Which BT-based ISP with static IP?

Hi,

I have some specific requirements for a relative who is deaf, and must stay on a BT line because of her textphone:

- BT Wholesale based ISP
- static IP (for remote support by me)
- only email, web, backups and SSH used
- 10GB transfer per month for backups - ideally with unlimited offpeak
- low cost - something like £15 per month
- max speed not too important - has about 3 Mbps currently
- must work with existing Netgear DG834G router
- (optional) SSH traffic on non-standard port (222) should be unshaped, or given good performance

The last one is optional as I could change the SSH port number, but I need to be able to use a port number that gets good interactive performance even with shaping - for example 119/NNTP on MetroNet/Plusnet is very slow but 222 or 22 is good.

She's currently on MetroNet (lowest package, which is not enough for backups) - they are owned by Plusnet of course but since upgrading to Plusnet requires reconfiguring the router/PC (IP address change), I thought I'd ask around for other options.

Any suggestions very welcome!

Richard

Which exchange?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Which exchange?

It's Newbury, 01635 - see http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/THNU

Edited by deleted (Mon 27-Jul-09 12:57:00)

Well, there's plenty of choice there including Virgin and LLU if the exchange code turns out to be THNU.

Any reason why you're looking at BT Wholesale only? Any price constraints?

The reason to only go with BT is that text phones for deaf people (Qwerty keyboard plus phone connection, e.g. Minicom) work well with BT through its TextDirect service - you call a normal voice number prefixed with 1800x and an operator comes on the line who transcribes the call between text and audio in both directions. There's also a special discount for textphone users.

While it might be possible to switch to LLU, it doesn't seem worth it for the hassle and probable lack of compatibility with TextDirect.

I only want better broadband with 10GB transfer and a BT-based ISP will probably have what's needed. Plusnet looks pretty good although I still need to visit to switch the IP address to a new one.

In a market 3 exchange - Plusnet Value would be excellent value at £5.99 a month.
but comes with an 18 month contract

Interesting - however it seems that Plusnet don't allow static IPs on Value package anyway: http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,7451...

Also this must be an LLU offering, which I don't want due to possible Text Direct / textphone compatibility issues. (I have emailed the RNID to check). Although I suppose if it's the sort of LLU that only does broadband and leaves your voice service with BT, that might be OK. Then again, Plusnet is part of BT so it must be just a variant of BT infrastructure - not sure how that works...

Tech support is also important of course - when there was a problem with the BT service, dealing with the combination of MetroNet and BT was quite painful, causing a loss of service of 6 weeks or so. Not sure whether LLU is better for tech support (one company not two for most things) or worse (already using a BT ADSL service so there's less change if she stays on BT).

Generally, I would like to avoid LLU as originally stated - so... any recommendations for BT-based ISPs? Long contract is fine as long as service is good.

Edited by deleted (Mon 27-Jul-09 15:03:21)

Check out IDNET Fixed ip standard, i month contract Not the cheapest but one of the best and most reliable.

In reply to a post by paddyclark:

In a market 3 exchange - Plusnet Value would be excellent value at £5.99 a month.
but comes with an 18 month contract

And I believe SSH is rate limited permanently to 512Kbps, changing ports won't make any difference, as you know, Plusnet use deep packet inspection.

In reply to a post by Cato2:

Any suggestions very welcome!

Newnet's Home M package is worth serious consideration.