# Best ISP in the UK?



## joe501 (Dec 16, 2004)

I am looking for a ISP that has unlimited bandwith and is fairly cheap. The fastest I can do is 512kbps because of my location. The best I have found so far is tiscali broadband, £16 a month free modem free setup. Has anyone had any experience with tiscali and if so how does it compare. I have wanadoo at the moment but it is only 2GB a month and I want to play my DS online so I need unlimited..

thanks
Joe


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## GCDude (Apr 1, 2005)

check out www.adslguide.org, they compare most ISP's in the UK. Very good site to check when considering new ISP.


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## foxfire (Jan 14, 2003)

joe501 said:


> I am looking for a ISP that has unlimited bandwith and is fairly cheap. The fastest I can do is 512kbps because of my location. The best I have found so far is tiscali broadband, £16 a month free modem free setup. Has anyone had any experience with tiscali and if so how does it compare. I have wanadoo at the moment but it is only 2GB a month and I want to play my DS online so I need unlimited..
> 
> thanks
> Joe


I used Tiscali for a year.....never again.

Big is not better.

Foxfire


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## joe501 (Dec 16, 2004)

foxfire said:


> I used Tiscali for a year.....never again.
> 
> Big is not better.
> 
> Foxfire


reasons?


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Hiya

I'm using Blueyonder broadband, the 4MB connection. No problems yet, I like it 

Excellent for my gaming. Talking of which, off I go to play Battlefield 2 

Regards

eddie


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

Eat your heart out. I was on NTL Freedom and now get 1 meg unlimited and all the calls I want for £24:99


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## Raziel_Storm (Nov 17, 2003)

DaveBurnett said:


> Eat your heart out. I was on NTL Freedom and now get 1 meg unlimited and all the calls I want for £24:99


 :up:


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## GCDude (Apr 1, 2005)

im on bulldog 8mb thing for £30 a month (but u need your phone thru them as well £10 a month - but u get initial discounts). Ive no complaints. But they are crap for customer service IF things go wrong (nothing bad to complain about here - but check the adslguide that i mentioned to see what people think)


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## Fizban (Oct 20, 2005)

I'm with Blueyonder and I've never had any complaints. I can't say how good their customer service is because i've never needed it.


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## jackdw (Jul 1, 2005)

I have Tiscali Broadband. £17.99/mo. 2.3 mbps, unlimited download. Except for it disconnecting randomly every few hours, which I suspect my home's phone network to be at fault I've had one problem with them. A few days ago, it refused my password to log on and connect. I rang up customer services and after a 5 minutre wait, got told by an indian woman that it's a problem with BT and it should be fixed within 24 hours. I went on flight simulator until about 8:30. It connected again no problems since. That was 2 and a half hours Tiscali wasn't there for me.
Also the modem came 3 days after I rang up and ordered it.
Very good, I recommend tiscali


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## foxfire (Jan 14, 2003)

joe501 said:


> reasons?


Reasons Joe, I was on Dialup (No adsl available)

Repetitive disconnections-failure to get back online.

Customer Service -virtually non existant.

Accountancy- unreliable.

I was new to the Internet & suffered for months & had trouble extricating myself from their clutches. I discovered that they were being heavily criticised
in the ISP review forums & was very relieved to go.

I do not believe that Leopards can change their spots.

In the UK, many ISPs utilise BT networks & however good they may be themselves, they are subject to that behemoth which is not renowned for
responding quickly to faults. It is my opinion that is where much criticism & faults lie.

My ISP is small & beautiful but I cannot currently recommend them as they 
are undergoing embryonic upgrades to higher speeds...with problems 

For what its worth "Which?" currently recommends Metronet as their Best Buy

Foxfire


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## telecom69 (Oct 12, 2001)

eddie5659 said:


> Hiya
> 
> I'm using Blueyonder broadband, the 4MB connection. No problems yet, I like it
> 
> ...


I too use the same as Eddie no complaints about it at all ...as regards customer service,my set top box went faulty a few months back,and they gave me a next day appointment for an engineer to visit,which I was pleased about,no sooner had I put the phone down,they were calling me back to ask if the engineer could come now  he came,the box was swopped and he went all in under an hour from reporting complaint ....beat that then


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Mine is now a 10MB connection, gaming is great 

Now that Branson has taken over Blueyonder, their customer service is still okay, apart from the fact that we have to pay 25p a min to talk to them. 

I love it when you ring for help, and they suggest looking at their website for support. Well, if I had the internet to look at the site, I wouldn't be ringing for help 

However, we in Yorkshire were without internet for a week, and I was not happy. After several phone calls, of which I started to get very agitated, they actually refunded me 2 weeks back, for the inconviennce.

