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Considering switching ISP, Advice.

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I am currently a TalkTalk user on their Plus package (unlimited downloads, up to 24MBPS) however I am considering changing as I am outside of contract and due to poor customer service. My exchange is Huyton (LHUY) and I am 2.8 km from the exchange. The LLU operators in my area are AOL, O2/Be, C&W, Sky/Easynet, TalkTalk (CPW), Tiscal and TiscaliTV according to Samknows (I also know that I can't receive Cable though there are other fairly close by who can.).

As it stands on its best days I have only ever received between 2.5 and 3 MBPS sustained from TalkTalk. Due to issues with customer service etc even if my current problem ever does get fixed (a problem which sees my download rate drop to as low 0.5 and which has made any sort of streaming or gaming unuseable as well as frequent time outs etc) simply due the poor service I'd received I would likely change.

My question is would any other providers in my area likely provide and speed gains at all over TalkTalk (realising of course that there will always be significant degradation with my distance to the exchange) and how does their customer service and throttling/traffic shaping compare to TalkTalk.

Thanks for you all your time and help in your replies.
 
Firstly I'd suggest taking a look at our editors pick for 2012.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/12_Best_UK_Broadband_ISPs/

Now as to whether or not the grass would be greener on the other side, well that often depends upon the quality of your phone line. If you can post your router stats (attenuation, noise margin etc.) then we might be able to get a better idea of what it can really do.

Also what part of Huyton do you live in because if it's the North West corner then BT are likely to upgrade that to superfast 40-80Mbps FTTC before the end of 2012 (possibly slipping to early 2013).
 
Go with someone in the top 15 or so from...
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top50.php

No offence to MarkJ but i have no idea how most of those in the 2012 list made it into it.

BE have been terrible since around Sept 2011, peering issues, routing issues, regular DNS issues, low capacity and are slow to solve any problems. O2 love to keep changing terms of usage (and dunno what a MB and a Mb is). Plusnet have had a thread on here and appear to have treated more than a few people wrong (though they do have a very good staff member that visits this site to help people). Sky from reading around is a right mish mash of happy and unhappy people and Virgin likewise many are becoming tiresome of promises (like imaginary free speed upgrades and alterations to terms of usage).
 
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Thanks for the replies so far. I had heard about the FTTC upgrade scheduling Huyton in for Sept. 2011 I believe but with BT I could easily see some time in 2013 being the actual date. I figured a 12 month contract now would be worth going into knowing that at the end of it there will be FTTC available and it will have bedded down some and I'll be able to see what sort of pricing structures there are on it etc.

My router stats are:

Down/Up

DSL Line speed: 4333/892

Line Attenuation: 56.0/34.0 DB

SN Margin: 6.0/6.4 DB
 
With those stats I'd say that the 2.5-3Mbps you get from TalkTalk would be more or less right. You might get a bit extra from a good ISP but we wouldn't be talking about a dramatic shift.

However, your SN Margin is a little low. At that level I'd be keeping an eye out for line drops that might be causing your problem. You should take a look through our ADSL Tips article as this will have some useful advice for fixing such problems.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/adsltips/

In particular you should make sure that your router is plugged into your homes main Master Socket and, if it's not labelled BTOpenreach, then you'd probably benefit from fitting a filtered faceplate. This cuts out interference from the ring/bell wire and if you haven't got one already then they can make a big difference. Check no.14.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/adsltips/04.php

The downside is that if your socket isn't a BT NTE5 standard then you'll need to fit a more fiddly faceplate that might require a phone expert to do safely. Don't confuse ring/bell wire filtered faceplates with ones that just embed the standard microfilter/splitter. Luckily it's easy to test all this by just removing the Master Socket faceplate and connecting your microfilter/splitter into the exposed socket behind.
 
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