Considering fast.co.uk but need suggestions

Hi All,

I have just moved into a new house and have adopted my girlfriend's awful Orange broadband, though not too bad considering it's free.

With the MAC code now acquired I have a free choice on a new ISP. We can only get 8mbps and would like to be on a short contract ideally (1-3 months as we're renting). I have looked at fast.co.uk and have read lots of good reports but some more recent ones had said the service was not what it was. I have an Xbox 360 that I play online with, aswell as doing quite a bit of downloading and would ideally like an ISP that offers a static IP for free or at reasonable cost. I am looking to spend no more than the £30 a month mark.

Any suggestions or help people can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,
What exchange are you on (have a look at samknows.com) as this will give some ideas about what you can or can not get, and also what sort of usage you are looking at pulling through your internet each month, it will then be easier to sugest a provider for you.

My Exchange is Fordingbridge, Hampshire:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/STFORDB

It's difficult to predict my usage as the Orange connection is limited to 2mbps and when I was back living with my dad we could only get between 512k and 1mbps. So I havn't had a good, quality 8mbps connection before. I'm guessing around 50GB-60GB.

The vivaciti Surfwise package fits, at a sensible price for that sort of usage. But ignore their family packages. They are Entanet based, (Surfwise isn't), and many people are having major problems with those due to BT screwing up (the Entanet switch to) WBC/IPSC. That's why vivaciti have introduced Surfwise.

Another affordable option is AAISP Pro. Tiny daytime allowance but big off-peak and unmetered 2am-6am.

We also offer similar packages for home users based on your usage figures.

Regards

Thanks for the suggestions, have taken a look at the AAISP which looks pretty good. Would have to keep on eye on daytime use but the offpeak allowances mean that wouldn't be too much of a hardship.

What about Vivaciti's 'Office' products? Am i correct in assuming these are Entanet based too? Used to be with ADSL24 at my dads and they were a great ISP but seems all these Entanet based ISP's are taking a real hammering at present.

Hi,
The office packages are through Enta apart from the surfwise office and the LLU office these are not through Enta.

From what I have looked at the Vivaciti Surfwise office package and the AAISP Pro 2GB and 4GB are looking good.

Would the AAISP give me as good an upload speed as the Vivaciti surfwise though? I cant seem to locate upload speed info on their site.

http://www.aaisp.net.uk/broadband-premium.html

Hmmm, that adds a bit more of a price tag onto the AAISP.

Am I guaranteed to get somewhere close to the 832k upload quoted on Vivaciti? As in does my exchange need the 21CN activated to reach this or should it be okay on my exchange?