That is your choice. As you say with any company you get good news and (more often) bad news.

If BT or BT group isn't your thing, the next most popular choices are AAISP, Aquiss and IDNet

Here we all go again....

I'm going with Aquiss when my cab goes live, because I really like the fact that one of the main support guys replied to my lengthy email within 2 hours with clear and concise answers to my queries. Their forum appears to be a supportive and positive place. There are people on here and on other forums have have given the thumbs up for various packages, including the Business 45 package that I'm interested in. ADSL24 also caught my eye, but I'm a little put off by the fact that their forum is now "dead", and there are a few negative reviews of their older LLU products floating about the internet.

And why am I not considering BT? I have always preferred smaller niche ISPs who make your service their responsibility. BT don't have this personal touch, although I must compliment their forum staff for going above and beyond the call of duty (when compared to other sections of BT support). I have a friend that has been using Infinity since March, and he is an extremely similar internet user. We both download games via Steam/Xbox, we both play and host online games, and we both like to occasionally broadcast ourselves playing games on video streaming websites. Overall his experience has been positive, but he finds that after streaming himself playing games for a few weeks, his bandwidth mysteriously seems to get whittled away; making every other application starve for bandwidth. And he has also noted that his connection fluctuates to around 1/3rd it's sync at peak times on occasion.

I suppose at the end of the day it's all personal preference. BT Infinity appears to be a robust product for many users, while others seem a little less satisfied with aspects of the service being provided. For an extra few pounds per month, I think it's fair to trade up to a ISP that covers all bases, while providing a similarly robust service. The usage cap doesn't bother me, because I'm rarely about to use it! And weekdays 8pm-8am and weekends sounds perfect, because it's when I'm most active.

My reasoning is simple.....

18 month contract (24 of you take BT vision) vs. 12 month contract.

If BT's product is so good why do they need to force you to stay for an additional 6 months?
If BT's product actually turns out to be unlimited (not "unlimited" providing you don't exceed a limit), not throttled to death and no port blocking I'd stay because I wanted to, not because I'm forced to.

Just look at the BE example. I'm on a 3 month rolling notice period and I've stayed for three years, simply because the product is that good.
With most previous ISPs the product has been so bad I've jumped ship as soon as the contract period ran out.

In reply to a post by adebov:

If BT's product is so good why do they need to force you to stay for an additional 6 months?

To recoup some of their money with all their free installs, free routers and half price rental for the first X months.

Matt

In reply to a post by uno:

In reply to a post by adebov:

If BT's product is so good why do they need to force you to stay for an additional 6 months?

To recoup some of their money with all their free installs, free routers and half price rental for the first X months.

Matt

But it's pretty much one of the cheapest on the market (so nobody's likely to leave unless the service is rubbish).
If the product is non-rubbish then people will stay and they'll recoup their money anyway.
In fact, if they had a shorter contract period, maybe more people would sign up the in the first place?

In reply to a post by adebov:

But it's pretty much one of the cheapest on the market (so nobody's likely to leave unless the service is rubbish).
If the product is non-rubbish then people will stay and they'll recoup their money anyway.
In fact, if they had a shorter contract period, maybe more people would sign up the in the first place?

The market will change. You'll find that when self-install does come around, many of those BT customers may still be in contract and there could be far better deals to be had but for them, they can either buy out the rest of the contract or patiently wait.

Matt

The market will change. You'll find that when self-install does come around, many of those BT customers may still be in contract and there could be far better deals to be had but for them, they can either buy out the rest of the contract or patiently wait.

... on the plus side, at least they won't screw up their installation !

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

... on the plus side, at least they won't screw up their installation !

Definitely no screwing up to the wall for me.

On the desk!

In reply to a post by uno:

In reply to a post by adebov:

But it's pretty much one of the cheapest on the market (so nobody's likely to leave unless the service is rubbish).
If the product is non-rubbish then people will stay and they'll recoup their money anyway.
In fact, if they had a shorter contract period, maybe more people would sign up the in the first place?

The market will change. You'll find that when self-install does come around, many of those BT customers may still be in contract and there could be far better deals to be had but for them, they can either buy out the rest of the contract or patiently wait.

Matt

When self install does come around, I would expect the players who are mass market will still be mass market. The small players will still be small and continue to be losing market share.

In to month 13 already here. No intention of moving to more expensive and lesser quality ISPs any time soon.