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Help Needed - UK ISPs

10:26 / 01.09.04

I need some UK ISP advice. I'm with BT Connect, but they randomly lose emails either sent from me or sent to me by my boss, who I think is with O2. As I use this ISP for business purposes, this is less than good as we lose credibility everytime we say ... "but I sent it right after I spoke with you" or something similar.

Can anyone recommend a good, reliable ISP for work purposes? I think we currently pay around £15 / £16 per month and don't need webspace or anything too fancy. Any advice is much appreciated.

PS there is only him and me in the business currently so we really don't need anything fancy ... just reliable.

10:38 / 01.09.04

BT have an atrociously bad track record as internet providers, so small wonder you're experiencing enough problems to make you want to move.

In terms of alternatives, it really depends on whether you are talking about a dialup connection or broadband. If you use the former, I'd advocate the latter, especially as the slowest broadband services available are very cheap. I have a 128kbs broadband service from NTL, which is more than fast enough, and costs me a whopping £20 a month, and the advantages over dialup more than make up for the tiny financial difference.

So, the first question is, are you looking for a dialup provider, or a broadband provider?

12:56 / 01.09.04

I don't have anything useful to add, except to join you in pouring dust and ashes on the head of BT. When we moved flats 3 months ago, they told us the only way to transfer our broadband was to cancel it at the old flat, which takes 2 weeks from the date you call them (!!), then they said we had to re-apply in the new flat, which again takes 2 weeks to activate. So we ended up waiting an entire fucking month to get it back. How can they possibly justify this?!

And the good news? We're moving again in a month ...

13:15 / 01.09.04

Thanks for the response Tez. We're using Dial Up at the moment, but I am happy to compare and contrast that with Broadband as being able to make calls whilst connected to the interweb would be good. From the bosses point of view I get whatever I can make the best case for, and also costs as little as possible.

The only other consideration is that I would like to be able to get technical help by calling someone and not having to pay 50p per minute for the privalege.

I know, I know, I'm asking for the moon. Then again you don't get if you don't ask.

15:07 / 01.09.04

Right, well, in that case I most definitely suggest broadband of some kind. It's far more stable, is always on, and - obviously - lets you use the phone at the same time.

As to choice, an excellent place to start is here, as this site will tell you which services - if any - are available to you.

I would recommend staying away from ADSL in general, and BT altogether, and going for a cable broadband service.
Although I'm by no means a poster boy for NTL, I can honestly say that installation was quick and painless and I've never had any kind of problems with them. They've just reduced their slowest service (300Kbs) to £17.99 a month, which is pretty good, and their installation is currently free I believe.
I did have their old 128kbs service, which they discontinued, and so got upgraded to the 300, which is more than fast enough for my use.

15:12 / 01.09.04

I personally would recommend not getting your mail through your ISP. Yes, they give you a free mailbox, but it's only there to tie you to the service since it's such an arse to change names.

At least if you use your ISP's mailbox, you should make sure you get a domain name, redirect mail going to that domain to your mailbox, and set your "from" address to that. In fact it's the best solution I know of whatever the situation since it lets you change mail providers at will if they fuck you off.

07:05 / 02.09.04

Yeah, we do that fridgemagnet! Thanks for the tip though, it's a good'un.

I'll have a look at the link today Tez. Thanks for the help.

Any other recommendations/dire warnings? Of the ISP kind of course.

09:20 / 02.09.04

Well, other than the obvious 'thou shalt not use BT nor connect via the evil one (AOL)', there is - IMHO - a major factor to bear in mind when using broadband, that being to use a firewall.

On cable broadband you constantly broadcast a single static IP address to the web, unlike dialup where your address changes everytime you connect. There are a great many to choose from, but I personally use ZoneLabs' Zone Alarm as my firewall. It's free, simple to use, and perfectly adequate at keeping the general crap that seems to infest the net at bay. Actualy, I found it quite an eyeopener as to the sheer (massive) volume of perfectly innocent traffic that goes on behind your back. Once you've setup a firewall, zip over to Steve Gibson's Site to check your security settings.

A good - and frequently updated - virus killer is also pretty essential, but you should have one regardless of your connection type. If you don't, I recommend Grisoft's AVG Anti Virus. Like Zone Alarm, it's free, is frequently updated by the company, and very good.

Other than that, what fridge said really, although you seem to have that pretty much in hand.

foot long subbacultcha

12:51 / 02.09.04

anyone using Bulldog? If so, how's it working out for you?

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

03:44 / 03.09.04

I used to use BT back in those halcyon days of 56kbps dial-up drudgery. Nightmare.

I sent their billing department around 5 emails, requesting my account be cancelled, all of which were summarily read, sneered at, moved to the 'ignore' folder and archived. I did this rather than phone in order to avoid their punitive speak-to-a-real-person-charges, but eventually I had to bite the bullet and call their extortionate help line:

Me: Hello, I have sent you 5 emails requesting account cancellation, but haven't received a reply yet, can you tell me what's going on?

BT: Let's see - oh, yes, we haven't replied to you because we can't cancel your account.

Me: Pardon? I thought you said you can't cancel my account and that this was why you hadn't replied to me...

BT: Yes, that's right - it says here on my screen that the account cannot be cancelled until August 3000.

Me: That's a thousand years away.

BT: That's right - it says here that the account can't be cancelled until then.

Me: Right. I see. Tell you what - you guarantee that I will continue to be in a position to pay my subscriptions and I won't cancel my account.

BT: Ha. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Me: Then can you cancel my account, please?

BT: But it says here..................

.....Ad Infinitum

This actually happened. It took me a further two weeks and countless calls to eventually cancel my account, never to return.

Personally, I'd recommend you go broadband, or mid-band - there are many ISPs out there now doing some great ADSL offers at the moment. Try checking out ADSL Guide for some pointers...

11:22 / 05.10.04

Does anyone have any experience with Telewest (Blueyonder)? We're thinking of switching to them 'cause they have a package for broadband, phone and digital tv that looks pretty cheap.

11:28 / 05.10.04

I've heard of people using Blueyonder with no problems, I think they also offer superfast speeds with no download limit..

Whale... Whale... Fish!

12:25 / 05.10.04

Me and sttab have just signed up to telewest/blueyonder but gotta wait until next week before they come and do the installation. But I think we're getting a 750kbs line and a phone line for £35 a month with two months free but the way they work their "two free months" confuses me somewhat.

13:49 / 05.10.04

They're advertising a package for £38.50, which includes 750k broadband (I haven't checked what it says about download limits), 35 channels on cable (probably all shit, but hey), and a phone line with fairly cheap calls. That's less than we pay at the moment for BT broadband (about 500k I think) and phone, so we'd be basically getting the tv channels for free. Seems like a good deal.