Well my own experience of The Phone Co-op (NOW CALLED "THE CO-OPERATIVE PHONE & BROADBAND") is the exact opposite of a1972980's.

I have so far been with them (phone & broadband package) for nearly two years and things couldn't be much better. My previous two ISPs were AAISP & XILO, so you can see that I demand the very best quality broadband. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my download speeds (using JD's Auto Speed Tester) are indistinguishable from those of XILO, who provided me with the fastest speeds I'd ever had. That's no surprise really, as XILO & The Phone Co-op both use the I.S.P. MurphX. Of course, the speed you receive is very much down to your telephone exchange set-up, how congested it is at peak times and your distance from it; I am confident though, that no-one else will provide a faster service than The Phone Co-op can.

Migration went smoothly, though communication was by Royal Mail, not email. Set-up was easy using my own router.

UPDATE: Nearly a year ago, my local exchange went LLU when Talk-Talk set up their equipment there. I am now accessing their LLU service via The Co-operative & am very pleased with the much faster download & upload speeds (triple speed downloads & double speed uploads, compared to previously). The speeds are 100% consistent, as they are entirely unaffected by "peak periods", the time of day or the weekends. The changeover was handled expertly by The Co-operative & went very smoothly.

Thieves stole miles of Somerset telephone lines on 25th August 2011, which left much of Somerset & Dorset without broadband for the day. I phoned The Phone Co-op, got an instant reply & they informed me straight away of the BT Outage; so their customer service seems spot-on.

So far, the verdict is: EXCELLENT