Really do I have to use BT?

My exchange is just about to be upgraded to FTTC (as in a few weeks) and Be* appear not to be getting their act together any time this year to offer Fibre.

Looking around, my previous favourite ISP (Zen) is way too expensive, so it seems that BT Infinity is a good deal at the moment? I'm quite surprised and somewhat horrified that I will have BT as my ISP.

I do download torrents, although not excessively, we have just discovered the delights of Apple TV combined with IceFilms and Rapidshare however....

Any other suggestions apart from BT?

Thanks,

Steve

At the moment BT Retail's Infinity FTTC VDSL2 product appears to be about the cheapest on offer but yes I'd not fancy BT Retail being my ISP either.

Hopefully over time as the wholesale VDSL2 service becomes more widespread it'll become wires only meaning no engineer visit to your house will be required which should mean the price will come down as happeed with ADSL but alas thats a few years away I fear.

Not sure how much BT Wholesale are charging ISPs for VDSL2 circuits but either Retail are absorbing some of the cost or other ISPs are charging more to cover the cost of necessary upgrades to their networks or a bit more margin as it's still largely in early adopter stage.

ISPs offering FTTC

Ah yes forgot about that link Xray

Post deleted by seb

Also if you are prepared to pay you could use BT business. UK based tech support.

Ian

Thank you. One of the good things about an ISP is not having to use Tech Support

I have been with BE* for 6 years and have only ever called them once and that was when my exchange had an issue. Thinking about it I don't think I ever called Zen technical support the entire time I was with them.

Steve

Thank you, I will wander down that list.

Any recommendations?

Yes. Based on the prices of the other ISPs it would appear that BT are making a loss of some kind. Especially as there unlimited apparently is just that.

I just don't like the idea of being with BT who obviously are not adverse to traffic shaping, controlling and just generally not being a good ISP in my opinion.

I moved from BE Unlimited to BT Infinity unlimited. Works for me.

I just had a year with IDNet, but I'm a light user so the cost compared to Infinity wasn't much different once I paid the year up front, which means only paying for 11 months. It also gave 10Mbps upstream connection, whereas the 40GB Infinity is only 2Mbps upstream.

Since then Infinity prices have fallen and Plusnet have come into play. I tossed up between the 40GB from Infinity and Plusnet and plumped for Plusnet. The traffic management won't affect me so far as I can see, and it is only an extra £5pm to get rid of that, in fact getting priority as well.

Speeds seem just as good as IDNet, barring of course the 2Mbps upstream. Web pages such as the Beeb seem snappier, presumably faster DNS. Normal latency is 15ms compared to IDNet 13ms, both Fast Path.

Don't forget to check out the cashbacks from TopCashBack or Quidco. But if you order through them you must clear cookies first.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 27-Feb-12 00:17:51)

BT are swallowing the costs at a loss, the activation fee is charged by BT Wholesale for migrations and activations and this also includes charging for migrations from FTTC to a different FTTC provider by doing this they are making sure that the smaller ISPs cannot compete and also can't ply for the custom from BT Retail on cost as you can't expect a customer to have to pay that sort of money to migrate their current service to a smaller provider.

I investigated all the ISP's offerings thoroughly just 3 weeks ago and, after a lot of tossing and turning and brain going into overload, came down on the side of Plusnet in the end. I was going to go with BT Infinity for Business, but paying an extra £5 to Plusnet for their Pro upgrade seems to offer the same kind of prioritised connection as Infinity for Business, but at cheaper cost. That said, Plusnet do not offer unlimited downloads and I'm on their 120GB package. Also at the moment I only get up to 2 Mbps upload. Whether the 120GB cap will be a problem, I'm not yet sure. If it becomes a problem, then I'd have to go for Infinity for Business instead. I'd love it if Plusnet offered an unlimited package as that really would make them perfect for me. So far Plusnet have been excellent, very helpful, with a UK based support team and call centre, and I now have a fast stable connection with them with no slowdown in the evenings or at weekends because of the Pro add on (£5 a month for prioritised connection). An 80/20 fibre connection is currently being trialled and will be introduced in the future I understand.

Yes, I believe they are owned by BT, but so far I can't speak highly enough of them. For now, because of the lack of an unlimited package, I'd give them 9/10. Offer unlimited and they'd get 10/10 marks from me.

I was sad to leave BE/O2, but sadly their lack of a fibre offering at the moment meant that I had to look elsewhere.

Edited by deleted (Tue 28-Feb-12 14:14:35)

I was sad to leave BE/O2, but sadly their lack of a fibre offering at the moment meant that I had to look elsewhere.

Having missed the boat, they haven't even hired a speed boat, or even a jet-ski, to catch up with it. My course, Newnet ADSL >> O2 LLU >> IDNet Home Starter Fibre >> Plusnet Value Fibre.

an extra £5 to Plusnet for their Pro upgrade seems to offer the same kind of prioritised connection as Infinity for Business

The Pro option is only on monthly terms, even though your underlying contract is 18 months. I suggest you give it a whirl without it.

Plusnet have been excellent, very helpful, with a UK based support team

Do Yorkshiremen believe themselves to be in the UK, or rather that the UK is a useful export market?

I'll give the connection a try without the Pro add on next month. It will be interesting to see what difference it makes.

Thanks for all your help in the BT thread, Roberto - that was much appreciated. Even though I decided against Infinity in the end, I still have an open mind about migrating to BT Infinity for Business if necessary i.e. if Plusnet do not come up with an unlimited option. But I'm very pleased with the speed and stability of my fibre connection so far, so thanks for the encouragement to take that leap of faith!

Post deleted by RobertoS