Not a bad bunch really


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## dan44762000 (Jul 26, 2004)

using ntl woops (virgin media) and have been for last two years now and had no problems whatsoever..


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## joe2cool (Feb 7, 2002)

Plusnet http://www.plus.net/?home=hometop


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## Blackmirror (Dec 5, 2006)

Dont go anywhere near Orange
you have been warned


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## computertechie (Jul 10, 2007)

I'm using Tiscali. I was drawn to them because of the good offer of an 8Mb connection.

However, in the evenings and at weekends you are lucky to get anywhere near 1Mb!!!!! I've run the speed tests many times, and at many different times of day. Believe me, it is slow. You get around 375Kb and it's almost like the days of dial-up modems when you're sitting there waiting for a dozen emails to come in.

During the daytime (Monday - Friday, 9-5), you get around 6Mb, but then there's only a few days a year when I'm at home at that time!

Things such as file-sharing are blocked in the evening from around 5pm to 1am (not that I use file-sharing), but also legitimate http downloads from web sites are limited to just 2 downloads at the same time, which is a pain.

And tech support is in India (surprise, surprise).

Had I known about any of the above I would never have signed up with them. I'm advising you not to make the same mistake.

My contract runs out next month and I will move away from them. I'm avoiding all of the big players in the market, they're all as bad as each other.

There are many small ISP's out there who provide a better service with no restrictions and have UK-based tech support, just look for reviews on the various ADSL web sites. And if it means paying an extra £5 a month, then I'll pay an extra £5 a month. We should all know by now that you get what you pay for.


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## ACA529 (Nov 16, 2005)

I hear that it is hard to find a *good* broadband ISP in the UK.


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## computertechie (Jul 10, 2007)

I've read some good reviews on some of the small, but much lesser known ISP's.

Companies such as Tiscali, BT, Orange, Pipex, etc are big enough to be able to advertise in the national media, which is why people sign up to them, only to be dissapointed when they don't get the speed they were hoping for. And as many more people use them, they can keep the monthly fee lower than the smaller players.

People may be dissapointed with Tiscali for example, but then they sign up with Orange, and the same happens vice-versa with another customer.

And then the dreaded Indian call centre when you have a problem. I cannot tell you how much everyone curses them (I talk to enough people).

I'm currently looking at moving over to this ISP as I've read some good reviews:
http://www.fast.co.uk/broadband.php


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## SlackAli (May 17, 2005)

I'm with zen - zen.co.uk - not cheap at £24.99 per month with 20gb cap - but totally reliable, and knowlegeable and friendly support staff based in Rochdale.


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## aarhus2004 (Jan 10, 2004)

joe501 said:


> I am looking for a ISP that has unlimited bandwith and is fairly cheap. The fastest I can do is 512kbps because of my location. The best I have found so far is tiscali broadband, £16 a month free modem free setup. Has anyone had any experience with tiscali and if so how does it compare. I have wanadoo at the moment but it is only 2GB a month and I want to play my DS online so I need unlimited..
> 
> thanks
> Joe


A most unusual review this. Rather more a plea for guidance I think. Well there is always plenty of that in these forums. The word 'help' has that effect - seems.

No helper Ben.


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## ACA529 (Nov 16, 2005)

If I lived in the UK, I'd go with BT probably. It's always good to go with the big companies I think... you won't get many problems.


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## computertechie (Jul 10, 2007)

BT suck. Their customer service is the pits.


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## jack8 (Feb 6, 2005)

I am with Zen not cheap and do not offer unlimited but never had any problems with them and customer service is also very good.


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## jackdw (Jul 1, 2005)

ACA, BT is good until something goes wrong. The router/modem combo they supply is hardly worth the £75 they sell them for in the shop.
That said, the speed is 6mb ALL the time. I sync at 7.3mbish so that's pretty good. It does disconnect quite often, but that's probably due to the fact I use a router that's been around since the stone-age.


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## computertechie (Jul 10, 2007)

Some good reviews for Fast. May well sign up with them soon.
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews130897.html


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## computertechie (Jul 10, 2007)

Ok, BT is good until something goes wrong. But not only do you get Indian call centres, they're also bad at passing the buck, just passing you from dept to dept (I have to call them quite often in my job). Other times, you give them a call back 10 minutes later about the same problem and you get through to a call centre in Scotland (who again, tend to pass the buck for those quiries they don't want to know about). How are they supposed to provide good customer service when the support people are scattered around all over the world? They very much need to get their own house in order.


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