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Broadband Newbie,Please Help!

Hi

I am currently on 56k dial up with Tiscali, and I have decided to take the broadband plunge. I have looked at Tiscali's broadband products and decided its time to swap ISP.

The first broadband to come into mind was BT Broadband, but they seem expensive.

I have narrowed it down to 4 different options and would like your advice on which to choose:

Wanadoo: 17.99 per month, 1mb 3gb limit
Wanadoo:22.99 per month, 1mb 6gb limit
Tesco: 19.97 per month, 512k unlimited
Supanet: 22.96 per month, 1mb unlimited

I am thinking I should really go for the 1mb unlimited with supanet, but tempted to go with Wanadoo as they are a well known company.

Has anyone had dealings with Supanet?
Would 6gb transfers be enough?

Any other options/suggestions is appreciated!

Thanks in advance
Mark :nod:
 
You can transfer 3gb of data very quickly - so no it probably won't be enough.

3gb = about 95mb a day; remember ISP's count both directions in their limits so given its 512/256 you get about 60mb in the downstream direction a day.

512k ADSL means you can download at 56k/s roughly; which is about 3mb download in a minute - so your 60mb per day can be used up in about 30 minutes of downloading.

I expect if you have broadband you will spend a lot longer online than that.... I certainly do.

Tesco sounds a good deal on the surface, but its a DataStream based solution and therefore not the best; Tesco are aslo a VISP (virtual ISP) and use NTL to actually provide the service; all a few negatives creaping in here...

Supanet are probably okay but I've not heard of them - I would recommend one of the following myself; all unlimited bandwidth:

NDO www.ndo.com (I use, are excellent) £24.99 a month no fees or £19.99 a month (£65.00 setup).
Vispa www.vispa.net (good rep) £24.99 plus £69.99 activation
or PlusNet www.plus.net - £23.99 a month plus £70.50 activation.

Big name brand does not necessarily mean good; and in the ISP world it tends to mean crap - eg: tiscali (most complained about ISP in history?).

LB
 
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Have you looked at Pipex?
Unlimited 1M connection, 12 mailboxes, 50M webspace, full newsgroup access and no setup fee for £33.99 per month. This is an excellent service and Pipex have a very good reputation.
Limited download accounts are also available, as are varying 0.5M and 2M deals.
 
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I didn't think so.
The Pipex unlimited 0.5M connection weighs in at £23.44 per month inc VAT. This also includes free setup, modem and filters.
It doesn't include the "nannying" that AOL throws in however. :)
 
You get what you pay for, I am with Freedom2surf and so pay more but there is no downtime, always get full speed on downloads and support that is manned by experts not by dummies reading from a script. Unlike dialup you could be stuck with a lemon for sometime especially if for the free setup and modem you are signed up for 12 months.

In short go with the ones with good reviews, contract terms of 1 month and pay for your own modem so you can move if needed.
 
Tesco also give you a free modem, which you will need. Some other ISPs dont give you free hardware, so thats something else to add into your considerations.

Also i cant see what all the fuss about datastream/IPstream is. I use my Tesco BB loads, its fast, reliable and cheap. Ive seen 60kbps constant downloads, gaming pings are excellent, internet browsing is fast.

So whats "not the best" about Tesco as a datastream provider ? What more do u need? It seems the data/IP stream issue a bit of a "technology fashion" to me, and other Tesco users.

Cant speak for other ISPs though, they may be different.
 
In the end it comes down to what you are willing to pay and what you want from a service. There have been loads of issues with the whole DataStream/IPStream thing and to be honest it's a tad out of date. In the past there were issues with DataStream. They were valid issues with speed and contention. Most of these are now gone and the few that remain can usually be fixed quite easily.
 
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EntityOnline said:
In the end it comes down to what you are willing to pay and what you want from a service. There have been loads of issues with the whole DataStream/IPStream thing and to be honest it's a tad out of date. In the past there were issues with DataStream. They were valid issues with speed and contention. Most of these are now gone and the few that remain can usually be fixed quite easily.
This ( :rolleyes: ) certainly isn't the case with Central Point - contention is a major issue on their system. I've been told that I can cancel any time after 30th Nov - and will then sign up with a decent IPstream isp.

