Need 8 static ips, LLUs=AOL,Be,C&W,CPW,Orange,Sky,Tiscali

Hello. I am currently with O2 LLU on the basic 8Mb/s package (the old one, with no bandwidth cap).

In many ways, this suits me fine, especially for the price, but I am looking around for an ISP that can offer me 8 static (ipv4) ips (not sure, but might settle for 4).

Would also like a decent network (i.e. good uptime, low latency, no discriminatory shaping, no protocol inspection or filtering, tolerable minimum speeds 24/7). I can live with a cap, but would ideally like a biggish one (say, min of 40 GB), even if in practice I haven't historically often used very much data.

One of my intended uses is VOIP.

Looking at Samknows, I see I have the following LLU providers:
AOL
Be/O2
C&W
CPW/TalkTalk
Orange
Sky
Tiscali

I also have Virgin cable available. FTTC is due Autumn 2011.

My line can only support about 8.5 Mb/s, as far as I can tell (no extensive testing with different equipment and so on). This was established when a BT engineer came round a few months ago to sort out a wiring problem, although I did not observe how the engineer carried out the test.

I have looked at a few of the small ISPs that resell LLU service, and it seems to me that one of these is likely to be the best solution, unless I just go directly to Be Pro and settle for 4 static ips (more than that becomes expensive). I have looked at Xilo and Vivaciti, but I confess I am confused by the plethora of available choices. I see that the resellers can offer products on several different underlying networks, but I have no idea how to discriminate between them in terms of network quality and saneness.

My perfect ISP ignoring price and network quality (not saying it is bad but I can't discriminate) would be Goscomb with their Be/O2 LLU service, because I see they offer native ipv6 as well, but if you want more than one static ipv4 address, you have to go for at least their cheapest business package at £36 inc. VAT (or the £40 Home package, which has no cap).

This does not compare very favourably with, say, the Xilo/Uno Pro 16 Home (C&W LLU) package at £17.99. Do Xilo charge extra for the /8 static ips? Is there any throttling? They say not on the website, but that is not enough to be sure these days. Anything bad in the AUP?

Given my lowish ADSL2+ speeds, I suppose I may be looking to upgrade next year to a resold FTTC service - subject to further research on what BT do with their traffic on this product. Therefore, it would be nice to go with a company that also has/will have reasonable packages in this category.

Well, I think I've explained enough about my needs/wants - any suggestions?

[Edit: OK, so I will just add that my budget, although not rigid, is probably around £25/month]

Edited by deleted (Fri 07-Jan-11 12:28:00)

In reply to a post by sallust:

This does not compare very favourably with, say, the Xilo/Uno Pro 16 Home (C&W LLU) package at £17.99. Do Xilo charge extra for the /8 static ips? Is there any throttling? They say not on the website, but that is not enough to be sure these days. Anything bad in the AUP?

No charge for 8
No throttles

Nothing bad within our AUP as far as I know

Matt

In reply to a post by sallust:

My line can only support about 8.5 Mb/s, as far as I can tell (no extensive testing with different equipment and so on). This was established when a BT engineer came round a few months ago to sort out a wiring problem, although I did not observe how the engineer carried out the test.

Post your line stats as reported by your router - may be here: http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/dsl/dt/?ce=1&be=0&l0=1&l1=0

Wish I could! I seem to have mislaid my router password, and I can't bear to reset the whole thing because I customised various things over telnet (yes, including deleting the SuperUser and all other accounts). I'm sure I scribbled it down on a little piece of paper that someone else moved....

Actually, you got me thinking - is there a way of testing in advance which LLU network would give me better pings?

Edit: Just remembered, I think I exported the router config into a file somewhere, so maybe it wouldn't be that painful to hard-reset - if I can find the file. Anyone know what it might look like?

Edited by deleted (Fri 07-Jan-11 13:14:19)

Use backup and restore to save your customisations.

See my edit in previous post.

Thanks. By the way, I have read an offical Xilo rep (I think) here, saying that Tiscali tails with the 75GB cap gives a better quality of service than the C&W unlimited package. Is that still the case, and could you please offer some observations on the difference between the networks (not the package differences, which I have read about).

Yes, this is true mainly because of the control we have over the exchange equipment on Pro 24 compared to Pro 16.

Both work equally as well as the other in terms of performance but Pro 24 can have lower latency due to the profiles that can be chosen.

Matt

Just take another backup, then you'll know

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Just take another backup, then you'll know

Uh !
How does he do that if he doesn't know the password?

OK, You may be close to a sale! The thing is, I am still in contract with O2 for a couple of months, but then may be heading your way.

On the upload side, I am currently unable to achieve even 1 Mb/s on O2, so is there any reason to expect any better performance on Tiscali versus C&W?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Just take another backup, then you'll know

Uh !
How does he do that if he doesn't know the password?

Yeah! I thought it was a joke, so I let it slide.

In reply to a post by sallust:

On the upload side, I am currently unable to achieve even 1 Mb/s on O2, so is there any reason to expect any better performance on Tiscali versus C&W?

No, that is unlikely to change.

Matt

Reset the router to factory defaults, so you know the password, then take a backup so you know what it looks like. Then find your old one and restore it.

No big name ISP would offer this directly, have you tried reseller partners?

In reply to a post by krazykizza:

No big name ISP would offer this directly, have you tried reseller partners?

Don't mean to be rude, but have you read any of this thread?!

Matt, many thanks for all your replies. One other thing - I know there will be a £40 migration fee as I am coming from LLU, but what is the position on migration from your C&W/Tiscali LLU to your available but unadvertised FTTC service? Just trying to think ahead, because it could get expensive if I regrade within 6 months or so.

40 + VAT to migrate to the LLU service now and then if you want to go FTTC, would be 38 + VAT before June and then the full install (78+ VAT) after.

Matt

Thanks. Yes, things could get expensive!

In reply to a post by sallust:

Thanks. Yes, things could get expensive!

Out of interest, why do you need the /8 IPs? Particularly on a slow line; is there anything you're doing which could be moved to a dedicated host?

Just thinking laterally here

I want to separate my VPN concentrator from my firewall, and maybe add an ALG for SIP services.