Considering leaving IDNet, looking for alternatives

Hi

I am new to these forums and i was hoping for some advice.

I am currently with IDNet at home for both broadband and telephone calls. I am on the Super Pro package they do and I am very very pleased with the service. Literally no issues what soever in the last 18 months.

My speeds are pretty excellent at the moment (17-19Mb) even on peak times as according to IDNet i get 'priority' on my package.

The reason why i am thinking of changing providers is that increasingly the 60GB IDNet provides me with during peak hours are becoming tighter and tighter, particularly since i recently signed up to NetFlix and we are using more and more services like iPlayer. Just last night alone i used 10% of my allowance!

My requirements are:

Unlimited Usage with no traffic shaping and a fairly generous FUP.
Good enough service for VPN, streaming and browsing
Ideally a bundled phone line with some kind of freebie included such as included E&W calls or International Calls.
Above all,I am after stability.

As you may know IDNet are not the cheapest out there but i am not against the idea of paying a bit more for a better product. I looked at the packages that vivacity do and I am quite keen on them but I am not sure if their phone line package is complete enough.

Any suggestions?

If available, BE

Please post the link to what samknows says about your exchange . That tells us what is available to you.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Please post the link to what samknows says about your exchange . That tells us what is available to you.

Hi Roberto

Meant to mention it earlier. My exchange is Pollok, http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WSPOL

Thanks for the replies

I would say your choice is between Be Unlimited, as has already been suggested, with their phone package, or this one from vivaciti with theirs. That package is via Be Wholesale, but cheaper and only a monthly contract.

Not sure why you want a bundled phone, but on Be if you migrate the broadband out you also have to move the phone service somewhere else, on vivaciti you can keep the phone service.

Personally I would find the most suitable phone service for you that allows any ISP on it. Primus and the Post Office may be a possibilities, but Be or vivaciti for the broadband. Don't forget that things like Caller Display, 1571 and suchlike are frequently chargeable, though not with BT itself. There's often far less difference overall than people imagine from the base rental.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Not sure why you want a bundled phone, but on Be if you migrate the broadband out you also have to move the phone service somewhere else, on vivaciti you can keep the phone service.

Personally I would find the most suitable phone service for you that allows any ISP on it. Primus and the Post Office may be a possibilities, but Be or vivaciti for the broadband. Don't forget that things like Caller Display, 1571 and suchlike are frequently chargeable, though not with BT itself. There's often far less difference overall than people imagine from the base rental.

I am simply after the simplicity of having the one bill only. Additionally I would like an international bolt on for calls.

I have not yet looked at the option of splitting my land line and BB as i was hoping to skip activation and install fees. I will have a look at what Primus and PostOffice have to offer and review.

In terms of Broadband, i think vivacity is winning so far as i believe their customer service is a bit better and i generally prefer the smaller ISPs. I was with PlusNet previously and left them when the contention started being felt and generally they became bigger.

IDNet are great in terms of customer service as every email i sent them has been replied within hours and not days.

If i was to split the two services, as BB is critical to me (i work at home some times) which one will be the best option for less downtime? Order the land line first or the BB?

Thanks once again

You are transferring rather than ordering the landline. I know I'm being pedantic, but if you "order" a landline you are likely to end up with a second one .

The transfer of who you pay the rental to should not cause any downtime at all. It's just an accounting exercise like changing your gas supplier. I would do that first. Then get your MAC from IDNet and order the migration from your chosen ISP.

If you decide to put the landline and broadband with the same ISP, I'd ring them up and say so and do whatever they suggest, as both moves will be instigated by them anyway.

