Which ISP for heavy usage?

Well i've been getting the runaround from entanet and tbh, i'm getting fed up of it. While i'm trying to remain patient regarding my ridiculous speeds, I think it's time to at least explore their competition.

I both create and watch a LOT of machinima so I need an isp for heavy usage. I'd say probably 200gb a month minimum would be ideal. I'm happy for peak/offpeak with 200gb offpeak providing that the offpeak starts at midnight at the very latest as 2am is just too unreaslistic for me. Unlimited with no FUPs would be acceptable too! Price isn't really a problem for me as long as i'm not paying much more than £80.

I've checked my exchange and LLU isn't really an option as the only ones available are Orange, Talk Talk and Tiscali.

Any recommendations?

With no LLU, then you are looking a gamble on how congested the cheaper offerings from say UK Online are, or some of the business packages from people like IDNET, Zen, A&A

http://www.idnet.net/solutions/business/broadband/
http://www.zen.co.uk/Broadband/ML_Business/medium-la...
http://www.aa.nu/broadband-pro8.html

The AA one may take some calculating to as to when your usage would be, but if you can schedule some into the unmetered period it may be better.

Either move home () or take a punt on O2 Access.

Although Access frequently gets over-subscribed so speeds may be at times as bad as Enta it is the only genuinely unlimited BT-based service I know of.

IDNet quotes unlimited for about £79 I think, but I have seen several reports here of warning letters at 100GB or so.

Several people have moved from Enta to AAISP. If you go for the business tariff, (it's unclear to me whether you can add further 2GB peak allowances above 8GB but that's the implication), and add one or possibly 2 more 100GB off-peak, (same caveat as above), bearing in mind there is also an unmetered overnight spell, that could be the best thing to go for.

Why not ask them about those additional allowances?

(I'm not quite sure what you meant to say here - "Price isn't really a problem for me as long as i'm not paying much more than £80", but I'm taking it to mean those AAISP prices would be acceptable).

02 access has an FUP though doesn't it? Well my speeds can't possibly be as bad as enta.. 30kbps download speeds are a joke! I'm really just taking the preliminary steps in hunting for a new isp incase Enta screw me around like they've done with a few other people that have posted in the complaints section. I will probably go with Zen... I don't mind paying extra for good service and in the past i've heard nothing but good things about them.

Speeds wil be more reliable with Zen than O2 Access, though I see some murmurings about Zen in general recently.

Now you mention the FUP, I do seem to remember some reports recently of it Access users getting warnings. I might check up later.

Don't forget that all BT-based ISPs are moving towards WBC/WBMC so could easily suffer some of Enta's teething problems with it and also get the current Enta ones.

I still reckon AAISP is your best bet. They already have live experience of WBC/WBMC so should be good at sorting things.

Nope o2 access is FULLY unlimited. Yes it has a FUP but several users have downloaded several 100s of gb without any limitiations. They have got traffic management however, but it's not too bad And £80 for broadband is A JOKE!!! You should never be prepared to pay that much. I pay a tenner to sky and have downloaded several 100 gbs before for that price. Shame you don't have LLU.

Another vote for o2 access anyway

In reply to a post by ukhardy07:

Nope o2 access is FULLY unlimited. Yes it has a FUP but several users have downloaded several 100s of gb without any limitiations. They have got traffic management however, but it's not too bad And £80 for broadband is A JOKE!!! You should never be prepared to pay that much. I pay a tenner to sky and have downloaded several 100 gbs before for that price. Shame you don't have LLU.

Another vote for o2 access anyway

I'm afraid you are totally wrong on at least one thing there.

The one thing O2 Access does not have is traffic management in any way, shape or form.

The one thing they do frequently have is congestion.

I think you have a better grasp of what is needed to be payed to have a unlimited service on BT resold than some of the people advising you on this thread .

I would avoid any ISP that wants a 12 month contract and advertises unlimited at a domestic price point there all congested or traffic managed to death or both .

Some may be happy with this , but as you have already said your not happy with 30kbps speeds . so don't gamble on getting a good service by signing a 12 month contract with a ISP that offers unlimited at a domestic price .

You will lose and get trapped , not a good place to be if like you have said your happy to pay your money but want the service .

Try Zen , if not happy , then move on and try somebody new next month , but please keep your self free to move if things go bad , as they tend too on resold BT ...

The signs are changing at Sky so enjoy their 'freedom' while you can.

The internet is a scarce resource given the number of people with access to it.

Edited by MrSaffron (Fri 14-Aug-09 08:45:25)

In reply to a post by woweebert:

I think you have a better grasp of what is needed to be payed to have a unlimited service on BT resold than some of the people advising you on this thread .

Perhaps you should re-read my three posts in this thread and then apologise.

The third one contradicts completely wrong statements by someone else, but clearly points out the major problem with O2 Access.

The first two directed at the OP both recommend AAISP - Access merely being thrown in originally associated with the suggestion of a house move, which to a sensible person would give a clue as to my rating of it.

In fact the second paragraph specifically warns against Access then follows by making a statement of fact as to why I mentioned it.

I resent the quote above which says I have a poor grasp of the perils and costs of an unlimited service. I do at least have a grasp of the comprehension of English and an unbiased viewpoint.

