Is Be Broadband good?

Hi. I am with Namesco at the moment. Their broadband are quite reliable and fast, and good customer service too.

However, they are a bit expensive to me.
I have a monthly usage of about 70-90GB because of a shared flat.
That'd be about �34 a month.

I then looked at be broadband offering unlimited up to 24meg ADSL2 broadband at �18 a month.
Is that too good to be true?

Basically it is true.

However first check you can get it by putting your phone number into their checker here.

Secondly can you post your line stats so we can advise what speeds you should get on Be. If you don't know how to get them look here or here.

Thirdly O2 recently bought Be in order to get into broadband. They use the Be equipment to provide the service but the packages are different and actually cheaper, especially with the special offers still running. If you cannot get over 16Mbps on your line I don't think there is any question of which you should go for.

Finally Be do not provide email included in the price, though O2 do. In any case I strongly recommend you should never use ISP email as it can be flakey and is a PITA when you migrate. Google mail is free but not perfect. Paid for is better and I like Purple Cloud. �7.50 every 2 years for your own .co.uk or .me.uk domain and �5 per year for email to go with it. Five mailboxes, unlimited aliases, POP3/SMTP/IMAP/Webmail.

Comparisons.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 22-Mar-08 22:22:03)

I just found that my shared housing cannot get Be broadband, but my other residence can.
I don't think I can get 24Mb, probably in the range of 4Mb. But in any case the plan cost would still be cheaper than the base rate of NamesCo.

The fair usage policy of the website does not have a rough bandwidth use guideline that it would deem as unfair usage. Though I am unlikely to breach 50GB on this connection.
Thanks

My line status is as follows:
===================
Configured Current
Line Status --- SHOWTIME
Link Type --- Interleaved Path
Data Rate
Stream Type Actual Data Rate
Up Stream 448 (Kbps.)
Down Stream 2976 (Kbps.)
Operation Data
Operation Data Upstream Downstream
Noise Margin 17 dB 16 dB
Attenuation 63 dB 57 dB

Defect Indication
Indicator Name Near End Indicator Far End Indicator
Fast Path FEC Correction 0 0
Interleaved Path FEC Correction 2040 11236
Fast Path CRC Error 0 0
Interleaved Path CRC Error 32 92
Loss of Signal Defect 0 ---
Fast Path HEC Error 0 0
Interleaved Path HEC Error 136 0

Pretty poor line as you say. The sync though is not bad for the attenuation and SNRM.

It's worth looking at the internal phone wiring - see here. The attenuation could easily be higher than 63dB as many routers don't report above that. But the SNRM of 17dB is very high - which could just be bad luck re highly variable noise sources on the route to you, or internal which is more likely.

Is everything else in the place connected through a filter, not just the router? Particularly a Sky box?

Re ISPs, take a look at ADSL24, an Entanet reseller. Home 30 at �19.99pm - 30GB peak, 300GB off-peak. But nasty if you exceed it - you get the next rate up plus �5(plus vat) charge. So if in doubt look at the Home 60.

Thanks Robert

I don't know very much about the phone wiring. There's a ADSL wall socket with BT logo, which was installed when I move into this house by an engineer when I signed up for broadband. I don't see any conventional micro-filters, perhaps it's integrated into the socket.
The line is quite stable though. Does broadband work without a microfilter? I am guessing I may be missing one.

As to ISP you suggested, I did have a look. Their price is comparable to what I am paying for Namesco. I pay �0�521 a month for 60GB peak and unlimited off-peak plan on one of my housing, which is no longer a standard plan because of being an old variant; and another same price plan 60GB bandwidth but without the off-peak, due to the price plan itself being an even older variant.
Here's the confusing bit. The former connection is a shared housing and the bandwidth is not enough. But the area is out of reach by be broadband. The latter connection is a seasonal connection that has a variable usage pattern. The line statistics I gave you are from this latter connection. Because of the seasonality, that's why I am looking at Be broadband for unlimited data plan. This way I don't have to worry about 1 month having an outrages bill.

The plans Namesco currently offer are 50GB peak and unlimited off-peak, for the same price. That's why I am reluctant to downgrade my latter connection.
ADSL24 and Entanet, because of the nasty exceeding penalty, is probably not favourable.

I don't actually mind if I get a 4Mb connection out of the Be broadband. It's still cheaper than any other offering. Unfortunately their fair usage policy is unclear, and I have doubts to the price and quality.

If the wall socket installed by NT has an ADSL socket and a phone socket that is fine - in fact it is good!

In reply to:

---

Does broadband work without a microfilter? I am guessing I may be missing one

---

I've had just a little wine and just a little Armagnac, but:-

If you have no extensions then: Yes - it does work without a filter.

If you have extensions then at the moment I'm not sure. I think probably anything plugged into an extension - second phone, Sky box, whatever - needs to be connected through a filter. Otherwise anything on it can put noise onto the actual line between you and the exchange and mess you up.

(A microfilter passes whatever is on the line straight through to the ADSL socket. The filter acting on the phone socket on a dual faceplate or filter stops ADSL screech getting to the phone or other equipment and anything of relevant frequencies from that equipment getting back onto the line so making it noisy).