Oh dear - have to pick an ISP. Your help appreciated

Hello,
ok so we're moving from a 50 meg Virgin Media service to an area with ADSL only.
Our new house is at B45 8JF on the Hillside exchange
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/CMHILL
We run a business (running a forum) from home so we could have a business *and/or* residential solution.
Speed and reliability is important, unlimited transfer is essential, cost, within reason, is not as important.
We want a phone line but won't use it much as we have mobile contracts (me with Tesco, the wife with O2).
BT Business quoted £15 for the phone and £19 for the broadband with first 3 months, installation and router free. They tell me it's 6 meg uncontested. I like that but I don't like the 24 month lockin.
BE said they have no space at that exchange, try again in a month.
The rest quote for line and broadband with the usual 12 month lock in, free router and stuff. Installation seems to be about £50 across the board.
Virgin want £32.54 a month with first 3 months @ £27.44.
Talk Talk are £27.10.
O2 are £28.50 (wife is a customer).
So the costs are much of a muchness.

Any recommendations and suggestions most welcome. For example is BT Business really uncontested in the real world? I've heard BT's customer service can be really disappointing.
Left field idea options for faster broadband also welcome.
And if anyone can tell me when the exchange will get cable, unless it's no time soon, I'd be over the moon.

Thanks

I recommend BE and I think you'd get around 12 Megs with an attenuation of 39dB. Unfortunately, they say there's no space and if so, that would rule out O2 as well.

you should consider a hosting package rather than a local server.

edit
ps: following you signature link,
'The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later.'

Edited by ggremlin (Thu 23-Jun-11 22:28:54)

It might be worth trying to sign to sign up with Goscomb using their BE backhaul

Up to 24/1.3 meg with 200gb usage per month >> £26 +vat pm
Up to 24/2.5 meg with unmeterd usage per month >> £42 +vat pm

http://www.goscomb.net/connectivity/broadband/consumer

I've had a few recommendations for BE. I guess they have too many people using that exchange so there is too much contention? Are they worth waiting for?

Do you really think I could get 12 megs? That's twice what people have been saying I could get at a maximum.

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

It might be worth trying to sign to sign up with Goscomb using their BE backhaul

Up to 24/1.3 meg with 200gb usage per month >> £26 +vat pm
Up to 24/2.5 meg with unmeterd usage per month >> £42 +vat pm

http://www.goscomb.net/connectivity/broadband/consumer

BE said they are full, though.

In reply to a post by ggremlin:

you should consider a hosting package rather than a local server.

edit
ps: following you signature link,
'The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later.'

We do have a hosting package. But we're always online to it.
Thanks for the heads up on the site. The server times were wrong, confusing the forum.
Fixed.
Another example of why we need to be online lots

Where did the 39dB attenuation come from?

In reply to a post by Spinball:

We do have a hosting package. But we're always online to it.

That will use a small amount of bandwidth (allowance usage). No need whatsoever for "unlimited". Look at the amount I read and post here, and struggle to use 7GB, including the rest of what I do.

for the postcode, B45 8JF
it seems that fttc may be available soon

Did you just call BE or have you also tried the number on the checker on the website?

In reply to a post by ggremlin:

for the postcode, B45 8JF
it seems that fttc may be available soon

[Looks up fttc in Wikipedia]
Thank you, that is very interesting information and will definitely influence who we go with.
What is your source for this information?
Does it mean the exchange is already ready for fiberoptic or will they have to upgrade it?
Also what is the usual course of events once the cabinet is cable-ready? Does it mean Virgin will start offering their services round the area?
I would rather get Virgin Broadband than any other by a mile. Had/having a good experience with Virgin/Blueyonder/Telewest for a decade.

information from the bt checker**, and sam knows

the exchange has fibre, its the local cab in progress

virgin (cable) is completely different beast and not available

** just guessed an address in the postcode, if you have a phone number that gives more accurate results

In reply to a post by ggremlin:

information from the bt checker**, and sam knows

the exchange has fibre, its the local cab in progress

virgin (cable) is completely different beast and not available

** just guessed an address in the postcode, if you have a phone number that gives more accurate results

Oh that's awesome news. Found it.
21 Plymouth Road. B45 8JF

In reference to www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.address:

Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 30th September 2011. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 25 Mbps and upstream line speed of 5.8 Mbps.

Does it mean that soon after September, BT will be able to offer me 40MB Infinity?

If that's your address in there, I suggest you edit it out!

Not a good idea to post it on a public forum.

In reply to a post by billford:

If that's your address in there, I suggest you edit it out!

Not a good idea to post it on a public forum.

Bill I appreciate your concern, but as a limited company, we are legally obliged to publish our address on our website and in our emails.
Plus that's close enough to our address for the purposes of accuracy, but it's not our address.
Many thanks.

OK, fair enough

This cabinet is roughly 230 metres from our gate. There's another 100 meters from the gate to the house.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64416762@N07/5866302252...
Is this the BT cabinet?
Once it's upgraded, I assume the normal phone line going to our house will carry the signal the last 330 meters?

Edited by deleted (Fri 24-Jun-11 11:53:31)

That doesn't look like a BT cabinet to me . Usually narrower than that and dark green. Yours should have a number 10 on it. Given the estimate I suggest 500-600m away.

I haven't read the Wiki article, but you might find my FTTx page useful, as well as the BT Wholesale line checker link, which seems to be the most reliable.

Also beneath the FTTx page is a list of suppliers, with a link to the orly/yarwell summary spreadsheet on google.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 24-Jun-11 13:37:51)

I've had a close look on Google Maps and it's the only roadside box I can see in the area.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=b45+8jf&ll=52.363307...

[Edit - on reflection, I think you're right]
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=b45+8jf&ll=52.362013...

Edited by deleted (Fri 24-Jun-11 16:52:28)

Does it mean that soon after September, BT will be able to offer me 40MB Infinity?

sept30 is a holding date that may (will) change forward or back.
line rate likely to be a little less than 40, (checker says 25...)
other fttc companies are available too.
ps if you dont like 24mth contract, you can ask how much it would cost to end it early...

According to BT, we can get BT Infinity at 25Mbps now. We're a bit further along Plymouth Rd from you!

Dubious whether we will get that, the copper around here is a bit old and flaky. We should really get 12-15 on 02 ADSL2+ LLU considering our distance from the exchange, but only get 6. But if we get 15 or more, I'd be happy.