyway)

Look at my free broadband link in the computer section (probably where this thread should be to be honest) for a good broadband offer from Virgin.net. I was up and running in 7 days

[Paul]

BT set a date for turning on the service and it's very difficult to get that moved forward. If you're using BT in any form, that is via their telephone line reagrdless of the provider, that is the root of the problem. I've no idea about the cable based providers.

[AxesFirstTouch]

BT are the broadband equivalent of flopsys posts. ######.

[Ste B]

BT are the broadband equivalent of flopsys posts. ######.

I'd look at your own posts before criticising others.

[AxesFirstTouch]

quote name='Ste B' date='Sep 6 2006, 12:12 ' post='442586']

I'd look at your own posts before criticising others.

Get you

[

[blue phil]

BT are the broadband equivalent of flopsys posts. ######.

Remind me never to try BT broadband ...

[Seggie]

Dont get Talk Talks broadband offer, Im still waiting for mine 3 months on(granted thats down to NTL not clearing my line as well) but that 10 days has been about 40 days now(We were on a waiting list and were told July).

Eddie if you get it so you get your broadband through cable rather than your phone line they usually come within a few days and dont have to wait for your ISP to liase with BT

[Eddie]

Choices are now NTL, BT or Orange, what does everyone think? Good thing with BT and Orange is that we get a free wireless router, which we need. Only heard bad things about NTL, though heard bad things about BT on here and both BT and Orange would involve BT in some way.

[Flopsy]

BT do the lines for all non cable broadband

[cn174]

I wouldn't go near Orange (formally Wanadoo).

I know I keep saying it but Demon are very good http://www.demon.net/ 8mb for £20 month, no restrictions and never had any problems ever.

[Ricky]

I'm sticking to my recommendation of Virgin. 8mb a month for £15, also giving you a SIM card with 300 minutes and 300 texts per month. I honestly think that takes some beating.

[American]

I wouldn't go near Orange (formally Wanadoo).

I know I keep saying it but Demon are very good http://www.demon.net/ 8mb for £20 month, no restrictions and never had any problems ever.

You've just guaranteed an outage soon!

[Jim J]

Is anyone going for SKY's free option?

[robborover]

no contract with virgin either. you just have to give one months notice.

[cn174]

Is anyone going for SKY's free option?

The SKY deal looks really good. The free option gives you a 2gb download limit though. But the MAX package is free installation, unlimited download and is £10 month.

[Flopsy]

how stable is the sky offer?

Im with AOSmell but have had no problems and a really good ping when playing BF2 and other games

[Hannah]

Is anyone going for SKY's free option?

I have looked into this as I want broadband and I thought I could justify the cost of the sports channel by offsetting it against interent connection as well! I registered an interest but they havent rolled it out to where i live!

Would be interested to know what people have found out about it and whether the free one was going to be ok for my sort of usage - dont really download anything - just surf across different websites.

They just need to be quicker getting it to me and then i can have sky sports, sky plus and broadband!!!

(and i said i would never get sky!)

[Jim J]

Well, i've just requested my MAC code today, so I can switch to sky. You have to stay with them for 12 months, so I thought I'd get Sky+ while I was at it.

Ended up with the Sky multiroom package, which has cost me £49 for the Sky+ box and installation. It will cost me an extra £10 a month for multiroom, but I was paying £15 for broadband, which will now be free.

All in all a good deal me thinks.

[Biddy]

But the MAX package is free installation, unlimited download and is £10 month.

The only problem I have with this package is that the "unlimited" download is subject to a Fair Usage Policy which they haven't as yet published.

A good place to look for other users comments is always ADSLGuide

I'm going to wait and see what happens with Sky's offering. If too many people jump to Sky due to the great prices then the whole service will probably suffer.

Edited September 7, 2006 by Biddy

[Paul]

Choices are now NTL, BT or Orange, what does everyone think? Good thing with BT and Orange is that we get a free wireless router, which we need. Only heard bad things about NTL, though heard bad things about BT on here and both BT and Orange would involve BT in some way.

We've had BT for perhaps 4 years, not the cheapest but it has been trouble free and, much to surprise, the service has been excellent. I've stuck with BT mainly because they own the phone line and the ISP - I worry about getting in a conflict with the two, each blaming the other. Custome service and tech support has been very good and on the two occassions the router has been misbehaving we've been sent a new one inside 24 hours. Can't fault BT on this.

Been with Orange as my mobile contract for 12 years. I can't praise Orange highly enough, I think it's an outstading business. My wife has Orange PAYG and the service level used to be poor in comparison with the contract business, however in recent years this has improved enormously. No idea about their braodband service.

[Biddy]

I've stuck with BT mainly because they own the phone line and the ISP - I worry about getting in a conflict with the two, each blaming the other.

You've actually got the same problem within BT as you would with any 3rd party supplier. Internally, the departments are all split up so BT Wholesale, BT Retail and the BT Broadband areas are all run as different groups. BT are regluated by OFCOM and stop BT Broadband having any advantages over other ISP's. Therefore you can still get the two groups blaming each other.

Aside from that, we have many BT Business Broadband lines at work and the service is excellent. Not a single problem and they all work at top speed (8mb).

[Paul]

Thinking about it I was aware of that but didn't consider it. I see the point but suspect there is less chance of this conflict arising with BT.

We also use BT braodband across several sites ay work and I cannot recall any problems in the time we have had the service.

[Ricky]

Paul, as you are on an Ornage contract why don't you swap to their free broadband. They'll probably ask you to sig a new contract with them but it would probably save you a few quid a month

[Paul]

Quite simple Ricky, and this is one area where I would criticise Orange. The whole thing is so very complicated that I am confused and unsure by the product, IMO Orange have been very poor at developing a simple, clear package for some users.

To explain. I'm 52 with no formal education in using the technology at my disposal. Everything I know (very little) is self-taught. I'm very good at understanding and being creative about what technology can do for me but very poor at making it do what I want - we pay a software man to do this. My company is streets ahead of the competition in its use of technology, my ideas brought to implementation by people who can write software and understand how to make technology work.

So when it comes to Orange, my phone, their offers etc. I don't actually fully understand the product oferring or how it works. Therefore as a consumer I stick with the tried and tested, click this button and it works. This is a mistake most technology companies make; there's huge market ro people like me, happy and comfortable with technology, but who do not comprehend the offer.

It's fine marketing all this stuff at younger people but a major failing not to address the older market.

I have phone that can sing and dance, the whole thing and I just use it for making calls. This is why I don't use Orange broadband, I'm not aware of it and if I was I'd expect it to be very complex. For the same reason I had real difficulty in buying an MP3 player and have ended up very disillusioned with the Apple product I purchased.

Not that I know much about marketing.....................