From Tiscali to NewNet or O2 or something else???

Hi folks,

Leaving Tiscali soon (October) and will be going back to BT for line rental and calls as I simply don't like being unbundled (did have some throttling issues with Tiscali at one point but I find that they are generally OK).

FTTC is coming to my town in the second phase of rollout by the Summer and I was initially thinking of going with NewNet on the 24 Meg unlimited package as that is available on my exchange. I will only get 2.5 - 3.0 Meg incidentally, it's just that I prefer unlimited with no shaping / throttling. It also has a 1 month contract. This costs 20 quid or so.

O2 Standard on the other hand is cheaper at £12.23 a month but is a 12 month contract (I'm not an O2 customer). I read that O2 are a good ISP but what would their performace be like during peak times. It says unlimited which is good but what is peak usage like?

I guess I prefer the 1 month contract of NewNet as I could get out sooner if I had issues or FTTC becomes available to me but the price of O2. Or are there any other alternatives based on my requirements? Decisions, decisions.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Steve

Newnet are very good but I haven't experience of the 24Mbps packages. One user complained a few months ago about them having some strange profiling system limiting the upload, but after he made a fuss here they improved his speed. He was pleased otherwise though, and IIRC all the reports I have seen have been positive.

You do mean you have checked the short list of exchanges in the drop-down on their web site?

O2 Standard is excellent - that's what I am on.

Two major freedoms. Firstly, no BT Profiling messing you up for a few days if you get a low sync during a thunderstorm or something, and not needing to even think about allowances. It looks as though Newnet ND is the same.

The O2 is genuinely unlimited - the FUP which just refers to affecting other users has never been invoked so far as we know. I can't answer for Newnet but I expect on that top package it is OK. On the lower ones it is just that short 2-7am slot.

On LLU the maximum download speed possible is about 85% of connection/sync speed due to 10%-12% TCP/IP overheads (which incidentally are inside BT profiles so still present) and roughly 5% ATM overheads between you and the exchange.

On O2 it seems everyone gets 81%-84% of sync 24/7. I get 83%-83.8%, a shocking dip to 81.5% when Andy Murray was playing! Newnet I have no idea on their ND - on the normal BT-based they gave 70%-90% of profile which I regard as good. ND should be more like O2.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You do mean you have checked the short list of exchanges in the drop-down on their web site?

Thanks RobertoS. Yes to your question, I'm in Basingstoke.

Pretty much sold on the idea of O2 due to the good price/performance. The exception to this being that the NewNet is 1 month (I think you have to pay a £40 connection fee if you leave before 12 months however). That way, when the promised FTTC solution turns up by Summer I could switch sooner rather than have to wait until the end of October if I go for O2. That's the dilemma now...

May toss a coin

If you haven't got an O2 mobile or access to one, so as to get the £4.89 discount, then practically the same service is available from their sister company Be, with a rolling 3-month contract option at a slightly higher price - but only on the top two packages.

See MKD's excellent comparison.

You need to check again really in late September or early October to see if some sort of O2 or Be land-grab is still running. They have been doing for over a year.

For instance if you joined O2 this month you get 2 months free, and if you went in through Quidco a cashback as well of £50. Factor that into a 12-month contract and it isn't many months before you have saved enough compared to the monthly-contract competition to be able to pay off the 12 months if necessary and still be in pocket.

Page 4 of MKD's document shows the calculations of first year cost. A first year cost of £28.40 (assuming Quidco take £5 for your first deal in a year and you have a monthly contract O2 mobile) for unlimited up to 8mbps ADSL2+ isn't three bad! Even £77.30 with no O2 mobile is staggeringly cheap.