To be honest I think that the main problem with datastream is the 2Mb back-haul connection to the isp's network - so if you've got quite a few datastream users on the same exchange you're in for a rough ride.
 
If you are going for ADSL we are surely worth considering.

Unlimited 512k is £16.99 a month (£9.99 for first 2 months) and activation is £50

There is NO 12 month contract, it is based on a month to month basis

Although we are a datastream service, the problems on this service are extremely rare and just/almost as likey on a IPstream service.

check it out @ www.micronetbroadband.com
 
Unicast said:
This ( :rolleyes: ) certainly isn't the case with Central Point - contention is a major issue on their system. I've been told that I can cancel any time after 30th Nov - and will then sign up with a decent IPstream isp.

To be honest I think that the main problem with datastream is the 2Mb back-haul connection to the isp's network - so if you've got quite a few datastream users on the same exchange you're in for a rough ride.
I have heard of this with Central Point and I have seen your posts on the subject. I agree that the speeds that you are all getting are not good at all and I think that you should indeed look into why you are getting those speeds.

While I cannot comment on Central Point, I will note that at present any speed issues I have had have been fixed quickly. Some people will never be convinced. I realise this. It is for that reason i can do both DataStream and IPStream. There are pros and cons to everything.

I hope that your situation improves Unicast and hope you get a connection that you are happy with.
 
Thanks for all your advice, now I am more confused than I first thought... lol.

I thought I had narrowed it down to 4 options, now I have 45!!

Basically, I dont want to pay up front. I understand that this will tie me up to a 12 month contract but not too bothered. Prefer to be stuck with an ISP for 12 months @ £20ish a month than spend £50-£70 set up fee just to cancel after a month or so. Also, money is tight so the initial set up cost will be a problem.

I am swaying towards the Supanet option, £22.96 for 1mb unlimited with no setup costs. http://www.getbroadbandanywhere.com has a similar product/price but with a £70 set up fee.

Does anyone know anybody who is connected to supanet? Are there any other unlimited 1mb providers at around £25 per month?

Thanks!!

Mark
 
Seriously

Have you seen www.seriouslyinternet.com ? I signed up with them with I changed to ADSL there are fast and reliable I was very impressed with there technical support as well. I had to pay a setup fee, but i would rather pay that and be able to cancel if I find I don’t like the service instead of being tied to it for 12 months. though after saying that, I don’t think i will be changing from them any time soon :)
 
Last edited:
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What caused you to use the tech support exactly? And if you have *just* signed up as you say on another thread, how are you so sure they are reliable?
 
well it was turned on when they said it would be, which was a good sign for starters (after a bad NTL experience) i had to ring up for the ADSL setting though
 
MarkPott wrote of his new ISP:
... had to pay a setup fee, but i would rather pay that and be able to cancel if I find I don’t like the service instead of being tied to it for 12 months. though after saying that, I don’t think i will be changing from them any time soon
Yet the Termination clause (16.b) within the T&Cs of this new company, states:

"the Agreement will continue for a minimum period of one year from the commencement of Service and will automatically continue for successive 90 day periods unless or until the Company or the Customer (unless he is a Dial In Account / ADSL) gives not less than three month's written notice of termination to the other expiring at the end of the first year or any subsequent year or (if the Customer is a Dial Up account or ADSL account) he or the Company gives not less than one month's written notice to the other, expiring on or at any time after the end of the first year. "
http://www.seriouslyinternet.com/140.0.html

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but that clause appears to be tying the customer into a contract for a minimum of 12-months.
 
There is definitely a difference between the IPStream and DataStream models and don't let anyone tell you any different!
In non technical terms, the DataStream model allows the ISP greater leverage where contention etc is concerned where IPStream does not. This may not be a problem where an ISP is responsible and has a healthy bank balance but the temptation is always there for an unscrupulous ISP or one that needs a few bob to squeeze as much as he can out of his allotment. It seems to be just too much of a temptation in many cases!
I think you'll find that the worst rated ISP's on any forum that you choose to look at - For example, The UK's worst ISP? and now Tesco etc are utilising the DataStream model whilst the higher rated ISP's use the IPStream model.
 
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