I've said it a few times on these forums, but I would really recommend the Co-op phone and broadband. An excellent independent company, with outstanding customer service and very competitive pricing. £4 a month for six months (then £8) and the line rental is one of the cheapest I've seen at £15.50. I'm always so surprised that they aren't more popular - but no-one seems to have heard of them.
I've said it a few times on these forums, but I would really recommend the Co-op phone and broadband. An excellent independent company, with outstanding customer service and very competitive pricing. £4 a month for six months (then £8) and the line rental is one of the cheapest I've seen at £15.50. I'm always so surprised that they aren't more popular - but no-one seems to have heard of them.
Looked into them but there's a cap which isn't anywhere near enough the amount of data I consume with TV players etc. Think the cap is 40GB (and then you pay on top, but get up to 100 and you could be throttled/cut) and I'm getting through 1GB a day alone and that's before I've streamed internet radio, let alone used Eurosport HD, Youtube etc etc. Might be a great deal but could spend half the month not doing my usual stuff in order to save bytes!!!
I have contacted them about this and am waiting for a reply. maybe in the future they can increase the price but raise the limits?
their network is pretty darn good
maybe their CS could do with improving
My advice if you want english speaking people for CS
grab talktalk business or plusnet.
I have been with them for just over a year and have to say, it's been perfect. I had ticked all of the "dont contact me to sell me anything" boxes when I purchased on-line and then had a call trying to sell be a STB (I had bought my own) - I asked what part of don't contact me, they didn't understand, they apologised and I have heard nothing since! But it's not just TT that do that, loads of companies ignore the tick boxes.
Speed is constant, no down-time at all as far as I can tell (unless it happened when I was asleep), same with phone line. I love their STB schedule and the ability to scroll back and watch catch up from within the schedule - wish Sky would do that.
Looked into them but there's a cap which isn't anywhere near enough the amount of data I consume with TV players etc. Think the cap is 40GB (and then you pay on top, but get up to 100 and you could be throttled/cut) and I'm getting through 1GB a day alone and that's before I've streamed internet radio, let alone used Eurosport HD, Youtube etc etc. Might be a great deal but could spend half the month not doing my usual stuff in order to save bytes!!!
I have contacted them about this and am waiting for a reply. maybe in the future they can increase the price but raise the limits?
That certainly used to be the case, but they changed their policy last summer. Unlimited is now unlimited - with a 'fair use' disclaimed like most ISPs. I use quite a bit of internet too but never heard a word from them.
The co-op's documents say that they will lower speeds for torrent/peer-to-peer traffic at busy times if people are being "excessive" with ther usage. Seems fair, that stuff works best overnight anyway. Wait and see what they say or give them a ring, they're very good over the phone.
My advice if you want english speaking people for CS
grab talktalk business or plusnet.
People run scared of Talk Talk because it is Talk Talk and they have had a awful name for a long time and once a company get a name as bad as they did people tend to run a mile even if that company have improved.
Talk Talk network may be good, but they went through a phase of getting more customers than they could cope with and that lasted for too long. The other problem was and still is their awful customer service, it is to be honest almost as bad as BT if that is possible, but at least you do get through to someone who is based in the UJ now and again with BT. Of all the times i have phone TT on behalf of people i have never got anyone with a British Accent.
If Talk Talk got their CS sorted, then maybe people would not run scared.
Plusnet is a bit better, but I felt like i was running around in circles when I last phoned them on behalf of someone, Maybe a British accent, but they know very little and still seems to follow a script.
I would still prefer Plusnet than Talk Talk mind you, not just because Talk Talk being Talk Talk, but because plusnet seems to offer better value unless you are into You View and all that stuff.
I have been with them for just over a year and have to say, it's been perfect. I had ticked all of the "dont contact me to sell me anything" boxes when I purchased on-line and then had a call trying to sell be a STB (I had bought my own) - I asked what part of don't contact me, they didn't understand, they apologised and I have heard nothing since! But it's not just TT that do that, loads of companies ignore the tick boxes.
Speed is constant, no down-time at all as far as I can tell (unless it happened when I was asleep), same with phone line. I love their STB schedule and the ability to scroll back and watch catch up from within the schedule - wish Sky would do that.
Meanwhile a Q for the techies out there; the name of the company may change, but it's the same exchange, the same line, the same socket (maybe a different router) so why should any performance change? Would I HAVE to accept their router??
