New to the UK - Which ISP?

Hey experts,

I'm quite new to the UK and the provider world seems to be a bit different than in Germany.

Of course I'm reading into the topic for a while now, but can't really decide which ISP to take for our moving on 2nd October.
We're on the Clerkenwell Cabinet and BT says estimated between 31-53 Mb/s. Is it worth taking the 80/20 package?
I've made a Spreadsheet and BT, Sky and Plusnet (cheapest) are just a few pounds difference (all around £30 -£34 ,offers included)
Which would you suggest? The line is the same, however I think there are Customer Service differences?

Do you think it's realistic to get connected on/around the 2nd of October when ordering today?

Thanks, I really appreciate your help

2 to 3 weeks is the rough timescale for a new line and broadband so 2nd October is not impossible, but will depend on how busy the local area is.

On the extra speed that you might get from the 80 Meg service, difficult to say, depends on whether being nailed to 40 Meg, or getting an extra 20% of speed is important enough to pay more money. Personally the speed freak says order the fastest, the wallet watcher says order a 40/10 or 40/20 package and then upgrade in time if the modem reports lots more extra speed available.

Thanks Andrew,

already a really good help. I'm a speed freak as well - and used to 50mbs. So I think I'll go for the quicker one

Do you have any suggestion regarding the ISP choice? As far as I can see: Ask 5 people get 5 opinions about an ISP. But maybe there's a rule of thumb, which I don't know here in the UK.

Thanks

That's the joy, some people prefer certain providers and I try and avoid recommendations/endorsements.

If you pop up your post code we can check which deals are likely to be available (as different areas have different deal in the UK and prices can vary by area).

Have you checked virginmedia, they can offer upto 152Mbps speeds in some areas?

Browse the different ISP forums, and you'll get an idea of who to go for.

I use Zen, and woudl recommend them. Not the cheapest, but very for customer service, and rock solid ISP performance (that which is not BT's responsibility!).

Cheers,
AP

Thanks guy's

Unfortunately Virgin isn't available in our apartment house.

It's N1 7FD
My results:

BT
One-Off costs £6.95
Monthly £26.00
Line Rental £15.99
Financial bonus £143.00
(Sainsbury's voucher+£6 off first 3 months) Safe £ 32 by paying Line-Rental for one year at once
Costs for contract time £619.77
costs per month £34.43

Sky (My flatmate said she got this sky offer, not sure if correct)
One-Off costs £6.59
Monthly £22.25
Line Rental £15.99
Financial bonus £50.00
(Voucher choice?)
Costs for contract time £415.47
costs per month £34.62
12 month contract?

PlusNet
One-Off costs £5.99
Monthly £19.99
Line Rental £15.99
Financial bonus £66.00
(11 off first 6 months)
Costs for contract time £587.63
costs per month £32.65

(+ cheaper through line rental saver)

BT Student could be an alternative too, but just because it has only 9 month contract. (I'm officially student till end of the year)

Edited by deleted (Wed 17-Sep-14 13:01:43)

>Do you have any suggestion regarding the ISP choice?

Plusnet should provide you with a reliable, fast, unlimited connection plus helpful UK based support. I've been with them on FTTC for 18 months with zero issues(and used them many times before with ADSL, again no problems). Don't be fooled into thinking you need to pay a lot of money for a decent connection.

If you do decide to go with Plusnet check out the cashback deals they often do(sites like Quidco and Topcashback).

If you went with BT and chose a 40Mbps, got an unlocked HG612 and saw the attainable rate, you could then decide if an 80Mbps package would be worthwhile. At 40-45 attainable, probably not, 45-50 think about it, 50+ then yes. You would be able to see the line capability within a few days and if you decided to upgrade, BT will normally permit it without penalty - except that the contract start date would be moved by the few days.

Any of those are possibilities.

Have you checked cashback sites as there can be some very good offers for getting money back for signing up to them.

I currently use BT and will probably move to PlusNet once contract has finished (I get about the same speeds as you are looking at so the PlusNet 40/20 is actually ideal for me - small loss in downstream but I keep the 15Mb/s upstream that I currently have).

Sky I am less likely to use as it is full LLU which can complicate moving to other providers at a later date.

There are a handful of providers I would not consider but they don't feature in your current shortlist.