Broadband Provider

[Nymphette79]

Atm I am with Virgin but tbh since the switch over they have turned into a bunch of fucktards with the exception of a few ;) and I am wanting to switch but not sure who to.
I like what Sky has to offer but have heard very mixed reviews, can u guys pls give me ur opinions
TIA
xxx

[L0KI]

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ is an excellent web site to compare ISP's.

I have always gone for Nildram or Pipex, which are both excellent providers.

BT isn't too bad either - suprisingly.

[Doc Holliday]

Atm I am with Virgin but tbh since the switch over they have turned into a bunch of fucktards with the exception of a few ;) and I am wanting to switch but not sure who to.
I like what Sky has to offer but have heard very mixed reviews, can u guys pls give me ur opinions
TIA
xxx


Depends on what you want from the connection really. honestly if your considerin moving your only option is adsl as virgin is the only isp that offers dsl connections currently. i heard alot about other providers from various customers at work and i would avoid sky like the plague based on whats been said. orange i never heard about but they take over the line from bt so your gonna get hit with a £50 cancellation fee instantly. same with talk talk. plus you have to factor that BTs network is massivly over subscribed so what ever you choose its gonna have a knock on effect. Add to it the distance from the exchange factor involved in making adsl so shitty.

If you have problems you shoulda dropped me a line and i can see if theres anything i can do for you ;)

[L0KI]

Virgin Cable Broadband is far better than most ADSL connections out there...

I'd personally stick with it ;)

[William Antrim]

Pipex is shit too. Theyre another BT carrier, the same as Orange and Talktalk.

[Doc Holliday]

Virgin Cable Broadband is far better than most ADSL connections out there...

I'd personally stick with it ;)


what rab said :) if i could get cable instead of the adsl i would. and its not just for the discounts i get :) i ping 200 to servers in london currently. thats horrid for any kind of fps games. luckily neocron isnt too ping reliant and i can get away with it more so in pvp than say UT2k4 or BF2.

[Nymphette79]

Thx guys but tbh all that dsl sadl stuff just looks like alphabet spaghetti to me, have no idea what either is but I do know my modem isnt a wireless thingy. And I have no idea where the exchange thing is or even what it is. Sorry for my total ignorance :wtf:
I do like virgin, have been with them for yrs but since they became virgin I have noticed a difference.
So they really are one of the best in the business??

[Doc Holliday]

Thx guys but tbh all that dsl sadl stuff just looks like alphabet spaghetti to me, have no idea what either is but I do know my modem isnt a wireless thingy. And I have no idea where the exchange thing is or even what it is. Sorry for my total ignorance :wtf:
I do like virgin, have been with them for yrs but since they became virgin I have noticed a difference.
So they really are one of the best in the business??


think of it like lipstick. Red or Pink. both do the same thing. they make u look nice. However the red one works better as it matches your clothes more and your other make up. the pink one isnt as good as you have to wear certain tops etc and you dont always get the look you wont. ;)

Red is the Dsl. its just better.

Pink is Adsl. It looks good but it comes with more problems.

Got it ?

Ps you dont need wireless. your better off without if you dont really know how to set it up.

[Nymphette79]

Ps you dont need wireless. your better off without if you dont really know how to set it up.

Cool i am very much a plug and play type of gal, i dont do instructions.

So u think stick with Virgin?

[Necpock]

We've been with AOL for years, ever since 9 years ago infact... no problems whatso ever, excellent service and rarely goes wrong... :D

[William Antrim]

We've been with AOL for years, ever since 9 years ago infact... no problems whatso ever, excellent service and rarely goes wrong... :D

AOL - so the american government can keep tabs on what youre looking at on the internet.

Type in Bomb and President onto google, count to 5 and you will have the Feds at your door and a free trip to Guantanamo Bay. :lol:


They do good service but I will stick with Virgin I think. I'd rather give Branson my money than those clowns.

[landofcake]

Realistically, in the UK, you're faced with three real options.

1. Cable

- Provided by Virgin Media (DO NOT get mixed up with their ADSL service, this is allegedly terrible), cable is piped to your house down fibre optic cables owned by Virgin themselves, so it's totally free of BT. Fast speeds, good latencies and cheap costs are what you get here. I personally have Virgin 20Mb cable and it's very good, there are some slightly restrictive usage limits in the evening but unless you're a big downloader it's fine. However ... it's not avaliable in many places, and mainly only in large towns/cities. Download speeds up to 20mb.

Typical ISP's:

- Virgin Media
- err ... that's it

2. ADSL/ADSL Max

- Provided by a number of different ISP's over BT's equipment in your local telephone exchange, this runs over standard BT copper telephone lines. This is the most common type of broadband in the UK. Download speeds UP TO 8mb (varies based on how far you are from the exchange + line quality). You can get this pretty much anywhere unless you're miles away from your local exchange or you live seriously far out in the sticks. Reasonably cheap depending on the ISP you go with and their particular packages.

I won't bother listing typical ISP's since there's so many, but big ones include:

- Pipex (not too great)
- BT (fairly poor)
- Nildram (not bad but basically just pipex)
- Tiscali (terrible)

I'd try steering clear of the bigger ISP's and do your research at somewhere like www.thinkbroadband.co.uk.

3. LLU ADSL

- LLU stands for Local Loop Unbundling, a few years ago, OFCOM declared that BT needed to allow competitiors to offer alternative broadband connections, so other companies are now allowed to come in and install their own equipment in BT's exchanges. This means they can offer ADSL 2, which basically means speeds of up to around 24Mb for very good prices (normally less than standard ADSL). This isn't avaliable everywhere though, you'll need to check for avaliability on your exchange (use http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php). If you're outside of a cabled area this is probably your best bet, if it's avaliable.