I lost half my speed in the sell off of o2 to sky. I'd leave but quite honestly the unlimited usage is more important to me and I refuse to go to BT (or any of their subsidiaries) due to past bad experience. Doesn't leave many choices... (Not cabled)
I lost half my speed in the sell off of o2 to sky. I'd leave but quite honestly the unlimited usage is more important to me and I refuse to go to BT (or any of their subsidiaries) due to past bad experience. Doesn't leave many choices... (Not cabled)
Steve
There are lots of ISPs that aren't BT/Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk. You might have to pay a bit more but typically you'll get a much better service anyway
I lost half my speed in the sell off of o2 to sky. I'd leave but quite honestly the unlimited usage is more important to me and I refuse to go to BT (or any of their subsidiaries) due to past bad experience. Doesn't leave many choices... (Not cabled)
Steve
There should be no reason for that unless your line has developed a fault either inside or outside ... or Sky's DLM has not worked properly and left you on a slower connection.
I moved from TT to Sky a couple of years ago, they start you off on a slow connection and move you up to the fastest stable speed that your line can handle over a period of up to 10 days.
When the 10 days was up for me I phoned them because I was still on a slow connection and 5 minutes later I was connecting at full speed, faster than I'd ever been with TT.
Give them a ring and ask to be put on their fastest profile, the DLM will drop it down if you start getting too many errors.
There are lots of ISPs that aren't BT/Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk. You might have to pay a bit more but typically you'll get a much better service anyway
You normally get a better customer service with the smaller providers if something goes wrong, I say normally as it do not always happen. But as you said, you do pay a higher price.
I do not mind paying a higher price as long as it is not stupid prices that some of them charge.
Like one is £25 a month for a 100GB limit, and if you want to top up another 50GB you can pay another tenner and that is for ADSL. I also thought we got past the cap system, even if Sky thinks we should back to it. Not that I have anything against a cap, but the price must be relevant.
Another one is around £35 all in, including line rental, which is not too bad and unlimited fibre.
Some just think they can charge more and get away with it because people thik they must be really good if they can charge that much.
Then you go the other way with large providers like Talk Talk and Plusnet doing stupid prices, well for ADSL anyway, not such a done deal with Fibre.
But saying all of that, choice is getting less, how many providers have we lost in the last 5 years or even less? The way it is going on, we will have 3 or 4 large providers and maybe one or 2 smaller providers and that is it. the sad thing is the larger providers offer nothing different to each other, they seem intent in trying to get people to buy as many other products as they can.
I do not like the way the ISP market is now, in fact I have not liked it for a while now. That is why I try to stay with the smaller providers, but sometimes money or the lack of it have to play a part in my choice, certainly now when I am on sick pay.
I signed a new contract with TT a couple of months ago, my monthly cost is £23.50 plus line rental, and for that I get :-
Fibre Broadband of about 23.50Mbps
All landline calls 24/7
TV plus extra entertainment boost (all the main standard Sky channels)
Free mobile sim card
I think this is excellent value, I have been with them for many years with few problems and I am very happy. If you know who to email/phone, any problem can be sorted very quickly!
To be fair that's not all they do. They've unbundled literally thousands of exchanges.
That is true and to be honest they have unbundled exchanges which other providers stayed clear off, until TT unbundled it and then they all wanted a piece of the action.
I think Bulldog was the first ones here, just about and TT came not long after. then once TT got here, Sky and EE decided to unbundle and get in on the act. I do know of much smaller exchanges in the sticks that have been unbundled by TT and no one else.
Talking of which i never realised Zen unbundled exchanges, but according to sam knows, we have a zen unbundle, I wonder if that is because a local company that provides wireless broadband uses Zen.
That is true and to be honest they have unbundled exchanges which other providers stayed clear off, until TT unbundled it and then they all wanted a piece of the action.
I think Bulldog was the first ones here, just about and TT came not long after. then once TT got here, Sky and EE decided to unbundle and get in on the act. I do know of much smaller exchanges in the sticks that have been unbundled by TT and no one else.
Talking of which i never realised Zen unbundled exchanges, but according to sam knows, we have a zen unbundle, I wonder if that is because a local company that provides wireless broadband uses Zen.
For years Zen had I think 3 exchanged near their HQ (Rochdale way I think) and then they did nearly 200 more fairly recently (last year or two).
On Talk Talk, yes they've certainly gone the extra mile unbundling. As you say on some really quite small exchanges. They have 3,035 exchanges according to Sam Knows. I think their nearest competitor in terms of unbundling is Sky with 2,434.
