Which ISP

Hi,

I am investigating a range of ISPs with a view to getting a long term cost effective service. Having experienced fustration with various ISPs who have been take over by Tiscali, my overall requirements are:

- realiability
- UK based proper support (not the battery hen approach)
- 1 to max 3 month contracts
- I am a semi-light user say around 10 gig a month
- I can only get 2mb/s speeds anyway so all guff about billion mb/s does not apply to me
- happy to spend up to �20 pm

I am considering Be, IDNet, NewNet and Zen

Any views on the above good or bad would be highly appreciated. Thanks - Dev

Hi,

For someone who is only using 10Gb or less I would probably recommend Newnet. They offer a package that offers up to 12gb a month for �16.95 with no traffic shaping etc... which is obviously a good thing.

More info: http://www.newnet.co.uk/broadband/homem.php

Another option is to go with an Entanet reseller which should cost you around �19.99 a month (if you choose the right one) and that will give you 30gb on peak and 300gb off peak, which is obviously a lot more than you need but at only �3 more. I guess it depends if you will go over that 12gb Newnet would offer.

One thing to remember though is Entanet do use an ALT system, which is not exactly traffic shaping but it can affect your speed occasionally but on a 2mb connection which you think is all you can get you will never notice it anyways!

Hope this helps
Darren

Edited by Noonster (Wed 16-Apr-08 09:19:53)

If you can only get 2Mb on your line it is unlikely Be would accept you. In any case O2 - who own Be and run on its kit - is better value at the moment.

Of the others you mention, Newnet is best for you in my opinion. The others are more expensive at this level with marginal advantages.

Re a post already made on the Newnet 12GB package, there is a good online usage monitor and you can buy extra GBs in units of 1,5 or 10GB even after you exceed your allowance, or just let them charge you slightly more in arrears if you don't do that before the end of the month. (There is a hard cap that you set yourself to limit your over-run).

I always doubt statements like "I can only get 2mb/s speeds anyway". Very often lines under-perform due to wiring or connection problems at the user end, which can often be easily fixed. Or the BT estimator told you so 4 years ago .

If you would like an opinion, post your line stats. If you don't know how to get them from your router/modem look here or here.

In reply to:

---

I always doubt statements like "I can only get 2mb/s speeds anyway". Very often lines under-perform due to wiring or connection problems at the user end, which can often be easily fixed. Or the BT estimator told you so 4 years ago .

---

Agree with that statement. If I use an online checker on some ISP's it states I can only get 2mb and others state 5mb, however I am synced at 8mb and have a profile of 7150 (which is the max) so they are clearly not very reliable.

Hi there,

Our Option 2 service may be suitable for you. It comes in at �14.99 a month, with 8Gb included (overnight downloads are not counted towards your allowance though). We have a 24/7 support centre based in Sheffield, and offer monthly contracts.

If you have any questions give me a shout.

Thanks Bob find below my line stats - I am using a Linksys WAG54GS - Cheers - Dev
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
adslctl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: Showtime Channel: INTR, Upstream rate = 448 Kbps, Downstream rate = 1536 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode: G.DMT
Channel: Interleave
Trellis: ON
Line Status: No Defect
Training Status: Showtime
Down Up
SNR (dB): 15.4 8.0
Attn(dB): 49.0 31.5
Pwr(dBm): 18.1 12.4
Max(Kbps): 1696 612
Rate (Kbps): 1536 448

Those stats indicate there is possibly a wiring problem at your end. Also I wonder if the last time you sync'ed was in the evening while there was a thunderstorm in the area.

The downstream rate for an attenuation of 49dB should be much higher than 1536kbps. Part of the immediate cause looks like the very high SNR, (which is actually the SNRM - a different thing altogether). If your last sync was as I suggest then the 15dB could be fine. If your last sync was on a nice sunny day then it is bad.

Depends how much effort you want to put in . I used to use a WAG54GS and it gave me an attenuation of 52dB. My normal sync was 6464kbps. But I have an exceptional good clean line and wiring. You are unlikely to get anywhere near that, but we should be able to improve things a lot. Possibly 4000-5000kbps.

Also, the wireless bit on my Linksys went duff, so I got a refurbished SpeedTouch 585v6 from DSL Depot for �23.98 inc postage. Straight out of the box it showed attenuation 49dB and sync'ed at 7008kbps. They are out of stock at the moment I think but somebody was thinking of buying from eBay for �25.

But! Leave that sort of thinking till later as that's a minor improvement compared to what we hope to achieve.

Have a look here and do what it says re the ring/bell wire in the master socket, and any extensions if you feel like it though some people say those don't matter.

Ideally, in broad daylight if possible, can you connect to the test socket inside the master socket, and get the stats immediately it has sync'ed? With luck the SNRM will be lower and the sync much higher. The actual download speed will not change though. You may find that the sync at your normal connection point improves anyway after removing the ring wire.

Is absolutely everything in your place that connects to the phone line going through a filter? Sky box, burglar alarm, every phone, anything.

That's all for now as it will give us a much better idea of where the problem may be.