random question for you rather well informed internet computery people, are there any of the main ISP's still providing a 56k dialup connection?

Yes but you'll only be offered it if you're in a a very remote location where BT hasn't touched the exchange for years

I use Virgin Media and was fast enough for years. We are on the bare minimum package so we've been upgraded to a 20mb connection and it's always about that. But lately because I'm using Steam, downloading games etc I'm being heavily capped. Goes down to about 5mb and when there's two laptops constantly using it plus a tablet and a TV it does slow right down. Had to buy a new router to stop it dropping connection completely (it was getting on a bit). I'll have to look into BT Infinity to see if it's worth it. My cousin has that box from Lord Sugar after dropping all the Sky to switch the BT. He does miss the sport but there's other ways of getting that. I'd want at least a 20mb connection and no capping!

PS, if they are that small (and I have never heard of them, despite living just down the road), the chances are they are a VISP - selling someone elses service; so you need to know WHO they use - or you could end up on a TalkTalk pipe.

They probably fit into this catagory, and are through Entanet in Telford.

Thanks for all the feedback folks.

My local ISP is sky, based just a mile down the road

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Another vote for plusnet, been with them for over a year now and not had any problems,

Altho they are owned by BT so if we do ever have any trouble i don't know what the customer service will be like

Whatever you do, don't choose supanet.

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It is always worth being wary with new/unknown ISPs; a few years back Tiscali (as it was then) had a "Free for 6 Months" offer; however, unlike every other ISP, they didnt take a first payment to check the card details were correct until AFTER the 6 months were up.

Some enterprising bloke noticed this and opened himself a VISP, offering great monthly rates that got lower the more you paid in advance - enticing people to pay for a year in advance basically. When people signed up, he then signed them up to Tiscali through a proxy, and using fake credit card details.

7 months later, when the cow poo hit the fan, he had scarpered with ~£500,000

I'd seriously recommend ditching your scruples on this one and just getting Sky. They're an excellent ISP. I've got their fibre offering and it's superb. I've only gone for the 40mbit, not the 80, but it's plenty fast enough. No rate shaping, no limits. Just solid 4.5MB/s downloads all day.

Cheers folks

Altho they are owned by BT so if we do ever have any trouble i don't know what the customer service will be like

We had problems with the first router we were sent, quite surprisingly (I am a cynic) they sent out a replacement no arguments within 24hr and refunded the return delivery of the old one on the first bill.

They've been pretty good on the phone and online chat prior to ordering too.

Router is cheap crap but they at least let you swap it for your own if you want.

If you sign up with PlusNet, watch your speeds, my mum lives 250-300m up the (main) road from me - the cable goes straight down the road - I watched it being laid - yet her PlusNet connection only gave 2.1MB/s when my Vispa connection gave me 5.6MB/s using exactly the same NetGear DGN2000 router.

After the FTTC gear was installed and new cables run for our older ADSL2+ connections, my speeds increased to 6.5MB/s and hers was ....... 2.1 MB/s !!!!

Before anyone tries to blame her wiring, the house was gutted and rewired, along with a new phone line, only 2 years ago.

i'm with virgin media and the broadband is great and is always fast, but as you say you aren't in one of their areas which is a shame but sky isnt to bad either

If speed and contention ratios are going to be important considerations then you'd be better off staying away from the cheaper venders. PlusNet like BT/TalkTalk are going to squeeze the bandwidth as much as they can.

BT BB seems reliable and the Infinity is fast. Also you can get a cheap YouView box for catchup TV.

I've now solved my issue and am on the totally unlimited 80/20 Infinity which works great.

It's fast and nothing is slowed down as far as I can tell.

I'd certainly put them on your list to consider.

Sky are off my list for the same reason as you and BE didn't do fibre. When moving from Plusnet (whose limits and "performance optimisation" were starting to get annoying) BT came out as the best of the lot for me.

Another vote for Sky. I pay for the Fibre Pro and get 7.3MB/s all day, every day. No shaping, no fuss, no muss.

Sky fibre here, rock solid at 39 mb downstream and 10 up

After several weeks of intermittent email issues I am also looking. I fancy ZEN, as they have a great rep and do the type of package I want at a reasonable price.