Regarding Zen both you and the OP may care to take a look at the current top 10 threads in the Zen forum here, then note that in my posts in this thread I say I consider Zen would give better speed reliability than Access.

Read and think before spouting denigratory rot. You could just have given reasons for rejecting Access and recommending Zen, without insulting me.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The internet is a scare resource ...

Very true.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 14-Aug-09 08:41:25)

I was not directing that at one of your posts .

So obviously im not going to apologize to you as it was not directed towards you , but i personal still feel O2 Access is not a good option as it has a 12 month contract and a record of regular congestion .
As does UKonline BTW offering , as does pretty much any domestic/retail targeted BT resold product advertised as unlimited . IMHO

But i do admit to still carrying a torch for anybody that recommends a BTW product that carry s a 12 month contract and will fire up on said thread to try and let the prospective OP know " its not a good idear signing 12 month contracts for resold BT products " .

And i cant think of any good reason why somebody that already has there line ADSL enabled , would need to be signing 12 month contracts for resold BT products ,, can you ?

Edit: take a chill pill

Edited by deleted (Fri 14-Aug-09 14:16:22)

In reply to a post by woweebert:

I was not directing that at one of your posts .

So obviously im not going to apologize to you as it was not directed towards you

"I think you have a better grasp of what is needed to be payed to have a unlimited service on BT resold than some of the people advising you on this thread"

This doesn't seem to include anything that MrSaffron said, and the only other poster is discredited by the fact that what he says about the product is downright wrong. As previously pointed out by me to him.

He is entitled however to his opinion that it is not bad. If you wish to disagree with that then all you needed to do was reply to him and do so, (too late really now though).

The word "some" , being a plural, can only be intended to include me and in my opinion is mainly aimed at me, as the other poster's contribution is hardly covered by the specific wording of the above quote. Neither can I see much in the OP's posts to show that the above quote is correct in what it attributes to him.

Even if not directed at me I think both other posters would have a right to feel aggrieved.

The rest of your post was perfectly valid advice to the OP and I have no quibble with it. It was just wrong and unnecessary to say what you did at the start.

However I didn't really expect you to apologise and still don't. But please in future do as I asked before - read and understand before spouting in that way.

if tiscali r at the exchange i wud look at http://www.freedom2surf.net/

I think you have a better grasp of what is needed to be payed to have a unlimited service on BT resold than some of the people advising you on this thread

I'm standing by that comment as i do believe the OP understands his situation very well and i see nothing in what the Op has posted to indicate anything different .
His first post goes along my lines of thinking , that the only way of getting unlimited quality service on BT resold , for his needs is to pay the money .

And TUFF if you don't like me questioning your opinion or anybody else for that matter .

And i will not apologies for making a very valid point to the OP that had not already been made ( and i believe it should of been )

This link may be a good starting point for you.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

This link may be a good starting point for you.

After all that been said between us i would of thought you would of at least of read my profile before your disgusting display of discrimination against my self .
Self appointed spelling and grammar police strike again , some may respect you on this forum but not me , your just another spelling elitist .

Both of you just stop it...

With apologies to yourself Andrew I feel I must reply, civilly, to the last post raising the issue of dyslexia and making some nasty accusations.

I see no reason why I should check someone's profile before replying, and my point in jokingly providing the link to a site on English comprehension was not in any way getting at his grammar or spelling.

He seems unable to comprehend that it isn't his advice to the OP I was upset about, it was the direct unnecessary and denigratory remark prefacing it. This was absolutely obvious from my first reply to him, and specifically stated in a later one.

I don't think dyslexia has anything to do with that, and I am deeply offended by the latest accusation from him.

Possibly I should not have posted that link in any case. It was to have been my parting shot. This one is definitely so wrt the dispute. I hope it isn't wrt the next few days on the forums.

If you can not see why i would find posting a link to a website called .tolearnenglish.com when i state in my profile i have dyslexia as very offensive , if i have misunderstood your intentions of why you posted the link i apologize for that .
But i will not apologize for not agreeing with your recommendation or anybody else's , and feeling that the op has a better grasp of the limitation of resold BT products and his requirements than the advice that has been offered to him .

I don't see 02 Access as any better than any of the other unlimited resold BT products with 12 month contracts on the market from the likes of Virgin , AOL , UKonline , Tiscali , BT and so on , and in fact think its weak as they don't manage there network traffic and just let customers contend the service . ( we have some history about not agreeing on the benefits and pitfalls of 02 Access )

I personally feel all of the domestic unlimited BT resold products are unsuitable for a customer that need to move large amounts of data and have stable speeds and service .
The only way the OP will find something suitable is to pay what can only be deemed , a very considerable amount of money a month . Or take another service with predefined usage caps that suits the customers usage patterns IMHO .

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

if tiscali r at the exchange i wud look at http://www.freedom2surf.net/

This is probably the best bit of advice on this thread , but im not sure how things will now be since Tiscali has been taken over by TalkTalk .
But there are plenty that move large amounts of data on the Tiscali network , but will that now continue with the new owners , is where i am unsure .

Neither of you is stopping, final warning or will stop you both for 48 hours