Last night I spent the evening completely reinstalling the OS, updating it and reisnatlling all my applications, updating drivers etc on my PC. So she is once again in top shape given the limitations of her spec. Up to now I have used a dial-back internet conection provided by my employer (slow but completely free). However my employer is discontinuing this at the end of the year due to it being out of date. They are however not offering a free broad band connection to replace it :(. So basically I am looking to get broad band.

I am therefore looking for advice on what Braod band ISP to go for (in terms of good price and service) and also what speed and hard ware to get (my PC does have and ethernet card so both an ethernet connecting broad band modem or a USB one are possible).

Any advice or stories of experience from the various companies are welcome.

The two ISP's I have used are. Zen Internet. Based out of Rochdale. They aren't the cheapest but their customer service is very good. But you have to pay an activation fee.

The one I currently use is freedom to surf, based out of St Albans. No setup fee if you subscribe for 12months. Again not the cheapest but reliable.

I decided to buy my own modem/firewall. They are connected via ethernet so I can network my home computers. I have an actiontec modem and a firewall with SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection). Which are more secure than non-SPI FW's.

Hope that helps.

My employeer has jsut done a similar thing.

Didn't Jason (devonutopia) start a similar thread a week or two ago?

Have a look on here:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/t15972-what-broadband-do-you-have.html

I use Plusnet on their unlimited 512kbps ADSL service which is 21 quid a month. Not sure whether they cover NI as it's done over BT phone lines?

Anyway, in terms of hardware, I'd recommend a USB modem if you're just connecting one computer to it, or if you're looking at connecting more than one (or futureproofing) go for a router and a switch and ethernetting the computers together. You could go for wireless with this option too, although I haven't bothered

Chris

Being part of the UK, we do have BT over here you know!!!!!!

Last night I spent the evening completely reinstalling the OS' date=' updating it and reisnatlling all my applications, updating drivers etc on my PC. So she is once again in top shape given the limitations of her spec. Up to now I have used a dial-back internet conection provided by my employer (slow but completely free). However my employer is discontinuing this at the end of the year due to it being out of date. They are however not offering a free broad band connection to replace it :(. So basically I am looking to get broad band.

I am therefore looking for advice on what Braod band ISP to go for (in terms of good price and service) and also what speed and hard ware to get (my PC does have and ethernet card so both an ethernet connecting broad band modem or a USB one are possible).

Any advice or stories of experience from the various companies are welcome.[/quote']

I've been with Virgin for nearly 2 years now with no problems. They offer two different packages, one unlimited and one with a download cap. They do not have any minimum contract period, unlike many others.

I would tend to go for a router, rather than a modem. Means you can network other computers and you will also have the distinct advantage of a hardware firewall

I've been with Virgin for nearly 2 years now with no problems. They offer two different packages' date=' one unlimited and one with a download cap. They do not have any minimum contract period, unlike many others.

I would tend to go for a router, rather than a modem. Means you can network other computers and you will also have the distinct advantage of a hardware firewall [/quote']

I had been using a Virgin pay as you go dial up connection as a back up connection for the times my work one would not work. Have not been impressed as it is slow and tends to cut off half way through downloads. Moved to an ISP called Stay Free. Seemed much faster and more reliable than Virgin. Still I suppose Broad band is a different kettle of fish.

I had been using a Virgin pay as you go dial up connection as a back up connection for the times my work one would not work. Have not been impressed as it is slow and tends to cut off half way through downloads. Moved to an ISP called Stay Free. Seemed much faster and more reliable than Virgin. Still I suppose Broad band is a different kettle of fish.

Most of the disconnection problems with dail up are caused by noise on the line and some ISP's do seem to have more trouble with this than ohter for some reason.

Like you say broadband will cure this problem. Just don't leave you line connection box hanging from the wire in the wind like I have done hilst the extension was built. Realised last night that it was this causing the broadband to drop out.

There's only one rule with broadband as far as I'm concerned: don't get it through BT!

I'm with NTL, and on the whole the service is very good. There have also been two speed upgrades in recent months, with no additional fee.

BT have a very stingey download limit, that you WILL hit once you're used to broadband. They're also pretty expensive, and they charge a lot for installation (NTL was free at the time, with a free modem as well).

BT are free installation as well, but 1Gb is a very stingey with their basic package.

Another NTL vote here, there will also be another speed increase in the new year although it will cost you

I do not think NTL is available in my area. Funnily enough a friend who lives in Belfast is jsut switching away from NTL to BT because he recons it will be cheaper??

We don't have NTL down our road. All the other roads in the village have it.

One other provider you might want to check out is Tesco.net. I found their dial up srvice to be spot on, and would have gone broadband if it was available at the time.

Price is around the 19 quid a month, and as far as I'm aware, the service is provided by NTL.... .

I don't think any other ISPs can piggyback on top of the cable connections. If you have NTL cable, your ISP is NTL, and if you have Telewest (Blueyonder) cable then they are your ISP. You can't pick and choose between them, and if your area is not cabled, you can't use either.

ADSL infrastructure is ALL provided by BT AFAIK, but you can choose which ISP you want to host your connection to the internet.

One other provider you might want to check out is Tesco.net. I found their dial up srvice to be spot on' date=' and would have gone broadband if it was available at the time.

Price is around the 19 quid a month, and as far as I'm aware, the service is provided by NTL.... .[/quote']

NTL provide the Virgin service as well

I don't think any other ISPs can piggyback on top of the cable connections. If you have NTL cable' date=' your ISP is NTL, and if you have Telewest (Blueyonder) cable then they are your ISP. You can't pick and choose between them, and if your area is not cabled, you can't use either.

ADSL infrastructure is ALL provided by BT AFAIK, but you can choose which ISP you want to host your connection to the internet.[/quote']

NTL are not solely a cable supplier - they can supply a service over a normal BT line as well :P

OK sorry - so they have an ADSL arm as well I guess.

You learn something eve ryday

William,

what is your criteria for you connections e.g price, speed, download limit, quality of service etc?

Check out ADSL Guide...has lots of information regarding ISPs.

I have used Pipex, BT Yahoo, Tiscali, AOL.....for a works project. Would avoid Tiscali as they have a lot of customer service problems. The rest are fine depending on your requirements.

At home I have Tesco 56k dial-up connection but will be moving to their broadband option soon. Found it to be very relialbe and good value for money.

Be aware that there are cheaper package (Tiscal x3) but this is only a 128k connection.....has about 3 times the amount of bandwidth compared to the normal 56k dial-up.

I have been with plus www.plus.com never any probs. you can now get 2 MB at 19.99 month

I've had no issues with virgin, i've used their dial-up for years reliably and their broadband package for a month or so. I usually get 58-60 KBytes download from their 512 package which is pretty good. You need to know what you're doing setting up connections\accounts however, their customer service is pretty rubbish.

NTL provide the backbone for Tesco & Virgin

They have also started doing broadband via BT (ADSL) for people not in an ntl area but wanting to use ntl services. Prior to this it was only dial up available through ntl in these areas. https://secure.ntlfreedom.com/default.aspx

There is another speed upgrade going on in the new year... definitely sounds worth the