OT, Period internet connections?

[robgil]

Who are you with and are you pleased? We are with Pipex however they are turning into Talk Talk in a while and are already trying to bully us out of cash, appareently we need a talk talk router to connect after the switch over (they cant tell us when this will be) and they will only give us one if we open another 12 month contract with them, I am not prepared to do this as I have only a few months left on my Pipex contract.

So I need a new ISP, I have unlimited downloads with Pipex and would like to keep a package like this.

Any thoughts guys?

 

[MdB]

Have a look around the forums at http://www.thinkbroadband.com there is a lot of good advice there. I would also look at http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker to see who is offering LLU. The one you ideally want to see is O2/Be or Zen as they have a good rep.

I'm currently on unlimited with Newnet but I don't really recommend them now that they have been bought out but mainly because they aren't offering the good deal I've got any more. Sorry.

 

[Keithj]

I ditched Pipex some years ago, and all the experience I've had says avoid TalkTalk (mostly from rescuing neighbours whose happy Internet world had collapsed around them).

Before I go anywhere else... if you use a fred@dsl.pipex.com e-mail address now, then get yourself a "proper" setup that will remain yours regardless of which ISP you use. I've registered my own domain using Fasthosts. It costs me £6 for two years, whicn includes web forwarding and e-mail forwarding. Then set yourself up with a Gmail e-mail account (free) and set your own domainat Fasthosts to forward e-mails to that.

Your address is then fred@nerk.co.uk and remains that regardless of who you use as ISP. If you fall out with the Gmail system, then you can use your ISP-provided e-mail address (or anything else) to forward to - but don't tell anyone what it is, so if you change again, they don't have to learn yet another e-mail address for you. I can explain in more detail if you go this way.

As to who to buy your internet from... there are quite a few ISPs out there, some better than others. Basically the cheaper the worse, with a few exceptions. BT are offering a blindingly cheap deal with telephone and broadband right now, but their performance is less than startling. Although they own all the bits of the transaction, it's in separate companies that don't or won't talk to each other. I tired of sitting on the phone to India, explaining for the umpteenth time that I'd done all that several times already and can you now please get a man to fix it. BT broadband is on my "never ever" list.

There are guides to relative performance at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps.html and at http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php I find the first of those two more current - I don't think the dslzone site is being updated much these days.

If you want reasonable performance at a reasonable price, PlusNet isn't a bad compromise. I used them when we had a second home in Norfolk and they worked well. I've helped a couple of neighbours here set up with them, and both have had a trouble-free time. Check what the price will be - they are still tied down by some strange OfCom rules that say rural users must pay significantly more than urban users - it's justified on the back of "Local Loop Unbundling".

If you want top class performance, then it's probably one of the Entanet resellers (close to £20 a month) or Andrews & Arnold who are the bees knees but will set you back a bit (or more) over £20 depending on what sort of wires your house has from the exchange.

O2 BE and Zen are also in the "good ones" list - you won't be unhappy with any of those.

Whichever ISP you choose will provide you a connection to the Internet and probably an e-mail address or two. The cheaper offers don't include any webspace. If you want to put up a website, I would suggest a separate hosting deal - I use 34SP.com who are brilliant, and £4 a month gets you all the e-mail and web kit you can eat.

More of the above if you want it ... just ask!

 

[Flyfisher]

I don't know why you should need a new router for TalkTalk - might be worth asking them why. And if they insist that you do then you should insist that they send you one free of charge so that they can honour your remaining Pipex contract. All sounds very fishy to me.

I'm with BT but the wireless router they sent me is still in its box somewhere because I use a Draytek wireless router. It works fine - that's what standards are all about!

Plan-wise, I'm on the cheapest tariff and it gives me 10GB per month. We never exceed that unless FF junior is home from uni so haven't bothered to look for a higher volume deal, though I'm pretty sure they are out there if you need more GB per month - which you probably will if you download losts of music or video, which we don't.. Service-wise I have no complaints - BT has been very reliable.

 

[Me!]

I've been with BT ever since moving to this house. First with dial-up, then broadband with a monthly limit, and now unlimited broadband. It has always worked well except for a time when the physical cable developed a bad connection down the road somewhere, and they fixed that quickly and efficiently. I would not go anywhere near talk talk for anything based on experiences by friends and family.

 

[88v8]

I'm with Zen since 07.
They score consistently high in ISP quality surveys.
When I've needed advice, or on the few occasions there's been a problem - usually my end - I ring and speak with an Englishman (has to be, no Indian could do those eh oop accents) who knows what he's talking about, instead of some numpty giving you the party line from a script.
Even when it's been my problem, they've been happy to try and help me sort it.
Their contracts are monthly.
I had to buy a router, but that was because I started from scratch.
Don't know about download limit, I don't watch films n stuff on line, and wouldn't even if I had the time.
Perhaps not cheap but I value quality over cost, and when we move house I shall go with Zen again.

http://www.zen.co.uk/

Ivor

 

[Penners]

I don't know why you should need a new router for TalkTalk - might be worth asking them why. And if they insist that you do then you should insist that they send you one free of charge so that they can honour your remaining Pipex contract. All sounds very fishy to me.

I agree. A router is surely a pretty universal device. All you need for it to access just about any ISP is the correct settings.

