Which ISP when only ADSLMax available?

I'm buying house in a Northumberland village which only has ADSL Max available.

I don't know what bandwidth I need as I have been renting with free access to the landladies broadband for a while so don't know my usage (obviously I download little) but am likely to do more once I have my own place.

I do need a static IP address and no port blocking as I'm in IT and run servers at home (mail, SharePoint, etc.).

I'm not sure what else I need to consider as it is nearly two years since I had my own broadband and that was Be LLU.

As I say, only ADSL Max is available where I am buying a house and I find the search on think broadband to be unsable as all it returns is ADSL2 and fibre.

Thanks for any help.

Zen sounds like a sensible choice, reliable, static ip, and fine on an adslmax only link.

Xilo also for a static IP and no traffic management - BT services: http://www.xilo.net/adsl_broadband/#home - for broadband only on a one month rolling contract.

Plusnet might be another choice on a market 1 exchange with a £5 one-off fee for a static IP - Phone and broadband, broadband only, contracted and no contract.

Will you be considering a phone and broadband package, broadband only and separate line rental, broadband on a 30 day minimum term or on a 12 month contact?

Cheapest would possibly be a Plusnet unlimited broadband and phone package on a 12 month contract.

I do need a telephone provider as well so would consider a package where I get both.

When I was last in the market for broadband, PlusNet had an exceedingly bad reputation. Has this changed? I was a Zen customer at one point and felt that their good reputation was undeserved and don't really want to go back to them (once bitten and all that).

I'd prefer a monthly contract so if the service sucks I have a way out but I'm not sure this is feasible.

I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest package.

PlusNet allows early termination at these rates

Early termination charges for packages taken on or after 18th June 2013

Table 1.9
Monthly early termination charge

Plusnet Essentials - broadband only £7.80
Plusnet Essentials - broadband and phone £4.25
Plusnet Unlimited - broadband only £6.60
Plusnet Unlimited - broadband and phone £5.50

Those are the prices for signups after 18 June 2013, but look wonky to me. Also unclear if the phone early termination is also to be paid on the bundles - I expect so.

Table 3.6

Plusnet Weekends £4.80
Plusnet Evenings & Weekends £6.00
Plusnet Anytime £8.10
Plusnet Anytime International 300 £9.60
Plusnet Mobile £8.10
Talk Anytime £4.25
Talk Anytime International £5.25
Talk Evening & Weekends £2.25
Talk Mobile £4.25
Talk Mobile 1 £4.25

Hopefully other people will add some more suggestions, but if your requirement is a static IP, a one month rolling contract and price is not a critical factor then I would certainly recommend xilo - from personal experience I've had broadband reliability, no throughput slow downs and excellent customer service (however that is with partial LLU TTB and not 20CN WBC.)

You could perhaps have a line rental contract with BT and a 20CN (ADSL MAX) broadband service from xilo...