what ISP's

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citronut
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what ISP's

Post by citronut »

i know its not car related but we dont have a section for general chat,

we currently use Virginmedia, 19. odd quid a month, and for that we get suposedly unlimited internet and any time STD land linee calls all in, but they sting you for 0800, 0845, and 087 numbers dialed,

they also seem to keep slowing our service down from 5.5 to 6 meg down to below 2 meg,

also aparently Virgin agree with PHORM which is to do with spyware!!!!!!

my son says we should try a company like AQUISS,

any thoughts

regards malcolm
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Post by red_dwarfers »

We are on Orange at the moment, they're alright if you don't have any problems :lol: Support is terrible.

An ISP that I've recently been recommended by a couple of people is Freeola, its UK based, fairly cheap for what you get and apparently their service and technical support is second to none.
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Post by Xaccers »

Malcom, are you with VM via cable modem or is it ADSL?
If it's ADSL, then yes, move on and find a better provider. I'm with O2 as I've got my mobile through them, so up to 8Mbps for £5.
I'm getting just over 7Mbps down, and best of all, just over 1Mbps up which is great for running things like my website, email and remote desktop.
They provide 24hr free support, that aren't condesending which is great for me as often I know more than people on service desks.
There's something up with my line which is stopping me getting the speed I technically should get.
When I first had ADSL through Sky I was getting 14Mbps down, but that dropped to 6. Due to problems with my ex at the time I didn't get on to Sky to have it sorted. When we split, as Sky was in her name, they gave me the option to transfer it to my name which would involve 2 weeks without ADSL, or I could jump ship and save money with no outage.
I chose the latter and working with O2's support we got the speed up to what it is now.
BT won't investigate as they won't admit there's a problem because I can make phone calls.

If you're on a cable modem, then there's definitely something wrong with your connection!
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Post by citronut »

thanks for the replys Kev and Xac,

and yes we are on ADSL,

my son tells me that aparently VM have upgraded there systems resently, and have made some boo boo's with some of there settings,

and they are aware of it

regards malcolm
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Post by Homer »

If you are on ADSL and can get Be/O2 (same company in essence) then do it. By far the best UK ISP at the moment. If you have an O2 mobile you can get a deal with them.

http://www.bethere.co.uk/

http://broadband.o2.co.uk/

Only thing is you'll need to keep your phone package with Virgin or move it to another provider.
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Post by ellevie »

I use Tiscali which gives me broadband and line rental for about £15 which is a huge improvement on what I used to get from BT.
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Post by KP »

The ones i wouldn't touch are,

TalkTalk,
AOL,
Tiscali,
Freeserve...

The best ones are,

Newnet,
Zen,
BT.

I honestly think the free ones are what they are, free. only really good for web browsing and email and nothing more should be expected from them.

The nes above cost the most for a reason, im still a bit iffy about BT but their service isn't too bad.

I'm with newnet and have been with them for a fair while now. Just got the nieghbours onto them and also the parents in law. its a month by month contract, you obviously have to pay for activaion and if you wihs to leave migration but you are not tied in for 18months like most others try and get you onto now, this is where BT faulters.

They dont do any stupid traffic shaping and have set limits that are clear and easy to see and monitor and if you want to download you just have to set the downloads or torrents to come down between certain times.

Works a treat for me as i don't often download anything bigger than 100meg and mainly use it for me and rachel to work form home so the VPN traffic loads it up nicely. cant reccomend them enough :)
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Post by Paul-R »

I am also with Virgin for my ADSL. My phone is still with BT but I have long been considering changing.

My biggest problem is that I've been with Virgin since dial-up days and have a nice email address (well I think it is!) and have been using it for all sorts of identification. Virgin don't allow you to keep the email account if you stop buying broadband from them and, stupidly, this is a major point for me.

Disregarding my problem I think you have to decide whether your first priority is to reduce costs or get the best ADSL service you can (at a reasonable cost of course). If it's the first then Carphone Warehouse (Talk-Talk) would seem to be the best with their combined phone and ADSL service, especially if your local exchange has been LLUd (Local Loop Unbundling). SamKnows is a good site to find out what your local exchange has fitted and can offer

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/about ... knows-faqs

If you want the best ADSL and have a Sky dish and subscription then go for their combined TV/Telephone/ADSL package. If you have an O2 phone contract go for their broadband offer. After that I'm out of ideas except that you could try one of the comparison websites such as Gocompare or Moneysupermarket.
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Post by Sid_the_Squid »

ADSL wise I'm currently with O2, and quite satisfied, good speed, very cheap (I have an O2 mobile) solid connection, and no download limit, not that I seem to do much downloading these days.

Why are you on Virgin ADSL, their ADSL is quite poor compared to the cable service.
PHORM is spyware, keeps track of the websites you visit and sells this information to marketing companies, a bit like a superstore loyalty card.
I'm a bit out of the loop but I thought PHORM in the uk was a dead duck?
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Post by citronut »

my son tells me that most the big ISP companys in the UK are keen/agree to use PHORM,

the reason we are with VM is we were with NTL on dial up for years before VM took them over,

BT want 29 quid for similar to what we get with VM pluss the line rental,

so that will be another tenner or more per month,

although BT have offerd us anytime calls including 084 and 0870 No.'s for about a fiver a month,

regards malcolm
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Post by HDI »

KP mentioned Freeserve , it doesn't exist anymore ! They were taken over by another company I can't remember then by Orange . Orange are crap !! They have just increased my speed and banged up the monthly charge to £19.95 with no option and now I'm getting drop outs at least 3 times each evening !! Tried to sort it with their customer hassle dept but they are in India somewhere and a total joke !!
Problem is that I'm in rural area and will never get cable and the local exchange is still coal fired so I can't get Virgin or Talk Talk which would be my choices.
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Post by Sid_the_Squid »

some digging on PHORM situation, heres an extract from the FAQ on phorm web site.

Virgin Media in the UK believes interest based advertising has potentially important benefits for consumers, ISPs and website owners. The company is reviewing potential opportunities with suppliers including Phorm prior to making any commitment to launch any of these technologies.

What about BT?

Phorm continues to hold a commercial agreement with BT and the ISP continues to believe that the interest-based advertising category offers major benefits for consumers and publishers alike. BT has confirmed to the company that whilst it has no immediate plans to deploy, and it is currently prioritising more pressing projects such as developing next generation broadband, it will monitor Phorm’s progress with other internet service providers. Phorm is encouraged by the fact that BT has stated that privacy was not a factor in their decision making.

What about TalkTalk/ Carphone Warehouse?

TalkTalk Telecom Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Carphone Warehouse Group PLC, terminated its agreement with Phorm on 7 July 2009.



No mention of any others ISPs, so I assume its only those 3 which have relations or have had relations with phorm.

Heres a link
http://www.phorm.com/isps/faq.html
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Post by myglaren »

TalkTalk, alias Carphone warehouse, alias PC World, have taken over AOL in the UK.
I wouldn't go anywhere near that crowd, although mu phone is still through TalkTalk, due completely to inertia.

Everything else is BT and while they are admittedly more expensive I have yet to have problems with them, other than the long wait to upgrade the local phone lines.
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Post by citroenxm »

HDI wrote:KP mentioned Freeserve , it doesn't exist anymore ! They were taken over by another company I can't remember then by Orange .

Wanadooooooooooooooooo ..... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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Post by HDI »

Thats the one !! I started on Freeserve and am still with Orange. I hate Orange with a passion !! Must get down to finding a new ISP , SOON !!
Now using '00 Xantia LX HDI, pov spec :(
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