Looking at your requirements I would say BE has to be your best bet. 3 month contract and the unlimited FUP by all accounts is extremely generous.

I'm with Sky max LLU. I'm very impressed so far but the downsides with Sky, particularly so far as you are concerned are:

12 month contract (although there is an initial 8 day trial period)
Not so good for gaming (pings on average 50 to 100ms)
1st line support not very good (should you need to use them)

That good, huh? I checked the link at http://www.dslzoneuk.net/checker.php? and it said that I lived 3.03 kilometres from my local exchange which is Runcorn Main and I definitely can get Be and Sky LLU and I can get up to 8Mbps speed with my line being capable of speeds of 3Mbps and above which is great considering Toucan claimed I could only get 512kbps when I started out with them and when I upgraded last year [which I will always regret from now on], I could only upgrade to a 1Mbp service, this isn't too bad...

If I did go with Sky, the price is good at

In reply to:

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I'd have to call them to find out what their absolute limit is first before I sign up to their service

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I doubt they will tell you. ISPs like to keep their FUPs deliberately vague.

Maybe I should go with BE even if it's going to be more expensive for their service as I was reading the comments on another forum and there were mixed reviews concerning the Sky Max package and what you and various others have said about BE have started to sway me towards getting BE.

On another note, do pings matter if you're playing games like MMORPG's and other types of online games like "Yu-Gi-Oh! Online" as the slowdown used to be pretty [censored] bad when I was with Toucan, especially on games like Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst and Ragnarok Online as well.

I don't think that checker is very accurate at predicting speeds if you use Be

The choice is yours at the end of the day. You could always try Sky & see what they are like during the first 8 days. Of course they could turn bad after this 8 day period, then you are stuck until the end of your contract (unless you buy yourself out of it).

The way I see it Sky is a gamble. So far it is a gamble that has paid off for me. If I continue to get 13Mb unshaped & virtually uncontended day or night for the rest of my contract I'll be a happy camper.

I made the decision before I signed up that should they turn unbearably bad I will just buy myself out of the contract. Worse case scenario is

Both Sky and Be have excellent reviews as fas as the actual product is concerned.

I guess the main advantage of Sky is the cost of having TV channels - free phone calls - plus your broadband connection at such a low price for the lot.

I have a friend who is addicted to "linux distros" he downloaded 1 terrabyte last month on BE. I didn't talk to him for a week after I found out.

That's certainly a lot of downloads and if he didn't get told off for downloading that much stuff, then BE's definitely for me even if it's going to cost more than Sky at the end of the day...

I don't think you would regret it, even if you don;t download the internet every month. The only thing i would suggest is that you ensure that you line and internal wiring are in the best condition and that you aren't too far from the exchange.

EDIT: re the gaming ping thing. I play guild wars as well as fps. Guild wars is playable with much higher pings obviously than a first person shooter, where split second decisions are vital. My pings to western and central europe (where the GW european servers are hosted are around the 50 mark.

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Aug-07 13:45:47)