I've been with TalkTalk for nearly 6 years and had no real issues, they recently enabled unlimited downloads on all of there packages too.

Not the fastest available but it's reliable and i get free phone calls to landlines 24/7

Edited 23 March, 201313 yr by Harry1212

I've been with TalkTalk for nearly 6 years and had no real issues, they recently enabled unlimited downloads on all of there packages too.

Not the fastest available but it's reliable and i get free phone calls to landlines 24/7

I've been wondering how to describe our experience with TalkTalk for the thread and having read your post realised it summed up our experience perfectly

We're on a business feed so supposedly don't suffer from traffic shaping but you can tell when the kids get home, Dad gets home, the evening news comes on etc. etc.

We also have a Plusnet basic account at my Mum's old house (I'm slowly converting it for rental) and whilst it works OK the effects of traffic shaping are much more apparent - at times too slow to be useful. We'd move ISP but as we only need the service there part of the time we're staying with the cheapest deal for now.

FYI Which magazine reported on home ISPs this month. In summary:

Best for speed: Zen, Utility Warehouse, Plusnet, John Lewis, O2, Virgin

Value for money: Utility Warehouse, Plusnet, O2, Post Office. Worst Sky

Best Tech Support: Utility Warehouse, Plusnet, O2, John Lewis. Worst AoL, TalkTalk (I'd endorse that)

Regards, Mike

I am tending towards either Xilo or AAISP right now, it really depends on the phone charges for Xilo, they dont list them on the website, so I have sent a sale query. (Zen are charging waaay to much for overseas calls).

TT are possibly facing some hefty fines under the Data Protection Act as they seem to have lost control of a number of customers webpages; from ISPs they have taken over in the last few years. Not only have they lost control, they dont have a clue WHO currently is in control, or what to do about it!! (Still waiting to see what OFCOM will do with the complaints). I know of a few people who have been trying to access/delete their old webpages for over 2 years with no success.

The speed Awards are a bit of a con, as they have lumped in all the FTTC and FTTP speeds with the ADSL ones, so certain companies with more Fibre customers will come out well, even though their ADSL speeds are not very good.

Is there much point paying for niche/small broadband providers? (assuming you have access to the bigger players)

Well thanks people all the advice read and recommendations noted.

Talk Talk have been providing our phone line for about 5 years at a decent price and with good service so, I've decided to give them a try with the broadband.

Fingers crossed for Wednesday which is change over day

Good luck

Is there much point paying for niche/small broadband providers? (assuming you have access to the bigger players)

Niche providers nearly always have knowledgeable tech support staff based in the UK; for example.

About 6-7 years ago there was a duff batch of Fujitsu DSLAMs installed at various UK telephone exchanges; these caused all sorts of internet issues; I had one and my sister had another; I talked to my ISP and they ran some tests, got BT out and BT replaced the faulty DSLAM in just under 2 weeks form the problem starting; with most of that time spent waiting for the BT engineer to visit the exchange.

My sister talked to her ISP (Orange), and they sent her a new modem - which didnt make any difference.

SO she spoke to them again, and they sent her ANOTHER modem, which also made no difference.

She spoke to them again and escalated the fault, they sent her a newer version of the modem - THAT made no difference.

She complained and they sent an engineer to her house - then the day after phoned her to say he was coming.

SO they made another appointment and she took the day off work - he never arrived - but another modem appeared.

Third time lucky, but he could find nothing wrong and left her a new modem.

4th time, he fitted a new BT faceplate and left her a new modem.

5th time, no fault found and a brand new WIRELESS modem left - still made no difference.

FINALLY a BT engineer went to the exchange and swapped out the faulty DSLAM - PROBLEM CURED!!

18 months after the fault was first reported!!!!!!

Incidentally, it turned out that two neighbours also with Orange were having exactly the same problem, and each of them were being told that nothing was wrong, and no-one else was reporting a problem.

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PS, At the time, Orange were using the "Green Frog" style modems; my sister ended up with a large box of them and was not impressed. I suspect this is where the expression "madder than a box of frogs" originated from.