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Just about to sack BT off and am rather confused as too whom to swap too.
Any recommendations or avoids?
I have tried using the search function but it almost beats my work intranet document finding function (where typing "red, herring and strogaloop" will yield better results than typing "traction cable testing standard" if looking for the current cable testing standard)
Ta
Broadband and phone lines, if it works it works if it doesn't they will be Satan.
Zen. But you pay for the privilege of never having to talk to them.
Depends what problems you are having that make you want to leave BT.
With the exception of virgin (and a small number of local exceptions) all the other providers will use Openreachs Copper/fibre between yourself and the Phone exchange.
So if its physical line issues they may follow you
That said there are some ISPs such as AA and Zen who have uk support staff and are very good at diagnosing and getting Openreach to fix faults
sky,vodaphone,talk talk etc are all very similar pile em high, sell them cheap, fine if everything works but stabbing yourself in the eye with a pen is preferable to dealing with there customer teams
Zen.
Ta
We're with Plusnet and I've been impressed so far. Ok it's bt owned, but the only issue we had on install was resolved very very quickly next day by openreach, and their online ticketing customer service shizzle does seem to work once you get past the initial turn it off and on again stuff.
Zen generally have the best customer service, but they’re only really a billing platform, OpenReach actually provide the connection like most providers, they answer the phone quicker than PlusNet and possibly sell better routers.
If you want the most bandwidth and lowest ping for ‘normal money’ then you can’t touch Virgin.
Other than that unless you’re lucky enough to have a local co-op style provider you’re into the world of FTTP usually via a ‘Lease Line’ you can have bandwidth like most can only dream off, guaranteed 99.9% uptime and 4 hour fix SLA if it doesn’t - budget for a few grand install and few hundred a month.
Why do they insist that you need a phone/landline when you buy fibre broadband? Realistically, I don't need a landline at all (mother in law phones it about twice a week if wife doesn't pick up her mobile).
I'm sick of Virgin dropping out all the time. 200mb is great and it's fast when it works... I can't remember the last time I had a full week without it going down for anywhere in between 10 mins to 4 hours.
Thing is, I pay about £60 a month for 200mb, medium TV package (don't watch a lot of it) and a phone line with weekend calls. An idea would be to switch to a open reach fibre provider and sub to a couple of streaming services (Netflix/Amazon Prime).
With a landline though, it barely works out cheaper and it's annoying having to pay for something I don't need.
Zen generally have the best customer service, but they’re only really a billing platform, OpenReach actually provide the connection like most providers,
To say they(or other ISPs) are just a billing platform massively over simplifies it
yes Openreach provide the copper cable (and fibre in some cases) back to the exchange for services using BT phone lines.
but from that point there's a big difference in how ISPs can manage traffic and differentiate service.
a lot of services will use BT Wholesale (BTW) to provide the backhaul. This is where Openreach deliver the service to the exchange then BTW provide a backhaul service to the ISPs gateways the ISP then deals with authentication and layer 3 connectivity out to the internet. Depending on the commercial agreement that the ISP has with BTW they may either deliberately or through poor planning contend these host links (or other parts of the ISPs network) leading to slow services
the other option is the ISP using an LLU service taking either direct Copper or an FTTC product from openreach and the ISP managing the backhaul to the ISPs core network. again this backhaul needs properly capacity managing.
thats not to say that an LLU service is automatically better than a BTW backhauled service there are good and bad LLU providers and good and bad BTW based service providers and providers who use a mix of technologies depending on exchange
this is still simplified but hopefully illustrates that the service provider you chose can affect your service beyond simply the bill that you get.
We switched to Plusnet about this time last year after BT tried to convince me their unlimited broadband package was worth £70+ Per month because....well actually just because!
Pay £19 per month (paid line rental for the year up front - cheaper than BT for that bit too). Unlimited broadband, free landline calls to other Plusnet users (never use landline anyway though).
We get about 60-70 download speed - suits us fine for streaming from Amazon Prime, iPlayer, lots of music, kids X-box etc. No buffering or delay so far, not sure if it will be enough when the kids hit teenage years!
We use the BT router as it was a generation ahead of the Plusnet supplied one.
Anyway for £19/month it makes BT look like they are intentionally trying to lose custom to their subsidiary....
I have had to speak to Zen in December when a card in their equipment failed. The first words out of the chaps mouth were, "we're sorry". After many years of lacklustre 'service' from off-shore Virgin operatives it was quite refreshing.
Plus net are ok as long as you don't want to do anything fancy (separate modem and router, using your own kit). The support is not as good as it used to be, staff not as technically competent as they were.
Another content Zen customer here (been with them for many years), that said the pricing does annoy me a bit and I may switch this year. Their CS really is very good but broadband (at least where I am) is very stable anyway and I doubt Zen themselves have much influence on that. If I have to deal with a worse CS company but still only once every 5 years or so then I'm fine with that to save £5-10 a month
Just to address the point above, I've got Plusnet with a seperate modem and Google WiFi mesh routers (no Plusnet hardware in sight). So that certainly works ok.
They are great value and have been very reliable.
BT Fibre - absolutely no issues and no dropped service in the 5 or 6 years we've been fibre (might be longer) - never needed to speak to them other than to wrangle a newer hub - the new Hub6 is an improvement (easier menu's for blocking internet traffic). Get 70-76mbps as advertised.
Must be area specific in some cases (equipment locally ?).
Plusnet may have been good a few years ago but avoid now like the plague, check trust pilot and type in plusnet you will see what they are like
NOT VODAFONE
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NOT VODAFONE
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NOT VODAFONE
My mum was meant to switch over seamlessly from Plusnet 10 days ago. FTTC. She still hasn't seen a single bit of data.
They are utterly useless as trying to resolve the issues - they claim that there is a line fault ( it was utterly faultless with Plusnet for several years ). 1st modem was delivered faulty, 2nd modem was delivered not configured ( apparently a common cock-up with them ).
Avoid like a pox-ridden tart.
NOT VODAFONE
also
NOT VODAFONE
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NOT VODAFONE
My mum was meant to switch over seamlessly from Plusnet 10 days ago. FTTC. She still hasn’t seen a single bit of data.
My switch-over date from BT to Vodafone is on Friday. Went with them because they were the cheapest at £20/month for broadband and phone. Fingers crossed it goes a bit smoother than your mum's! When I phoned BT to say I was leaving after several years the best they could do was £39.99 even though new customers get it for something like £23.99!
Bruce - my mum switched for the same reason - cheapness and she already had a mobile with them.
I've spent more than £20 on Skype calls to her over the last week to try and get things working.
This afternoon I'll be trying again.
Good luck to you, when you switch over.
Oh and a tip : on the Vodafone modem, the internet and wireless lights on the top *only* show when you wave your hand over the modem, which is very clever and everything, but means you can't clearly see what is going on when setting up / troubleshooting without it looking like you are holding a seance.
I'm with Vodafone. For £24/month including line rental for 80 mbps I don't think you can beat them. Not noticed any throttling at peak times, but I will caution in advance that their supplied wireless router isn't brilliant.
Mine went live exactly when they said it would, and online chat provided me with the username and password so I could use my own router without any difficulties. Phone call two days after it went live to check that things were working OK.
If your broadband isn't activated on the "due date" it's an Openreach problem.
Virgin, been a user since the dial up days when they were Telewest. Never had much of a problem
i'm with vodafone, and have been for a couple of years
no issues whatsoever.