Moving house in a week, need some ISP advice.

[Simcut]

Hi guys,

I will be moving house from my current location to the next village away, this will be happening hopefully in a week and a half's time, and I want to get the ball rolling straight away to sort things out.

My current subscriptions to NTL consist of a 2nd Phone Line, Digital TV (full package - excluding the likes of FilmFour and NASN and those weird GOD TV channels..) and also my 1mbit Broadband "Service".

The house I am moving to will already have a BT phone line (phew!) so that saves some work I guess, but I have a few questions that need answering.

What are the possibilities that I cancel my 2nd phone line service and digital tv service with NTL but downgraded my internet access from 1mbit broadband to a 56K account, as I want to keep my email account for at least a month after I change ISP broadband wise so I can respond to old emails, will NTL allow me to do this?

Also, will I be charged if I cancel my 2nd phone line and Digital TV service despite being under a certain contract time? considering I've had so many problems with my Internet "service" from them I require some compensation so...

I also need a recommendation of a good ISP to go with, I have no doubts in my mind whatsoever to go with ADSL, but who with is another question, who do you recommend?

BT?
Pipex?
Fast24?

I'd really like some clarity on this, also what sort of time length did it take for the relevant ISP to get an engineer to fit everything? I can only really wait for up to a week as I run a bit of a small business selling records on Ebay and I need to be offline for a maximum of 7 days to be honest.

What are your experiences with each of the above ADSL ISP's?

Also, do any of you have Sky Digital TV? I am planning to get the Sky Digital service, is that fault free? when I used to have Sky Digital a matter of months after it first launched I used to have horrible problems with the screen going blocky and locking up for a minute or 2 with weird green dots over it, bloody trippy I can tell ya

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Simon

[MovedGoalPosts]

Hmm, lots of questions and choices.

I would have thought you can keep your ntl email, downgrading it to the dial up service. Just ask for your account to be moved to a pay as you go setting, as opposed to the pay lump sum access. That way you should be able to get in , at least via web mail. However it should be possible to set up Outlook Express to check and download email, when using another ISPs broadband. I seem to be able to check some home email like that from my office.

As for choice of ISPs for ADSL, I don't know if capping issues might affect you. Watch out for BT, who have just put in place a capping policy. As a 1 meg user, no doubt you give it some welly at times. It might be a factor in your future enjoyment.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Simcut

and those weird GOD TV channels..

I'd go for Sky, BT and Pipex, but you have to realise that an ISP who performs well in my area might have different results for you - I've never had a problem with the Pipex product apart from a majot outage a week or two back.

[Chris W]

What about Nildram? i know a few people who have it, and have had no complaints at all, here is some info from their site. dsl 1000 is 34.99 per month, no hardware included.

MB

[Simcut]

thanks for the replies chaps, got another question, when I get an ADSL modem fitted, do they fit a router as standard? I despite routers and want to make sure I dont have one.

At the moment, Fast24 seem to be the best choice for me...

If you don't want to stay with NTL (and from your problems I would guess you don't) then I would go for Sky Digital (which I have as well as NTL, and has always been ok) and ADSL from Plusnet or Nildram.

AFAIK, with ADSL you have to have a router - but having never had it I would need someone to confirm that. Also be aware that depending on how far you are from the BT exchange, you may not get anything faster than 512k (or even adsl at all).

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by Simcut

thanks for the replies chaps, got another question, when I get an ADSL modem fitted, do they fit a router as standard? I despite routers and want to make sure I dont have one.

At the moment, Fast24 seem to be the best choice for me...

I'm assuming you mean "despise" routers. They're far and away the best choice for an ADSL connection so I'm mystified about your dislike of them. You don't have to have a router, you can always use a sh*tty USB modem, personally I'd much rather have a decent 1 or 4 port ethernet router.

[Chris W]

If you don't want to use a router, you could always install a PCI ADSL modem... like the ones here

[Simcut]

Ive had bad experiences of playing music with mates on the web who have routers, it NEVER works, thats one reason why :S

[nash]

i use freedom2surf at work, and my brother also uses their 2mbit connection at home, no complaints at all. In fact they just announced a 1mbit connection for £15 a month, capped at 1 gig for daily usage, but unmetered from 1am till 6am.

not a bad deal i would say

[Ignition]

If you really want out of NTL may I suggest:

http://www.hi-velocity.it
http://www.plus.net
http://www.bulldogdsl.com
http://www.zen.co.uk

I have experience of all bar plus.net.

Zen are the most expensive but their customer service is great and connection is stable. Plusnet customer service not quite up to Zen's standard but stable, and for £40 a month unlimited 2Mbit isn't bad. Bulldog have an occasionally dodgy service but some occasionally great deals, and Hi-Velocity are supplied by Bulldog and others, and offer a much more personal touch with good support and usually stable speed connections.

That's basically what I'd suggest to you. BTBroadband are overpriced; Pipex are good at supplying a basic pipe to the net (most of the time) but decidedly average for server stability and CS is appauling; Fast24 have bad customer service and a fair few complaints about quality of service.

Check out http://www.adslguide.org.uk for more information on ADSL ISPs it's a site dedicated to ADSL and they actually appreciate that there are DSL ISPs besides Pipex there, which is a bonus.