ISP for Downloading and Streaming Video

I'd welcome any advice about choosing an ISP for downloading and streaming video in a household where two or three people could be using the connection at one time. Reliability is an important concern as is ease of dealing with support should something unexpected happen.

Currently with IDnet who have been faultless with ADSL for years, possibly too expensive for streaming and downloading. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

At the same premises? Or moving elsewhere.

If staying there, what does this checker say for your phone number? Please copy and paste the result including the line above the table, editing out the phone number. Don't worry about the layout.

Sorry about the jumbled format. On a train doing this on an iPhone. Exchange is Mile End. Staying at premises.

Thanks Roberto


Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 66.9 20 20 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 56.9 20 12.2 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 6 -- 4 to 8 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 6 Up to 1 4 to 8 Available
ADSL Max Up to 5 -- 3.5 to 7.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

Thanks Roberto!. This time with Cabinet number.

Staying at premises.

Telephone Number xxxxxxxxxxx on Exchange MILE END is served by Cabinet 28
Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 66.9 20 20 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 56.9 20 12.2 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 6 -- 4 to 8 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 6 Up to 1 4 to 8 Available
ADSL Max Up to 5 -- 3.5 to 7.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

I don't think ADSL2+ would cope if the group of people all wanted to stream different things at the same time, so it looks like FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) is the thing to go for. Your speeds on the 76Mbps products would be 10x your ADSL speeds from those estimates, and even the 38Mbps ones would eat anything you threw at them.

Sky if you have SkyTV. Otherwise of the big boys choose between BT Infinity and Plusnet. I'd prefer Plusnet because of the UK support. After those, (I've excluded TalkTalk just out of gut feel, but they may be OK), things start getting expensive. Don't go for anything like the BT 20GB download allowance one, that will simply not be enough.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 01-Mar-15 22:46:11)

And me none of them, I wouldn't remomend BTretail Sky or tt , and i have first hand experience of plusnet and certainly couldn't recomend them with their peak time increase in latency and jitter levels, and reduced throughput, due to congestion either internally or their handover pointr with BT aren't scaled properly and as for support that reading the pliusnet forum is variable in quality to say the least

Edited by tommy45 (Sun 01-Mar-15 22:51:45)

Should I consider FTTC with either Zen or IDnet or is it just far too expensive? Do you get that much more for the extra £'s?

Does paying for an activation charge bring any benefits what-so-ever?

Thank you.

Something tells me you haven't been with BT Sky or TT.

I went from 5-6Mbps with O2 LLU, (before Sky bought it), to IDNet FTTC 40/10 - that was £28pm or thereabouts on their lowest tariff and was fine. But at the end of the 12 months I felt it worth trying Plusnet 40/2 at £16.49pm instead and haven't regretted it.

Upgraded twice since and now on the 78/19 with a legacy pricing of £19.99pm and my phone still with BT Retail. To get that price now you have to take Plusnet phone, otherwise pay £2.50pm more and a higher setup cost.

Plusnet are experiencing growing pains - up by about a third in the number of customers since I joined, with occasional slight congestion problems but nothing dramatic in general. A few customers do of course have bigger problems, as happens with every ISP. Tommy is one of two people who post regularly running them down - I forget what upset him in the first place.

If a few of you are sharing the cost, then maybe worth looking at Zen, IDNet and AAISP Home:1

Correct i wouldn't have a service with any of those 3 , for a start 2 of em are MPF only and the other has dire customer support, Just having to deal with their dire outsourced support for telephony is challenging enough there's no way on this planet i would take bb from them (BTretail) And their routing /peering leave a lot to be desired as well as lack of static IP (residential ) then there is the Web blocking and censoring nonsence

Edited by tommy45 (Mon 02-Mar-15 00:56:42)