new provider

i am looking around for a new provider,ie virgin,plusnet etc,would like to pay about �18
per month, unlimited if possible,modem ,8 mps, i live in hope!!! regards mark

Can you get any LLU providers?

Check here http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

only orange at the monent on llu are they any good ? regards mark

I don't believe so.

I suggest you look at the decent ISPs with monthly contracts.

NewNet, IDNet, Zen, and the Entanet resellers (e.g. ADSL24, UKFSN, etc.).

If you have an idea of how much you download/upload in GB per month it may be easier to point you at an appropriate ISP.

If you want something faster than dial up speeds at peak times then stay away from Virgin
ADSL, i'm just at the end of my 12 month contract and will be moving as fast as possible somewhere else!!

I think the key thing to bear in mind is that there is no such thing as unlimited downloads - one has to somehow pay for the amount one is downloading. Most "unlimited" download ISPs assume that you will only be using the internet in very lite mode and you won't be downloading more than about 1GB per month. As soon as you start any serious download work and this could be something like working from home - which I do - you will find your connection speeds down to a crawl and more often then not you may not be able properly access the internet at all. I have been with three of large ISPs who say you have unlimited download namely AOL, Tiscali and Pipex and all three without fail have applied speed throttling. All ISPs have to pay BT on the amount traffic their network generates so they have to somehow make a profit. The main objective of the large ISPs is to gain market share so their marketing and product specific is often economical with the truth. Since this industry does not yet have an agreed standards on service provision or use of terminology I will be very, very careful and now I never even consider (and also advice others the same) an ISPs which is promising things that are too good to be true and in return en-slaving you with 12 or 18 month contract. If it was any other industry many of the promises made by the big ISPs could be regarded as fraudulent.

Best of luck - Dev

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there is no such thing as unlimited downloads

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That simply isn't true... if you look around the smaller ISPs you'll find contracts that allow unlimited and unrestricted downloads.

But they're not cheap... as you say, the ISP has to make a profit.

In my own case the monthly fee includes a 30GB allowance, if I go over that I simply pay for the extra (�1/GB), no throttling or traffic shaping is applied. Similar products are available from other ISPs I believe, though as I'm quite happy with mine I haven't looked in detail.

Should be pointed out that "All ISPs have to pay BT on the amount traffic their network generates so they have to somehow make a profit." is not accurate.

On IPStream the majority use CBC centrals, which is a flat fee system, i.e. it costs the same if you have 20,000 users on a 622Mbps central averaging 3GB a month each, as it does for 20,000 users managing 50GB a month each.

The difference being that in the later case people would see much slower downloads. Things cost more if the provider tries to improve the experience and buy a second 622Mbps central.

yes but the ISP says how much you can download it is not "unlimited" - you can get 300GB download limits and so on. The point is that both speed and bandwidth cost and there are trade offs - it is simply not right to say get something for nothing, for example, ask the ISP to quantify "unlimited" and also guarantee no speed throttles. With Tiscali they even started to stop a TCP/IP link I needed to do my work using a conferencing tool - it did not use much bandwidth but used that protocol. Of course it is impossible to "prove" this as networks are a complex interplay of many factors. But nearly every evening I would find my connection slowed down to almost a grinding halt, of course the firm would deny any throttling which may even be true but their network probably coming to grinding halt due to everybody doing "unlimited" downloads.

After years of bitter experience with the large "unlimited" download ISPs I am reluctant to be convinced that there is any such thing as "unlimited" so I will stick my small domestic ISP with support from real human beings located in the UK and pay little bit more and if they don't provide the service I can ditch them with a month's notice.

Cheers - dev

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yes but the ISP says how much you can download it is not "unlimited"

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Mine is... though at �1/GB it can get expensive if I overdo things.

Talking about Tiscali etc isn't really making the best of your argument... I'll agree that none of the big ISPs are totally open about their T&Cs, but most of the smaller ones are.

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I am reluctant to be convinced

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Have a look around the other forums here and ask, it's what the site is for