|
Sorry for the necrobump, didn't want to start a new thread. I've been with BT for a few years, using their Homehub 3 (the one that comes with a modem too, not the all-in-ones they have these days). The wi-fi in my home has been pretty crap lately. I bought Google Wi-fi, disconnected the home hub and attached it directly to the modem. The speed difference is absolutely nuts. I was getting about 30 down via the home hub but it's 73 down with Google wi-fi. Same internet connection, no other changes. Just goes to show how crap BT's own equipment is. Google Wi-fi is pretty expensive, but well worth it. Only downside is that it has two ethernet ports. One is connected directly to the modem and the other one is free. I've got the second one directly connected to Sky Q at the moment, but I'm going to need the port so I can hook up my powerline adaptor to it. The only issue is my powerline adaptor has just the one ethernet port on it, so I'm gonna pick up a TP Link one which has two, so I can hook Sky Q over ethernet to it, want to avoid a wireless connection to the box. |
Best ISP atm? • Page 15
-
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago -
Frogofdoom 17,973 posts
Seen 57 minutes ago
Registered 9 years agoJust get a cheap switch and you will have more ethernet ports than you will ever need. -
Phattso 27,426 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 17 years agoMoving to a new place soon and my options are 3Mb internet with my current provider, or 70Mb with BT. The established wisdom says avoid BT like the plague... how fucked am I going to be with them? -
nudistpete 1,273 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 4 years agoFrogofdoom wrote:
This. Amazon have 5-8 port gigabit switches for £10-15. Put it near your entertainment setup and move your consoles, set top boxes etc. & other devices to hard wired save them from wasting the limited wireless bandwidth.
Just get a cheap switch and you will have more ethernet ports than you will ever need. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@nudistpete Thanks guys. I may consider this. Just means something else to plug into a socket though, as I’ll need my Ethernet powerline adaptor connected to the gigabit Switch, which also needs to be plugged into a power outlet also. I’ve got nearly 10 things plugged in next to the telly. With just the powerline adaptor (which has two Ethernet ports) I can connect Sky Q to it as well as deliver internet over the power line, so I can access it elsewhere. The gigabit Switch makes sense though. And cheapest, cos then I can keep my current powerline adaptor without shelling out £50 for a set with two ports. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@Phattso I’ve has BT for a few years and it hasn’t been too bad, bar the slower speeds with their equipment, which I’ve had lately. I know what I’d choose given the option of 3mb vs. 70mb. -
Phattso 27,426 posts
Seen 2 hours ago
Registered 17 years ago@BurnoutJunkie well yeah, I'm clearly going to choose the 70Mb option. But my question was "how fucked am I going to be?" .gif)
I guess like many of these things, it's OK until something goes wrong. Fingers crossed then! -
@Phattso been with them a couple of years and i get the advertised speed. When i get issues, they now have uk call centres again until 10pm and I've found them good.
Had a handful of brief outages, but nothing major. -
challenge_hanukkah 14,394 posts
Seen 5 hours ago
Registered 8 years agofuck_off_ecosse wrote:
I endorse this username.
@Phattso been with them a couple of years and i get the advertised speed. When i get issues, they now have uk call centres again until 10pm and I've found them good.
Had a handful of brief outages, but nothing major. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@Phattso Good luck. It’s all fine and dandy until it messes up on you, which you can have issues with any provider.
Just had an e-mail recently from BT, they’re raising prices for the second time this year - the cheek Looks like it’s time to finally switch to Virgin for a year or so and then come back as a ‘new’ customer to BT for a better deal, haha.
Any Virgin users here? How’s the service? We don’t do much, if any online gaming in our household. Just browsing, streaming Netflix and YouTube. Lots of devices. Looking at the 200Mb or 350MB connection. -
nudistpete 1,273 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 4 years agoBurnoutJunkie wrote:
Virgin user for a decade here. They're pretty good. Downtime is extremely rare, speed is generally good (can max out my 200mbps connection with a decent computer and Usenet), hd streaming works perfectly. The only downsides are that their kit is junk, the recent superhub is stupidly restrictive - you need to use snmp calls to do basic things like change your subnet address, and after any introductory offers their prices are very expensive and since being taken over by liberty global they hike their prices every 6 months.
Any Virgin users here? How’s the service? We don’t do much, if any online gaming in our household. Just browsing, streaming Netflix and YouTube. Lots of devices. Looking at the 200Mb or 350MB connection. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@nudistpete Thanks. I plan to be a bit more savvy and switch providers more often these days. Virgin is offering me 350mb speeds for £52 a month with phone line. 12 months fixed price contract. I can then switch back to BT as a new customer after that, or another provider. Loyalty doesn’t pay.
I don’t even know what snmp calls even are, I’m afraid. I’d like to avoid using their equipment though...guess I can just buy my own modem and hook it up to my Google wi-fi? I wonder if my Bt modem will work. These hubs the ISPs provide are usually rather big too, unnecessary if you ask me.
Anyone have any recommendations for a decent third party modem? Ideally novice friendly, but I’m happy to fiddle about with settings where need be.
Thanks. -
nudistpete 1,273 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 4 years agoVirgin is delivered over their own cable network, so you need to use their kit - you can put it into "modem mode" and connect a standard cable router if you wish.
