yeah we were on VM cable but as per much of Brighton poor service for most of the last few months, and similar problems for Xmas/Spring 2010/11.

Home phone has been with VM and is going at the same time as the broadband, there is an old BT cable in the house which was here before we moved in but no idea what state it is in. We've barely use the landline because mobile allowance covers what we need, in fact the only thing we have used it for is to call VM support. Not with Sky (use freeview) so no contracts anywhere and as such pretty flexible.

In terms of price if I can get good for £10 more a month than I can get iffy then I'd go for good especially as I'm working from home more and more at the moment.

In terms of price if I can get good for £10 more a month

Seeing as I've no idea of more than what ...?
Line rental is going to cost around £9-£14, and possibly installation costs of £0 to £130. You'll probably be very close to the bottom end of that, but I can't guarantee it at this stage.

Then there is the broadband itself.

I Am surprised that VM can be as bad as you say. I know they have 'problem areas' where take up out passes capacity and therefore speeds become poor.

Have you got a BQM for your VM connection? - http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping

I'd be interested to see what this graph looks like if you have one already or can set one up.

If cost is no issue have you considered a leased line? /joke

Whatever you do don't go with Plusnet or Orange they are both BT (essentially) ... Be*/O2 or Sky are the best (cheap) providers.

Remember that moving away from a HFC network you will be limited by the quality (length) of your phone line. If you are some distance from the exchange you may be very disappointed with the speed. Alos if FTTC/Infinity is available or going to be soo you may be better off waiting as Sky are launching a fibre product soon.

In terms of price if I can get good for £10 more a month

Seeing as I've no idea of more than what ...?
Line rental is going to cost around £9-£14, and possibly installation costs of £0 to £130. You'll probably be very close to the bottom end of that, but I can't guarantee it at this stage.

Then there is the broadband itself.

My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk
My domains,website and mail hosting - Tsohost. Internet connection - Plusnet Value Fibre.

"Where talent is a dwarf, self-esteem is a giant." - Jean-Antoine Petit-Senn.

heh - sorry guess I wasn't clear.

Most of the packages I've looked at including the line rental seem to be between around £20 per month give or take a few quid to around £30 per month give or take a few quid for similar deals, that is unlimited downloads, (or fairly large allowances, I'm not a massive downloader but kids like iplayer) and a reasonable speed 12-24mb (uploads aren't an issue for me) which doesn't choke during busy periods. I'd have to take connection into account but on the monthly cost if the £30 ISP (BE) was that much better, by which I mean consistent and reliable than the £20 ones (o2/Sky) I'd rather go with the £30 ones.

I guess as an after thought free support calls to helpful customer service is also pretty important to me given some of my previous experiences.

Edited by deleted (Tue 14-Feb-12 23:07:08)

In reply to a post by 5km:

I Am surprised that VM can be as bad as you say. I know they have 'problem areas' where take up out passes capacity and therefore speeds become poor.

It's a shame but it is not something VM deny, I haven't had to pay my bill for the last four months because of the service and an acknowledged over utilization fault in my area and when I came to say I wanted to cancel my contract (mid-term) they didn't quibble. A quick google search for Brighton and Virgin Media shows the problems many people are having. Will give the link you gave me a go tomorrow, got to go and feed baby now, but this was tonight's pingtest result, it is by no means the worst I've had and the rotterdam server came back with the quickest initial ping

http://www.pingtest.net/result/56879377.png

Thanks for the tips on the (cheap) recommendations, just what I was looking for

Your phone number probably doesn't work in this checker, but try the address. (Not just the post code). That will give some speed estimates. Please copy/paste those.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 14-Feb-12 23:49:51)

In reply to a post by 5km:

Whatever you do don't go with Plusnet or Orange they are both BT (essentially)

If the exchange is 21CN WBC, as Brighton is, then these ISPs, together with BT Retail, are pretty good and at least 2 of them offer unlimited usage.

Conversely, things at your preferred providers, Be/O2, are not all that rosy these days if you care to peruse their forums.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Your phone number probably doesn't work in this checker, but try the address. (Not just the post code). That will give some speed estimates. Please copy/paste those.

Done - below, thanks

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial check on your address indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 7Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 6Mbps and 8Mbps.

Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 15Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 8.5Mbps and 19Mbps. Our test also indicates that your line could support an estimated ADSL 2+ Annex-M broadband upstream line speed of 1.5Mbps and downstream line speed of 15Mbps; typically the downstream speed would range between 8.5Mbps and 19Mbps.

The actual stable line speed supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use. This speed may change over time, to ensure line stability is maintained.

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.

Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check.

Conversely, things at your preferred providers, Be/O2, are not all that rosy these days if you care to peruse their forums.

Yes there's an issue with peering which affects a handful of sites and some users. Not everyone! I'm one that is affected and have posted about this. However I would still recommend as I've had very few problems. O2's new products with traffic management are not as good as Be*'s or Skys truly unlimited offerings but are still better than a lot of main stream ISP's out there.

http://www.pingtest.net/result/56879377.png

OMG that is really bad! The BQM only goes up to ~140ms so that'll probably not show anything useful.