The downtime on the broadband when moving to Be or the Vivaciti Be-based service can be as little as five minutes, and is rarely more than 30 minutes. Mine was about 7 minutes when I moved from Newnet to O2, whcih is a similar move. I was online here when it died. So put the kettle on, made a coffee, went upstairs, swapped the routers over, and watched it sync up. Came down and reconnected the wireless and bingo.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 14-Jan-12 20:18:33)

We can of course do a phone line, but at the moment we do not have a calls package (although I think this is something being looked at again in the next month or so) in saying that it depends on how much you use the phone as to if it would be cheaper to have some sort of calls bolt on.
Have a look at http://www.vivaciti.net/product/4/phone-lines/24/res...
you will see 2 links there, first one if UK type calls, and the second is a complete list of all call charges to all counties.
Not sure if its listed, but call setup is 1p (unlike some others)

In reply to a post by vivaciti:

We can of course do a phone line, but at the moment we do not have a calls package (although I think this is something being looked at again in the next month or so) in saying that it depends on how much you use the phone as to if it would be cheaper to have some sort of calls bolt on.
Have a look at http://www.vivaciti.net/product/4/phone-lines/24/res...
you will see 2 links there, first one if UK type calls, and the second is a complete list of all call charges to all counties.
Not sure if its listed, but call setup is 1p (unlike some others)

Thanks for the reply.

I have since reviewed the last 18 months of calls and I was surprised to see how little we use the land line, what with mobiles and all. Assuming i opted for vivacity for the whole package, can the BB unlimited suggested earlier by Roberto (http://www.vivaciti.net/product/1/home-internet/9/broadband-unlimited/6) be combined with your phone line package? Can you suggest a different combination?

Thanks once more for the replies.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProduc...

Do you think I can retain my IDNet phone line and just migrate the BB Only? Is this possible or are the two linked?

See this IDNet page. From elsewhere on the page that is reached by clicking the "Phone Only Packages" menu item on the left.

However, seeing as you replied to orly, who recommended BT, BT require you to have the rental with themselves. So no - they are not linked on IDNet, yes - they are linked on BT.

In reply to a post by michael713:

Do you think I can retain my IDNet phone line and just migrate the BB Only? Is this possible or are the two linked?

I moved my phone line only to IDNet and kept my original broadband with another ISP (even one with whom I was on a broadband and phone tariff). The only requirement is you have a BTw line, which is what IDNet provide, phone service changes are then an accounting exercise as has been pointed out. Of course in your case you would take only a BB service (using a MAC transfer) from your new supplier.

Hi Roberto,

It was not a direct reply to orly (my mistake when posting) but thanks for your reply. Did a comparison of what IDNet are offering with the Post Office and the difference is minimal compared to my current package. I am thinking it might speed things up if i just transfer the BB away as this is where most of the savings will come from for me.

Thanks again for the input

In reply to a post by michael713:

Do you think I can retain my IDNet phone line and just migrate the BB Only? Is this possible or are the two linked?

Id caution against having separate isp and phone provider. Although I had both through IDnet (BB & phone) I migrated my BB sometime ago.

Its a nightmare getting your separate ISP and phone provider to co operate with any faults (nigh on impossible as they both blame the other party.)

Im looking to migrate my phone to BE but BE dont support MS Outlook for email so need to get that resolved first.

In reply to a post by wobblyheed:

Im looking to migrate my phone to BE but BE dont support MS Outlook for email so need to get that resolved first.

?
What has Outlook got to do with the phone?

Be do not provide email, (to new customers), period! Nothing to do with Outlook. As for using Outlook to access your email, wherever it is held, you can do that on Be just like you can with any other ISP.

If you haven't got ISP-independent email yet, and if you have IDNet mail and they won't allow you to keep it, (many ISPs do, for some reason I can't fathom), have a look at my ISP-independent web/mail page. I pay £3.35pa for the RobertoS domain, and £14.99pa for web and email hosting, (£1.54pm the total for the lot), and that also allows hosting of the website and email for another domain. The second domain does of course cost another £3.35pa.

Never have to change email address again. Now is the time to do this, whoever you decide to migrate to.

Be*

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

As for using Outlook to access your email, wherever it is held, you can do that on Be just like you can with any other ISP.

PIQ (poster in question, as opposed to OP) may be thinking of port 25 SMTPs; can't remember Be's attitude to those.

As I remember it, Be require you to use their SMTP servers, which are still functional, though maybe they don't if the user has a static IP, which is free on "Unlimited" and "Pro".

It is probable that using the alternative port that decent hosts use that the host SMTP servers can be used. I certainly used mine on O2, where 25 was blocked, and so did many others.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It is probable certain that using the alternative port that decent hosts use that the host SMTP servers can be used.

Tiscali used to block those as well.