BB packages in UK

dahamsta

I think I've seen a few UK users around here. A friend of mine has NTL cable and currently uses them for telephony and Demon for Internet access, but would like to get set up with BB asap. They've considered using NTL, but just like all of us they've heard the horror stories. The product needs to be affordable, and they'll be using it for research so limits need to be relatively high. Any help would be much appreciated. Failing direct recommendations, pointers to UK forums would be useful.

adam

Ripwave

dahamsta wrote:

Any help would be much appreciated. Failing direct recommendations, pointers to UK forums would be useful.

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ is a good place to start.

ChipZilla

Well, if he's got his phone through NTL he might as well get BB throught them as well. The infrastucture isn't as crap as it is in Ireland (In most places anyway). If he wants DSL he's going to need a BT phone line and you can draw all the Eircom parallels you need there. (Cost would be £10 a month + VAT for the BT line and £20 a month minimum for 512k with a half-decent uncapped ISP like Zen, Nildram, Pipex, etc. - NOT BT Yahoo or AOHell)

http://www.home.ntl.com/page/broadbandcompare

TBH, if I was him I'd stick with NTL.

http://www.adslguide.org.uk will give all you need to know about DSL providers, including reviews and prices, if he wants to go down that road. I would avoid the sub-£20 ones myself.

Cabaal

ChipZilla wrote:

If he wants DSL he's going to need a BT phone line and you can draw all the Eircom parallels you need there. (Cost would be £10 a month + VAT for the BT line and £20 a month minimum for 512k with a half-decent uncapped ISP like Zen, Nildram, Pipex, etc. - NOT BT Yahoo or AOHell)

Where do you get your info?
AOL's/AOHell's DSL packages of 256K/256K (£20), 512k/256k (£25) & 1024k/256k (£30) have no download caps what so ever, you might want to re-check your source for such info.

Generally speaking AOL DSL has got better as you don't have to use the software to make the connection you can use a normal DUN connection or a router.

hmmm how do I know all this info? :rolleyes:

ChipZilla

Umm, right. The point I was making was that you're better off with an ISP like Zen, Nildram, or Pipex and not the clueless n00b choice of BT or AOL, who incidentally make you take out a 12 month contract in this day and age. 256/256 for 20 quid is no bargain anyway considering you can get 512/256 or better for the same price from a lot of other ISPs like E7even or PlusNet (Just to name two). BTW, you can use any DSL connection with a router - you're not restricted to a software "dialler" with any of them, even BT.

Any other nit-picking?

Cabaal

not nit-picking its just your post seemed to "imply" that there was a cap on the service

As for pirce and value for money I never said anything about AOL being good value, and as for using any DSL connection with a router this was not always the case with AOL..

ChipZilla

You finished now? I believe the original post was looking for recommendations for an ISP, and I think I'm the only poster who actually made a recommendation on any specific company by the look of things. I dunno about you, but I do have experience of all the ISPs mentioned above (and more...) and wouldn't recommend BT or AOL to my worst enemy.

If you can contribute anything which might help the original poster in a choice, go for it. If not, well... :rolleyes:

Cabaal

I feel correct info is helpfull to the original post, even if you don't like a service/company/product its helpfull if you atleast give the correct info to people.
enuf said..

Moriarty

Woke up on the wrong side of the prison bed this morning, Chipzilla?

ChipZilla

Not at all.

dahamsta

Guys, could you stop dismantling my thread with your childish bickering please? If you have useful info, post it, otherwise STFU.

adam

weemcd

dahamsta wrote:

Guys, could you stop dismantling my thread with your childish bickering please? If you have useful info, post it, otherwise STFU.

adam

agreed

ChipZilla

dahamsta wrote:

Guys, could you stop dismantling my thread with your childish bickering please? If you have useful info, post it, otherwise STFU.

adam

So, did you find what you were looking for or not?

dahamsta

ChipZilla wrote:

So, did you find what you were looking for or not?

Not yet, I'm going to ask on the ADSLguide forums. I'm curious about the "BT line" thing though, her telephony is with NTL but surely that's done over a BT line?

adam

Moriarty

NTL run voice services over both BT's network and their own cable network. If she has it over the cable network, she'll obviously have to get a bt line installed to get dsl.

ChipZilla

I thought you said they were on NTL cable for telephony? If they're on cable they wouldn't be using a BT line surely.

NTL do have a CPS box for BT punters who want to route their calls through them though.

dahamsta

She ain't a BT punter, but the telephone is plugged into the POTS line. I was curious myself so I asked specifically. I'll check if she gets a bill from BT for line rental, but I think she'd have mentioned. I'm guessing they've had WLR for some time over there though?

adam

ChipZilla

Yeah, they have. I'd be very surprised if it was a BT line, but I suppose you never know...

dahamsta

I'm lost ChipZilla, are you saying that telephony comes over the cable for most NTL customers, yeah?

adam

ChipZilla

Yeah. When the friendly NTL man comes to do an install he'll rig up your phone too. The phone line goes out to the NTL box on the street, and god knows where calls get routed to from there. The only time BT and NTL would come in contact is when you have a BT line and would like to use NTL as your call provider, just like you would with Vartec, Smartcall, etc.

That's why I said before the thread went haywire your friend would be better off staying with NTL if there isn't already a BT line in the house. After you pay BT for a line installation (which can take a while - although not up to eircom standards), and pay the ISP for the activation fee for the ADSL, you're well out of pocket. NTL will just send out a cable modem the day after you phone them and slap a few more quid on the bill - nice and easy.

crawler

Oh Dear....

Guys in the UK NTL have installed dual Co-Ax and twisted copper pairs....they have the 2nd largest regional exchange program apart from BT which allows them to do Direct Telephony.

Apart from that there is also LLU, CPS and also IDA ( Indirect access - like 13xxx over here ) for out of franchise areas.

In Ireland it's Co-Ax only to residential....