I find BT a joke for internet.

On Telewest Blueyonder here (cable broadband), on their 10 meg service after working my way up the speed ratings. The cheapest package they do is very good, with as far as I know unlimited time useage or downloads.

Their customer backup has been excellent from expierience.

Oh, you also get the modem in with the deal too.

I am with Tiscali, 2mbs unlimited download, free UK land line calls 24/7 for £21.99.

All you pay is what you use on calls to mobiles etc. Generally no problems, free modem but no router!

Let's not forget ALL (unless anybody knows different) DSL infrastructure is provided by BT, so the line speed will not vary according to what ISP you choose, but where you live and how many subscribers there are sharing your exchange. After that it's a matter of choosing price versus facilities and support quality. If you're reasonably competent, price and bandwidth availability are your only criteria.

Cable is usually bundled with TV, so by its very nature is going to cost more, especially if you keep your BT phone line as well. Having said that the cable companies do have their own fixed infrastructure right up to your house, so bandwidth and access are usually less of a problem.

How long you use your link for per day can not possibly be governed by what speed you choose, unless there's a download cap. You should check that before signing up to any deal, if you plan on downloading large items like films etc.

Let's not forget ALL (unless anybody knows different) DSL infrastructure is provided by BT' date=' so the line speed will not vary according to what ISP you choose, but where you live and how many subscribers there are sharing your exchange. After that it's a matter of choosing price versus facilities and support quality. If you're reasonably competent, price and bandwidth availability are your only criteria.

Cable is usually bundled with TV, so by its very nature is going to cost more, especially if you keep your BT phone line as well. Having said that the cable companies do have their own fixed infrastructure right up to your house, so bandwidth and access are usually less of a problem.

How long you use your link for per day can not possibly be governed by what speed you choose, unless there's a download cap. You should check that before signing up to any deal, if you plan on downloading large items like films etc.[/quote']

Not strictly true Nick. Whilst BT do supply the majority of the backbone network, LLU legislation means that ISP can supply their own infrastructure.

Depending on whether an ISP services your area you can get upto 8M or even 24M.

There majority of ISP do use BT to carry their services and will always be restricted to whatever BT gives them.....and as BT is the incumbent network they can increase the bandwidth as fast, or for the most, as slow as they want.....unless OFCOM tell them to speed it up.

Where I live I'm right on the limit of the exchange so I can only get upto 1M......however chagning from my current 512k would really see not much of a difference....from 56k was a completely different matter though.

Not strictly true Nick. Whilst BT do supply the majority of the backbone network' date=' LLU legislation means that ISP can supply their own infrastructure.

Depending on whether an ISP services your area you can get upto 8M or even 24M.

There majority of ISP do use BT to carry their services and will always be restricted to whatever BT gives them.....and as BT is the incumbent network they can increase the bandwidth as fast, or for the most, as slow as they want.....unless OFCOM tell them to speed it up.

Where I live I'm right on the limit of the exchange so I can only get upto 1M......however chagning from my current 512k would really see not much of a difference....from 56k was a completely different matter though. [/quote']

I would agree with this. I had bt broadband from the day it became available in my area. As they started to advertise it, my connection got slower and slower. I finally moved to another isp when they eventually allowed migrations and it was like getting broadband again. So much quicker. For this reason alone I wouldnt go with the big bad boy BT. The company I had my ADSL with was nildram. Couldnt fault them at all for quality of service and speed of connection. Much better then my bt package. As someone has already suggested www.adslguide.org.uk You can use this place to compare every isp in the country.

From my experience with cable instead of adsl I would say it is also worth checking out your local cable company for your broadband connection. I am not sure who services your area, but I can tell you that NTL will sell you broadband only. You do not need to have their tv or telephone line to have it installed. I am currently on their 10mb line and it runs at that speed constantly. I havent had to worry about how far away from them I am and know that my line quality is very good due to it not being a bit of copper hanging from a pole with a load of birds perching and pooing on it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if BT could just put some sort of Wi-Fi repeaters on the telegraph poles in the street? [/font']

Not as unlikely as you might think. BT are steadily investing in their fibre optic network in order to prepare their network for the future even though they basically profit from all of the broadband connections in the UK except for NTL/Telewest. It's not happening fast enough though.

Currently if you sign up with a DSL ISP, they basically just put an order through to BT. Your service may be based on servers anywhere but BT still do all the routing. But now there's a fly in the ointment for BT. The market is being opened up and BT now have to allocate a percentage of the floor area in their exchanges to other broadband operators to install their own routers etc. The only thing BT will provide is a connection to the copper wires which essentially run into your house.

That's a big financial blow for BT so in order to get ahead of the pack they are planning on operating a UK wide wifi network with telephone poles being ideal for hotspots particularly in rural areas. They own the poles so why not although i can see other broadband providers crying foul. Regardless of how it goes, it will be the customer who will benefit in terms of broadband availabilty and reduced costs fueled from the increased competition.

Interesting about NTL - I'm with them, but have been since the early days when they only offered TV, along with dial-up internet (which was the main reason for joining them). In those days there was no option to separate broadband from TV - I wonder if I could now unsubscribe from the TV package and buy a Freeview box instead (I'm not a great user of cable channels anyway) :rubchin:

Not strictly true Nick. Whilst BT do supply the majority of the backbone network, LLU legislation means that ISP can supply their own infrastructure.

