Questions on Be/O2

My Xmas box will be a move to a better, faster, ISP and I'm looking at 20+Mb packages from above.

Would existing users please confirm (or refute)

Be Unlimited (�17.50) comes without any email provision and webspace but these are available for an extra �2/month?

O2 Premium (�14.68) comes with email service but no webspace?

Neither offer any binary newsgroup access?

TIA

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I'm looking at 20+Mb packages from above

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Will your current line stats support that sort of speed (you'll need a line attenuation in the low 20s, or below)?

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Be Unlimited (�17.50) comes without any email provision and webspace but these are available for an extra �2/month?

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Correct, although you can also use 3rd party providers (such as 1and1).
Also, if your line stats support it, you could also have "upload plus", giving you an upstream of around 2.5Mbps (at the expense of a couple of Mbps downstream).

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O2 Premium (�14.68) comes with email service but no webspace?

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Correct.
O2 also do a "pro" product (with 2.5Mbps upstream).
If you can be bothered taking out a sim-only payg phone product, and top-up �10 every three months (the equivalent of �3.33 a month), you'll get �4.89 off the monthly broadband price (an overall saving of �1.56 each month).

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Neither offer any binary newsgroup access?

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Correct.


It's also worth noting O2 have a 12 month contract on all products, whereas BE have a 3 month notice period for "unlimited" or "pro", and only have a 12 month contract for their "value" product.

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I'm looking at 20+Mb packages from above

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Will your current line stats support that sort of speed (you'll need a line attenuation in the low 20s, or below)?

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I'm currently on Pipex 8Mb and expect to see around 5-6Mb though it's been poor of late. Live close to the exchange. Figures from my modem;

Connection Status Connected
Us Rate (Kbps) 448
Ds Rate (Kbps) 4736
US Margin 14
DS Margin 10
Trained Modulation GDMT
LOS Errors 0
DS Line Attenuation 30
US Line Attenuation 31
Peak Cell Rate 1056 cells per sec
CRC Rx Fast 0
CRC Tx Fast 0
CRC Rx Interleaved 241
CRC Tx Interleaved 249
Path Mode Interleaved


A couple of months ago;
Connection Status Connected
Us Rate (Kbps) 288
Ds Rate (Kbps) 7360
US Margin 13
DS Margin 12
Trained Modulation GDMT
LOS Errors 0
DS Line Attenuation 36
US Line Attenuation 31
Peak Cell Rate 679 cells per sec
CRC Rx Fast 0
CRC Tx Fast 0
CRC Rx Interleaved 2
CRC Tx Interleaved 31
Path Mode Interleaved

On price, O2 are the firm favourite. I can't see what extra I get from Be other than a very hypothetical faster top speed.

You get the same top speed on O2 as on Be, though as already mentioned your line almost certainly won't exceed 20Mbps anyway. It's just O2 advertise it as up to 20Mbps because so few people can ever achieve more. The Pro package is, so far as we know, not actually capped, though the Premium one may be.

The packages were changed a few days ago. Up till then O2 didn't cap your line anyway, on any LLU package, for the first few days. They just let it do whatever it can, then advised you if you could upgrade or downgrade. Whether they are still doing this or not we need to wait till a new joiner on the 8Mbps package reports what happens.

There is something slightly odd about your stats as upstream attenuation is usually about half the downstream.

Look for a recent post by MKD and follow the tinyurl link in his sig to his excellent comparison document.

As also suggested by adebov, look at ISP-independent email. I have a domain from Purple Cloud at �7.50 every two years, and email from them for �10 per year with 10 mailboxes, unlimited aliases, POP3/SMTP/IMAP/Webmail and Spam Assassin on the servers. You could have it running within hours, then never have to change email address again when you migrate.

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You get the same top speed on O2 as on Be, though as already mentioned your line almost certainly won't exceed 20Mbps anyway.

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A significant increase on around 6Mbps will do me fine. I'm paying �15 now for the Pipex 8Mbps service so on O2 Premium my only extras will be for the occasional block of Newsgroup access; I have some spare webspace available with a "proper" host.

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Look for a recent post by MKD and follow the tinyurl link in his sig to his excellent comparison document.

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For some reason I can't open it - "not a pdf or corrupted"

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As also suggested by adebov, look at ISP-independent email. ...never have to change email address again when you migrate.

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Good point, but I've been using email forwarding with domains I have for several years now, just change the pointer to the new ISP, works fine at negligible extra cost.

Looks like O2 Premium will suit me fine, thanks for help.

Good luck.

Try this link to the MKD doc if still interested, that works for me.

And yes, domain email forwarding works better than pure ISP email, but still leaves you reliant on it. (Be don't supply email so O2 is the one on that ground alone).

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Try this link to the MKD doc if still interested, that works for me.

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That copy opens fine, thanks.

AFAIK Quidco cashback (noted in the MKD doc) only applies to O2 Standard (8Mbps) .

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AFAIK Quidco cashback (noted in the MKD doc) only applies to O2 Standard (8Mbps)

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Ah, but if you look at the O2 web site you will see that Premium and Pro are free for the first 3 months at the moment, whereas Standard is not.

You can hardly expect a cash-back when you already have a 25% discount for the year . I think you will find it goes back to all packages once the sale stops.

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I'm currently on Pipex 8Mb and expect to see around 5-6Mb though it's been poor of late

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You could be looking at 15-16Mbs after you move to O2 if there aren't any noise issues with your line and internal wiring problems. Your upstream attenuation does seem large though.

Here is mine in comparison (Be)

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,304 / 14,828
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 17.0 / 33.0

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You could be looking at 15-16Mbs after you move to O2 if there aren't any noise issues with your line and internal wiring problems. Your upstream attenuation does seem large though.

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I did a bit of messing. For years I've run with modem plugged straight into a dedicated socket, no microfilter. Tried the O2 microfilter, which only has two wires to the socket (no bellwire connection). Attenuation instantly changed and synch increased.

Before:

DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 957 / 11,298

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 29.0 / 29.5

After:

DSL Type: G.992.5 annex A

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,334 / 18,540

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]: 0.00 / 0.00

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 18.5

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 8.0 / 17.0

I'll try removing the bell-wire connections at the master socket end and see how things go.