Which ISP for a heavy uploader and downloader?

Currently using Plusnet on a supposedly (up to 20meg) deal, but getting 5.8-6.2meg down and 0.2-0.38meg upload. I recently had BT Broadband on order, but my father told me not to be so hasty and to look around before I "just left Plusnet", which is fair enough.

My post code is PE38 9RA, my area code is 01366 and my exchange is:

Downham Market

I am snooping around, but would like some advice on who to choose. No real preferences but don't really favour TalkTalk or Orange. I use my connection to

-play on Xbox LIVE, World of Warcraft
-upload 45 minute long HD YouTube videos (which I have to do overnight uploads with at the moment)
-download large software files
-watch a LOT of YouTube videos
-constantly keep an eye on my speed
and sometimes all at once!

I'm not looking for a package necessarily, but an ISP reccomendation. I need an unlimited package.

Any reccomendations?

if youve already got sky TV and dont mind switching your phone to sky id highly recommend them with sky the phone rental is £12.25 (cheaper than BT they also do the pay up front saver like BT) e/w calls included in that and the broadband is £10 if you just have phone and broadband or 7.50 if you also have TV, its truly unlimited and they dont throttle anything also they have an offer on for 6 months half price at the moment plus top cashback offers you could get a decent connection and save a few bob.

skys estimate for your post code Estimated Access Line Speed: 12.9Mbps - 19.0Mbps so you should at least get 12 minimum.

ive also had talktalk a month now and cant fault them again you have to have there phone

but yea id deffo recommend sky

Ash

It would be useful if you could post your line stats from your router, as that will tell us what speed you could get with Sky, or via a non-TalkTalk ISP that connects through the TalkTalk exchange kit but then goes away from the TT network.

To find the stats, see here for help.

As your exchange seems not to be WBC enabled, you are actually on an "up to 8Mbps" connection as that is all that is available except through Sky and TalkTalk kit.

I would expect if you run the BT Performance Test it will show a connection speed of 8128 or 7616kbps, and an IP Profile of 7150 or 6500kbps.

Orange LLU does not exist any more and on that exchange you would not be able to connect above 8128kbps on their new service. The same with any ISP except as I describe above.

Just for information for us, to compare with what you could get, which Plusnet package are you on, and what do you pay? Is the phone with them as well, or with BT? Does your father pay both, because if it's going to be more he may not be happy.

Agreed, not Orange at the mo' as they only do ADSL Max at your exchange, same as you are on, but when 21CN WBC comes there Orange would be very suitable as they now do unlimited w/out FUP.

Thanks for some interesting replies.

First of all, I don't know if TalkTalk is a wise bet or are they not as bad as they are made out to be?

Secondly, I've already ruled out Sky for contractual reasons.

So please can TalkTalk customers, happy or unhappy say what they experience and please keep up the recommendations, they will be useful. PS: if you are recommending and ISP, please try and quote a speed test result from http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

Thanks .

In reply to a post by willsweet2:

Thanks for some interesting replies.

First of all, I don't know if TalkTalk is a wise bet or are they not as bad as they are made out to be?

Secondly, I've already ruled out Sky for contractual reasons.

So please can TalkTalk customers, happy or unhappy say what they experience and please keep up the recommendations, they will be useful. PS: if you are recommending and ISP, please try and quote a speed test result from http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

Thanks .

Hi some info from my talk talk for you i cant couch for everyone's experience but in the month ive had them ive been happy no problems at all with them. I mainly got them for FTTC at the end of this month when my cab gos live but so far ive found the ADSL to be good its faster than my sky line is and apparently the talktalk line is a bit longer than the sky one so im happy with that.

This is a direct download from Microsoft speed test

Router Stats
Rate(Kbps) 11105 980

SNR Margin(dB) 7.9 9.3
Attenuation(dB) 40.00 21.1

TBB speedtest

Speedtest.net

Ping test

These were done on wifi the ping was a little better when i was on wired

Ash

acpsd775, your speeds made me feel tingly inside LOL. Looks like TalkTalk aren't a complete and utterly useless mess like a lot of people make them out to be. There is definitely something to look into here. What's more, they gave me a speed estimate of 14.5meg, so if I can achieve that then I will be amazed!

Thanks and keep 'em coming folks.

Speeds are generally not the issue with TT; no more than any other ISP. After all ADSL2+ is the same technology whoever is supplying it.

No, the issues with TT are: (1) It's Full LLU meaning it's difficult to get your line back when you leave, (2) Awful customer service that has been lambasted by Ofcom, Which?, Watchdog, ...

If you look in the forum here, the people complaining loudly seem to be people who have never used TalkTalk or used it many years ago.

Okay, looks like they've improved. I was with them back in the year when they launched their stupidly planned 'Free Broadband' and when I attempted a connection during peak times, it just timed out and said Page Cannot Be Displayed.

Keep 'em coming.

In reply to a post by willsweet2:

acpsd775, your speeds made me feel tingly inside LOL. Looks like TalkTalk aren't a complete and utterly useless mess like a lot of people make them out to be. There is definitely something to look into here. What's more, they gave me a speed estimate of 14.5meg, so if I can achieve that then I will be amazed!

Thanks and keep 'em coming folks.

They gave me 1 of 7-9 lol and i get 10-11 so i was happy im going on FTTC as said so the ADSL speed was never realy a problem for me even if it was slow as id would only be till end of this month but im happy with the speed i get now to put me on lol although my neighbour gets 15 im convinced BT have put me on a long line haha

Ash

In reply to a post by willsweet2:

... if you are recommending and ISP, please try and quote a speed test result from http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

Other people's speeds are completely irrelevant as the connection speed is primarily dependent on the line length from the exchange, and the speed test speed is dependent on that.

If you asked for connection, speed test, and P2P/torrent speeds, to see how the three compare with each other for each respondent, that would be useful to you .

As you are a heavy downloader as per the Subject, I reckon you will find considerable throttling on a standard TT service. Again, you need to know what kind of usage the TT customers here have. It could be P2P is now not throttled by TT, or it only happens at certain times.

What do you call heavy downloading anyway? I've seen people here saying they are heavy users, and they don't do 100GB per month. On some ISPs, 500GB+ per month is common.

Talktalk's Plus package is unlimited (so is Essentials with the Download Boost, says 80GB but this is effectively un-metered .......... at the moment), but P2P is throttled during peak hours:
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/legal/broadband-traffic-ma...

I'm not aware of TT restricting anyone's line due to excessive usage no matter what package they're on.

With no FTTC and few LLU options (I've not touched TT in years and probably never will due to past experiences friends have had with that business, and I have no experience with Sky) your options are limited.

Even with going LLU you are going to see ilttle difference in downstream rate if the limit is your line rather than throttles at the ISP. All the providers will be giving you ADSL2 or similar. You might get a boost in upstream speed though: many ISPs offer accounts with the faster upstream rate option on ADSL Max, which should equate to an 85% boost to your current maximum upstream speed (832kbit/s rather than 448kbit/s, so "up to 88KByte/sec" to "up to 47Kbyte/sec") which will help those large video uploads.

Other than that there isn't much you can do (other than try multiple lines which is presumably too expensive for the benefit you'll see) if your line is the limitation rather than the ISP.