Possible change of ISP

I've been with Eclipse since August 2003 and am currently on their Home Select package with a monthly allowance of 50Gbytes (Eclipse only count downloads against allowance), speed down 8Mbps. We're on 21CN. Service is solidly reliable and speed is consistent. However at £20.38/month Eclipse is clearly uncompetitive on price.

I use 5-10Mbytes in a typical month, my highest ever was 14Gbytes, Clearly a 10Gbyte monthly allowance is inadequate, especially as many ISPs count both downloads and uploads against the allowance.

Exchange is Hulme Hall, a Market 3 exchange. We�re about 0.8km straight line (c.1km as routed) from the FTTC cabinet adjacent to our �old� cabinet so fibre will be a bit quicker but not as much as if we were a lot nearer, but in reality I don�t believe that for my usage I can justify the cost of fibre for the small extra speed. Distance to exchange, 1.25km straight line, Kitz suggests around 2.5km as routed.

The BT NTE5 socket is about 1 metre cable run from the outside BT line entry point, it�s the only socket and feeds the adjacent router and a DECT base unit for the house telephones. We do not have Sky.

Router stats (Netgear DG834GT):
Down- CS=9745 kbps, LA=43.5 db, NM=5.4 db
Up- CS=1127 kbps, LA=25.0 db, NM=5.4 db

I�m not interested in cable, nor am I interested in including telephone calls, we�re currently with BT and intend to stay that way.

I do want reliability, my experience with Eclipse is that I get no noticeable performance degradation at any time of day or night, so clearly I�d like that to continue.

In their new home in Kent my son has recently gone to Plusnet and is, currently, very pleased with the service and the installation. So clearly Plusnet is on the list of potential providers. BT itself is clearly another possibility. My only dealings with the overseas help desk (for my sister a few years ago) were very positive.

So my current thoughts are Plusnet Unlimited Broadband @ £9.99/month (12 month contract).
The equivalent BT offering would appear to be BT Unlimited Broadband at around £16 / month (18 month contract), free for first 6 months.

I'd be happy to continue to use the Netgear router (it's on Plusnet's list of ones that work on their service).

On Plusnet, after the 12 months contract period what is the required notice period?

It appears that there's no web space with Plusnet - I get 100Mbytes with Eclipse, I'd need an alternative way of storing small amounts on the web.

Thoughts would be appreciated.

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

On Plusnet, after the 12 months contract period what is the required notice period?

One month. (In case anyone mentions 10 days, that is legacy products only).

It appears that there's no web space with Plusnet - I get 100Mbytes with Eclipse, I'd need an alternative way of storing small amounts on the web.

Oblique question - who hosts your email and does it cost you anything? A .uk domain costs me £6.70 every 2 years, and a web+email hosting of it, (including hosting for a second domain - that would also need buying), costs £14.99pa. Equals £1.53pm.

500MB, 10 email address, unlimited email aliases.

Just before changing ISP, possibly involving an email address change, would be an ideal time to go for something like that.

Fair question.

My email address is not ISP dependant.

It's firstname (at) surname (dot) com. I've had it for 15 years or so and it's run by a US company and redirects my emails to my (current) ISP. Clearly I can change that redirection to any new ISP so no need to have separate email host. I don't have, or need to have, a domain.

Could I use something like Dropbox for temporary hosting of files that I wish to make available to others, e.g. members of family?

At the moment, as the webmaster for my church, I can use a bit of spare space on that web site if needs be

I use dropbox now. It's amazing . You get private and public folders and I think can set up restricted (group) ones as well.

A thought.

Though I said that I'd be happy to continue to use my Netgear router it occurs to me that it may be beneficial to get the standard Plusnet router (Technicolor?) so that in the event of problems I can switch to the Plusnet router to aid diagnosis. I know there's a £5.99 P&P charge in this case but, in the grand scheme of things, that's a pretty small sum.

Any thoughts about that?

Also any thoughts on other possible ISPs that could give me the service that I want?

[Edit: typo]

Edited by cheshire_man (Tue 12-Feb-13 07:12:33)

I took the Plusnet router for the same reason, and for simple backup. When I upgraded a few months ago I ws offered their more recent one, and took that as well. (P & P at the time was £4.99). I tried both and went back to my own.

If I had any thoughts on alternative ISPs I probably wouldn't be with PN .

In reply to a post by cheshire_man:

Fair question.

My email address is not ISP dependant.

... I've had it for 15 years or so and it's run by a US company and redirects my emails to my (current) ISP. Clearly I can change that redirection to any new ISP so no need to have separate email host.

Why redirect and introduce an extra point of failure, possibly in both directions? Why not connect direct to the host?

Previous problems with an ISP blocking ports perhaps?

Not at all.

Apart from one glitch about 5 years ago, I've had no problems for all the time I've used that approach, starting in the last century . It also cuts out one email box I don't have to monitor (there are 4 others I monitor) - if I connected direct to the redirect mailbox I still need to monitor my ISP mail box for emails sent from them to me.

I've been with Eclipse since going broadband in 2003, and with virgin.net dial up before that for some years and don't recall any significant email issues.

Just though I'd update thread.

Having requested a MAC this morning I was put through to the Eclipse Customer Loyalty Team. After a good conversation and the exchange of a few emails I have now got a discounted deal with some free months, net effect is only about £15/year more than moving to Plusnet.

As I'm quite happy with the service, reliability and speed from Eclipse then I'd prefer not to change. Now the pricing has been 'adjusted' I see no reason to move.