Time for a change of ISP?

[MikeyB]

Evening,

Looking at my current VM bill it's time to look around at alternatives for BB & Phone so after some adivce.

Currently have BB 10Mb M, and Talk Unlimited on the phone:
Line Rental 12 April - 11 May £12.99
Talk Unlimited 12 April - 11 May £8.00
Phone & BB Bundle Saving 12 April - 11 May -£8.00
Broadband Size: M 12 April - 11 May £21.50
Total £34.49

That's a lot just for phone & BB.
A quick look shows that BE do similar for £31 per month for Value BB & Anytime phone, and that also includes calls to 0845 & 0870 numbers.

Does anyone on here have any experience of ADSL in Swindon, particularly from the Stratton St Margaret Exchange http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSSSM

Samknows says:

• BT Wholesale ADSL
• BT Wholesale ADSL Max
• AOL LLU
• O2 / Be LLU
• TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
• Sky Broadband / Easynet LLU
• Orange LLU (Formerly Wanadoo)
• Virgin Media (Cable)

up to 2Mbps via ADSL
7.5Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max
17Mbps or greater via ADSL2+

You are approximately 583 metres from the exchange. Note that this is the straight line distance - the actual cable length will be longer!

I don't have a BT line at the moment, there is physically a BT line to the house, but I switched phone to what was then Comtel about 12 years ago.
So would also have to find out how much reconnection would be.

But mainly after some ideas from anyone how good the ADSL LLU is around here.

Thanks
Mike

[Welshchris]

can u ask neighbours if they have ADSL and how good theirs is?

[Ignitionnet]

Do you have a dial tone on the BT line?

[NO ONE]

I dot about wher you Live But if Get Sky tv Get Sky BB/phone you wot go far wrong if not then get Bt

[Ignitionnet]

Wouldn't bother with BT, if you have Sky TV then Sky Broadband is a no brainer, however even TalkTalk would outperform your 10Mb VM service.

If cost is the main consideration http://sales.talktalk.co.uk/product/broadband/plus might well hit the spot - assuming the BT landline has a dial tone.

[MikeyB]

Originally Posted by Welshchris

can u ask neighbours if they have ADSL and how good theirs is?

Oh, so obvious really didn't think to that!

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Do you have a dial tone on the BT line?

Just plugged the phone into the BT socket and it's completely silent, guess that means it'll be more expensive to get the BT line back.

Originally Posted by NO ONE

I dot about wher you Live But if Get Sky tv Get Sky BB/phone you wot go far wrong if not then get Bt

I won't be getting Sky TV, one thing I can't afford is any pay TV of any sort.

---------- Post added at 11:26 ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 ----------

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

Wouldn't bother with BT, if you have Sky TV then Sky Broadband is a no brainer, however even TalkTalk would outperform your 10Mb VM service.

If cost is the main consideration http://sales.talktalk.co.uk/product/broadband/plus might well hit the spot - assuming the BT landline has a dial tone.

Yes cost is the main reason here so willing to go with any ISP.
The current 10Mb is more than fast enough and not a heavy downloader at all.

---------- Post added at 11:40 ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 ----------

Logically the first thing I have to do us speak to BT and see how much it is to reconnect.

[MikeyB]

After a few phone calls have gone with Talk Talk.

BT wanted £130 to reconnect the line, started to think I may have to stick with VM.

Then saw the page on Talk Talk website about new phone lines so gave them a call.
They will do the line for £79.99, and have gone for the essential pack upgraded to anytime minutes which will be £24.09 per month.

Just waiting for the letter to confirm install date then will phone VM.

[Mick Fisher]

Hope it works for you.

My Daughter uses Talk Talk for cheaper calls and is happy with the service.

However I have yet to hear a good word about their Stalk Stalk Broadband service.

[MikeyB]

Well the install went fine yesterday, and so far so good with the broadband.


Very early days yet, but a good start I think.
Ping looks high but have to say websites loading up just fine.

VM did rigng up, offered me 3 months then 6 months half price BB which would have been 35p cheper than Talk Talk, but of course would have gone back up after.

[craigj2k12]

oh dear

just wait for the dropouts,, they usually occur at about 4pm, then become high in frequency until about 8.30pm when they slow down again, their contention ratios must be about 100:1

[MikeyB]

Why start your reply with "oh dear"???

My wife has been using it all afternoon till about 5pm, and also since 7pm, and I've been on since 10pm and nothing no drop outs so far.
You can see the speedtest above says 8.59pm but it's an hour out! Just done another and it says 10.49pm when it's really 11.49

Again high ping but I'm not seeing any affect of that, all sites I've been on are zippy.

Just been on YouTube and videos start after only a couple of seconds of buffering whereas on VM had to wait at least 10 seconds before any started to play, particularly after watching a few videos in a row.
Also can now watch HD videos on YouTube, just watched a 5min HD video, this would not have been possible on my VM 10Mb M connecion. HD videos would start ok, but then would keep stopping & buffering soon after the start, sya 30 seconds or so, again after a wait for the initial buffer.

[craigj2k12]

you must have really high SNR if your not dropping out during peak time, and a high level of interleaving to have a ping like that, they both suggest to me that talktalk are crap. if your just browsing then no problem, but if you try gaming etc, you will have problems with a ping like that