What is the average Life Expectancy?

... and hope i spelt 'expectancy' correct?

almost four years ago, i first chose OneTel as my Boadband supplier, it took over 3 months to get me almost connected--excuses of 'network services' on the line, almost zero communication between OneTel and BT Wholesale--in the end i gave up and got signed up with Internet Central and ... yes, here we go again, same ole same ole, sorry you have 'network services' on the line so until BT remove them we can't enable your line for Broadband--yet BT told me everytime, their line checks on my line were clear and no 'network services' were on the line?? wtf? i was with Internet Central for over a year before moving to Fast24, was with Fast24 for 18 months then moved to Prodigy for 6 months, currently now with EFH Broadband. i read a recent article on the main page of ADSLGuide of ISP's going bust--Internet Central went bust, Fast24 went bust, Prodigy is going/gone bust, so ... "what is the average life expectancy of a Broadband Supplier Company??" i had an email from EFH Broadband informing me EFH had been merged with another company. how long/soon before they go under??

Often the two largest factors appear to be size of the ISP and whether they offer what appears to be too good to be true, i.e. huge or unlimited download allowances at a very cheap unsustainable price. All the ISPs I have been with since the the 90s are still in existence, though some have been taken over by larger ISPs and I left them for reasons other than their demise. I am now with UKFSN which is one of a number of small reseller ISPs that uses the ENTA broadband wholesale service and being a part of the ENTA group have the advantage that they have a well established company behind them which is not purely dependent on broadband for their revenue stream. It also has the advantage that if UKFSN, heaven forbid, did actually go belly up I could make a near seamless transition to another ENTA reseller or get a MAC and migrate out of the ENTA group completely to another ISP.

It is very likely that quite a few of the smaller ISPs will either go out of business or get taken over by larger ones in the next few years due to the small margins for ISPs dependent purely on broadband for their revenue stream. Thus it is often pot luck whether a small totally independent ISP you join now will exist for any length of time but looking at the type of packages against price that they offer as well as their history can often give a good idea. Additionally, if you prefer the smaller ISPs look for a good small run one that it is more likely to get taken over than go under. These forums are good for keeping an eye on how an ISP is developing or not. That way at least, if after being taken over the service deteriorates, my reason for leaving the last two I was with before joining UKFSN, there is usually no problem in migrating to other ISPs and in each case I migrated away from the deteriorating ISPs with no down time. Though I also always look for ISPs that have only a rolling monthly contract so that if I am not happy for any reason it is relatively easy to migrate without incurring cost penalties to get out of restrictive long term contracts. Additionally, new OFCOM rules about the issuing of MACS are coming into effect next year making it more difficult for failing or deteriorating ISPs to hold their users hostage by withholding MACs or procrastinating on issuing them. .

EDIT: Typos

Edited by deleted (Mon 25-Dec-06 10:38:34)

Mmm, And who are you looking at moving to next.......

Stick to the larger isp's Such as Eclipse, Plus Net etc..... With the luck you seem to have plenty of users will be happy to see you join their isp.

On a serious side plenty of isp's have merged/been taken over by other isp's to create a larger userbase. Which allows for a better profit turnover for the isp. Also allows then to get the best out of their pipes and costs to BT.
Best guide to see if a isp is over stretching itself is if their prices are way below anyone Else's and they proclaim UNLIMITED....

Prodigy isn't going bust, they're just withdrawing from residential broadband as I understood?

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Stick to the larger isp's Such as Eclipse, Plus Net etc..... With the luck you seem to have plenty of users will be happy to see you join their isp.

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That isn't necessarily good advice - big providers are not immune to collapse at all. As long as you can MAC and go, it shouldn't be too large an issue whoever you choose.

I suppose the short answer is so long as they make a healthy profit you should be alright. Presumably the ones that don't make a profit go out of business, and I think that depends what the company offers as well as broadband. I'm not convinced there's much money to be made simply selling ADSL as to make a decent profit you either need the subscriber numbers to make the light/heavy user seesaw balance, or you need to charge realistic prices which most of Joe Public doesn't want to pay.

I though Plusnet was bought by BT a few weeks ago...

I would not go with isp's like plusnet or eclipse, they are CR*P.

They traffic shape to the extreme.

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I would not go with isp's like plusnet or eclipse, they are CR*P.

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Thanks for your insightful comment.

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Thanks for your insightful comment.

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My pleasure

Anyway how come you are with the rubbish isp eclipse?. If I was you, best to look round for a better isp. Someone like ukfsn maybe.