advice for new isp

Hi there, just come here for some advice to decide which isp to go with. I am no expert on broadband by any means, but thats the reason i'm here.
First of all were moving house and this will be our exchange:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/CMSNI

On the availability checker the distance i will be from the exchange is aprox 240 metres, whether this is acurate i don't know.
Also it says that i can get 7.5Mbps via ADSL Max but only 2Mbps on standard ADSL. What is ADSL Max and will I get it on any isp that I sign up for?

Thanks,

Dan

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Jun-11 13:58:14)

standard ADSL as in what BT Wholesale calls standard has a maximum fixed speed of 2Meg.

ADSL Max is what the world calls RADSL and will run at between 160 and 8128Kbps dependant on line length.

ADSL Max is what you will get from 99% of ISP's and is what they sell as an up to 8Meg product.

It may be worth a walk just to check the exchange location is correct.

Ok thanks for the reply.
Could you give me any advice on which isp to go for, I've been looking at BT and Orange and would like anytime calls with them but I have heard a lot of bad things about orange in the past but they are alot cheaper. Has anyone had any experience with orange broadband and phone recently?

Orange on your exchange (i.e. no LLU) I'd say no.

BT if the price is right for you (remember traffic management), Plusnet is another consumer type option. A lot depends on how many GB a month you will be using, remember you won't get the best prices do it being a smaller exchange.

Avoid O2, Sky, talktalk - their non-LLU services are pretty bad.

What Mr Saffron didn't quite spell out is:
you will be on Market 1 exchange (as defined by Ofcom),
which means there are no LLU operators,
all you can get is BT service, though you can choose which reseller to use.
The cheapest is almost certainly PlusNet, they do anytime calls too,
perfectly OK for regular users.

Worst of all you will be paying Market 1 prices, e.g. TWICE what PlusNet charges
on Market 3 / LLU enabled exchanges, much the same with other ISP's !!!

Welcome to Ofcom's Market 1 victims group

I have heard a lot of bad things about orange in the past but they are alot cheaper

Where there are no entries in the LLU Operator list on the right in samknows, your second statement is usually the cause of the first for all ISPs. The only way you get cheap and good is from an LLU Operator. However, at the cheap end of the market Plusnet, which has already been suggested, is probably the best.

Which ISP are you with at the moment, and have you any idea how much you download a month? You have loads of ISPs to choose from, and the best for you depends on what you use the internet for. What do you use it for? Catch-up TV? Gaming? Torrents (downloading films and suchlike), simple browsing/email/shopping/banking, YouTube? Things like that.

To clarify they mean BT Wholesale service is all you can get.

BT Total Broadband is a very different product to say O2 Access even though both using some BT Wholesale kit at the exchange.

The difference is in how much an ISP spends on capacity at the point where it takes the data from BT Wholesale.

In reply to a post by dtech:

Could you give me any advice on which isp to go for, I've been looking at BT and Orange and would like anytime calls with them but I have heard a lot of bad things about orange in the past but they are alot cheaper. Has anyone had any experience with orange broadband and phone recently?

Hi dtech, have you taken into consideration the extra charges in non-Orange broadband areas?

For 8 Meg Max broadband, they charge an extra £10 per month if you already have an Orange mobile phone contract and £15 per month extra if you do not have an Orange mobile phone contract.

"Orange customers living in non-Orange broadband network areas will be charged an additional £10 a month.
Non-Orange customers living in non-Orange broadband network areas will be charged an additional £15 a month."

http://shop.orange.co.uk/broadband/?cmsPageId=05031a

Anyone know the usage limits on Orange 8 Meg Max broadband?

In reply to a post by E7er:

In reply to a post by dtech:

Could you give me any advice on which isp to go for, I've been looking at BT and Orange and would like anytime calls with them but I have heard a lot of bad things about orange in the past but they are alot cheaper. Has anyone had any experience with orange broadband and phone recently?

Hi dtech, have you taken into consideration the extra charges in non-Orange broadband areas?

For 8 Meg Max broadband, they charge an extra £10 per month if you already have an Orange mobile phone contract and £15 per month extra if you do not have an Orange mobile phone contract.

"Orange customers living in non-Orange broadband network areas will be charged an additional £10 a month.
Non-Orange customers living in non-Orange broadband network areas will be charged an additional £15 a month."

Hi everyone and thanks for all the replies.
On the orange site it wouldn't tell me a price because the line isn't active yet but have tried a friends number who live in the same area and it does work out £10 extra so thanks for pointing that out E7er.

In reply to RobertoS we will be using it for most things really, we have a ps3, xbox, 2 laptops, and a desktop. We dont download movies but do use youtube alot and occasionaly iplayer and gaming so I think 40 minimum is what i'm thinking. At the moment were with the old BT option 3 with unlimited usage I think, is there any way I can find out how much were using?

I think we'll go for either BT or Plusnet.

Can you get "House Move" deals on BT?

Plusnet Extra with Pro Boost looks to be a good prospect!