looking for good IP stream provider

I am stuck on IP stream (ADSL max only) for the next two years at least - probably longer if 21cn slips more. No LLU other than talk talk! I know that my line will support a steady 5.5-6.5Mbs throughout the day including weekends because I achieved this for the first month with O2 until they overloaded their network.

What do I have to pay to get these kind of 24/7 speeds of 5Mbs + with no tight download limit (on average over 12 months I use about 80GB a month but this is not consistent and varies from month to month)

I am not bothered about frills or extras, free routers or software - just a rock solid relaible service that is less expensive than my mortgage - I know that I cant get this for £24 a month so what would I have to go to for a monthly contract with this kind of service (presumably equivilent of 20:1 contention) and if I can get a fast enough connection to watch streamed programmes (while my partner is gaming on another pc) then I will gladly cancel my £19 a month to Sky to help with the costs

More importantly who would you reccomend could do this

You could look at vivaciti Surfwise 75, which is a 75GB FUP not allowance and may also be flexible. It isn't an Enta package! IIRC it is provided through O-Bit.

I've no idea about the performance and so on. Just that the product description fits your spec.

I would recommend Ident They seem to offer the type of isp you are looking for, very helpful and well respected.

I have said this before , im sure , but to get what you want from a IPstream supplier is going to cost you £50+ a month , you may get lucky and find a small provider that still got capacity on there service , but these are getting few and far between and anybody that's found said provider keeps there mouths shut as advertising there service will bring more users and stuff there connection .

I would say try the UtilityWarehouse or Opal Telecom , who both use CarPhoneWarehouse network to provide there service .
cant think of any other third party suppliers that run on TalkTalk network , but there are a few , and any LLU connection is better than most Budget IPstream connections .

And when a say budget , i mean £30 and downwards ....

certainly take your point there - all of us were singing O2's praises and look what happened to that! I certainly have upped my signts financially as I am looking at deals costing more than £30 now - I have decided that with a good enough connection I could afford to ditch my £19 a month on sky subscription and watch online content instead using the money I would have spent on sky to get a better connection - this still sets my sights on the £40 mark but hiopefully that will buy something better than £20 does!

The suggestions about the LLU options I have looked at before and LLU or not I dont think I want to risk entering into a two year contract with Opal (and take their telecoms) or lose all the potential benefits of faster speed by restricting myself to the 40GB allowance with the other one. However thanks very much for the suggestions.

Well paying more like that there is Zen 8000 Pro at £34.25 and uploads are not counted;

IDNet Home Supermax at the same price same upload, more download but peak/offpeak equal split;

AAISP professional with tiny allowance 9am-6pm Mon-Fri but 100GB off-peak with 2am-6am unmetered. £20.50 2GB peak then £5.86 per 2GB peak gets you to 8GB at £38.10. (Those are contracted rates. Ad hoc topups are £4.89 per GB).

And/or 832kbps upload speed for an extra £9.79.

Maybe that's the one for you?

TBB comparison.

Utility werehouse looks nice

Max

£22.99

16 Meg

Unlimited and they give you a router. How does F2S upto 16mbps look? or is that on the ShittyCali network formerly Tiscali; shapped to hell.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html?isp_2...

does that encorporate the DSL2+ offering? Or is it simply a different way in delivering you low speed like dog poop through a letter box, and it being set on fire.

Edited by deleted (Wed 20-May-09 21:02:56)

Hi I remember you from the enternet group last year - thanks for the information. I have used zen8000 at a friends house and frankly was not very impressed - couldl be the area of course, Anyway IDNet are near the top of my list of next one to try - just heard back from them that their overcharge bandwidth is charged at £1 per GB which is not too bad the downside is that there peak times are 9am - Midnight including weekends which makes the 30GB less useful in terms of watching streamed TV and films - especially with more HD content appearing.

I am tempted to try the vivacit business surfwise which has 75GB but not restricted by time and is FUP rather an an abolute. I am fairly certain they are entanet though not sure if the "surfwise" product is - anyway it wont do any harm to try it for a month or two and move on if I am not happy - at least I shall have migration down to a fine art!

Thanks to everyone for the time you spend answering these recurring questions but the reality is that history means little - last months good provider can be rubbish a couple of months later

Vivaciti are one of the better Enta resellers but along with others have needed to find alternative wholesalers in view of the continuing mess that is Enta and BT WBC.

Surfwise 75 is their new ADSL Max product supplied by O-Bit. Their LLU Unlimited product is C & W.

Well worth a try in my opinion.

It's a 75FUP, So im guessing you could go over it and be fine. If it was a 100GB FUP, id be there right now.

As I understood it from the product announcements, they may be prepared to negotiate a price for such arrangements. Contact them as say what you just did here.

in between your last reply and this I had been doing some comparisons and had moved surfwise to number one - I was just writing an email to enta to find out if it was a differnt wholesaler - thanks for pre-empting. I think I am decided this will be the next one to try - so have applied for my MAC

thanks again
Clive

Ill give it a go, ill elt you know their response.Just finished typing the email stating id be going over by about 15-25GB, but that would be at night or later on in the evenings at weekends.