Talking of which i never realised Zen unbundled exchanges, but according to sam knows, we have a zen unbundle, I wonder if that is because a local company that provides wireless broadband uses Zen.
The unbundled exchanges are in support of their new nationwide network, as I understand it.
Total speculation but I think it's to do with fibre - instead of paying BT loads to get traffic to where Zen wants it (BT Wholesale are not cheap), they just have to get it from each fibre headend to the nearest point of presence (exchange) and then onto Zen's much cheaper network.
I guess then that if you've already got a connection into an exchange, it's a relatively trivial cost to put a DSLAM into it and move any ADSL customers you might have onto that.
Similar to how Sky and TalkTalk do it, where they can simply connect in to the fibre networks at exchanges that are both fibre headends where they already do LLU, so customer traffic basically goes straight from the Openreach FTTC network and onto theirs.
I don't know how they choose the exchanges, but it seems Cornwall has Zen (Truro) yet both of the much larger cities in Devon don't.
It means that they can offer decently priced, unlimited fibre compared to their obscenely expensive ADSL
I signed a new contract with TT a couple of months ago, my monthly cost is £23.50 plus line rental, and for that I get :-
Fibre Broadband of about 23.50Mbps
All landline calls 24/7
TV plus extra entertainment boost (all the main standard Sky channels)
Free mobile sim card
I think this is excellent value, I have been with them for many years with few problems and I am very happy. If you know who to email/phone, any problem can be sorted very quickly!
It depends if you want all the extra, if I was going for fibre, I would prefer it to be cheaper than have stuff I do not need. this is the problem with these large providers, they spend so much time in trying to give you extras and keep putting more onto the price, so you think you are getting something extra out of it.
i have always said even when I was dial up, all I want is a internet connection, i know some people may want more, but not me. I also do admit I did try BT mobile and broadband service a few years back, but then it was a cheap way to get a contract phone at the time. £5 a month for a phone that was ok for it's day and it was on a pretty decent network.
Companies like BT, Sky and Talk Talk do not seem to understand what DO NOT CONTACT ME means.
If I do go for FTTC, and I have to go for a larger company I think it will be plusnet, even if I have my reservations about them, because they just do broadband and no other stupid add ons.
For years Zen had I think 3 exchanged near their HQ (Rochdale way I think) and then they did nearly 200 more fairly recently (last year or two).
Just a shock they have come here, but they are still way over priced, just like andrew and Arnald or what ever they are called.
On Talk Talk, yes they've certainly gone the extra mile unbundling. As you say on some really quite small exchanges. They have 3,035 exchanges according to Sam Knows. I think their nearest competitor in terms of unbundling is Sky with 2,434.
Sky have the backing to do it I suppose, they are a large group. It is a shame really that Talk Talk started off so bad, being a British company and starting off pretty small I would have like d to support them, but they messed up a lot when they first came into broadband and did not and still don't seem to care.
But i am the first to admit that when their service works it works fine, it just if you have a problem that the trouble starts. I would not go for Talk Talk myself as it do not offer what I would want compared to other services for the same price.
Being part of Car phone warehouse did not help to be honest, i know they are split now, but i bet Dunstone still got his claws in Talk Talk somewhere.
Just signed on wit Sky. Against my better nature, but for one year it's the best deal - second best was Co-operative but their replies seemed slow, but they will be an option when it comes to renegotiating my Sky contract. And if the service isn't up to it, I have 28 days from set-up to fly.
Wouldn't go with Talktalk if phone and broadband was a penny a month.
Just signed on wit Sky. Against my better nature, but for one year it's the best deal - second best was Co-operative but their replies seemed slow, but they will be an option when it comes to renegotiating my Sky contract. And if the service isn't up to it, I have 28 days from set-up to fly.
Wouldn't go with Talktalk if phone and broadband was a penny a month.
Like many people in this country I hate Murdoch with a passion, so there you go.
Comments
I've said it a few times on these forums, but I would really recommend the Co-op phone and broadband. An excellent independent company, with outstanding customer service and very competitive pricing. £4 a month for six months (then £8) and the line rental is one of the cheapest I've seen at £15.50. I'm always so surprised that they aren't more popular - but no-one seems to have heard of them.
http://thephone.coop
Looked into them but there's a cap which isn't anywhere near enough the amount of data I consume with TV players etc. Think the cap is 40GB (and then you pay on top, but get up to 100 and you could be throttled/cut) and I'm getting through 1GB a day alone and that's before I've streamed internet radio, let alone used Eurosport HD, Youtube etc etc. Might be a great deal but could spend half the month not doing my usual stuff in order to save bytes!!!
