Broadband Provider Recommendation

Sorry, folks, for yet another of these threads. But I read through past posts for about the last hour and am now basically relatively confused.

Ok. I have moved over from the US a couple of months ago and am about to move into a house over here in High Wycombe (Post Code HP13 5JH). And now I am trying to decide what broadband provider to use.

First, the parameters for my quest. I AM looking for fast speed, unlimited downloading, etc. I want to keep watching some of my american television shows and the easiest way is to download them via torrents. If a particular provider is speedier in the setup phase, that's always great. I'd assume

Have you got a time period in mind. A lot of ISPs tie you into 12 month or more contracts.

Unless you go with Virgin Media Cable you will have to pay phone line rental whether you use the phone or not, as the other ISPs provide ADSL over the phone line.

If you haven't got a phone line, one will need to be installed. The

An LLU provider will give you the best download speeds and looking at the postcode you have provided you have a good choice of LLU providers and can also get cable. (See link below for how you can tell what services you can get).

Link to ADSL services checker.

Are you going to live here for a while as lots of ISPs have 12 month contracts?

Yep, gonna be in the house at least a year, so that won't be a problem.

As far as choices of LLUs, are there any good recommendations for better speed for value? Also, are there any to avoid due to some specific handicap in relation to torrent usage?

And a question about a BT landline. When you say "new line", are you talking about actually having to have a line PHYSICALLY installed? Or is that

If the house has an existing phone line then it just needs to be activated (perhaps a tick in a database, perhaps a physical connection). I don't know if there is a charge for that, I doubt it as you will probably be paying line-rental for 12 months or so.

There is a charge to activate ADSL on the line (as before, perhaps database or physical connection). A lot of ISPs absorb that charge.

A lot of ISPs have a Fair Use Policy which kick in after an unspecified level of download per month. I think Virgin Media Cable limit your speed after a certain level of usage.

The best ISP is quite often driven by how many GB you plan to download per month. Have you any idea?

The speed you will get with ADSL depends upon the length of your line to the exchange. If you are far away you may get no service at all.

If Be is at your exchange, and your line is OK, they may be your best choice.

I just put your post code in the BT speed checker.

http://eco.btwholesale.com/broadband1/

The results. They are advisory only.

"For Postcode HP13 5JH

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial check on your postcode indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 1Mbps. However due to the length of your line the 1Mbps service may require an engineer visit who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.

Our check also indicates that your line should be able to support a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 2.5Mbps or greater.

The actual ADSL Max line rate supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use, after which time the highest stable rate possible will be set.

If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.

Thank you for your interest."

If there is an exosting line at the house that just needs to be activated, it is normally free.

but, since you havn't had a BT ine before and no British Credit rating, they may insist on some form of payment.

With the odd exception, you will need to have a phone line installed to use broadband over here.

Woody

from my own pesonal experience Entanet provide a good service
with large bandwidth allowances, reasonable prices good customer service

If you have Virgin Media Cable to the house it is probably best to have that as the fibre optics always give the full, unlimited, download speed. In UK rural areas you can only have ADSL via a standard phone cable and, as you will have sen from the thresds, that depends on distance from the exchange, numbers of users online, fair usage rules etc. The discussion forums for ISPs are full of dissatifaction about actual download speeds of 8Mbps ADSL and it is a wonder that Trading Standards allow the situation to continue. Whereas the apparent (sync) speed can be near 8M, the download speeds rarely are. Today my sync speed is 7.6Mbps and, very unusually, the download speed is up to 4.9M. It is usually in the range 220 - 310kbps in the evenings and has been down to 40k. Some times it can be reasonable (but never as high as the sync speed) after midnight, as other users have reported.
Good luck.
tiscaliuser

In reply to:

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tiscaliuser

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Well that explains it! Not all ADSL ISPs are that bad.

Regards,
Steve