As the title says just wondered who you guys are with and how you rate your provider I am with Virgin Media at present and am having a few issues with - been with them for nearly 10 years now thinking of moving to BT so everything is in the same place (phone & broadband)

cheers

My girlfriend is with Tiscali and they are a bunch of absolute clowns. Awful peak time speeds.

We've been with TalkTalk for years and not had a problem with them.

PlusNet seem to get good write ups.

My girlfriend is with Tiscali and they are a bunch of absolute clowns. Awful peak time speeds.

We've been with TalkTalk for years and not had a problem with them.

PlusNet seem to get good write ups.

Totally agree with this, steer well clear of Pipex/Tiscali......useless :thumbdwn:

We are with Virgin Media, using cable and not the phone line. No problems to report here, get max speed all the time.

If you are with Virgin Media using cable, then switching to BT and using an ADSL phone line could mean slower speeds depending on how close to the exchange you are.

Virgin on cable is supposed to be very good, but if you are outside of their cable area, the service is a lot poorer.

I use Vispa, who I can honestly say I had never heard of until a month before I joined them; if you want an idea of who is good and who is not, try www.ispreview.co.uk; their "Top Ten" list is a good guide, but remember to check how many reviews there have been for the ISP you are looking at, there have been many cases of poor ISPs getting to the top because of "targeted" or fake reviews; ISPR tries to monitor ISP inspired fake reviews and does a pretty good job, but be aware.

Look in the forum relevant to the ISP you are interested in, as a general rule (with an established ISP), the quieter the forum, the fewer problems, most people only post when they are having issues with their service!!!

My girlfriend is with Tiscali and they are a bunch of absolute clowns. Awful peak time speeds.

We've been with TalkTalk for years and not had a problem with them.

PlusNet seem to get good write ups.

You know who took over Tiscali in May?

My girlfriend is with Tiscali and they are a bunch of absolute clowns. Awful peak time speeds.

We've been with TalkTalk for years and not had a problem with them.

PlusNet seem to get good write ups.

I have been with plus net for a while they are basically the clown side of BT so don't expect much ....drop outs and no service with no explaination avoid

I have been with BT for more years than I care to remember, and have never had a problem

with them.

Plus you get security throw in with it

We are with Virgin Media, using cable and not the phone line. No problems to report here, get max speed all the time.

If you are with Virgin Media using cable, then switching to BT and using an ADSL phone line could mean slower speeds depending on how close to the exchange you are.

I cant get cable up here so its coming down the BT line Virgin did tell me that if it was cable it would be more reliable and also they wouldnt have to rely soley on BT engineers to sort "line issues" out as they have their own engineers for their cable infrustructure.

I wish we could get a cable service up here as i totaly understand where you are coming from about the speed though

I have been with plus net for a while they are basically the clown side of BT so don't expect much ....drop outs and no service with no explaination avoid

Ive been with plus net for three years and have never lost service with them

I often have a look around to see if i can get a better/cheaper provider but so far have always ended up staying with plus net.

I cant get cable up here so its coming down the BT line Virgin did tell me that if it was cable it would be more reliable and also they wouldnt have to rely soley on BT engineers to sort "line issues" out as they have their own engineers for their cable infrustructure.

Yup, Virgin down the phone line is not that great. Virgin bough an ISP, cant remember which one and rebranded it. The problem is that ISPs infrastructure was not that great, so Virgin inherited all the problems of that ISP. I know of several people with various issues on the ADSL service.

You know who took over Tiscali in May?

Yes! Carphone! And the service is gradually starting to improve!

Be Broadband. Up to 24 Mb download, 2.5 Mb upload and unlimited usage policy.

They don't throttle either.

Be Broadband. Up to 24 Mb download, 2.5 Mb upload and unlimited usage policy.

They don't throttle either.

Unfortunatly cant get be broadband where i am as they say my exchange cant support the service

i hate phone lines

Yes! Carphone! And the service is gradually starting to improve!

Which is a minor miracle considering the 3-400 front and second line support staff they have just laid off.

I'll second Be / O2. Nothing but excellent, very fast, un-throttled service all the time I've been with them. Doesn't matter whether you cane the old torrents / usenet / http(s) downloads, it's always very fast.

Zen all the way for me. No frills service, but absolutely reliable and staffed by skilled techs who will talk to you on your level instead of giving you the baby scripts. I get around 7mb out of my 8mb line, which was the same one Bulldog (remember them?) said wouldn't ever carry more than 512k. They don't do any traffic shaping either, but you do get a 25gb/month quota in return.

They also helped me to fight my corner in a long standing argument with BT, resulting in BT realising that the firmware release on one of their cards at the exchange caused bizarre problems on good lines when undergoing MAX training.

I'll second Be / O2. Nothing but excellent, very fast, un-throttled service all the time I've been with them. Doesn't matter whether you cane the old torrents / usenet / http(s) downloads, it's always very fast.

Is that mobile broadband or home broadband i wasnt aware o2 did home broadband

Still having problems with virgin and have told them that i am thinking of obtaining my MAC Code so i can move on, they tell me they are working on my service issues and have now placed a tag on my phone line.

I am not under contract but have been told they needed to tag the line to try and diagnose my issues.

What is a "tag on line and is this really why they have put one on my line, its like i am being spied on now :rotz:

Strange.. a tag is usually just a marker concerning the state of the line and the provision attached to it. If they've done something different, the cynic in me is wondering if it's because it might be harder for you to change provider once it's there.

OFCOM have a page about this that explains more:

If you are having problems with ordering Broadband (Tag on the line) | Ofcom

Edited 14 September, 200916 yr by Interphase

Is that mobile broadband or home broadband i wasnt aware o2 did home broadband

Yes, it's DSL. It's just BE broadband under a different name. Exceptionally good value if you have an O2 mobile phone contract.

the cynic in me is wondering if it's because it might be harder for you to change provider once it's there.

This is what i was thinking also - its funny i mention changing then they do this. They have said they are not taking payment this month due to my intermittent problems with connection.

The only other thing is i am only on a 1mb connection speed which i have been told isnt that good, they tried to upgrade the speed as i have been told my line can take speeds of upto 8mb but when they try and upgrade it they get a fault saying my line is "disablised"

what would this mean - they have now passed it onto bt wholesale to look at and its looking like i will need another engineer to try and sort it.

I am still convinced its the ruddy pole in the back street and as its got a "D" on it its classed as dangerous so they wont go near it so they better bring a cherry picker with them as its day 12 tomorrow with this intermittant connection problem.

Yes, it's DSL. It's just BE broadband under a different name. Exceptionally good value if you have an O2 mobile phone contract.

I went on their website and unfortunatley i cant get the o2 broadband here just like with BE Internet that was the same but explains it if its sort of the same company.

Well if the problem is external from the exchange then changing ISP will achieve nothing as the same wire is used to run from your house to the exchange whichever one you chose.

Well if the problem is external from the exchange then changing ISP will achieve nothing as the same wire is used to run from your house to the exchange whichever one you chose.

Good point - just annoys me that they say my line is "distabalised" and yet they are so slow at getting what ever it means sorted.

So is it normal to have a tag on your line? they say everyone has a tag on their line just hope they cant listen into conversations :confused:

Heres hoping it gets sorted soon as its been of and on for the last 2 weeks nearly.