Best Broadband Server

[JonnoTheBee]

I am trying to bring my parents into the 21st Century by getting them broadband. I've had a look around for good deals, but I am a bit more interested in performance. Obviously some are faster than others, but I was wondering whether anyone has any problems or good experiences with certain companies. Does anyone know of any good deals on at the moment.

Thanks for any information.

[MancBee]

ADSL GUIDE (http://www.adslguide.org) :wave:

[Brentford Bob]

Plus Net. Never had any probs and I think young Alex will back me up on this.

[Simon C]

I've got cable from Telewest and they've just upped the bandwidth without upping the cost. Also got a good deal on tv and phone with it.

[JonnoTheBee]

Plus Net. Never had any probs and I think young Alex will back me up on this.

Which one of these do you have Bob? http://www.adslguide.org/isps/ispinfo.asp?isp=plusnet

Cheers all for your replies. Any more ideas?

[MancBee]

Pipex have been good for me, much better than Freeserve were (and cheaper!). :)

[Brentford Bob]

Which one of these do you have Bob? http://www.adslguide.org/isps/ispinfo.asp?isp=plusnet

Cheers all for your replies. Any more ideas?


I Think this is it:

http://www.adslguide.org/isps/prodinfo.asp?id=438

I got a free modem as well though.

[FarnhamBee]

If it's available, go for cable.

Whilst ADSL works, you're on the edge of the technology, using wires that were designed to carry 'phone calls for something extra - the speed you can achieve all depends on how far from the exchange you are & the quality of the wiring - anything above 500k is really pushing it.

Wheras with cable, the basic infrastructure (the cable itself) is well able to get you to speeds in excess of 8Meg - one day we'll be using those speeds for real-time streaming... probably.

[Edmundo]

I use v21 (www.v21.co.uk). I don't think they're on ADSL guide, which is probably a good thing as it must keep contention rates down. £19.99 a month and in the last year I don't think I've had a single connection problem. Their email service is a joke, however, but you don't have to use it.

[Alex]

As Bob says I reccomend plus net too. I use it at home and in the office and have had no problems at all with their service. My dad has cable with telewest the cheaper 256 (I think it's now 384 as twest have just added 50% to all connection speeds) version and it's fine but bear in mind with cable they'll need to dig your front garden up to put it in.

[Alex]

This one http://www.adslguide.org/isps/prodinfo.asp?id=433

[Jim Rourke]

Plus Net. Never had any probs and I think young Alex will back me up on this.

I am with PlusNet too. I had a lot of pain trying to get DSL, but when I went for ADSL and was up and running, everything was fine.

They did have a crash on Thursday and lost it for two hours, but the good bit about this was by using dial up and going to their portal, you got regular updates and they finished the update with a time for the next update :sorted:

[JonnoTheBee]

As Bob says I reccomend plus net too. I use it at home and in the office and have had no problems at all with their service. My dad has cable with telewest the cheaper 256 (I think it's now 384 as twest have just added 50% to all connection speeds) version and it's fine but bear in mind with cable they'll need to dig your front garden up to put it in.

Cable might be better potentially, but I think digging up the front garden wouldn't go down too well. I think plus net is in the lead at the moment, the only thing is you seem to need to buy the modem etc whereas other more mainstream suppliers eg. BT, offer it to you for free.

Anyone got BT? Anyone had any really bad experiences?

[Edmundo]

But do they charge more? Do they tie you in to a minimum contract? The modem won't cost that much and you can usually bet that the big players don't do as well as the specialists.

[Luton Bee]

Cable might be better potentially, but I think digging up the front garden wouldn't go down too well.

If you already have a cable TV or 'phone service, they will have already done the digging. They will simply run a piece of co-axial cable from the cable termination point (usually a small grey box fixed to the front of your house) to wherever you want the cable modem to go. I have it here at home and they did a pretty neat job of installing in in about 2 hours flat.

[FarnhamBee]

If you already have a cable TV or 'phone service, they will have already done the digging. They will simply run a piece of co-axial cable from the cable termination point (usually a small grey box fixed to the front of your house) to wherever you want the cable modem to go. I have it here at home and they did a pretty neat job of installing in in about 2 hours flat.

Even digging up the garden isn't all that traumatic, when they installed my TV/Phone it only took about an hour & when I had my cable modem/2nd phone line it only took about 1/2 hour.

Mind you, I guess it depends on how big your garden is, but they don't need a very big hole...

[Nada Bee]

i have pipex too, its good..... no problems.

[PBee]

Been using Pipex for about 5 weeks , no problems at all so far.

[Carl Super-Hooper]

Debate no longer - this is the broadband deal of the moment...

http://www.bulldogdsl.com/bulldog4/index.asp

4mb for £20 for the first 3 months then £30 for the next 9 months... where do I sign?

[Edmundo]

Looks a great deal, although when I checked my postcode they aren't offering the 4Mbps deal. But the 2Mbps off-peak and 512k peak deal at £15.99 a month is a fantastic offer. As long as the service is good, of course. But I'm seriously tempted.