Please help with ISP choice!

At my old house we had Sky broadband and it was absolutely perfect - 800kb/sec all day and night and 99.999% reliable. Unfortunately having moved house the only LLU operator on my exchange is TalkTalk.

Please can you help with any comments on my phone & broadband options below? i have never used any of the suppliers below before...

1) TalkTalk at �16.39 a month (+�1.50 for caller ID) for phone and broadband. They claim I will get a 2Mbit connection and it is capped at 40gig a month. It sounds reasonable and is certainly the cheapest by a long way, but you hear nothing but bad reviews and this has put me off them a bit! being the only LLU operator in the area is it likely that their network will be very clogged up and slow?

2) Post Office broadband at �26 a month including line rental. Unlimited downloads and their tests on my phone number claim I can get 4mbit and what appears to be no packet profiling (will I really see any difference over TalkTalk who claim 2mbit?). It all seems pretty good but I am concerned that they are renting their bandwidth off BT and so I presume they will get thrown in with all the other non LLU providers on my exchange and again speed will suffer.

3) BT Total at �36 a month including line rental. Again unlimited downloads and a claim of 4mbit from my phone number. On the plus you get some cool gadgets for free but on the downside it will cost �120 a year more than Post Office and �217 more than TalkTalk, so the free gadgets dont really work out so free. They appear to have a much better reputation than TalkTalk though!

I use the net for browsing and downloading the odd bit of music and movies using p2p, but not a huge amount (I don't think I would struggle with a 40gb a month limit.)

Thanks for any advice!
Phil

May I suggest that you go on the Talk forum and ask their advice.

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=talktalk

I use IDNET for internet and BT option 3 for phone. Never had any complaints or problems. Best combination around.

www.idnet.co.uk

IDNet Studio, The Spirella Building, Letchworth, Herts SG6 4ET. UK
T: 08000 267 237 | E: [email protected]

Thanks for the note, I did look at IDNet (after spotting all you replies on this forum!) but their prices seem to be a bit too expensive for me. I am sure they do offer a great service but their comparable package costs �10 a month more than BT, which I already thought was verging on too expensive.

Also, I think TalkTalk may be out of the question now, they told me I needed to reconnect my BT line before I could order their phone and broadband, which I have now done but am now tied to a 12 month BT contract...

Try one of the EntaNet resellers. Maybe look at the Sky BB over the IPStream connection if you have Sky still.

Andy

I believe you can get out of the 12-month contract for �70, which in your case may be worth it.

TT have a generally bad reputation around here, but they seem to be getting their act together a bit since the horrendous start-up when they were over-whelmed by the demand.

My brother (73) went onto it from dialup a few months ago, (International 3 as his wife rings family in Australia quite often). He has several friends in his area who had been on it a while and perfectly happy after initial problems. He thinks it is wonderful, but is a light user - holiday bookings, emails etc.

Otherwise the Post Office one looks favourite. Entanet resellers as recommended by another poster are going to take you over �31 per month and subject to IP Profiling and speed restrictions to as low as 2Mbps during heavy times.

Plusnet have a suitable package - 20GB peak and unlimited overnight, but still pricey.

But isn't Sky IPStream,(Sky Connect), one of the most criticised services seen on here? Are there any posts at all contradicting that?

i've not seen any! i also have no doubt that talktalkk broadband is fantastic compared to dialup

I don't know. It all depends on how the OP uses it. If all it costs is the line rental and a Sky TV package, then for occasional use, it is probably worth it.

Andy