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Internet Service Providers

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Word.

Does anyone know of an excellent internet service provider? I've had nothing but trouble, lies and hassle from the last three I've been with.

I want an unlimited service - not unlimited 2GB a month between 6-11pm, or unlimited 20GB a month, or UNLIMITED on Wednesdays

I want UK call centres - both when I signup AND when I have a problem.

I don't want to pay to report problems with the service.

I just want a reasonable service and I don't mind paying for it.

Please help!

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Demon does unlimited access but first line support is offshore (or was a year ago when I was with them).

    I'm currently with Zen which I find to be just fine, but which does not meet your "unlimited" criteria. Can't tell you of their support as I've not needed it.

    http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php rates some companies. Many of the top rated places are not massively known.
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    JsTJsT Posts: 18,268 Skive's The Limit
    I've only ever had UK support in six years with Demon.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JsT wrote: »
    I've only ever had UK support in six years with Demon.

    Escalated support was onshore, but whenever I rang the support phone line for the first line it was offshore people.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I am with plus.net which is ACTUALLY unlimited, not this unlimited with fair usage policy bullshit, only ISP I have found that does NOT have a fair usage policy, All onshore/UK based technical support, unlimited upto 8meg broadband for £11.99 per month (first 3months) then £19.99 so not the cheapest but certainly reasonable, I had a slight problem with my router (not provided by them I might add but third party) and they fixed the settings for me so it atleast worked (when netgear said they'd take 2-3working days to get back to me) so I am absolutely in love with them at the moment.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    BT Option 3. The Home Hub is excellent for a number of reasons, reliable and great interface being the main ones. The Hub phones are also good, and you get a shiny 05xxxxxxxxx number with them :) Also, for a one off £9.99 fee you can a mobile dongle that allows 1GB/month for the duration of the 18 month contract.

    2/3 of the call centre staff are based in the UK, and it will become 5/6 in the near future.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    BT Option 3. The Home Hub is excellent for a number of reasons, reliable and great interface being the main ones. The Hub phones are also good, and you get a shiny 05xxxxxxxxx number with them :) Also, for a one off £9.99 fee you can a mobile dongle that allows 1GB/month for the duration of the 18 month contract.

    2/3 of the call centre staff are based in the UK, and it will become 5/6 in the near future.

    TBH I would deffinately avoid BT like the plague, bunch of Fat cat stuck up motherfuckers who try to fuck you over on every corner, the Homehub in terms of speed, transfer rate and features of this supposed brilliant router is way bellow sub par, the VOIP phone (when I had it) was aload of toss and the speeds with BT are crap, they are very very stringant on there fair usage policy, capping my line for downloading 40gig in one month as a one off (usually it was around 25gig), (compared to most ISP who only cap/warn about capping for downloading ALOT all the time) there customer support is shocking, even when onshore based it is way way way bellow any customer support (Being told to fuck off by a supervisor didnt help with that front for me)


    ETA - Although it is hypocritical of me saying this as Plusnet or plus.net My ISP is a subsidary of BT itself :rolleyes: at self
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We currently pay 17.97 a month to tesco and although its more expensive than say o2 etc we have NEVER had a problem with the service at all.

    ETA it is unlimited downloads
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tweety wrote: »
    We currently pay 17.97 a month to tesco and although its more expensive than say o2 etc we have NEVER had a problem with the service at all.

    ETA it is unlimited downloads

    Is that UNLIMITED with FUP or actually unlimited? the difference being if you download alot with a "fair usage policy" they cap your line speed during peak hours.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not actually sure anymore tbh sorry, we have had it years now. We have never had a problem but we dont downloads lots all the time
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Unlimited doesn't exist.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    how come?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Because it is a marketing ploy based on teletraffic engineering theories :)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You mean the FUP? haha wrong, aslong as my line is fast enough, eg constant 500-600kbs i can download AS much as I like, no fair usage policy or line capping or slowed speeds for downloading to much
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hellfire, just imagine that all our M-roads in the UK allowed unlimited traffic. The roads will get chocka fairly pronto. That's why ISPs don't allow unlimited use.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Are Virgin Media an option? Ok they also use Indian "thank you please" style support callcentres but loads of their staff offer help on www.cableforum.co.uk
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    virgin media cable at home, 4/5 as they do traffic shaping, but otherwise fantastic

    be unlimited at university, 4/5 again as they are extremely good but have had 2 small outages in 1 year (literally an afternoon or so). there is a fair use policy but we download a lot and have never triggered it.

    I've heard of or know bad things about:
    - AOL
    - BT
    - Tiscali
    - Sky

    and a few others that don't come to mind right now.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How is it NOT unlimited then? I mean I have downloaded over the previous 12months over 1800GB, that is kinda unlimited in my opinion
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hellfire wrote: »
    You mean the FUP? haha wrong, aslong as my line is fast enough, eg constant 500-600kbs i can download AS much as I like, no fair usage policy or line capping or slowed speeds for downloading to much
    Who are you with?

    Unless you are paying the REAL prices for the lines that you get, you wont be getting an unlimited service. Yes I download tons of stuff too, I'm yet to be capped or charged more, but there is a limit. Even paying for the dedicated line yourself (To your home or not) you will still be limited by its capabilities.

    Short and sweet, there's always something limiting. Therefore unlimited can't exist.

    If unlimited really did exist, don't you think Google for example would have harnessed that by now? Instead of paying flat out fees each month for dedicated lines that are constantly limiting to them, then having to upgrade them all the time, why don't they just get one unlimited line for $50 a month? It's the same old issue with unlimited webhosts, doesn't exist.

    Big difference between unlimited and unmetered. Something somewhere limits it either way. Just the meaning of the word gets the user to sign up.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I find VM to be more than adequate - I'm on their 10mb service (am thinking of taking a phone line with them as doing so brings their 50mb service down to £38) and yeah they employ traffic shaping which can be annoying but I get around it by doing any major downloading at night. I just leave my computer on when I go to bed, download whatever is needed and it's usually done by the morning. I don't see why other people who complain about shaping don't do the same.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm on VM 20Mb line, they are okay when you actually get a connection. Lately they've been on and off everyday for hours on end. Phone up the support and get told it's your fault and their networks are online.

    They are a waste of time in terms of help. Their phone packages are a steal, before I upgraded to the 20Mb line, they said you'd get the unlimited evening and weekend calls (IIRC), though my ass you did. They charged me everytime regardless of the number. So got rid of it and replaced it with a faster connection.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you can't get any help from their customer service give Cable Forum a try. OK I'm biased (I co-own the place) but loads of VM techs and CSA help out in thier spare time.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It's nothing technical I couldn't do myself, it's just when they are to blame with their DNS going offline all the time, and trying to convince me it's my fault.

    The other day they said it was my cable. I tried 3 different ones, I said the internet is going offline almost everyday at 7.30 on the dot. It's something with you guys, or the router is broken. Come and fix them. "It must be your cable" - Blah.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you're here just to promote your products, the posts will be removed by a moderator when spotted...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks for everyone's replies.

    It does seem that to get anywhere near an truly unlimited service I might have to go with a smaller company. I'm not sure if Virgin is an option in the new house, but I'll have a look. Is there customer service as bad as when they were NTL?
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