High speed ISP, which one?

Have been living in a very rural area for a long time and had to make do with a 0.3-5mbps line.

Have just got a new property and I am confused by what is on offer. Not sure if we will be there more than 12 months, so don't want to get locked into a 18 mth contract.

Have visited samknows.com and it tells me:
The following services are available in your location:
BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT Wholesale WBC (21CN)
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU

Does anyone know from this list, which is able to offer the fastest speeds. I would prefer unlimited downloads but from what I am seeing online, unlimited is not such a problem, the faster 36mbps offerings are all 18th month contracts. Seems silly to go down this route if I may not be there in less than a year.

Lastly, I currently use my voice line for broadband. Are any of the offerings above fibre as we both have mobiles and would rather not have a landline and pay expensive line rental if we can.

Any suggestions would be great.

What info does this BTw link give re. what is available from your exchange.

You'll need a land line for FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) if it is available and contracts can be 18 months long so you would need to check the various ISPs' T & C to find out.

If fibre is available and you are still interested have a read of this forum.

BT Infinity contracts are twelve months these days

You should be able to get the "up to 20Mbs" products from nearly all ISPs except Sky. But the lack of a mention of FTTC by samknows suggests probably not the "up to 38Mbps" ones.

If you take the address option of this checker we will be know more surely. (Do not use the pure postcode option!)

Please copy and paste the table of estimates, and the line above it that gives the exchange and cabinet. Obviously erase the actual address.

That's good news for those that can get FTTC

Thanks for all of your helpful posts.

I have been on the BT checker, and here are the results. Hopefully they will paste ok as I am on an iPad....




BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER

Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17 -- 10 to 19.5 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 17 Up to 1.5 10 to 19.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 7.5 -- 6.5 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available
For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Throughput/download speeds will be less than line rates and can be affected by a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

The Stop Sale date for Datastream is from 30-Jun-2012; the Formal Retirement date for Datastream is from 30-Jun-2014. The Stop Sale date for IPstream is from 31-Oct-2013; the Formal Retirement date for IPstream is from 30-Jun-2014.

Note: The DP is external to the end user premises.
Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check.

Thank you for your interest.



If this does not post well, I will try and get a screenshot on tomorrow

That's pasted fine.

You'll get a decent speed, but as I said earlier, no FTTC or FTTP (those last two are fibre). So no "up to 38Mbps". Somewhere between 15 and 20Mbps, with 1.2-1.3Mbps upload connection. Plenty of 12-month or even monthly terms available, what you choose depends on budget and particular usage pattern.

Re landline rental, you will have to have that. Surely you have it now?

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 25-Apr-15 00:59:48)

Hi
When infinity went live at my cabinet I got message to say I couldnt get it as too far from cabinet and instead could get faster service than adsl if I upgraded, bt told me I would get 14 - 20 meg and that link said the same.
In reality when it went live I got 9 meg and BT pointed me to "impacted line" section below and said that my line was "impacted." after BT engineers came out they said that what few lines they had in my area were all impacted and that they had a 5v "battery" on them - although this was a fault it wasnt serious enough for them to be digging up ducting etc.
I got out of contract (still have same [censored] lines) but went with Origin Broadband on principal - will see how that goes
K

In reply to a post by keymaster:

Hi
When infinity went live at my cabinet I got message to say I couldnt get it as too far from cabinet and instead could get faster service than adsl if I upgraded, bt told me I would get 14 - 20 meg and that link said the same.
In reality when it went live I got 9 meg and BT pointed me to "impacted line" section below and said that my line was "impacted." after BT engineers came out they said that what few lines they had in my area were all impacted and that they had a 5v "battery" on them - although this was a fault it wasnt serious enough for them to be digging up ducting etc.
I got out of contract (still have same [censored] lines) but went with Origin Broadband on principal - will see how that goes
K

Hi, thanks for the replies.

I do currently have line rental, however would be leaving that behind as another family member will be staying in the house. Was hoping to cut down on the expenses, but it does seem (from your helpful responses) that I will still need a BT line. I will just have to look for the cheapest option I can find. It may work out better for me to go onto one of the deals where you get the telephone line and the broadband in a package, but they can sometimes have hidden line rental fees.

Cheapest deal probably TalkTalk where you are.

My recommendation is BT although TT may be fine.