I stand corrected. (I did say "unless anybody knows different").

What percentage of customers are connected via a non-BT router then? and are there any at all not using BT cabling?

Interesting about NTL - I'm with them, but have been since the early days when they only offered TV, along with dial-up internet (which was the main reason for joining them). In those days there was no option to separate broadband from TV - I wonder if I could now unsubscribe from the TV package and buy a Freeview box instead (I'm not a great user of cable channels anyway) :rubchin:

I am sure you can, as they supply modems now instead of putting it into the cable box under your tv. worth a shout deffo

Interesting about NTL - I'm with them, but have been since the early days when they only offered TV, along with dial-up internet (which was the main reason for joining them). In those days there was no option to separate broadband from TV - I wonder if I could now unsubscribe from the TV package and buy a Freeview box instead (I'm not a great user of cable channels anyway) :rubchin:

I'm with NTL for broadband and have no complaints. NTL were pretty rubbish for reliability when they originally came into my area so most people went back to BT.

I dumped the NTL TV package as it so unreliable and moved to Sky+. I still use the ntl cable for my 5 analogue channels, telephone, broadband and the free fm service which has about 20 channels. I think the telephone is slightly better value than BT but

I've always had a cable modem - since about 2001.

Not planning to buy Sky AS WELL though :eek:

Haven't found NTL TV unreliable really - what do you mean by "unreliable"?

Have never listened to the FM service - tried to plumb into it from my tuner once, but I believe it's digital, so the tuner picked nothing up.

Definitely have a good look at the guides.

Try this one as well

http://www.broadband.co.uk/

I am now with Freedom to Surf. Briiliant service, no disconnects and good speed up to 8Mb if you can get it in your area. Also can pay monthly.

Was happily with Plusnet for about 3 years but they have a habit of changing the conditions without letting you know so that you end up not getting what you initially contracted for.

Mainthing I think is deciding EXACTLY what you want from broadband before signing up because it can prove costly to move.

I still haven

You can find out if NTL/Blueyonder serve your area by looking on their web sites.....I believe the have a service map.

Wireless broadband is now starting to be rolled out......I think the use MIMO for networks. Does away with the need for a copper connection to the home and is supposed to be for those in rural areas.

BT should be rolling out FTTH at some point.....will replace the copper connections.

FAO Nick:

Freeview normally requires an outdoor aerial and assumes a signal is available in a location. Here is the Freeview number, either to answer specific queries or send out an info pack:

0870 880 9980

TV isn't a requirement of NTL phone/broadband packages AFAIK. It might be worth trying to get hold of a named salesman to discuss your requirements, since I think they have some latitude to offer "new customer" deals for customers switching to b/b if the alternative would be to lose that customer.

I guess that might depend on area budgets. NTL was very late in introducing broadband here, so are having to try harder to get their market share back.

Regards

Mo

Yeah we have a signal and an aerial - we lived here in the BC years as well, you know

Can't vouch for NTL, but Telewest Blueyonder has no stipulation as to what you must take. I originally just had broadband, then a while later added the phone.

The choice is all yours.

I've always had a cable modem - since about 2001.

Me Too

Haven't found NTL TV unreliable really - what do you mean by "unreliable"?

Constantly crashes even tho the set top box was changed several times. Also very slow and poor value in comparison with Sky.

Have never listened to the FM service - tried to plumb into it from my tuner once' date=' but I believe it's digital, so the tuner picked nothing up.[/quote']

You can pick up the 5 analogue TV channels by just putting a splitter on the cable TV feed out of the NTL white box on the wall. However to pick up the FM service your white box needs to have a FM feed out of it as well. All the early ones had it i understand but when i got NTL in, my installation was delayed by a day as these units were no longer standard fit and they had to order it in. it's not digital though.

I still haven

Well my Wireless Router landed this morning at 0730!!! Bloomin

Its normal to need 1 pc wire connected to the router to make all settings adjustments, and run the others wirelessly. Therefore, I would suggest wired to the desktop and wireless to the laptop.

As for wireless"g" etc, thats the transfer speed, and most are backwards compatible. I would be surprised if your router did'nt cater for all speeds, although without knowing what you have gone for I could be wrong.

Well my Wireless Router landed this morning at 0730!!! Bloomin

Well you ladyship. In short wouldn't ever rely on a USB based wifi device unless you don't have anything else connected to the USB bus. In my experience, printers, scanners etc can interrupt the connection. Get an IDE wifi card with remote antenna.

I was hoping that I wouldn

Don’t you think that I could just use my Ethernet connector and leave it permanently connected to the router? I will be using the wireless laptop mainly anyway' date=' coz it sits on my lap in front of the telly/fire while I’m surfing (that phrase would have sounded bonkers 20 years ago). I would also like to add a wireless printer/scanner/fax at some point in the future too. [/size']

Sounds like the way to go

I knew I shouldn’t have meddled in things that were beyond me:orb_duh:

I think you are underestimating your abilities. You are technically minded. That's a great start. There's nothing that complicated about modern pcs.

I think you are underestimating your abilities. You are technically minded. That's a great start. There's nothing that complicated about modern pcs.

Thanks Johnny, I