Moving house; Changing ISP; Which one?

This is my first post!

My current broadband is with ADSL24 (Cable & Wireless LLU). No problems whatsoever. Completely happy with broadband ADSL24.

My line rental & calls are with 'The Phone Co-op.' I would have gone with ADSL24 (for line rental/calls), however, they don't do 'anytime' calls. The first 100 minutes are included - and all calls thereafter, are charged per minute.

In a couple of months time, I will be moving to a new address - and am looking for a firm who can provide a 'bundle' of broadband/line rental/calls.

The new address already has Virgin Media installed. I have looked into the likes of Virgin Media, Plusnet, Sky, 'The Phone Co-op,' etc, etc. To be honest, I don't fancy Sky (because of Murdoch - I despise the man). Virgin Media boasts the highest download speeds, but according to Google searches, speeds and customer support standards have dropped. High prices but not so high standards.

Plusnet standards (until approx 7/9 months ago) were appealing, however, they have not been complimentary since then. Low speeds, incorrect billing, unsatisfactory support.

I appreciate that any company will have its detractors (no-one is perfect), however, at this point in time, I am leaning towards 'The Phone Co-op' (who currently deal with my line rental/calls).

I would sincerely appreciate any comments from anyone 'in the know.' Because, quite honestly, I don't know who to believe.

We need to know what exchange it will be, to see what is available to you . Samknows might help.

Sorry for the delay in replying; it's that time of year, plus difficulties with the awkward seller of my prospective new home. Thankfully, it seems certain that the sale will now proceed. Thank you for your patience.

The local exchange is in Glenrothes Central (ESGLC). I have (today), made enquiries with 'The Phone Co-op' and discovered that their supplier for ESGLC would be Talk Talk. To be honest, I don't fancy Talk Talk (they have a terrible reputation), however, 'The Phone Co-op' customer support has assured me that I would have no dealings with Talk Talk. Any contact re-broadband/line rental/ calls, would be via The Phone Co-op.

Don't know what to believe.

Look forward to your comments.

TalkTalk Business (i.e. wholesale services) is a different arm to the TalkTalk retail people, and yes Co-op is correct in that you would deal with just the Co-op support staff.

As per what MrSaffron says. Plus:-

How important is it to have the phone and broadband with the same company. It may compromise one or the other service.

Accepting your phone choice as a given, it might be worth looking at the broadband packages ADSL24 can offer you on the TalkTalk Wholesale service, and perhaps also vivaciti.

The reason I say this is that the TalkTalk Wholesale service I believe sets a fairly high sync-time noise margin. Higher than you are on now. (If that is gobble-de-gook, I'll explain later, and/or you can read this page). This would lower your maximum possible speed.

I think both ADSL24 and vivaciti, as technologically with-it ISPs, are able to get it lowered to standard values such as you are on at the moment. You would need to check with them. They also have the O2/Be Wholesale network available to them at that exchange.

However, the O2/Be network doesn't seem to be quite what it was at the moment. TalkTalk Wholesale may be the better of the two for you at this point in time.

My recommendation therefore is to put your phone with The Phone Co-op, and look into those alternatives for the broadband.

Good luck with the house transactions.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 04-Jan-13 23:06:09)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

However, the O2/Be network doesn't seem to be quite what it was at the moment. TalkTalk Wholesale may be the better of the two for you at this point in time.

I'm fairly sure the recent complaints don't apply to Be/O2 wholesale - as long as the actualy routing/peering is done by somebody else (rather than Telefonica) then things appear to be as good as they've always been.
So if that doesn't make sense to the OP, translating, an ISP who offer service using the Be/O2 wholesale network would normally be fine, but you may want to avoid going directly to Be/O2 right now.

I tend to agree. It was late when I posted.

Mmm. I'm going to have to think about this. My sincere thanks for your advice and comments.