I wasn't going to reply as most have said pretty much what I would say. However I think it's relevant as I was with Plusnet also the same as you and wary about leaving. I went live on Sept 25th and it has been good since and a big improvement on gaming pings since being put on their fastpath ( Interleaving switched off) and an improvement on speed. Also it is much cheaper than what you're paying. The standard packages at plusnet also throttle P2P so there's no difference there. They're value package even throttles gaming! Check out the plusnet package comparison chart here. Remember that TalkTalk give a one month trial period anyway and now their contract is only 12 months.

Most have said that the telephone support is not good, but I'll go as far as to say most of the time they are diabolical. I considered cancelling at one point during the trial month after calling them. However the talktalkmembers forum is good and staff are polite and qualified. So far I've personally no reason to complain. To be honest Plusnet run on a ticket system also which is similar to the talktalk forum (in fact the forum is a bit more personal contact) and they are owned by BT since 2007. I rang them with a cessation of line problem when leaving and got put through to an Indian call centre so Plusnet are not the company that I originally joined in 2004.

I'd recommend avoiding talktalk unless you know you are going to get a good connection. I've been subsumed via tiscali being originally a nildram customer. Since talktalk have taken over and my line was migrated the performance has been utterly terrible. in the evening or weekends youtube doesn't stream for more than about 10 seconds without pausing. No changes at my end, decent quality line.

support is also awful. No response for a week to ticket raised then constant "lies" about escalation of the call and a team leader would call to discuss the problems.

They've also just arrived in my area as the only LLU provider.

However, the maximum speed they say they can deliver is only 5mbit, compared to the bang on 8mbit I currently receive through Demon, however, since Demon isn't an LLU service, I'm subjected to a 50GB/rolling 30 days FUP, but other than that they offer great service for the money.

So the only reason I would be switching would be to get rid of the FUP, however, Demon are quite a switched on company, refusing to sign up to various government schemes like other large ISPs, against rubbish like Phorm when it reared its ugly head, and seem to value their customers more than kowtowing to corporations, whereas TalkTalk give the impression that they'll be the exact opposite of that.

It's just the FUP that is the thorn in my side, and TalkTalk is the only option, but since they seem traffic shaping happy, is there much point, as I may not be able to use the connection properly anyway.

the maximum speed they say they can deliver is only 5mbit, compared to the bang on 8mbit I currently receive

What's your SNR? I doubt you will go from 8meg to 5 meg. I went from a synch of 8meg to 17meg... I really do need to work out why my synch is 17meg but speed tests are consistently 13.5meg......

TBH, there is a lot of talk about traffic shaping. I have been using some P2P software of late and getting good download speeds. Also get good gaming speeds and excellent browsing speed. Can't fault the service, and the members forum is fine for getting simple things done like profile changes.

I don't rate the phone support highly but on the occasions I have used it I have at least been satisfied. Again, I think as long as the problem is a simple one they can sort it out.

In reply to a post by MrWhiteUK:

It's just the FUP that is the thorn in my side, and TalkTalk is the only option, but since they seem traffic shaping happy, is there much point, as I may not be able to use the connection properly anyway.

If for whatever reason you do decide not to go with talktalk there are other options for you.
Check out the resellers forum for companies that sell products based on CPW exchange equipment.

Xilo and Vivaciti are two of them.
Xilo do not traffic shape at all and Vivaciti do however you can pay to have it removed. You can also keep your BT line now on one of the Vivaciti products.

Problem is they could prove to be much more expensive than talktalk.

Think Xilo offer 50GB on their product for £26.54 which may not be enough for you?
Vivaciti would be 26.40 for 100GB plus another £20 to remove traffic shaping which would also remove the 100GB cap.


Gary

In reply to a post by gmoorc:

In reply to a post by MrWhiteUK:

It's just the FUP that is the thorn in my side, and TalkTalk is the only option, but since they seem traffic shaping happy, is there much point, as I may not be able to use the connection properly anyway.

If for whatever reason you do decide not to go with talktalk there are other options for you.
Check out the resellers forum for companies that sell products based on CPW exchange equipment.

Xilo and Vivaciti are two of them.
Xilo do not traffic shape at all and Vivaciti do however you can pay to have it removed. You can also keep your BT line now on one of the Vivaciti products.

Problem is they could prove to be much more expensive than talktalk.

Think Xilo offer 50GB on their product for £26.54 which may not be enough for you?
Vivaciti would be 26.40 for 100GB plus another £20 to remove traffic shaping which would also remove the 100GB cap.


Gary

Thanks for that, I didn't realise there were other providers available using the hardware.

Xilo don't appear to be able to offer any better than I could get through Demon, but Vivaciti can offer me 100GB FUP for £19.80 inc vat per month, and according to their FAQ, it doesn't seem the FUP is so brutal as Demon's, where you're basically throttled to 128k for a few weeks if you go over the limit.

As it is a fair use policy rather than a data cap, we look at the activity of the account throughout the duration of your service, so if your usage is normally below the FUP, but you occasionally go over this, then this would not be a problem, if however you consitently go over the FUP then we may recomend a different package that may suit you better.

they also mention

What are Peak and Off Peak Hours?
For the allowance based products, peak hours are defined as Monday to Friday 8AM - midnight (8AM - 8PM for Office connections) All other times are off peak.
Our FTTC Products have peak time defined as Mon - Fri 8am - 11pm.

So if they're a bit lenient on their FUP and I could have unlimited usage during off peak, then that would suit me brilliantly.

And I assume it should be as fast as I get on BT Wholesale through Demon? (Vivicati make no mention of predicted line speed) since Tiscali said they could only provide 5mb, surely ADSL2+ should be able to deliver more than the dead on 8mb I get now?

Thanks

In reply to a post by SimonCandest:

the maximum speed they say they can deliver is only 5mbit, compared to the bang on 8mbit I currently receive

What's your SNR? I doubt you will go from 8meg to 5 meg. I went from a synch of 8meg to 17meg... I really do need to work out why my synch is 17meg but speed tests are consistently 13.5meg......

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 8128 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 26 db 5.5 db
Noise Margin 7 db 24 db

Just for clarity, I do actually download at 8mbit, I'm not just synched at it, in case anyone thinks I'm getting confused between the two

Edited by MrWhiteUK (Tue 01-Mar-11 12:48:15)

Well no sign of them actually active yet ;-(
The samknows still says RFC yesterday and their online checked says I am out of network.

In reply to a post by MrWhiteUK:

they also mention

What are Peak and Off Peak Hours?
For the allowance based products, peak hours are defined as Monday to Friday 8AM - midnight (8AM - 8PM for Office connections) All other times are off peak.
Our FTTC Products have peak time defined as Mon - Fri 8am - 11pm.

So if they're a bit lenient on their FUP and I could have unlimited usage during off peak, then that would suit me brilliantly.

Is that the price for the partial LLU surfwise product?

There is no peak or off peak with surfwise. You will just get a straight 100GB to use through the month.
They do shape during office hours up to around 7pm ish if I remember correctly.

This Link says you should get around 17meg.

In reply to a post by kenr:

Well no sign of them actually active yet ;-(
The samknows still says RFC yesterday and their online checked says I am out of network.

Is your exchange on this list?

In reply to a post by gmoorc:

Is that the price for the partial LLU surfwise product?

There is no peak or off peak with surfwise. You will just get a straight 100GB to use through the month.
They do shape during office hours up to around 7pm ish if I remember correctly.

This Link says you should get around 17meg.

It doesn't seem to mention what product it is, and it doesn't seem to match up with any of the services they've got listed, it just says "ADSL2+ 100GB FUP - £19.80 inc vat"