View Full Version : Switching ISP
I'll probably be switching ISP today. Not sure of I should go for BT or Virgin Media. Both offer unlimited Internet and both provide cable which will be available in my area at the end of march. Which one would be better? I think BT is like £3 more expensive. I need a reliable ISP :)
Btw
Been on the phone with aol for an hour went through everything including a new filter and a different router lol even tried connecting the router directly to the phone socket. nothing works and the line check they did isn't showing any faults on my line. Anything else I can try?
edit: just got my connection back after 12h lol
Well last time when we had Virgin media, before the package even started they failed to set up our internet after 6 weeks with constant lies and excuses, saying things like 2 more weeks, 1 more week etc. So with that sort of bad customer service experience from them I would recommend BT but who knows VM might of changed...
when was that?
Were you able to cancel?
depends where you live tbh, cable are miles better rounds here and i live as close as anybody to my bt exchange amd its still pants.
best tyhing you could do imo is ask your neighbours what they have and how they find it.
Unlimited*
Do i say more?
when was that?
Were you able to cancel?
Couple of years ago, ye I was quite easily able to cancel since they failed to even set up the broadband connection.
depends where you live tbh, cable are miles better rounds here and i live as close as anybody to my bt exchange amd its still pants.
best tyhing you could do imo is ask your neighbours what they have and how they find it.
I swear there's a website which lets you check the speedtest's your neighbours have done, I remember being on a it about a year ago. Just don't remember it's name :s.
I would go for Virgin. Absolutely. Been with them for 4 years and never really had any serious problems. The odd very rare service disruption, only one springs to mind where the whole area went down, was fixed within a day I think.
Which package are you looking at? The 50Mb XXL package is really good value if you can stretch to it. None of that throttling at peak times which you do get on the XL and lower.
I'm on 20Mb and often get throttled to 5Mb in the evenings, especially if I am downloading a steam game. Never had any issues about total bandwidth usage though.
Unlimited*
Do i say more?
nope, I know VM throttles your speed - so that's not a problem.
Couple of years ago, ye I was quite easily able to cancel since they failed to even set up the broadband connection.
I swear there's a website which lets you check the speedtest's your neighbours have done, I remember being on a it about a year ago. Just don't remember it's name :s.
Never heard about it.... I'll try to look it up
edit: found this http://top10.com/broadband/speedtest/streetstats - but VM is not showing anywhere around me ;/
edit2: found VM about 1/2 - 1 mile from me, one has 102MB and another one 9.5mb
I'd go with BT. VM has given me LOADS of problems. New BT infinity broadband is seriously amazing.
im on Virgin 10MB cable, not impressed with it due to possibility of being throttled and some times unresponsive. call centres and engineers are better than expected, got one come around to replace the horrible free router+modem. now got a dedicated modem and using my own router, haven't had any problem since (and have always watched my downloads, never downloaded at peak times)
i'd say go with BT, they don't seem to have any traffic management, and should be very reliable. also, look at Josh's uplaod speed! you won't get that with Virgin, most is 5Mbps on the 50Mbps package.
If you do go for BT make sure it is Fiber Optic. Too much potential for problems relating to signal strength if not.
If you can get Virgin cable then get it. If not, stay away from Virgin's adsl and go with BT.
Virgin's adsl service is absolutely horrendous. When I was on it (a couple of years ago, things might have changed now) I would never get below 200ms latency.
I can only get adsl for now. Cable will be available in my area on the 31st march
I can only get adsl for now. Cable will be available in my area on the 31st march
Yeah Virgin not really known for their ADSL. I would probably go with BT in that situation, albeit begrudgingly. Hope you're not too far from the exchange and your quaint copper cables aren't corroded :p
BT can only offer 3.8mb in my area :O I'm getting 8mb from aol
edit: I'm about 1.5 - 2 miles from the exchange
that's probably due to BT's ADSL and most other ISP's ADSL2, can't you wait it out until March?
top10.com is showing every1 around me as being 900meters from the exchange
I was planing on waiting, but my connection is down every 2 days - been like this for about a month now
Our internet package is really good. Unlimited Calls, Unlimited net, BT Vision with all channels/Sports it comes to around £60 odd a month.
use SamKnows.com for the location of your exchange. :)
What are you using your connection for? If it's just low bandwidth stuff you could try a 3G dongle or something to tide you over?
it's 1.7 miles away ;/
im kind of a heavy user lol - but I was also thinking about getting the 3G dongle for when aol f.....s up - atm it looks like the best option
Bt should offer you a free upgrade if you go with them to ADSL. They did that round here as their ASDL was near it's limit.
I think everyone would do that - I think I'll go with the 3G dongle for now as a 5mb speed difference is quite noticeable
iGoD ReLeNtLeS
04-01-11, 13:43
i agree that VMs customer service is down the toilet along with some other things but, the connection is what you pay for. i pay for 20 and get this pretty much all day everyday.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/1096672005.png
cant say nothing on BT Infinity but it would also look to be a pretty good service ;) however VM are currently rolling out their 100Mb speeds and have been far further infront on BT for quite some time. BT have only just rolled out 40Mb service and VM have had 50Mb for 1-2 years now
i see you've had your upload speed upgraded. here in Luton, i haven't received my upgrade yet, still a very low 0.5Mbps :(
iGoD ReLeNtLeS
04-01-11, 14:43
i see you've had your upload speed upgraded. here in Luton, i haven't received my upgrade yet, still a very low 0.5Mbps :(
was one of the first :thumb:
Was looking for portsmouth on a list of upgrade dates and thought thats odd, not on the list. Would appear they like to do things the hard way and list it by town, although im connected to Cosham which is about 7 miles further away than the exchange in Havant :|
winstonngo
04-01-11, 19:07
if ur after speed go VM, if ur not that fussed then bt
checked bt adsl - they keep changing their speeds ;/ 1 day it shows I can get max 4mb - today it's showing max 6mb :O not sure what to believe....
Just changed my phone and broadband to BT tonight free transfer from a nightmer Talk Talk, never had as much trouble with the internet until i went to Talk Talk and there customer service has a lot to answer for
how is it? what speeds are you getting?
I have been using IDNet for the last two years.
Agreed you are paying more, considering SKY basic broadband package etc is free but I love the way that as a private customer I get 24/7 tech support. I have had call backs from them at 10pm at night before when a BT engineer 'had a play' in the exchange and took the whole street down with him.
Ed
Defo go on Virgin media (Cable) mate its the way forward, the 20mbit with 2mbit upload is great, been getting rock solid speeds since the upgrade. i want to get the 50mbit with 5mbit upload now :D
Can I just ask, what's AOL like for you when downloading stuff? It's been really, really slow for me lately and I'm on 8Mb like you.
Gunslinger
09-01-11, 12:53
........got one come around to replace the horrible free router+modem. now got a dedicated modem and using my own router, haven't had any problem since
Did you have one of the super hubs ? .. and if so you got them to give you a regular modem ??
If so i want the details on how you managed that, as whether i upgrade to the 100meg sevice when it's available will be determined by this stupid hub (as wel as other things)
Can I just ask, what's AOL like for you when downloading stuff? It's been really, really slow for me lately and I'm on 8Mb like you.
it depends on the site/server from which you download from. But I usually get around 670KB/s - 740KB/s (from a good server)
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