I have contacted them about this and am waiting for a reply. maybe in the future they can increase the price but raise the limits?
their network is pretty darn good
maybe their CS could do with improving
My advice if you want english speaking people for CS
grab talktalk business or plusnet.
Just like how BT Retail are pretty useless but their DSL/fibre network is fine when you go with a decent ISP.
I have been with them for just over a year and have to say, it's been perfect. I had ticked all of the "dont contact me to sell me anything" boxes when I purchased on-line and then had a call trying to sell be a STB (I had bought my own) - I asked what part of don't contact me, they didn't understand, they apologised and I have heard nothing since! But it's not just TT that do that, loads of companies ignore the tick boxes.
Speed is constant, no down-time at all as far as I can tell (unless it happened when I was asleep), same with phone line. I love their STB schedule and the ability to scroll back and watch catch up from within the schedule - wish Sky would do that.
Jeff
That certainly used to be the case, but they changed their policy last summer. Unlimited is now unlimited - with a 'fair use' disclaimed like most ISPs. I use quite a bit of internet too but never heard a word from them.
The co-op's documents say that they will lower speeds for torrent/peer-to-peer traffic at busy times if people are being "excessive" with ther usage. Seems fair, that stuff works best overnight anyway. Wait and see what they say or give them a ring, they're very good over the phone.
People run scared of Talk Talk because it is Talk Talk and they have had a awful name for a long time and once a company get a name as bad as they did people tend to run a mile even if that company have improved.
Talk Talk network may be good, but they went through a phase of getting more customers than they could cope with and that lasted for too long. The other problem was and still is their awful customer service, it is to be honest almost as bad as BT if that is possible, but at least you do get through to someone who is based in the UJ now and again with BT. Of all the times i have phone TT on behalf of people i have never got anyone with a British Accent.
If Talk Talk got their CS sorted, then maybe people would not run scared.
Plusnet is a bit better, but I felt like i was running around in circles when I last phoned them on behalf of someone, Maybe a British accent, but they know very little and still seems to follow a script.
I would still prefer Plusnet than Talk Talk mind you, not just because Talk Talk being Talk Talk, but because plusnet seems to offer better value unless you are into You View and all that stuff.
http://support.youview.com/articles/Self_Service_FAQ/What-is-the-YouView-App-1370864296764 is a good app to have.
I lost half my speed in the sell off of o2 to sky. I'd leave but quite honestly the unlimited usage is more important to me and I refuse to go to BT (or any of their subsidiaries) due to past bad experience. Doesn't leave many choices... (Not cabled)
Steve
There are lots of ISPs that aren't BT/Plusnet, Sky and TalkTalk. You might have to pay a bit more but typically you'll get a much better service anyway
There should be no reason for that unless your line has developed a fault either inside or outside ... or Sky's DLM has not worked properly and left you on a slower connection.
I moved from TT to Sky a couple of years ago, they start you off on a slow connection and move you up to the fastest stable speed that your line can handle over a period of up to 10 days.
When the 10 days was up for me I phoned them because I was still on a slow connection and 5 minutes later I was connecting at full speed, faster than I'd ever been with TT.
Give them a ring and ask to be put on their fastest profile, the DLM will drop it down if you start getting too many errors.
You normally get a better customer service with the smaller providers if something goes wrong, I say normally as it do not always happen. But as you said, you do pay a higher price.
I do not mind paying a higher price as long as it is not stupid prices that some of them charge.
Like one is £25 a month for a 100GB limit, and if you want to top up another 50GB you can pay another tenner and that is for ADSL. I also thought we got past the cap system, even if Sky thinks we should back to it. Not that I have anything against a cap, but the price must be relevant.
Another one is around £35 all in, including line rental, which is not too bad and unlimited fibre.
Some just think they can charge more and get away with it because people thik they must be really good if they can charge that much.
Then you go the other way with large providers like Talk Talk and Plusnet doing stupid prices, well for ADSL anyway, not such a done deal with Fibre.
