Hi,

I am looking to move to broadband (at long last) and am trying to identify a
suitable ISP. Ideally I would like 512k, unrestricted usage, free modem/but
your own router, free connection. Of course, I want all of this for as
little money as possible. I have tried going to http://www.adslguide.org.uk/
but am suffering from an info overload.

Can anybody here offer any advice?

TIA

Glennbo

Glennbo wrote:
If your wanting free connection and the rest, you'l most likely be tied down
to a 12 month contract such as Tiscali.
I'll give you some advice - AVOID TISCALI!

I am also in a similar position (see Any happy supanet customer out there ?
Post above )

I have a mate is on tescos broadband and has had no problem but your modem
will be usb no good if want to use your own router !

Have you already got a router ! ( sorry its a bit unclear from your post
"free modem/but your own router )

I have failed to find a company that will supply Ethernet modem to use with
your own router they are all sub . But Router, modem, hub combinations are
not much more then
buy a Ethernet modem if you have not already got one.

If you are after a wireless router modem setup included www.supanet.com
are including them in the bundle). Keep an eye on my post to see if they
have any happy customers.

I agree http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ can be a "information overload "

Good luck in your search

Adam (dylan30)



"Glennbo" <glenns.spambox@tesco.net> wrote in message
news:mn_Md.8$W93.5@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...

Sorry thats all USB not sub ...........must practice my typing

Glennbo wrote:

Question those 'ideals' and see what you actually need and want or it
might get expensive.

Data rate is far more dependant on your distance to exchange. If you
can get 1Mb or 2Mb for near enough the same rate you might as well do it.

Do you really need totally unrestricted use ? Are you going to use 50 or
100GB a month ? Many ISP's are getting burnt by a squeeze between BT
costs (data consumption related), user use (at fixed price) and falling
headline pricing. You may find that 'unlimited' is assuming, and
pricing for, a far higher use than you would ever run and that a 'low
user' product or cap setup is in fact better for you.
The high useage comes from internet streaming radio, viewing lot of
streaming video and download of many large files (Linux). And of course
doing much p2p filesharing.
A few mp3's, the BBC video news and normal web & email will not make
much of a dent in even the smallest allowance of 1GB. Preset data
limits probably make sense up if you think you would be under 5GB.

'Free setup & modem' is, as you probably know, a lie. From an earlier post:
[1] free: adj.
7 a (OED definition) available without charge; costing nothing.
7 b (when used in relation to an ADSL package) costing as much over a
year as paying it up front and continuing to be charged thereafter for ever.
As BT charge the ISP £50 for plugging your phone line across into the
DSLAM in the exchange that fee has to be paid for somehow. If not
charged upfront the ISP will want to ensure it will be recovered over
time. Hence the general rule of '12 months at £20' for a £15 service.
If lucky it will go down to the £15 after a year.

The 'free' kit is normally a USB modem and arguably not worth having.
As you are asking about a router already then get a combined unit.
Common models are Detgear 834x, D-Link 50x and Draytek 2x00x series.
Which suits you will depend on whether you want wireless built in, VOIP
phone capability etc.

http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?se...&output=gplain
were my thoughts at the time. I did get that slave socket to tidy the
place up.

For ISP's the ones I chose from were f2s, plus, demon, eclipse, zen but
I was definitely looking from a low use perspective.
The usual avoids are NTL (= tesco), Tiscali, AOL on competence and, on
price, BT.
I went for Plus, 1Mb 2GB.

Hope that helps
Bill

"Bill" <ngaccount@gen_luncheonmeatbanned_sheet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:cu37tc$iv5$1@ngspool-d02.news.aol.com...
Jeez - now I'm really confused!

I guess I'll just stick with my trusty old 56k dial-up for now.

Thanks for the replies everybody.

Glennbo

On 05/02/2005 Glennbo wrote:


There are loads of options and I had the same problems as you making a
decision :-)

I went for Demon in the end, partly because I used them in the old
'tenner a month' days and I was able to get my old host name back, and
partly because they could deal with a managed conversion from ISDN to
ASDL.

Having waited three years for BB to come to the village I was a nervous
on the installation day. The BT engineer called me from the exchange at
9.30 a.m. and said there were some equipment problems and he would be a
bit late. He 'phoned me 3 further times to keep me up to date and came
to the house at about 2 p.m.

He did the conversion and at about 2.30 gave me the demo, he was nearly
as excited as me. He called about an hour later and said that dial tone
was back on and I could use the line. An hour later I was connected (it
would have been five minutes if I had read Demon's instructions
properly) - and have been ever since.

If BT's staff on the ISP side were half as efficient and good natured
as their engineers I would recommend BT. Unfortunately they're not, but
I have no hesitation in recommending Demon.

Don't forget that news groups consist 99% of people with problems
seeking help, their are millions of satisfied customers out there who
have no need to post to news groups.

The moral of this diatribe is don't give up, it's worth going for BB
and it's worth looking at the Demon products. There's no cap, but
there's also no news groups on most of their products, so you will need
to sign up with a news provider (NIN is a good, free, text only
provider).

Go for it - you won't regret it :-)


--
Jeff Gaines
Posted with XanaNews 1.17.2.3

Glennbo wrote:
Sorry ! However most of us had the same feeling at one time.
Especially with a likely 12 month tie-in, thinking it through first will
help.
Keep asking.
Bill