Recommendation please

Hi,

I know you've all probably been asked this a hundred times or more but I'm yet another confused lady wishing to change ISP.

I have absolutely no idea which is the best ISP for me. I use my internet for surfing, emails and geneaology mainly. I do have a wirless set up for my son's pc and he likes playing games, chatting with his mates and sometimes downloading music tracks. Occassionally he watches TV or films but not often.

I'm presently with Orange (have been since the days of Freeserve) and am now looking at moving away. This being due to dissatisfaction of their services, especially customer support since the change to Orange. Also I am fed up with my connection constantly going down. Sometimes it's mine, sometimes my son's. I use their Livebox.

I have thought about Sky, as we subscribe to Sky+ already, but a friend of my son tried them only to move on very quickly. This was a couple of years ago though, maybe they've improved. I've also read about Be or O2 on this forum as being quite good.

There are so many ISP's out there it gets really confusing. I'm also looking for one that is relatively simple to set up as I'm no technie.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

As you subscribe to Sky TV and you have Sky LLU (which I think from your other post you do) it makes sense to go with Sky. Perhaps your son's friend was on a non-LLU connection with Sky, which is not recommended.

In reply to:

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I have thought about Sky, as we subscribe to Sky+ already, but a friend of my son tried them only to move on very quickly. This was a couple of years ago though, maybe they've improved.

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Sky did have problems a few years ago but they seem to have vanished now. Sky is now the fastest growing ISP in the UK with over 1.2 million customers on broadband.

If you already have Sky TV it is a bit of a no brainer to use Sky for broadband providing you can get Sky on LLU. You need to check that Sky on LLU is available in your area.

Use the link I have put below and it will tell you exactly what ADSL services you can get by just putting in your post code or phone number (i.e. it may say "Sky LLU" or "Be LLU" - that means you can use Sky or Be and they are an LLU service).

Link to ADSL services checker.

Sky also do a free phone calls deal plus can bill your phone line at a cheaper cost than BT charges (even though it is still a BT line).

Hi again,

I forgot to post on here the results from ADSL Line checker I did on Samknows which may provide a little more information as to who might be a good choice for me to go to for an ISP

Congratulations, you are in a broadband enabled area.
However, there is another service on your phone line (e.g. ADSL, LLU, DACS, etc) that would prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection.


BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
AOL LLU
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
Virgin Media (Cable)

You are approximately 2.14km from the exchange. Note that this is the straight line distance - the actual cable length will be longer!

I'm not sure about the comment regarding another service on my phone line preventing me from ordering a new ADSL connection. Is it a standard quote? Can anyone explain this to me.

Thanks again.

You cannot get Be/O2.

Sky is probably your best bet. If you aren't happy about that then look at ADSL24.

And the bit about something else on the line just means you have broadband already. So you can migrate, but not order from scratch.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 25-Mar-08 23:29:05)

Hi,

Thanks to both Robert and John for your comments regarding Sky broadband. I am giving it serious thought as I am not at all happy with my present Orange connection. As I am now out of contract I'm free to go where I like, though I am now getting the expected calls trying to persuade me to stay. The nearest deal they've got to is �2 off my current �19.99 monthly bill, plus a promise to look at upgrading my connection. Very funny as I'm already on the max., but averaging about half what it should be, plus getting persistant drop offs. I am soooo sick of resetting the Livebox. Had the same problem when using my previous Netgear router too.

As I'm a bit of a ditherer it'll probably take me another couple of weeks before I decide for sure. However, Sky sounds very promising and it's �10 a month cheaper.

Again many thanks.

I don't know the situation with Sky a couple of years ago when your son's friend had a problem, but it might have been before Sky LLU was available, or he might not have been on it even if it was around elsewhere.

Even now, Sky Connect seems very poor. But Sky LLU which you can get seems well up in the high rankers. In most surveys/polls Sky gets dragged down the ratings by its Connect product.

Have a look here, and bear in mind two things. First, Sky is better than it appears. Second, 10 of the top 12 are actually resellers of the same actual ISP - Entanet. So where you see 12 better than Sky, actually there are only three.

To get a better view of Sky LLU's position look at UKOnline in the rating. That's the same underlying service and more where Sky should be.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 28-Mar-08 22:57:40)