Like Keith I'm also a fan of Google Mail (Gmail) for email. You never have to download emails into your computer, and you can access your email account from any internet-connected computer, anywhere. If your computer blows up, or you have to transfer to a new one, you don't lose anything - all your emails and contacts are stored "in the cloud".

I changed from Talk Talk to BT about six months ago, in protest against TT's huge hike in subscription charges when they took over Tiscali. I can't say that BT are any better, but they're no worse either (apart from a series of very annoying problems during the switchover period). An "unlimited" account with TT is - I believe - cheaper than with BT, but my BT limit is 10GB/month, which is ample, and cheaper than TT.

 

[GeoffP]

I’ve been with Pipex/Toucan/Tiscali for years, mainly because they were the cheapest unlimited broadband with 24/7 free landline calls and line rental that I could find. (and still are)

You shouldn’t need a new router for TalkTalk, I use a Belkin router which runs my LAN with 3 or 4 computers, that I picked up on Ebay for about £4. I’ve never been asked to buy a new one and would refuse if asked.

I use Hotmail and Gmail email addresses and have never used the pipex/toucan one

I must say that I’ve no complaints with them except for the connection being a bit slow at peak times which can be a nuisance as I watch most of my TV through iPlayer etc connected to the TV.

However, a while ago, I found that they were offering a cheaper package on the internet so I rang them and they immediately put me on the lower charges after I threatened to cancel.

From my experience, I would stay with them but certainly don’t hand over any more cash.

Geoff

 

[MdB]

I think it is talktalk that will only give support if you are using their router. Anything else and they won't help you.

From what I hear about talktalk, it is absolutely fine until you have a problem and then you are completely stuffed. If you don't have a problem then you get the benefit of low prices but personally I would stay clear.

 

[Moo]

I don't understand any of the above, but would like to put in a word for NTL/Virgin.
We were losing our TV signal every summer, when the trees in the local park came into leaf, and had to choose between a satellite dish or cable.
Went for cable and have been very satisfied indeed with them. Broadband is lightning fast, the 'phone and TV are fine, and on the rare occasion when we have a problem we just ring them up (free) and someone is round like a shot.
Our internet browser is Safari and that's excellent as well.

 

[Penners]

choose between a satellite dish or cable.
Went for cable

A very wise choice, Moo. You wouldn't have been able to get broadband through a satellite dish without spending a lot more for a much slower connection than you've got via cable.

 

[Moo]

Of course, we were lucky to have the choice. If Fate hadn't moved us into the middle of the city rather than right out in the country, we'd have had no option other than one of those dreaded dishes.

 

[Penners]

As witness our own "dreaded dish" (out here in the Back of Beyond). But it's for free satellite TV only - not for broadband. For the latter we rely on a few strands of ageing copper copper wire.

So our TV technology is 21st century, our broadband is 19th. I wonder what our chances are of getting optical cable before the 22nd century.

Zero.

 

[robgil]

No really guys , if you dont have a Talk Talk issued router you wont have a connection , thats what they told me, nothing else will be compatible.
In order to get a new router they wanted me to sign a contract for another 12 months.
They even told be that my modem , should I wish to connect through a wired connection would also not be compatible and modems are old technology anyway and wont work on modern systems, thats what they told me. :shock:

Smells fishy eh?

 

[Keithj]

Very fishy indeed. I would switch provider immediately if they won't continue your Pipex account to the end of the contract period. There should be no penalty, since they are changing the setup on you.

My poor former neighbour went the TalkTalk route, and bought one of their modems. Yes, it was a modem.
She needed a router (for the childrens' PCs), so I lent her one of mine. Once we'd found out her ADSL login and password, it was easy.

 

[Penners]

if you dont have a Talk Talk issued router you wont have a connection

Either you've misunderstood, Rob, or somebody is spinning you a yarn. It's true that they won't give you technical support for any old router, but that doesn't mean that you can't connect:

http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/1445

 

[robgil]

I just found that out today Penners, I didnt misunderstand , they are spinning yarns.
Twice my connection has stopped working and when I called up first they told me the router wont connect to talk talk, I mulled over it and decided that was not right so called them back.
I managed to get the user name and pass word from them and they had changed my pass word.
I got connected again.
Lost connection last night again , I got told the same thing this morning. Checked the pass word and it had been changed again. The technician had a very different story to tell this time, he said if it happens again I need to check the pass word or buy a talk talk router.
Why do they keep changing my password?

Very fishy indeed.

 

[Penners]

Why do they keep changing my password?

I very much doubt whether there's any human intervention in this, Rob. It's all done automatically by computers. As to the changed password, have you registered for a Talk Talk account? And have you been into your account details on the Talk Talk website and set up your own password? That's best way to do it. But be sure you have the correct old password in order to get into your account in the first place!

https://myaccount.talktalk.co.uk/register/register/register

 

[robgil]

I am still with Pipex Penners, they have yet to change my account across. I got through to Talk Talk tech support and they had never heard of me nor my account so I had to go back to Pipex. Perhaps it is just bugs in the system as they transfer all the accounts across.

 

[Keithj]

Tell them they have one last chance to fix it, or you will consider that they have broken the contract.

Then go to a better ISP.