Moving to fibre

Hello all
Currently on a long line ADSL2+ and now have the option to connect to FTTC (top of my road). Ive lost touch with what's available and finding it a bit confusing TBH.
Long story short, I had a nighmare with BT whilst on max etc and swore to only use smaller slightly more expensive business type ISPs for customer service and supposedly better business products.
On the old MAX/ 2+ there were low contention business offers and "normal" connections, is this still the case with FTTC? Would I notice a difference between a business product and a residential one ie high traffic slowdowns, shaping etc.?

Happy to pay a bit more for service but don't want to pay for a "business" service I dont really need.

Finally, any suggestions based on the above? With Timico at the moment for BB, BT line rental at a rather pricey £19 for 4.5meg and £17 rental evening/weekend..

You got TT LLU at your cab? If so Pulse8 offer Talk Talk Business fibre. No contract and great support

Yes, found out yesterday that my current Timico service comes through TalkTalk apparently. Sorry, I thought LLU was different to fibre?

Edit- just checked pulse8, £44/month for 38/10mbps including line rental- is that what you mean?

Edited by chrimbow (Sat 13-Feb-16 16:01:09)

That's the 76/19. The 30/10 is £38. Add £1 if you want caller display on your phone and another £2 if you want a static IP address. No call packages but the phone calls are 1ppm peak and 0.8ppm off-peak, billed per second.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 13-Feb-16 17:30:28)

Just double checked, the business one bobblebob mentioned in the 1st post is definitely £44, the residential is £38
(assuming thats the one one he was directing me towards)

The residential is still resold TTB, the B denoting Business. The Business package has a higher care level.

As professor973 says. "TalkTalk Business" isn't quite the right name. It is actually "TalkTalk Business Wholesale", meaning a division of TT that provides (sells as a wholesaler) services to resellers. Equivalent in a way to BT Wholesale.

Yes, within that there are also Residential/SOHO and Business level packages, again just like BTW.

Prof973 will know better than me what extra you get on the Business level - he is on it. IIRC the static IP address is included, maybe also the caller display.

The bog standard Pulse8 support seems pretty good.

Alwaya wondered that. As a Pulse8 customer are we on TT Business or Residential?

Depends which one you ordered from Pulse8. Go to the Fibre page and it has two tabs. Home packages and Business packages. Also the prices are different, as just discussed in the thread.

Thats how I read it

Home is "standard priority" and bisiness is "high priority" which I assume refers to the traffic priority rather than customer service?

Im on ADSL so ordered there XL Plus Broadband only package

Edited by bobble_bob (Sat 13-Feb-16 21:20:56)

The one on Residential is £26. The one on Business is £26.80.

Im on broadband only got calls with another provider so dunno where that leaves me

How much do they bill you?

£20 p/m

Which looks like residential without the phone line.

Ah well. Business or not its been a good service. Been said before a few times but i paid an extra £1 to be on the XL Plus (instead of XL Home) which gets you "higher priority". Dont think we have ever got to the bottom of what that means in reality

ISTR that TalkTalk have 7 priority levels. Their own residential service being on the lowest, 7. Pulse8 Home being on 3 and Plus on 2. Pro on 1.

You only need XL Plus if you intend paying £2 per month for a fixed IP address, if not, the £19 XL is the same without the ability to add a fixed IP address for another £2, so in reality it costs £3. The levels of priority with Pulse8, is the contention ratio over those that subscribe direct to TalkTalk, something that has been explained here previously. If you don't intend to have a fixed IP address, you may as well switch down to the £19 package.
Personally, I am switching away from Pulse8 on the 24th, for no other reason than saving £5 per month for the same resold TTB service, along with quite a bit more - Cheaper calls to mobiles, unlimited email addresses along with web space and hosting. Absolutely nothing to do with Pulse8 service which is better than many. My broadband does not miss a beat with the resold TTB these days, something I could not have said before switching to Pulse8.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/25cd8dae195...

Edited by professor973 (Sun 14-Feb-16 13:56:14)

Ah right, makes sense. Wonder how that works in the real world. Guess they only have to use the priority system in times when they're service is under strain, like when there are major sporting events and everyone is streaming it.

Fixed IP is available on the £19 XL according to their order page

Have it your own way, I am used to being called wrong here - After all, I only had the Plus package because it was needed for a fixed IP address. Possibly you could show a link to back your claim, then advise Puls8 of their error - To keep all things fair, I will post a link proving I am correct!
https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/broadband-packages?pre...

Edited by professor973 (Sun 14-Feb-16 13:24:28)

https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/broadband-packages?pre...

Broadband only. Fixed IP available on all 3 packages

That is a webpage error. I can guarantee it, as when I signed up I was told I had to have the £20 package to have a fixed IP address. As you are the one staying, I would advise Adam or Sam of the conflicting information so they can correct it. Either way, you can still drop down to the £19 package if you don't want a fixed IP address.

Fair enough, didnt bother with fixed IP for Pulse8 so never tried.

XL Home is described as

Unlimited high priority (LLU)

XL Plus is described as

Unlimited higher priority (LLU)

So going on that webpage it seems you do have a high priority on the network by paying that extra quid

Possibly a tad higher, but if you are more interested in a fixed IP address, then in effect it is costing £3. As for the actual priorities, it took Bob and I a while and a bit of digging to get to the bottom of it.

Hi professor973, im a pulse 8 custamer on the 38Mbps service. What do I get if I go onto the business version? Thank you in advance for your help.

Apart from a higher level of service should you have a fault, just v.a.t. billed separately as far as I know.
https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/fibreoptic-packages?ty...