Typical ISP's:

- Be (apparently quite good, fast and cheap)
- Sky

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN ISP:

- Usage limits
- Speed
- Pricing
- MINIMUM TERM CONTRACT

and most importantly ...

USER REVIEWS !!!

My reccomendation ? Steer clear of Virgin Media and the other big ADSL ISP's. Go for Cable or Be LLU if you can, if not, scout around for a really good ADSL ISP. It might cost a little more, but it'll be worth it in the long run. Mainly because the performance/stability will be better, and you won't be tied into a long term contract.

Hope that helps.

Since i've already written too much, would anyone else care to explain the concept of the MAC code ? :D

[CHA0S]

MAC in easy terms unique id to a piece of hardware which has some form of network connection capability
if u want more details then ill go into it and see how many ppl fall asleep :lol:

[Nymphette79]

Its all complete jargon to me, altho Doc did make it alot easier, thanks babe.
I think I probably will stick with Virgin just having a few disputes with them atm, my connection keeps dropping, like i'll be loading a page or playing a game and it will all freeze and my lights dont flash on my modem and the only way to fix it is to reset the modem. I have spoke to a bloke in Technical support i think it was and he said he couldn't see any fault in the line so fuck knows. And also they are refusing to give me back my deposit coz I was a teeny tiny bit late paying my bill a few times :(
But if they are one of the best and I dont really want to get a BT line then I dont see much choice
Thanks all for ur help

[landofcake]

Its all complete jargon to me, altho Doc did make it alot easier, thanks babe.
I think I probably will stick with Virgin just having a few disputes with them atm, my connection keeps dropping, like i'll be loading a page or playing a game and it will all freeze and my lights dont flash on my modem and the only way to fix it is to reset the modem. I have spoke to a bloke in Technical support i think it was and he said he couldn't see any fault in the line so fuck knows. And also they are refusing to give me back my deposit coz I was a teeny tiny bit late paying my bill a few times :(
But if they are one of the best and I dont really want to get a BT line then I dont see much choice
Thanks all for ur help

Virgin Media CABLE is one of the best.

Virgin Media ADSL is not ;)

As for the MAC code, i didn't mean MAC address.

Not long ago, all ISP's were given new rules about giving out MAC codes. It's a unique code that you can be given by your current provider to give to a new one, which allows you to get a migration between ISP's with no outage. The rules have recently been changed in the UK so ISP's MUST give you one if you request it (subject to your contractual obligations).

[Mr Kot]

My two cents:

TISCALI = :mad: :mad: :mad:

http://www.weeklygripe.co.uk/a373.asp to see why (scroll down to read all the comments)

ZEN (http://www.zen.co.uk/Broadband/athome.aspx) = :angel: :angel: :angel:

If you want to speak to real people in a Rochdale office rather than a call centre in India, I strongly recommend Zen.

Given the issues a lot of people have with bad logins in NC due to ISPs playing with packets, Zen is a very Neocron friendly ISP. Even if you want to give them a go, you're not tied into a lengthy contract. You can leave after a month if you want. Any company that offers that obviously has nothing to hide and must retain its customers by satisfaction alone.

[Doc Holliday]

Virgin Media CABLE is one of the best.

Virgin Media ADSL is not ;)

As for the MAC code, i didn't mean MAC address.

Not long ago, all ISP's were given new rules about giving out MAC codes. It's a unique code that you can be given by your current provider to give to a new one, which allows you to get a migration between ISP's with no outage. The rules have recently been changed in the UK so ISP's MUST give you one if you request it (subject to your contractual obligations).


migration authorisation code. it allows people to switch isps from one provider to another.


Be advised it ONLY applies to adsl customers. Anyone on cable can ignore it.

Nymph if you want some help with the account stuff give me a text when your about. i will give u a call from work. i can try and help. let me know when your free.

[Nymphette79]

Cool cheers hun. Being half term down here this week dont get much time but if ur about next week can I give u a holler then?
xxx

[Doc Holliday]

Cool cheers hun. Being half term down here this week dont get much time but if ur about next week can I give u a holler then?
xxx


yes np. im working lates so any time. it will give me somethin look to forward to on a crappy 12-8 :)

[Nymphette79]

So u can rip the piss outta my bumpkin accent? :)

[RusSki]

My 2 cents (may not be totally relevant to the thread starter but instead generally anyone with virgin)

After having been with the ntl for 5 years on various speeds of dsl i've been happy with the product they supply. Granted the few times that it has gone wrong its been a nightmare speaking to them on the phone but thats the same with most company's.

Anyway I emailed their customer service about a month ago, had a little bit of a moan about their prices and explained that I was planning to leave as I wanted to take on a television service and at that time it seemed like sky were offering me a better deal.

A few days later and they are calling me to see if they can sort me out with a better deal. Which in my opinion they did.
4mb broadband (size L)
TV (size XL) with the v+ box and hd service
telephone line with free evening and weekend calls.
Free installation
All for £37 pcm
It gets better because last friday I received an email from them explaining that they are upgrading all their broadband services and now my 4mb is going to be 10mb for no extra cost.
And they weren't telling fibs, I've done a number of tests and it runs at pretty much 10.

Long and short of it, call customer services and ask to be put though to retentions, explain that you are thinking of moving to one of their rivals and give them some excuse as to why.
9 times out of 10 they will offer you a deal to keep you on.
If they dont does it matter, you were thinking of leaving anyway.

[Doc Holliday]

So u can rip the piss outta my bumpkin accent? :)


because your a good person and i want to help you out. of course :)