Broadband recommendation

[Walowiz]

I'm after consistently quick and reliable broadband.

I'm currently with talk talk (we had no choice when returning home if we wanted broadband quickly) and I'm switching now out of contract, as the speed varies wildly and is never that good.

Anyone recommend any of the many broadband players ?

Cheers

 

[Bryn]

BT infinity..... not had a problem with mine whatsoever... the problem with other providers is that when there's a problem they'll blame each other.....

i.e BT phone line, orange broadband... you have a problem, bt will say its Orange and vice versa..... keep it all under one roof

 

[Malvern_Beemer]

+1 for BT Infinity (Business). Consistently fast up/download speeds and very good customer support. Just don't use the BT supplied hardware!

 

[wessie]

http://www.lovemoney.com/news/household-bills/broadband/12418/uks-worst-broadband-provider may help - lists major ISPs by proportion of complaints to OFCOM per 1000 customers. Note those that rely on selling bundled services, Sky & Virgin, get the fewest complaints.

My personal experience: Be (part of O2) have been great at my house in Wales but they are being sold off to Sky. Virgin cable are okay at my flatshare in Cheltenham, with a TV/phone/broadband bundle.

 

[hank]

Not the cheapest but I have had great service from Zen. http://www.zen.co.uk/ Been with them for about six years now.

Sometimes it's worth paying a wee bit more for quality.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Not the cheapest but I have had great service from Zen. http://www.zen.co.uk/ Been with them for about six years now.

Sometimes it's worth paying a wee bit more for quality.

Zen consistently win customer service awards. Spot on.

 

[E. Buygum]

Not the cheapest but I have had great service from Zen. http://www.zen.co.uk/ Been with them for about six years now.

Sometimes it's worth paying a wee bit more for quality.

Have Zen Fibre since April (it's Zen's equivalent to BT Retail's "Infinity"). Insanely fast and completely reliable. In the unlikely event there is a problem, you'll be talking to someone in the UK. Also have my telephone line with them so no risk of disputes between line and BB provider. Excellent service but not cheap. Calls are cheap, per second billing and no call set up charges.

 

[cookie]

Good grief!

I just checked out the cost of zen fibre. It's absurd, and the legendary service is only any use if it goes wrong. Hardly common these days.

Any improvement they offer in traffic management is somewhat negated by the download limits. I'm baffled.

 

[shugie]

Good grief!

I just checked out the cost of zen fibre. It's absurd, and the legendary service is only any use if it goes wrong. Hardly common these days.

Any improvement they offer in traffic management is somewhat negated by the download limits. I'm baffled.

Hardly common? Thought you'd been consigned to the internet version of Coventry last weekend.

Zen limits are a bit tight, I agree, 100GB at 76MBs for just under £30 a month is not that cheap, assuming you can actually get it, which I can't.

 

[cookie]

Indeed I was cut off for 24 hours or so, but that was the first outage in several years with O2, and the customer service was pretty good and uk based. Costs peanuts too.

Shame they are getting out of broadband otherwise I would have recommended them to the OP. as it is, once you get above the bottom feeders like talk talk etc. I can't see much to differentiate them.

Zen would be a nice luxury if it was on a business and it was all deductible.

O2 have been sold to sky and its unclear what exactly is to be done with their customers. Nothing in the short term except bombard them with cheap deals to sign up with sky for 18 months I hope.

I'll be off to fibre when our cab goes live in a couple of months anyway. Probably with BT. Can't see ill get anything from zen to justify their pricing?

 

[follow me]

I've been using https://wispire.co.uk/ for the last year. Great customer service and very handy if you don't require a phone line. Saves on the cost of line rental It's probably not available in Kent as yet. But anyone in Norfolk looking for a supplier I can't fault them.

 

[sanqhar]

I live in a village so no cable.

First you need to eliminate problems within your property, internal telephone wiring, WiFi etc.. Have you plugged your computer direct into the router and the router direct into the Master phone socket?

Check out the Wikipedia entry for "British telephone sockets" in particular the part about the new style: Removable plate (NTE5). Take off the front and plug direct into the back plate see the Wiki entry re the demarkation point between your responsibility and BT's. Note the latest style has "Openreach" on the front and I'm told is better for broadband. Then test the speed. If the problem is your side of the Master Socket then you need to sort that out first otherwise you may/will charged for the call out.

Use a speed test site like http://www.speedtest.net/

If you login with them they hold your speed history (table or graph) and if your speeds are inconsistent you can use it to badger your provider.

I have been with Waitrose (now John Lewis who sub it out to Plusnet) for 10 years and the only problems have been with the telephone line, which of course is run by BT.

I have no complaints regarding the problem handling by Plusnet, they are good. If the speed is due to line problems then surely it will be the same for all providers.

tom

 

[longdog]

If you are in a cabled area, use Virgin for broadband, fastest and most consistent bar none and if you don't believe me, ask Ofcom

 

[Pukmeister]

Virgin 120mbps, essential when everyone in the house is using t'internet every evening simultaneously. Excellent service and recommended.