Utility Warehouse have " no minimum contract terms " , but i know very little about them as a ISP

maybe not but they (Urility Warehouse) have 40GB cap and very little on their website. It may be that they are just reselling talk talk

£35 a month at ICU?

50gig month peak for that price so at least 30 gig of it would have to be off peak but the prices they charging for ipstream look alot more sustainable than most isps.

monthly contract
50gig peak usage 8am-8pm 7 days a week
upload is unmetered

Edited by Chrysalis (Thu 21-May-09 09:29:24)

SAQ have come back to me and they say they have no weekend or eveing slowdowns. My follow up question was to see if a FUP was in use, and 100GB+ usage was allowed.

In reply to a post by krazykizza:

SAQ have come back to me and they say they have no weekend or eveing slowdowns. My follow up question was to see if a FUP was in use, and 100GB+ usage was allowed.

I assume that is their "Unlimited" package you have to contact them about? (As the highest residential is £50GB).

So what price and times?

who are ICU please?

http://www.icukhosting.co.uk/

I've extensively questioned SAQ. The rep is a bit contradictory in places.

SAQ Q & A's

The unlimited package is £58 a month.

They'd call 400gb a month excessive. They don't traffic shape or port block as a company policy.

Off peak is 12am-6am for BUSINESS usage. Residential has no off peak.

If you can only get upto 8mb presently, you won't be getting the 832k up-speed either.

In reply to a post by gbswales:

maybe not but they (Urility Warehouse) have 40GB cap and very little on their website. It may be that they are just reselling talk talk

Broadband
Lite

£14.99

2 Meg

2 GB

-
Standard

£17.99

8 Meg

40 GB

Single port router
-
Max

£22.99

16 Meg

Unlimited

Wireless router
-
I really advice you to read web sites properly when choosing a new provider and don't just quickly scan

Edit:just because you cant get full 16mb doesn't mean you cant pay for the unlimited package as many Sky customers do , and UtilityWarehouse don't resell TalkTalk products but do resell a service on there network

Edited by deleted (Sun 24-May-09 08:09:51)

This looks a great deal for £19.99 a month + £1.73 a month members fee so £21.72 for line rental and broadband thats if you have talk talk LLU (opal telecom) on your exchange.It says no minimum contract term but im still digging on that one.Im currently paying £31.40 a month to BT and ADSL24 so a nice saving.40gb is plenty for me too im just wary of moving from BT and need to find out more info on this.

Edited by deleted (Sun 24-May-09 12:06:04)

That makes no sense, i used to get upto 8mbps with an 832upload as I was on a premium package.

The Unlimited package for home users state its unlimted, upto 50:1 contention, and its 8mbps.

It's only higher if you're a business, and want faster upload, lower contention and an extra fixed IP.

Im not sure on contract lenghs, I wouldnt want to be tied into one greater than a month.

I found the SAQ rep quite frustrating, as he kept contradiciting himself and confusing the hell out of me. Have a look at the SAQ forum section. Personally I think ICUK might be better.

Hi - when I looked before it only offered me the up to 16mbs when my exchange is available it didnt offer LLU on my number. However I did find that if I went for telephone and broadband together that it did. So thanks for making me look again -I am quite happy to try a service based on talk talk as there is no minimum contract - I just wasnt prepared to sign up for 18 months as you have to with talktalk direct (and have an 80GB max limit)

I just need to make sure when my initial years contract with BT is up - I think pretty soon so that I can give this a try. I know it will cost me to migrate back to ipstream if I am not happy but that is a risk worth taking to get LLU I feel

I got the same no llu on internet only but comes up with line rental included.
No 12 month contract but there is £50 termination fee within the first 12 months if you want to leave the broadband service.You also have to return the router/modem to them if you leave.

Please keep digging , as i said im unfamiliar with the service and to be honest its the only provider i could remember apart from Opal Telecom , from a list i read through on TalkTalk forum that im unable to find again ( sorry i have looked ) .

There are other providers that also provide LLU services through TalkTalk network , just as there are other providers that provide services through Be* LLU network .
As im sure there are providers that probably provide through Cable&wireless and Easynet and so on , and just because i don't know who they are does not mean they don't exist .

And researching could find you the elusive provider you have been missing , and as i have said , once you find that said provider , chance is you wont want to advertise the fact , in case it brings a influx of new users and congests the service .
This is especial true of IPstream services that are becoming very hard to find for heavy usage 50gig+ , but because of the way LLU services can be scaled and costed heavy usage can be accommodated much more easily ..

C&W is being used by the likes of ADSL24 and Titan ADSL for their LLU offerings. I too am finding it hard for an ISP that likes my tripple figure usage (I like my TV in HD )

It's a bit like jesus finding a room for the night on Christmas day, no room in the stable!

In reply to a post by krazykizza:

C&W is being used by the likes of ADSL24 and Titan ADSL for their LLU offerings.

ADSL24 LLU is Be*.

We have customers that are pulling down over 700GB with one on just over a TB of data, no problems!