Do P8 not do a 'fibre only' option like with their broadband? All fibre packages they do seem to include line rental and calls

Prices all include line rental, not sure if they would do SMPF as they do on ADSL2+

Im assuming you can have SMPF even with fibre?

I was told no. If you look on the pages, there isn't the third tab that is there for ADSLx.

seems that the pulse8 site is down currently

Another ISP bites the dust?

In reply to a post by professor973:

I am switching away from Pulse8 on the 24th, for no other reason than saving £5 per month for the same resold TTB service, along with quite a bit more...

OK, I'll bite, @professor973. Where are you going?

Not expecting anyone to bite. Some friends here know, but I had not intended stating here as I would probably just put myself up for ridicule again if I praise them, will just see how it goes. It's not hard to find a TTB reseller offering all I stated at £23 inc. v.a.t. per month for 100gb (unlimited 8.00pm - 8.00am and all weekends). Extras apart, the line and BB should be the same as I have now.

Edited by professor973 (Mon 15-Feb-16 11:33:40)

Sorry for the misunderstanding. "I'll bite" was intended to be a light-hearted way of asking for more info. I'll PM you, if you prefer.

In reply to a post by chrimbow:

seems that the pulse8 site is down currently

Working now....

In reply to a post by richi:

Sorry for the misunderstanding. "I'll bite" was intended to be a light-hearted way of asking for more info. I'll PM you, prefer.

No problem. It's just that many of my posts here get shot down and the content disputed for no other reason then being from me. It will become known soon enough via BQM or whatever I expect Lol.
Regarding the conflicting information on P8 pages concerning a fixed IP address. I did drop an email to Adam and Sam last night pointing out the conflicting information highlighted in this thread, asking if they could confirm the packages suitable for fixed IP address, but that is yet another email that have not been answered. Started off very good, but at least in my case now they seem to pick and choose which messages they respond to. They seem reluctant to drop in here as some do which would help their cause. All things that were part of making my mind up.

Edited by professor973 (Mon 15-Feb-16 19:12:27)

Are you moving to save money or because of a few unanswered emails?

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Are you moving to save money or because of a few unanswered emails?

Neither - The £5 saving is just a bonus. I am more interested in a control panel that actually gives me control over my line, enabling me to fiddle with speed against stability without troubling an ISP. Unlimited email addresses, webspace and hosting included is also something I may or may not use, but the option is good, as is a little better tech support including service status. So to sum up., I just felt the package as a whole one not to be sniffed at. A much more user friendly version of the service I am on with Pulse8 - Not knocking Pulse8, they try very hard and are a very decent supplier. I think the unaswered emails are more a system problem than deliberate. It is something thay have looked at and probably coincidence the less important ones go unanswered, but something that hepls sway a decision.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 11:22:32)

Check the link above now and you will see Pulse8 have quietly edited the incorrect page. This seems to show they read my email highlighting it, despite no answer. Something I have had several times now.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 17:23:16)

Not on my screen, despite F5 refreshes. With phone says no, without says static IP available..

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Not on my screen, despite F5 refreshes. With phone says no, without says static IP available..

Confusing, unless we are looking at different pages, knowing me I probably am! But in any case it makes no sense at all to make fixed IP available depending upon taking phone or not. I was told by P8 they don't do fixed IP for the cheapest package. There is no mention of it depending taking a phone service or not, and they don't seem in the mind to clarify.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 18:44:35)

It showing as not available here.

Where is here Lol - Not available on XL Home here - https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/broadband-packages?pre...

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 18:47:20)

Sorry. For me XLHome bundle says Fixed IP: No.

Post deleted by derekdel

Yes, but what has bundle to do with it. Not only has a fixed IP nothing to do with the phone side to my knowledge, I was assured upon sign-up a fixed IP was not available on XL Home, bundles ane line were not mentioned. Either way, it's silly in my mind making folks take a dearer package before allowing fixed IP. After all, you are paying for something that others give for free. As P8 refuse to clarify or pop in here, we will just go in circles if we continue.

Post deleted by professor973

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 19:17:17)

As you can tell, we're all keen to know where you're going

Come on young man, I have given enough info for it to be obvious. Several have guessed and I am sure you can work it out, you are usually very good at putting things together. Just that I wanted to keep quiet till after I have sampled it, as you know how I got flamed when first going to P8, we both got rubbished. Only mentioned the switch after getting involved in this thread - Switch on the 24th.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 19:18:43)

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Sorry. For me XLHome bundle says Fixed IP: No.

That's the left-hand of three tabs. Click the right-hand one - Broadband only.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 16-Feb-16 19:51:03)

Ah yes, this one https://pulse8broadband.co.uk/broadband-packages says XLHome Fixed IP: available

I made two phone calls to Austria using my P8 landline, totalling 12 minutes 58 seconds, in the middle of the afternoon on 19 January. 46.8p

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I made two phone calls to Austria using my P8 landline, totalling 12 minutes 58 seconds, in the middle of the afternoon on 19 January. 46.8p

The smaller providers with sensible call charges and no tie-in are getting harder to find. Zen use dto be that way when I was with them, but they seem to have joined the crowd now, not that if has helped their service of late.

Edited by professor973 (Tue 16-Feb-16 20:16:23)

so where you moving to? is odd to keep it a secret.

Just fed up with being rubbished every time I mention an ISP. Fed up with being called an idiot. remember the abuse I and Pulse8 took when I switched to them, thoygh that often applies to much of what I post. It will come out in the wash I expect.