Broadband provider- any recommendations ?

[tricky dicky]

zen +++ - I have previously posted on how positively I rate Zen (3.5 years ISP provider). Good local speeds, customer service need, never (touch wood). No outages - Monthly contract, not tied in to a years contract, which can be useful and was when moving.

Previously Pipex 1997 - 2006 - crap in the end.

But ultimately all I want is a reliable fast connection.

 

[peterh]

Another happy Zen customer.

More expensive than most, but the quality of service is very good. If you need help, it is provided by friendly and knowledgeable people who get to the point quickly and in plain English.

I was previously with Virgin and there is absolutely no comparison. They were a total nightmare to deal with when things went wrong - and they did, frequently, with Broadband (sic) often collapsing to less than dial up speed. Virgin provided me with zero support, but often kept me hanging on the phone.

Zen have never caused me a problem, and when I created one, Zen talked me through the fix quickly.

 

[cookie]

my view, is that back in the early days of broadband, it was not largely understood by the people that provided it, and was troublesome as a result. there were exceptions, two of the best being zen and nildram who provided a fantastic service in an ocean of mediocrity (or worse).

nowadays, even some of the worst offenders like BT seem to be able to make a fist of supplying broadband, so the specialist suppliers are less of a necessity.
nildram is now a minor offshoot of the dreaded tiscali (spit!), and zen is still charging way more for their product than other providers. great service, but probably never needed

 

[E. Buygum]

...zen is still charging way more for their product than other providers. great service, but probably never needed

Agree to a certain extent...things are much more reliable these days but the key word is "probably". You have to compare the extra you pay for a service like that from Zen with with the impact on a small business of losing the service for a few days while you tear your hair out dealing with an Off Shore Call Centre. It may only happen once every few years but the financial impact could be disastrous. The recent introduction of ADSL2+ on the BT network has been mishandled spectacularly by a number of ISPs (as was the introduction of "up to 8Mb rate" a few years ago) and as Fibre to the Cabinet/ Premises become available, I can guarantee the same will happen again. Once the technology stabilises for a while, it's tempting to take good service for granted.

 

[bobsayshello]

Zen .. the best ISP I have ever had .. more expensive but gives me a consistently usable speed (unlike my previous ISP 02 who couldnt be faulted on price but dear or dear .. snail .. crawl .. pain .. dry).

 

[(RIP) Miff]

I would suggest sticking with a big company. But NOT orange.

 

[SlowJohn]

Sky are cheap as chips if you're a Sky TV customer.

I think the current deal is up to 2mb Free, up to 8 Mb £5 per month and up to 20Mb £10 per month.

However, customer support is almost non existant unless you go through to the cancellation department!