[Archived] Best Broadband/ Phone & Tv

[LeChuck]

Be Broadband 8 Meg unlimited broadband for £6.75 a month: https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/offers Sign up for Quidco or Topcashback and you'll get another £40 back too.

Best broadband provider there is.

[Glenn]

Aren't most Sky phone/broadband connections through BT anyhow?

I love my Sky connection here, super fast speed on downloading and page loading. Ran one of those tester things a short while back and I was above average for the area.

Nope sky bought out Easynet a few years back (who at the time were the UKs biggest fiber backbone provider), the only bit that it BT is the local loop (the exchange to your house) and nobody is going to replace that. Once it hits your local exchange, it's all Sky's kit.

and yes, if you're close enough to the exchange, the BE are an excellent option, but there is no point paying for 8 meg if your only going to get 2.

[Biddy]

Just thought I'd bump this in case anyone is currently on the Vriginmedia BB XL package (20mb). They have just replaced that product with 30mb and upgrades are allowed with only a £30 activation fee (although they also provide you with a "super hub" router).

I have just phoned and upgraded myself. instant update to 30mb and the router arrives on Thursday.

[Tom]

Off topic but it's bloody annoying that in my job for BT I spend all day planning the kit for people to have super fast broadband speeds yet I'm still on 2 meg or so.

Bah!

[Hughesy]

Cant get Virgin on my street or I would.

Still on 02 internet, although it doesnt seem as good as it used to be for online gaming. Not sure if thats my firewall blocking stuff or the provider is just over subscribed now.

[MarkBRFC71]

Off topic but it's bloody annoying that in my job for BT I spend all day planning the kit for people to have super fast broadband speeds yet I'm still on 2 meg or so.

Bah!

When are we downtrodden Blackburners going to get superfast broadband? I'm thinking it needs to be rolled out probably in the Oakdale/Fernhurst Farm area first ....

[Iceman]

I had a 4mb line, but it got to expensive. Unlimited data, so downloading things were great. However, despite the line, it went slow at times.

[Hughesy]

Thinking of moving from 02, as their standard 02 box gives me a restricted firewall when gaming.....anyone know why?

Anyone signed up to any good new deals recently?

[dazmaz]

Thinking of moving from 02, as their standard 02 box gives me a restricted firewall when gaming.....anyone know why?

Anyone signed up to any good new deals recently?

Open ports? Or even put the console into a dmz (not recomended for pc)

Failing that, a neew router could fix it, netgear routers are great

[rock steady]

is it xbox live? my mum used to be with o2 broadband, and i remember my brother having some issues at first with xbox live, but with some tinkering it was sorted out. think you need to give the console a static ip and forward a few ports.

i recently moved moved my mums broadband from o2 to talktalk and before the move went through o2 called her up asking why she was moving. she told them she had found a better deal and they said they would match any better deal. so it might be worth giving them a call to see what they say.

[cmb211087]

I use virgin, I think they have a half price combo deal at the mo. I put my ps3 into dmz on the superhub and havent had a dropout since on fifa, whereas on o2 i could hardly play online

[LeChuck]

Cant get Virgin on my street or I would.

Still on 02 internet, although it doesnt seem as good as it used to be for online gaming. Not sure if thats my firewall blocking stuff or the provider is just over subscribed now.

You can't set DMZ mode on the O2 Wireless Box, that's the biggest issue with gaming. I couldn't play properly using it.

I just bought an old Netgear router for less than a tenner off eBay, sorted the problem right out. I'm with BT now and the old Netgear performs far better than the fancy looking BT Home Hub that they gave me. Going price still seems to be under a tenner - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A5251&rt=nc&_nkw=netgear+dg834g&_dmpt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=1&_sc=1

You could always give O2 a ring and explain that gaming doesn't work as good as it used to.

[Hughesy]

You can't set DMZ mode on the O2 Wireless Box, that's the biggest issue with gaming. I couldn't play properly using it.

I just bought an old Netgear router for less than a tenner off eBay, sorted the problem right out. I'm with BT now and the old Netgear performs far better than the fancy looking BT Home Hub that they gave me. Going price still seems to be under a tenner - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A5251&rt=nc&_nkw=netgear+dg834g&_dmpt=UK_Computing_Networking_SM&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=1&_sc=1

You could always give O2 a ring and explain that gaming doesn't work as good as it used to.

02 have great customer services for broadband problems, however when it comes to gaming help they are reluctant to help on the gaming side.

LeChuck - iv considered that - but how easy is it to install a new router? Do I simply unplug the old one and plug then new one in or is there some techy stuff I need to do?

[LeChuck]

You would need to go into the router settings and set it up for 02 broadband. It's a similar task to port forwarding and things like that, very simple and only takes a minute or two.

Plenty of instructions around if you Google for O2 settings, something like this would do the trick - http://www.o2help.co.uk/configure-netgear-router/

Once you've done this you can set the PS3 (I assume it's your PS3?) in DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) mode. Much easier than port forwarding and 'should' sort out your problem.

It's probably worth having your own router anyway since most broadband companies only give poor routers free of charge, and will charge through the nose for a better one.