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.

In reply to a post by MHC:

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.

That applies to pretty well all ISPs.

Thanks a lot!

I think with Cashback in mind I will go for BT Infinity (probably 2). 157 Pounds Topcashback + 125 Sainsbury's. Thats quite good I think.

Edited by deleted (Wed 17-Sep-14 14:15:07)

I did a fairly long post earlier then when I hit the preview I lost it and wasn't in the mood.

My main point was (in short) that BT CS is the worst of those three. Overseas, often hard to understand, and strictly tied to their script. Plusnet good but slow except through the Community forums - best to post in there anyway as you will want a "Simultaneous provide", where it is a good idea to involve one of the senior reps who go there. Sky is good, and cheap if you want Sky TV.

Thanks Roberto.

Unfortunately I'm not able to order through topcashback. It just shows me the wrong packages after using the link...
I think we don't need SkyTV. I cant really describe why - but they're not my favourite.

In reply to a post by AndyPandy:

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

I agree with that, I have ZEN and yes they're not the cheapest but for reliability and customer service they're second to none.

In reply to a post by peblon:

Unfortunately I'm not able to order through topcashback. It just shows me the wrong packages after using the link...

What's "wrong" about the packages it shows?
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/plusnet_broadband/

It happens at BT
When I click on it and go through the process.
I can click on BT Infinity 2, enter my Postcode, and get just broadband and broadband + tv as a choice. Not the fibre one anymore. It works without the TCB link, so it's not due to availability I'd say.

In reply to a post by John99:

I agree with that, I have ZEN and yes they're not the cheapest but for reliability and customer service they're second to none.

I would like to know what percentage of FTTC users have had to call their ISP Customer Service line. My FTTC service, with Sky, has remained synced, (no dropouts), at 39999/10000 for over two years. (ADSL was a different story........)

Edited by deleted (Wed 17-Sep-14 16:03:03)

The 4th option down on your link for me is "BT Infinity Broadband and Calls " - does this not take you to the BT Infinity page (I can't test as I don't have a topcashback account)?

It does. The problem occurs later, after choosing the product on the BT website. I can take the Infinity 2 package there, but it won't let me choose it afterwards... I think it's hardly to reprocess it.

Very strange - something wrong with the BT website then by the sounds of it.

Don't forget that whichever ISP you use you will be dependent on BT Openreach (or if unlucky their contractors) to do the install; and the most variable part of the connection experience is down to them as well and will be exactly the same whichever ISP you use. (except Virgin cable which you say you can't get anyway).

In reply to a post by Spud2003:

Plusnet should provide you with a reliable, fast, unlimited connection

Well as a Plusnet customer too, my mileage is very different.

Plusnet currently suffering from the 3rd Unable to Connect issue is as many weeks. I have been affected by 2 of these.

Also had a 4 month issue with line speeds going from 76Mbps to 500Kbps for 18 hours at a time.

So not reliable for me.

Also Plusnet is just a brand name of BT, (their words from the plc yearly reports to shareholders).

Ummm George.

I think you may be being a little disingenuous there, and not helping the OP.

It is highly relevant that you are on Plusnet's FTTP trial, and I think this post puts your remarks (though undoubtedly true) in context. In particular re the four-month issue:-

... an issue with speeds as low as 500Kbps for 18hours at a time. Problem also affected other FTTP users from all ISP's within my area. It took 4 months to solve as Openreach/ISP's/OEM manufacturer would not accept it was a problem in the exchange. Eventually Openreach swapped out several components in the exchange (but over a period of a month) and service came back to normal.

All ISPs in your area. Not specifically Plusnet. And specifically FTTP.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 17-Sep-14 20:01:02)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Ummm George.

I think you may be being a little disingenuous there, and not helping the OP.

I did mention the issues with authentication which are/were affecting several hundred thousand users tonight (maths done by some one on the Plusnet community forum)

This issue also happen under 3 weeks ago and there has been 2 other publicly noted outrages in the past 3 days according to the Plusnet service page.

So to pretend that Plusnet is excellent, is being disingenuous. It is having issues growing and is still advertising for more customers.

BTW I have been with Plusnet for over 5 years now, mostly on ADSL, and the issues with general problems have become apparent over the last few months, it is not just an fttp thing.

Anyway I'll end there, just thought that the OP might want to know about issues affecting all of Plusnet's customers as well as myself.

In reply to a post by StephenTodd:

Don't forget that whichever ISP you use you will be dependent on BT Openreach (or if unlucky their contractors) to do the install; and the most variable part of the connection experience is down to them as well and will be exactly the same whichever ISP you use. (except Virgin cable which you say you can't get anyway).

The difference though is that some ISP's are much better at getting Openreach to come out and fix things, and don't tell you that nothing is wrong or tell you to turn your router off and on for the 10th time and read from a script from an office located outside of the UK.

From what I read it didn't affect FTTC users. Did it affect your FTTP?

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 17-Sep-14 22:43:30)

In reply to a post by georgelnx:

So to pretend that Plusnet is excellent, is being disingenuous. It is having issues growing and is still advertising for more customers.

Normal service is fine and the odd issue doesn't alter that or make Plusnet a bad ISP. There was no pretense involved.

Edited by Spud2003 (Thu 18-Sep-14 07:09:11)

In reply to a post by IranianGiraffe:

In reply to a post by StephenTodd:

Don't forget that whichever ISP you use you will be dependent on BT Openreach (or if unlucky their contractors) to do the install; and the most variable part of the connection experience is down to them as well and will be exactly the same whichever ISP you use. (except Virgin cable which you say you can't get anyway).

The difference though is that some ISP's are much better at getting Openreach to come out and fix things, and don't tell you that nothing is wrong or tell you to turn your router off and on for the 10th time and read from a script from an office located outside of the UK.

Getting your message across to some people on this forum is quite impossible, especially those who believe everything is fine with the their service without even carrying out self diagnostics on their connection. If it was shown to be sub-optimal, there are ISPs that go the extra mile to give customer satisfaction and as a general rule their monthly service fee is higher than average.

In reply to a post by trolleybus:

Getting your message across to some people on this forum is quite impossible, especially those who believe everything is fine with the their service without even carrying out self diagnostics on their connection. If it was shown to be sub-optimal, there are ISPs that go the extra mile to give customer satisfaction and as a general rule their monthly service fee is higher than average.

There are also people on here who are seriously paranoid about their speeds and spend more time running speed tests than they do actually using the Internet!

In reply to a post by georgelnx:

Also Plusnet is just a brand name of BT, (their words from the plc yearly reports to shareholders).

Well, yes, I would consider it more of a subsidiary. certainly in the way it operates.

It has it's own sales and customer support operations, it's pricing is different , and the products it offerd are a bit different.

And, FWIW, I've been with them since Jan 14 and it has been fine.

So to the OP - I'm curious
how does the UK differ compared to Germany in this respect of ISP providers?