Being on cable means you need to be careful when switching back to an adsl/vdsl supplier that uses the Openreach network, as you may need to pay to get your old bt line activated and you'll need to ensure your line gets activated before your virgin contact terminates, unless you don't mind missing an internet connection for a few days. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@nudistpete Aha, thanks - I didn't know about this re-activation charge. Good to know. Hopefully when joining as a new customer, they can skip the fee or give me a discount.
Re. having to use their equipment - it's a shame, but good to know I can just use it as a modem and connect my own router to it. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@nudistpete just been reading up a bit more on Virgin. Despite saying they don’t do traffic management, it seems they still do under the guise of ‘overutilisation’ areas...and these problems can last 6 months plus. Reading horror stories of people on 200mb connections getting 0-4mb after 4pm. Virgin gets around it by saying they’re scheduling repairs etc. but these visits can take months before they happen. Seems to happen in areas with lots of customers.
Wondering if it’s better that I pay a bit more and stick with BT. In any case I’m gonna call them to request a disconnection to see if they’ll offer me a discount. -
Decks 31,013 posts
Seen 6 hours ago
Registered 6 years agoThere's horror stories with every single provider if you go looking. I've had 300Mbps Virgin for a few years now and not had a problem. A lot of this shit is just luck of the draw where you live. All the providers are much of a muchness.
Phattso if you're going with BT maybe look into BT plus. It's a new thing where they send you a 4G router with uncapped data next day delivery if anything goes wrong with your broadband. Don't think it costs much more than the standard packages. -
nudistpete 1,273 posts
Seen 18 hours ago
Registered 4 years agoAs per Decks, I've been lucky and had good service for the past decade. I do think it helps that I don't live in an area with lots of students, though. Definitely canvass your friends and neighbours and get their opinion if they use the service. -
neilka 24,021 posts
Seen 12 minutes ago
Registered 16 years agoOn the BT Plus product page I discovered that Jeffrey and Chris signed up for lucrative modelling contracts after leaving EG.
-
Virgin have a 14 day cooling off period during which you can cancel for any reason, worth getting it installed and seeing what happens to your speeds after 6pm. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years agoThanks guys. I’ll check in locally with friends and neighbours to see how they’re getting on with it. -
fiery_jackass 1,214 posts
Seen 3 hours ago
Registered 16 years ago@BurnoutJunkie
I've been with virgin for a long time, they've been fine although their cold calls and normal call centre operatives are infuriating to deal with. Best to go through to retentions, I find. I've recently bumped the service up to 350, actual speeds seem to hover around 380Mbps.
the issue with the 350Mb service is the shithouse equipment that you need to use (Superhub 3). I've got mine in modem mode, routed into an Orbi. Works pretty well but the Superhub is prone to dropping connections, maddening when playing Dark Souls etc. they're finally rolling out a firmware fix and mine seems to have stopped doing it recently so... fingers crossed. Still a crap device though -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@fiery_jackass Thanks. If I do join, I plan to use their equipment in modem mode and just hook it up to Google Wi-Fi anyway. Just worried about being throttled after 4pm even though they say they don't do it. Just weighing up paying a bit more and sticking to BT vs. paying less and moving to something I've not used before. I want to stick it to BT though, seeing as they've had the nerve to raise prices twice this year and are trying to get me to sign up to their Fibre Plus service...which is an increase on my current price but promising that my broadband price will be fixed for 18 months with no rises (but line rental and BT Sport can go up - the cheek). -
@BurnoutJunkie you don't get throttled, they just run out of speed. In most areas you'll be fine and it won't be an issue. We live in a densely populated part of Leeds that has loads of students so we were originally hit by it very hard (200mbps in the morning, 2 in the evening). It's a lot better now (currently 200 in the morning, 100 in the evening), they're making improvements and they did give us money back in the really bad times. It should be apparent pretty quickly if you're in a bad area once you're connected, but definitely have a chat with neighbours and you should find out before you get connected. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@monkehhh Checked in with a few of the neighbours and it seems to be alright. There has been slowdown but nothing like the 2MB you've mentioned.
Re. the physical connection to the house - we have an old NTL cable box on the outside which I assume will need to get replaced. Are the phone and broadband connection outlet one and the same? I'm wondering if I can get my broadband connection to come to the front room and phone to come to the middle of the house as it's set up now (multiple BT sockets). -
chopsen 21,958 posts
Seen 6 minutes ago
Registered 16 years agoNTL were what Virgin bought out to get a cable network (after they merged with telewest or cable and wireless or something). You'd probably just need a modem (or cable modem router combo) to connect to the fibre and you're good to go, no…?
So BT have got propper call centres no that do support? Are they any good? The issue with every ISP ever is not really stuff going wrong. It's getting hold of the person you need that can actually fix it. -
@chopsen yes, BT have gone back to UK based call centres up to 10pm (after that is back to overseas). During normal hours though, they're pretty fast to answer the call (I think about five minutes has been the max of that) and they're not just reading scripts. They seem to actually know a little about what to do (line tests, modern tests, getting you to do tests etc). I've been surprised by them to be honest. I can remember the horror days of hours on a phone with someone I could hardly understand who kept asking me to turn my router on and off. -
BurnoutJunkie 1,222 posts
Seen 3 days ago
Registered 16 years ago@chopsen No idea, I'll give Virgin a call tomorrow to find out. RE BT call centres - think they're all abroad except for retention / some customer service in the UK/Ireland. -
BT broadband support is UK based during the day time up to 10pm. -
That is a piping hot username.
.gif)
I guess like many of these things, it's OK until something goes wrong. Fingers crossed then! 
Sometimes posts may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.