But saying all of that, choice is getting less, how many providers have we lost in the last 5 years or even less? The way it is going on, we will have 3 or 4 large providers and maybe one or 2 smaller providers and that is it. the sad thing is the larger providers offer nothing different to each other, they seem intent in trying to get people to buy as many other products as they can.
I do not like the way the ISP market is now, in fact I have not liked it for a while now. That is why I try to stay with the smaller providers, but sometimes money or the lack of it have to play a part in my choice, certainly now when I am on sick pay.
Fibre Broadband of about 23.50Mbps
All landline calls 24/7
TV plus extra entertainment boost (all the main standard Sky channels)
Free mobile sim card
I think this is excellent value, I have been with them for many years with few problems and I am very happy. If you know who to email/phone, any problem can be sorted very quickly!
To be fair that's not all they do. They've unbundled literally thousands of exchanges.
That is true and to be honest they have unbundled exchanges which other providers stayed clear off, until TT unbundled it and then they all wanted a piece of the action.
I think Bulldog was the first ones here, just about and TT came not long after. then once TT got here, Sky and EE decided to unbundle and get in on the act. I do know of much smaller exchanges in the sticks that have been unbundled by TT and no one else.
Talking of which i never realised Zen unbundled exchanges, but according to sam knows, we have a zen unbundle, I wonder if that is because a local company that provides wireless broadband uses Zen.
For years Zen had I think 3 exchanged near their HQ (Rochdale way I think) and then they did nearly 200 more fairly recently (last year or two).
On Talk Talk, yes they've certainly gone the extra mile unbundling. As you say on some really quite small exchanges. They have 3,035 exchanges according to Sam Knows. I think their nearest competitor in terms of unbundling is Sky with 2,434.
The unbundled exchanges are in support of their new nationwide network, as I understand it.
Total speculation but I think it's to do with fibre - instead of paying BT loads to get traffic to where Zen wants it (BT Wholesale are not cheap), they just have to get it from each fibre headend to the nearest point of presence (exchange) and then onto Zen's much cheaper network.
I guess then that if you've already got a connection into an exchange, it's a relatively trivial cost to put a DSLAM into it and move any ADSL customers you might have onto that.
Similar to how Sky and TalkTalk do it, where they can simply connect in to the fibre networks at exchanges that are both fibre headends where they already do LLU, so customer traffic basically goes straight from the Openreach FTTC network and onto theirs.
I don't know how they choose the exchanges, but it seems Cornwall has Zen (Truro) yet both of the much larger cities in Devon don't.
It means that they can offer decently priced, unlimited fibre compared to their obscenely expensive ADSL
I'm not talking about unbundled exchanges, Talk Talk are rubbish I wouldn't go near them.
You said all Talk Talk do buy out small telecoms
I pointed out that's not all they do and gave an example of them rolling out a massive countrywide network of their own
Whether you think they are rubbish or wouldn't go near them is by the by.
It depends if you want all the extra, if I was going for fibre, I would prefer it to be cheaper than have stuff I do not need. this is the problem with these large providers, they spend so much time in trying to give you extras and keep putting more onto the price, so you think you are getting something extra out of it.
i have always said even when I was dial up, all I want is a internet connection, i know some people may want more, but not me. I also do admit I did try BT mobile and broadband service a few years back, but then it was a cheap way to get a contract phone at the time. £5 a month for a phone that was ok for it's day and it was on a pretty decent network.
Companies like BT, Sky and Talk Talk do not seem to understand what DO NOT CONTACT ME means.
If I do go for FTTC, and I have to go for a larger company I think it will be plusnet, even if I have my reservations about them, because they just do broadband and no other stupid add ons.
But yeah, if it works for you then great.
Just a shock they have come here, but they are still way over priced, just like andrew and Arnald or what ever they are called.
Sky have the backing to do it I suppose, they are a large group. It is a shame really that Talk Talk started off so bad, being a British company and starting off pretty small I would have like d to support them, but they messed up a lot when they first came into broadband and did not and still don't seem to care.
But i am the first to admit that when their service works it works fine, it just if you have a problem that the trouble starts. I would not go for Talk Talk myself as it do not offer what I would want compared to other services for the same price.
Being part of Car phone warehouse did not help to be honest, i know they are split now, but i bet Dunstone still got his claws in Talk Talk somewhere.
They do seemed to have shrunk the market by getting rid of the competition, but then so have BT and Sky.
Wouldn't go with Talktalk if phone and broadband was a penny a month.
Like many people in this country I hate Murdoch with a passion, so there you go.