ADSL Broadband

[Chris L]

Hi, currently I'm a Virgin Media cable customer (Phone/TV/XL Broadband). My area is oversubscribed and apparently my UBR is due to be upgraded mid-May (subject to change, which it will). I spend a lot of time on online games such as CSS, which is heavily affected with bad pings/packet loss, my area has been oversubscribed since Oct/Nov '07. In the evenings/during weekends this makes CSS unplayable.. my plan is to ring VM up and firstly cancel the phone line. Then I would either downgrade the broadband package to L or keep the XL package, this will then be used for the family. This will allow me to get a BT phone line installed just for my usage (£125, plus £10.50 rental p/m, does anyone know how long it is to get it installed after the order?).

Now, this will open up a lot of options, as my exchange supports quite a few ISP's (http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/MRWHI), however I am approx. 2KM straight line distance from my exchange (this could mean more/less actual line distance).

Now I do like my games so ping/latency times is key factor, I'm not too fussed about download speed, but a good upload is required - I've noticed most ADSL (non-LLU) providers have 448k upload, this is 'downgrading' (from 768k) in a way and I feel upload is important. Limits are a no-no, however if there are limits and my ping/latency times would benefit better with the certain ISP, then maybe, yes. I'm moving away from oversubscription so I would ideally not want to meet it again, maybe a large named ISP is a bad decision and I should go with a smaller company? Also, I'd like a short-term contract 3-months maximum, preferrably 1-month (trial and error). So, the options I have looked into:

Be* Broadband - http://www.bethere.co.uk (Be pro or Be unlimited package)
The uploads on these packages are super, again not sure on download due to distance from exchange but the prices are cheap. Also Be* support interleaving/FastPath and these can be configured to benefit ping/latency times more. 3-month minimum contract.

O2 Broadband - http://broadband.o2.co.uk/
Not sure what package, but once I have the BT phone line fitted, they could tell me what speeds I'd get. I'm also curious as to whether they offer the same interleaving/FastPath support seen as though they do own Be*. Not sure about the minimum contract?

Aquiss - http://www.aquiss.net/broadband-gaming.php
This looks like a great ISP, with support who do actually have a clue about gaming, however the upload is 448k (major difference from 768k?). If I went with Aquiss I'd choose the Gaming 60 package. The Gaming packages are all tweaked, interleaving/FastPath etc, and they also use an Anti-Loss Tool (read up). Not exactly sure if they are available in my area, again a case of getting the BT phone line fitted first. 1-month minimum contract.

Other providers I've heard are good are ADSL24, UKOnline and UKFSN (hate their website) but some of these have caps, which puts me off.

What do you guys recommend I go with first? Any advice?

[Mick Fisher]

Be are a very good Company to deal with. The free support seem well informed and do go out of their way to help. They send text and email to warn you to have sufficient funds when your DD is imminent. They send text and email to warn you of scheduled outages. They even sent me an electronic greeting card on my birthday.

Of course all this counts for nothing, if you have, like me, a rubbish phone line (thanks BT) then you will get a correspondingly poor speed with frequent disco's which is, unfortunately beyond Be's control.

Well worth consideration IMO and if you find the service unacceptably poor you can get out after giving 3 months notice. Not as good as a month but infinitely better than being locked into a 12 month stint a la VM.

[dragon]

Few things I'd like to say.

1) 448kps upload should be ok for gaming depending on the game, i've had 3 Xbox360's connected to a 8128down 448up DSL line all playing halo3 on xbl at the same time. Of course if your hosting a server for a big match then yes you will need more. It's the latency that's more important than the amount of bandwidth.

2a) If you don't mind an 18month contract commitment you can get your BT line installed for £30. http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/17525...tallation-off/

2b) If you'd rather not have the tie in Madasafish will do it for the standard Fee ut their contract is only 1 month long. http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/17688...ation-with-no/ (I think they are part of Brightview who I believe are now owned by BT)

3)
Be* do indeed allow fastpath, infact they are very flexible when it comes to Tweaking things their end to improve the connection, Happily Switched my Dslam profile to 3db fast path as I wanted to test if i could hold a stable sync with such a low SNRM, officially the only supported router is their bebox (Currently a speedtouch 585) Although they don't seem to mind if you use a different router but you need to keep theirs handy for any diagnostics.

I was on 3db but then I had some instability so put it back to 6 but I think it was due to a problem with a filter which I believe i've fixed, had it put back on 3 when I was trying one of my spare routers yesterday to see what kind of speeds I could get with it, Found the bebox to hold a faster more stable sync though, (Using bebox bridged to a wrt54gl)

	Link Information
			
Uptime:	0 days, 20:06:38
Modulation:	G.992.5 Annex M US 56
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:	2,563 / 24,263
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]:	25.90 / 224.01
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:	13.0 / 18.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:	5.5 / 14.5
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:	3.5 / 3.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote):	TMMB / µ
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):	0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):	0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):	938 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):	0 / 0
CRC Errors (Up/Down):	393 / 1,933
HEC Errors (Up/Down):	1,262 / 1,663

Mind you I do live very close to the exchange


I think O2 are somewhat less flexible particularly if you want to use a different router to the one supplied.

4)
Sometimes I wander if an ISP with a fixed usage limit is actually a better business model as it probably discourages the lechers from joining, also if your keeping your VM connection could always use that for downloading.

Zen seem to have a good reputation, but are rather expensive compared to some of the others, I suggest you pay a visit thinkbroadband.com it's usually a good place to gain info on ISP's

5) Don't forget to check Quidco.co.uk as several companies are offering cashback via them, mights as well try and save yourself some money.