Recommend me a good dial-up ISP

Well, it seems my house move is going to take me beyond the reach of ADSL and cable. It's a lovely rural location, but BT's broadband checker says it's out of reach and a quick go on multimap shows it's 12km from the nearest significant village, so even if they manage to improve ADSL technology it'll be some time before I can have it.

So, the hunt is on for a quality ISP that will give me unmetered dial-up internet for a flat monthly fee. I'm not remotely interested in email addys or webspace, just the 'net access. Any ideas? And is it worth considering ISDN as a halfway house to broadband? My home computer is a G3 iMac with a built-in v90 modem that I never thought I'd need again!

[ian@huth]

https://secure.ntlfreedom.com/adsl_ort/(hhe1pp5544yf4o55rzg41unx)/classic_v2.aspx

[SMHarman]

I found demon internet dialup (you could always get ISDN - which they support), email, spam trapping, news servers and basic web space all to be good.

Costs £11.75 a month.

Originally Posted by ianathuth

https://secure.ntlfreedom.com/adsl_ort/(hhe1pp5544yf4o55rzg41unx)/classic_v2.aspx

I guess I'd have to consider it, given it's a £15 flat charge, offset against phone calls so that, at the rate we use the phone, it would effectively be free! But is it any better than in the days of completely free dial up? The service was utter pants back then, connection speed was abysmal and getting kicked off the server for no reason was a common occurrence.

[jazzy]

virgin net, great service!
http://www.virgin.net/customers/inte...ml?buspart=156

Originally Posted by jazzy

virgin net, great service!
http://www.virgin.net/customers/inte...ml?buspart=156

Thanks Jazzy, that looks very attractive. Have you experienced it yourself?

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by towny

<snip>And is it worth considering ISDN as a halfway house to broadband? My home computer is a G3 iMac with a built-in v90 modem that I never thought I'd need again!

I'd have to say yes to the ISDN, but that reduces your choice of ISP. You get the benefit of dial up and a telephone line that is not in use at the same time, you can bond the two lines when you get a big mac update if there are such things.

Dial up is silent and quick compared to the beep beep beep squeal squeal of analogue, and it runs at a true 64k all the time, the compression technology in a v90 modem means the speed drops off on bigger downloads.

[iadom]

I still have a Zen dial up account as well as Ntl BB. Been with them over 8 years, top notch technical back up, speedy response to e-mails. Cannot remember the last outage. Some years ago when I had a problem with IE/OE they even sent me the files and repair patches to cure my problem.

http://www.zen.co.uk/

Why not give Net4Nowt a look towny?


Lots of choice there and they have a customer rating system as well.

Incog.

[MetaWraith]

Originally Posted by towny

It's a lovely rural location

Will you be changing your forum moniker then ?

Originally Posted by MetaWraith

Will you be changing your forum moniker then ?

Which bit? I'll actually be a lot closer to Balamory where I'm moving to... But the 'exiled in Hemel' line will have to go.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

I'd have to say yes to the ISDN, but that reduces your choice of ISP. You get the benefit of dial up and a telephone line that is not in use at the same time, you can bond the two lines when you get a big mac update if there are such things.

Dial up is silent and quick compared to the beep beep beep squeal squeal of analogue, and it runs at a true 64k all the time, the compression technology in a v90 modem means the speed drops off on bigger downloads.

I hoped ISDN would be a good compromise, but the info on the web is a little bewildering and all I could glean from it is that it is expensive. Does anyone do flat-rate ISDN access?

BT Midband was looking good until the bit at the bottom of the FAQs said 'no Macs'. Apparently attaching Macs to the BT Midband network seriously degrades the service for everyone else! Goodness only knows how.

Originally Posted by Incognitas

Why not give Net4Nowt a look towny?


Lots of choice there and they have a customer rating system as well.

Incog.

Looking at it now - loads of info there, thanks

Some of them seem to rely on this BT SurfTime product, and some companies will either do SurfTime or their own self contained package that doesn't require BT surf time. Narrowband dial up seems to have become a million times more complicated since I got Broadband! What does it all mean? What is SurfTime, and why does it exist when ISPs can offer unmetered dial-up with no call charges without using it?

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by towny

I hoped ISDN would be a good compromise, but the info on the web is a little bewildering and all I could glean from it is that it is expensive. Does anyone do flat-rate ISDN access?

BT Midband was looking good until the bit at the bottom of the FAQs said 'no Macs'. Apparently attaching Macs to the BT Midband network seriously degrades the service for everyone else! Goodness only knows how.

Flat rate
Demon do the 11.75
http://www.demon.net/products/access/standard.shtml

Plus you pay BT a £7 fee for SurfTime
http://www.bt.com/surftime/index.jsp...tml&vStore=999

List of surftime ISPs
http://www.bt.com/surftime/ChooseISP...K&obsOID=43650

Once you've registered with an ISP, make a note of the access number supplied to you starting 0844 04. You'll need to dial this number whenever you log on during the evening & weekend period to take advantage of the SurfTime discount package, otherwise you may be charged for your calls.

Or SurfTime anytime if you are going to be using the internet a lot during the day

Q: What is SurfTime Anytime?
A: SurfTime Anytime operates in exactly the same way as SurfTime Evening & Weekend, except that the call discounts apply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It costs £30.00 per month (including VAT). Like SurfTime Evening & Weekend, you will need to register with a participating ISP who will provide you with a dedicated SurfTime dial-up number starting 0844 04. The ISP will charge a further monthly subscription fee. The ISP's own Terms & Conditions of service and any online session limitations will also apply.
Find out about and choose a participating ISP.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Flat rate
Demon do the 11.75
http://www.demon.net/products/access/standard.shtml

Plus you pay BT a £7 fee for SurfTime
http://www.bt.com/surftime/index.jsp...tml&vStore=999

List of surftime ISPs
http://www.bt.com/surftime/ChooseISP...K&obsOID=43650

Once you've registered with an ISP, make a note of the access number supplied to you starting 0844 04. You'll need to dial this number whenever you log on during the evening & weekend period to take advantage of the SurfTime discount package, otherwise you may be charged for your calls.

Or SurfTime anytime if you are going to be using the internet a lot during the day

Q: What is SurfTime Anytime?
A: SurfTime Anytime operates in exactly the same way as SurfTime Evening & Weekend, except that the call discounts apply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It costs £30.00 per month (including VAT). Like SurfTime Evening & Weekend, you will need to register with a participating ISP who will provide you with a dedicated SurfTime dial-up number starting 0844 04. The ISP will charge a further monthly subscription fee. The ISP's own Terms & Conditions of service and any online session limitations will also apply.
Find out about and choose a participating ISP.

I think I understand all that. What I don't understand is why you need to pay BT anything at all - Virgin.net, for example, that Jazzy linked to, appears not to need Surftime, yet is still unlimited and unmetered.