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[Paulscoconutass]

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband rates 'not up to speed'

Good table half way down the page that compares ISP speeds.

[Carrots Gladstone]

Originally Posted by MattJimF

iirc the sky line rental is a fiver a month, also if you don't have a phone line, pay BT to get one installed and Sky will refund you the cost

Is that true?

I've just moved into a new house, with no line, and looking into different options.

Sky Broadband is looking pretty good, and I've despised BT for about 8 years, so getting line rental from Sky at half the price is looking good, plus the added bonus of them paying for the installation of the phone line sounds amazing!

On a similar note, I looked at BT's website yesterday, and the connection charge is about £120 for a new line, which I was kind of expecting through past dealings with BT, but my wife was speaking to a couple of BT engineers that happened to be doing a bit of work on our road yesterday, and because of our location (middle of nowhere), they seemed to think it could cost up to £1000 to get a phone line (due to it being underground cabling or something), despite the fact there's a house directly across the road, because they have to go under a road or something. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this?

The BT website makes absolutely no suggestion that the connection would ever be more than the £120 odd. I'm guessing Sky won't refund us £1000, but we might get our £120 back...

We'll obviously need to give BT a call to see what they say. I'm really hoping that it isn't the £1000......

And on that note - anyone got experience of mobile broadband? I.e. the broadband where you plug a wee stick into the USB port. May have to go for this in the meantime if it's going to cost £1000 for a phone line. We get a solid vodafone signal, and I had a leaflet with my last bill about getting a decent deal on mobile broadband.

[MattJimF]

BT are offering free line installation until the 30th sept but you are tied to a 18month contract for them.
The Sky deal seems to be they will set everything up if you order sky talk then order the broadband after the line has been installed.

Has anyone considered dumping their mobile phone and just getting the cheapest broadband/landline? like the good old days? I'm considering it, connected through my v630i and o2 at the moment dropped connections

[The Kernel Loaf]

Originally Posted by paranoid

Yeah, I'm with Sky too and they are the best ISP I've had.

Side note - avoid Demon, just phoned them about our hosting at work, and they are a bunch of clueless dicks.

Really? I have Demon at home and have had no problems whatsoever. Maybe their business broadband is different though.

[Le Stu]

Another thing everyone should bear in mind is that, whatever line speed ISPs provide, they also throttle all kinds of traffic and some are more honest about it than others. I'm with plus.net who have a comprehensive timetable for downstream speeds on the various ports used. With the package I'm on I can't get more than 2mbps on any port despite my line supporting up to 6mbps according to them.

Which is okay by me as I don't have much use for super-fast internet and it's fairly cheap. This is probably typical across the cheap ISPs though, as they all pay BTW prices as their bottom line*

*unless they have their own LLU enabled kit.

[Le Stu]

Originally Posted by Carrots Gladstone

Is that true?
On a similar note, I looked at BT's website yesterday, and the connection charge is about £120 for a new line, which I was kind of expecting through past dealings with BT, but my wife was speaking to a couple of BT engineers that happened to be doing a bit of work on our road yesterday, and because of our location (middle of nowhere), they seemed to think it could cost up to £1000 to get a phone line (due to it being underground cabling or something), despite the fact there's a house directly across the road, because they have to go under a road or something. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this?

That's correct. I was contracting for Openreach a while ago and learned that when they install new duct, cable etc. the costs are entirely born by whoever makes the initial order. However, I would check to see if that really is the case in your particular situation.

[Carrots Gladstone]

Originally Posted by Le Stu

That's correct. I was contracting for Openreach a while ago and learned that when they install new duct, cable etc. the costs are entirely born by whoever makes the initial order. However, I would check to see if that really is the case in your particular situation.

That's not entirely the news I was looking for, but cheers for the info


MOBILE BROADBAND?

Does anyone have any experience of this? I.e. the one where you plug a usb stick thing into your laptop/pc without the need for a BT connection?

Originally Posted by Carrots Gladstone

That's not entirely the news I was looking for, but cheers for the info


MOBILE BROADBAND?

Does anyone have any experience of this? I.e. the one where you plug a usb stick thing into your laptop/pc without the need for a BT connection?

If you're on o2 you can pay £14 per month on top of you current mobile cost for mobile broadband with 3gb cap

or get simplicity 20 - if you dont intend to watch videos, stream music or download files
600min(unltd o2-o2), 1200text(unltd o2-o2), internet or wifi bolt-on included Tariffs - O2 pay monthly SIM only tariffs

If you have a sony-erricson or another supported phone you can use that to connect to the internet - via usb cable to your phone instead of £25 for a dongle

[Carrots Gladstone]

Originally Posted by Niederrhein Nomad

If you're on o2 you can pay £14 per month on top of you current mobile cost for mobile broadband with 3gb cap

or get simplicity 20 - if you dont intend to watch videos, stream music or download files
600min(unltd o2-o2), 1200text(unltd o2-o2), internet or wifi bolt-on included Tariffs - O2 pay monthly SIM only tariffs

If you have a sony-erricson or another supported phone you can use that to connect to the internet - via usb cable to your phone instead of £25 for a dongle

Cheers - I'm on vodafone....

I know (or have looked - can't remember off the top of my head) the tariffs etc for hooking up with vodafone.

Has anyone used the service though? Just wondering how reliable it is.