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Please Help - Quick Broadband Switching Decision Required

So my orange connection will stop in 2 days unless I stick with them or quickly find a better option.

I currently receive these pitiful maximum off-peak speeds:



During evenings and weekends I get barely enough to stream a 4od episode or a youtube clip. Orange say I'm getting the maximum available but i'm sure that is simply not even remotely true - even if I got half or 1/4 of the advertised speed that would be far better than i'm getting now.

The also used to cap my speed permanently at speeds so low it was impossible to watch youtube clips without buffer issues.

I do download quite a lot - maybe on average 10GB / month? Maybe more sometimes

This is the information I have about my exchange:

"FORTON
Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 8Mbps. The actual stable line speed supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use. This speed may change over time, to ensure line stability is maintained. If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase. Thank you for your interest. Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check. "

The guide on here it says to AVOID:

O2 home access (the only one I can get)
Non-Cable Virgin (again the only service I can get from them)

Other 'Options':

TalkTalk (only offer an expensive £21 version of their 'cheap' package) - Not really a good ISP I don't think
BT (says should get 8Meg - can't get 'Infinity' only 'Total Broadband' service)
Sky Broadband - 'Connect' package 8mb £17/month!
Can't get Be UN Limited
Any thoughts on plusnet? They are highly recommended here if that counts for anything -
http://www.chooseisp.co.uk/broadband...e-options.html


When I run speed tests with various ISPs they say I should get 8Meg (probably to get me to sign up) but maybe I should be getting something like 4-8 Meg). Orange claim they can give another local address 3.5 meg (they won't let me see how much they claim I should be getting (unsurprisingly)

This is just like all mobile phone networks claiming coverage in my area when it is virtually non existent. I my live a bit rural but only 1 minute drive away from an main 'A' road!

I need to sort this ASAP or i'll be left in the wilderness without my precious internet by Monday :-(

Any help or advice will go very much appreciated,
Thank You,
Pete
 
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Hi Pete,

Can I ask why you are only considering the bigger market players? It's very to easy to argue that they are all the ones providing the poor quality services, afterall at the price there charging quality of service is going to be down the list of priorities.

As you will see from this site, the top 10 is full of smaller and realistic dedicated companies that rate much higher. IMHO that's where you should be starting if you want higher speeds and less network contention.
 
I guess because there the only one's i've heard of (which obviously doesn't make them any better). I can only recieve up to 8 meg but if I get anywhere near that I'll be happy. I'd take 4 meg lol

I've looked into a few of them and found them to be quite expensive (you might as well assume all are 8meg speed):

Fast.co.uk - £22.99 (20GB) - Seems wildly expensive
Zen Active - £21.27 (50GB)
XILO - Home £19 (25GB)
ICUK - To get more than 5GB download limit at peak house costs £25

These all seem to be double or £5 more than the going rate for big providers which may or may not be worth it?

I've heard companies like BT slow down exchanges for some ISPs to maximize what they can give to their own customers - is this true and will it affect me.

I want a fairly decent speed at all times really - not just when i'm asleep. Will the top 10 provide this? Any ideas on these 3 companies 'fair usage' BS?
 
Last edited:
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Fast.co.uk - £22.99 (20GB) - Seems wildly expensive
Zen Active - £21.27 (50GB) - £5 over the going rate / month
XILO - Home £15 (25GB) Looks good to me
I would say these are all very realistic to what providing quality broadband is about.

I've heard companies like BT slow down exchanges for some ISPs to maximize what they can give to their own customers - is this true and will it affect me.
Rubbish. What BT "Retail" do is down to them. BT "Wholesale" provide ISPs a level playing field upon delivery of services, it's then down to the ISP to do what they want with the traffic.

I want a fairly decent speed at all times really - not just when i'm asleep. Will the top 10 provide this? Any ideas on these 3 companies 'fair usage' BS?
As all 3 companies are direct rivals to ourselves, but also good friends of Aquiss, then it would only be fair for them to answer on their behalf.
 
That's a few things cleared up then. I guess the issue is price - what kind of service speed and download limit and peak hours could you guarantee me? I'll pm you my number. One thing I do like about these small companies is they all seem happy to give you 1 month contracts which tells me they are perhaps more confident at delivering speed and service unlike orange who want to hook you to 18 month contracts!

How independent is this forum by the way?

By the way I'm confused about one thing I see on many sites and on yours - Will I get 2Mbps or 8Mbps? How will i know if i'm getting ASDL max? Companies don't seem to advertise it as far as i've noticed.

"Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 8Mbps."

Also - I would need your £25 per month package which is also a bit more than all of the previous companies I've mentioned. Could you do that any cheaper?
 
Ok given your advice I shall avoid the big boys. I've always liked dealing with smaller businesses anyway.

Who do you think I should go with on a price to performance ratio in my area?

I've decided £20 would be ok as long as I get what I want

(Bearing in mind my speed limitations - BTW 8 meg or even 4-8 meg would make me very happy and 20-30GB per month)

Also speed of setup is a factor - I need someone who can have me up and running ASAP

Cheers
 
Just a little tip before you do anything that cost you more money.

I've been with Orange for years. Pretty much since I left the ISP game.
I've had one week with a problem and never since. Speeds wise I've got the fastest my line can handle. Only dropped when they switched me to ADSL2+ and they set the profile slower than my line would take.

Now before you start thinking that I am pro-orange... don't!

Their support (if you follow channels) is garbage! When you go to whatever country they have their support in, the chance of getting what you want is like spinning the wheel of fortune.

You need to bypass all of that to get things done. A call to any of the sales people in the UK saying you want to cancel and place emphasis on the lack of support will get you to someone in customer retention who will actually do their best to fix the issue.

It worked for me.

The reason I stay with Orange is simple. Price.

If not then people like Martin (aquiss) can certainly help you. (It's not like he doesn't know what he's talking about :))
 
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I've been with Orange for a number of years due to the cheap price because of my mobile contract.
REcently they have capped me because we went over the FUP. So I've tried to find out what the FUP really is. I asked at orange support and spoke to a Henry or Jane or Peter or Phil or Alison or Derrick or..... all from india but none of them could help me some of them couldn't even understand me. Eventually I was put through to a lady with a southern english accent in a british call centre because I asked for my MAC..her name was Nimi.
In the end Nimi was not much use either. She said she would look into it and did give me a call back but could not reinstate my full connection and told me I had gone other the FUP again during the month I had been resticted. I told her in that case it would be impossible for me to follow the FUP as I had not been doing anyther other that gameing during peak hours even though we are a family of 6. She still would not tell me what the FUP was.
So I did a little digging and found the information on orangeproblems.co.uk.

Orange FUP in a nutshell

The End User Speed Control (also known as EUSC) is where a line speed
restriction of 512kbps is applied to a customer's line during peak hours
(18:00pm to 12:00am, 7 days a week).

This restriction targets customers who are in breach of our Fair Usage
Policy, i.e. downloading over an average of 5Gb of data in two
consecutive months at peak times. This congests the network and heavily
affects the performance of our internet service for other broadband
users, at peak times.

Below is an example of a customer that would be speed controlled:

April May
Overall 52Gb 49Gb
Peak time 8Gb 7Gb

The following customer would not be speed controlled. Although they have
a higher overall GB usage their usage at peak time has remained below
5Gb:

April May
Overall 80Gb 90Gb
Peak time 4Gb 3Gb
 
Just a little tip before you do anything that cost you more money.

I've been with Orange for years. Pretty much since I left the ISP game.
I've had one week with a problem and never since. Speeds wise I've got the fastest my line can handle. Only dropped when they switched me to ADSL2+ and they set the profile slower than my line would take.

Now before you start thinking that I am pro-orange... don't!

Their support (if you follow channels) is garbage! When you go to whatever country they have their support in, the chance of getting what you want is like spinning the wheel of fortune.

You need to bypass all of that to get things done. A call to any of the sales people in the UK saying you want to cancel and place emphasis on the lack of support will get you to someone in customer retention who will actually do their best to fix the issue.

It worked for me.

The reason I stay with Orange is simple. Price.

If not then people like Martin (aquiss) can certainly help you. (It's not like he doesn't know what he's talking about :))

Wish my Orange connection would come back. it's been off for 9 full days and still no-one is sorting it.
We have had problems for 11 months now and one minute there is a line fault, and the next it's our equipment, so they say.
I would stay with them if they could sort it out for once and for all, but their customer service is rubbish.
I've applied for a MAC code friday and maybe change to BT or someone else.
Can't get virgin media as no cables round here.
Please come back on Orange, this dongle nonsense is costing me a fortune
 
Don't forget to consider IDNet too in that list.

If you'd rather have a more flexible usage allowance, albeit at the potential cost of some performance, then there's always the budget BT-based end from PlusNet . Eclipse Internet can also be good but it's a bit hit and miss.

Sadly you do pay more for better performance, but that's life.
 
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