h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My dad has finally become fed up with BT(/yahoo) brackets because they weren't one when we joined.

Anyway fed up with it, so are needing a new ADSL provider 512kps or above, no capping limits. Allowing offically your own network behind it, so that me and my dad can both use it.

anyuseful suggestions?

Pipex

http://www.solo.pipex.net/xtreme-solutions/

Fast, reliable and free user support without having to decipher a foreign accent.

And when you sign up, tell them I sent you: arce13

Donald

hehe, i already know about pipex, thats what my mate users, but interested in all the possiblites and its easier to ask than trying to search through stuff

is there some sort of benifit for referers then?

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

Has comparisons and stuff.

Oh and for bog standard 512down/256up e7even.com seems to be the cheapest, but check to see if there's a catch.

We use Plus NEt - no problems so far - they've recently dropped the price of their 1mb connection - they have a "Lite" service with a bandwidth limit - but you don't get cut off if you exceed it, just charged more next month - we're still on an older uncapped service, but never used more than 2GB a month so I am thinking of swapping to a capped, but faster service.

Support is good, with a good user/staff community forum psite.

If you were to go to them, then it may save me a few pennies if you say I (chawke1) referred you

But read the adsl guide page linked to above.

CHawke.

Oh - one thing that I like about Plus NEt is that they give you unlimit REAL email addresses - not pseudo addresses but real POP boxes - if you host your domain with them (£1 a month) then these are linked to your domain - so I have unlimited @chawke.co.uk addresses - very useful for online use, as it enables me to switch of an address when it starts getting Spammed.

CHawke

Bugger, I was gonna recommend PlusNet....
BCNU - Crescent

I did a comparison thingy recently, and pipex was recommended as the best one. I'd never heard of them though, so I didn't want to sign up. Maybe I'll re-think...

I think what ever happens we may have to buy a business package, cos though i use the net 90% of the time and my dad usese it for everything, the emails are used for business purposes and the non buisenss accoutns they tend not to like that.

Just now supposedly we have been switched to the BT account where they say u are allowed more than 1 computer on that conection from a router, however I think they have done things that my dad told them not to, with the threat of do what i want or cancel, and since they did nieter, i think its gonna get canceled.

Pipex are one of the oldest ISPs in the UK. They were providing dial-up Internet Services before most people in the UK had ever even heard of the Internet.

You will never have heard of them because they don't advertise, they have no need to. You won't get Pipex CDs dropping through your letter box or cluttering up your magazines. The main reason they don't need to advertise is that they have a very low turnover of customers.

You won't get many Pipex customers saying I'm fed up with Pipex, I want another ISP.

Up until recently Pipex was a family run firm but were bought out by GX Communications for $55 million in cash - not share options - cash on the nail. GX Communications retained the name of Pipex and formed Pipex Communications who in turn bought Nildram, another well known ISP.

http://www.pipex.net/investors/inthenews/

Donald

Whatever ditch BT - their "We only support PCs connected together via our router line - and then only x number" is just silly.

At work we have our router into a server and 7 PCs hanging off it.

Getting in touch with BT is a nightmare and not customer focused at all. There are plenty out there that are different - as I said, from my experiance PlusNet are one of them.

They don't care what PCs you attached at your end, have help for all main operating systems, a large forum area with loads of help and advice - which is read by staff - who reply!

I am sure there are other ISPs out there who spend their money on support rather than advertizing - relying more on word of mouth - I am more than happy with +net - for £20 a month I have unlimited broadband and my own domain name (that includes renewal fees) - but as I said before, my package ain't available anymore.

So in summary - don't be bullied by BT, don't think yo *have* to have a business account (although if your dad claims it as an expense it may have to be - don't know on that) and don't go with any ISP that insists you use their equipment.

CHawke

>> "We only support PCs connected together via our router line - and then only x number" is just silly. <<

Not quite as silly as it sounds. Most ISPs will only support routers that they provide. There are hundreds of different brands and models of routers on the market. To expect an ISP to be familiar with the intricacies of setting up and configuring all of them is not realistic.

