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The following page displays a list of all the broadband ISP reviews posted by minty (display name) to this system. Reviews can be edited by both the author and admins.
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ISP Reviews by minty

 Pulse8 (Broadband Fixed Line)
Posted: 13th Feb, 2019    By: minty
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Empty Star
Been a Pulse8 Broadband customer for 3 years now and I'm happy with the decision.
No frills, business-based provider that also cater for home customers.
Excellent customer service via phone or email.
No email included, so if your existing email is tied to your ISP, you'll need a separate account (if you're switching from Sky, you can keep your Sky/Yahoo email after you leave them).
Rolling 1 month contract.
Static or fixed IP options.
Broadband and phone package has reasonably priced call charges.
ADSL line speed can vary at times, but mostly stable and reliable. Connections aren't throttled.
Packages can be tailored with extras as needed.
Like most non big-name providers, if there's a fault with the line you'll have to pay the Openreach fees (although they offer a £1 pcm "Openreach Charge Assurance" option). So if you have issues with your line, get your current ISP to sort them out first.
Router isn't included, so you may need to factor in the cost of a decent router to the initial setup costs, if you don't have one (or the one you have is locked to your current ISP). Just make sure you get a router that supports the type of internet connection you're getting (i.e. fibre (VDSL) or standard (ADSL)). Pulse8 give you all the config info and tech support you need.
Not as cheap as over-subscribed big names, but competitive compared to top ISP prices.

Time With Provider: 3 Years
Package Name: XL Plus
Value
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Empty Star
Speed
Full Star Full Star Full Star Half Star Empty Star
Support
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star
Services
Full Star Full Star Full Star Half Star Empty Star
 Virgin Media (Broadband Fixed Line)
Posted: 10th Dec, 2010    By: minty
Full Star Full Star Empty Star Empty Star Empty Star
Title: Awful
I was with Virgin Media ADSL for several years, after jumping ship from the appalling Lineone/Tiscali. They had a shaky start, with definite ups and downs in service, then they levelled out as a bloated over-subscribed, over-hyped broaband provider that fell far short of their promised levels.
I stayed because I couldn't find another ISP cheaper that wasn't as bad or worse.
I've now switched to O2 who have so far been excellent.
2 days after leaving Virgin I was sent a bill for the next month's service. It took a 15 minute call to customer services who passed me around 4 different departments, keeping me on hold for most of the time. Turns out my account was still active, despite 2 weeks of them sending me letters and emails telling me they were sorry to see me go and confirming I'd been successfully migrated to another provider.
The icing on the cake was being told by the movers team (the final destination on my phone redirection trail) that if I still got charged for this current bill and I wanted a refund I'd have to phone up customer services again.
I will be so glad when I have left all trace of these incompetents far behind.

Time With Provider:
Package Name:
Value
Full Star Full Star Half Star Empty Star Empty Star
Speed
Full Star Full Star Empty Star Empty Star Empty Star
Support
Half Star Empty Star Empty Star Empty Star Empty Star
Services
Full Star Full Star Empty Star Empty Star Empty Star
 Sky Broadband (Broadband Fixed Line)
Posted: 16th Mar, 2012    By: minty
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Half Star
I've been with O2 for a year and a half now, after jumping ship from the godawful over-subscribed behemoth that was Virgin Media.
I have the home broadband 'All Rounder' package, which with a £5 discount for having an O2 mobile, costs me £23 a month (was £20, but the price went up recently.) For this I consistently get around 10MB broadband (2-3 times better than the best I got with Virgin's fluctuating speeds) which is good considering I'm 2 miles from the exchange and plenty for my needs,
and no frills home phone, without having to fork out to BT for their over-priced line rental.

O2 keep you informed about service changes, billing and rare outtages (proactively - I received an apology for loss of service before I'd noticed there was one!)

Customer service is good. My broadband stopped working recently and I couldn't find the cause, so I contacted O2 customer services on their freephone number and after the standard automated selection menus I got straight through to a friendly Northern Irish support lady. I was expecting to have to wade through the usual bunch of stupid questions "have I tried turning it off and on again", but she got straight to the nub of the problem with minimal preamble. After determining my account was fine and the adsl at the exchange wasn't the issue, she traced the problem to the router and said they'd send me a new one (would I like the new upgraded model, or did I have a sentimental attachment to the older existing one? I opted for new and improved.) The call to customer services was at 5:25pm, by 10am the next day the new router had arrived by courier. Plugged it in and was back online in under 5 minutes.

Their account management website is easy to navigate and gives you plenty of info and options (compare with the labrynthine complexity and negligible accessibility of the BT account site.) Their 'My O2' connection monitoring/support software has a minimal footprint and can be uninstalled without impact on the service, but I find it comes in useful to resolve occasional connection hang-ups.

Overall I'm happy with O2, certainly a damn sight more than I ever was with Tiscali/Virgin or BT.

Time With Provider:
Package Name:
Value
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Empty Star
Speed
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Empty Star
Support
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star
Services
Full Star Full Star Full Star Full Star Empty Star
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