All ISPs will support you up to the wall socket. If you install your own hardware it is unreasonable to expect the ISP to support it.

Once you have a router installed and using a dynamic IP address via DHCP, the ISP cannot tell how many PC you have hanging of the other end. The best they can do is that you are using more than one PC and that you are using a router as apposed to a single PC modem.

Donald

Not what I meant - BT stated when I got my work setup that the only way to have more than one PC on a connection is via their router - they make no effort to tell the user that other alternatives are available and to actually imply that if you dare try and do anything else they will a) know and b) stop your service.

They will know if you are using a router, but to terminate your service because you are not using theirs I find hard to believe. There is no reason for them to do so, they don't even insist that you use a BT supplied telephone anymore. It can't be for technical reasons because all ADSL users in the UK are connected to BT network equipment, regardless of who the ISP is - with the exception of some exchanges in the South of England where Local Loop Unbundling is in effect

Although they can tell you are using a router, they cannot tell what make or model it is.

What they probably said is that they will nor support a user provided router, which doesn't mean you cannot use one.

Donald

NO what they said was the only way to use more than one PC via their system was to all PCs to connect to a router - they offered no help or suggestions on connecting the router to a switch or to a server - both configurations were "not supported"

As I said I found BT very reluctant to help a small business in the optimal setup or to provide any flexibility.

None of which is helping here the fact is my reconmendation still is for home use to avoid thebig players. Here's a test - find the help line number or email address and try it out - see how long you take to speak to a person.

CHawke

I would back up C Hawke here. When we first tried ADSL it was with BT and it was 9 months of nightmare. Each time you phoned it was some one different, telling you different information, different reasons why it was not working and different things on how to sort it.

We had to chase them up, keep giving them hassle to sort it out. After getting tired of people lying to us, eventually we lucked out and got an actual engineer to talk to us. It was eventually sorted, but by then I was severely pissed off at BT, and would not touch them with a bargepole for IT stuff. PlusNet - easy to setup, friendly and informed helpdesk. BT - a big NO for IT stuff, but they seem to be able to handle the telephoney side OK. Until later...
BCNU - Crescent

One good point on BT the chap who initially installed our setup and came with a new router the other week was very good - another Triumph biker

The whole issue was that the account with bt that we just switced from was only allowing a single pc not a network within its terms and conditions.

my dad went and got their router, but because he is getting it for free. We could have set up a router before of anytype but the conditions said a single pc.

I dispise the instructions given by bt, they demand that to install the router u must connect it then use their CD on every PC to set it up to use the router.

B*ll*cks, once you set it up, if the computer has its network ok then jsut plug it in and the router conencts .

They give no help in their instructions on setting up the router without a CD, which on moy computer for somereson didn't work(but i wasn't bothere before i was just playing didn't get activated till this morning) the cd is just full of M$ stuff that they try to force on ur pc so I just didn't use the cd at all after having had a look at it, never wanted it to begin with.


after seraching through the manual I fund a bit saying that it uses PPPoA for loging in which was all i needed to find to set up the router manually, but they don't jsut tell you that. I had a choice between PPPoE and PPPoE.

it works so im not that bothered, but i think changing would be a good idea but thats up to my dad.

supposedly we are only allowed under are option up to 4 computers, the only limiting factor on that as they can't tell is that the router only has 4 ports. oh and in the manual it explains how to set it up with more.

Though i really don't see bt actully cutting you off as they will lose your custom and go to a compettitor, though alot of people will likely do this anyway.

woo once we either get the network cable thorugh the house or buy a wireless adapter for my dads laptop, i won't have to disconnect again!

This is the service I use, which I have found very good, with a good helpline (free 24 hour support) and helped me set up my eMac,which most ISP's couldn't help with. All done in 20 minutes.....

http://www.waitrose.com/web_access/comparepackages.asp

or http://www.waitrose.com and go to broadband.

hope it helps.