- This topic has 14 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 7 months ago by
.
-
Might be a cool thread. I’ve done a decent amount of searching the past few days so here is some info. Mostly about FTTP providers. Feel free to give your own advice also.
I’m trying to stay away from mentioning the normal ISPs but it’s hard.
An honorable mention goes to BT. Just relatively stable overall and £34.99 for 500Mbps is really strong. Also potential £59 cashback. I do know they have regional offers so it might be higher for you. I would say that the price rises especially on 24 month make it rather bad unless you can negotiate this down but unlikely. If it was a 12 month I’d be all over it.
However BT are currently in the stone age when it comes to equipment. I’m going to be speaking to a broader audience here who will likely have the ISP supplied router and the Smart Hub 2 by BT is simply awful. They have a Hub 3 in the works but this is likely coming in VERY late 2023 if not 2024. Trials happening this month that I’ve signed up for.
Sky currently has what I believe is a nationwide offer of 500 Mbps for £35. Sky will also increase the price mid contract by more than the average so that £35 quickly ramps up to closer to £40 than you would like.
Sky do seem to have a decent router though. It was released very recently and wifi 6 compatible. A big plus over BT. I’m not entirely sure of their network though it’s some DHCP option and not PPPoE like many others so if you do want your own router, could be a trickier setup.
If you live further north then Vodafone might be worth a shot. They have gateways in many areas. I’ve talked to some Scottish residents (like myself) on Vodafone and they have halfed my ping numbers (compared to my BT line). This is because BT routes all traffic to London but Vodafone and some other ISP have other gateways. Generally you still have to route traffic to London but it’s something to consider if you have a data centre in mid England or even Edinburgh like Vodafone.
The forums do have some threads about people experiencing packet loss at certain times of the day so hard to know for sure if it’s worth it. Prices are also on the high side compared to other mainstream ISPs. The standard router you get like BT is really bad and you have to pay like £12 more a month to get their Wifi 6E hub (which is actually good I’ve heard).
People are selling the hub on ebay for much less than the contract price would be but apparently Vodafone preprogram the hub with info like your landline number (which you have to get) so might cause problems in the future. They are a PPPoE supplier so if wanting to use your own router you have to go on vodafone live chat and hope the service agent knows to give you the right details (it’s not a bthomehub@btbroadband.com type deal).
Now for the more “advanced” and exotic ISPs. No bundled router included here.
Zen is highly rated at ispreview.co.uk but latest reviews have them tanking down in support. People think it’s because they are one of the few cityfibre providers and it’s overwhelming current staff numbers. Don’t know for sure though. Price is also more than you would be happy with paying (£35 for about 100Mbps) and 18 month contract. The good side is that no in contract price rises.
Uno is rated very highly but to get their best prices you basically have to take out a 24 month contract. About 120Mbps 12 month is £44.99 but 24 month is £29.99. Not sure on in contract price rise though.
AAISP. I can’t really recommend an ISP with a 1TB a month cap but they are excellent. Download Starfield and latest COD game, a quarter of your data for the month is gone. Price also pretty high for such a low cap (100Mbps for £37).
IDNet. Seems really good but the prices would make your eyes water. Standard 100Mbps for £42 plus 18 month contract.
Aquiss so far seem my pick. Rated well on ispreview. 12 month contract. 150Mbps package averaging out at £31.50 but a static ip is included along with no in contract price rises. 300 Mbps package is £33.75 on average per month might be the best bang for buck.
Liked by:
You need to login in order to vote
You can do. See how it goes. Info is constantly changing as are prices so the more info the better.
I think it’s imperative when the fibre gets installed that you make it clear to the engineer you somewhat know what you’re talking about and do the relevant tests to ensure performance is what it should be (even a basic ping test). If the speeds or latency are off make sure you show it. That can help alleviate the problems. Have screenshots of your previous latency numbers to show any discepancies to the fibre install. In general it should be as fast or a couple ms faster.
One of the good things about a more exotic ISP is that you can raise support tickets for stuff like this and it should be diagnosed quickly. I can see that being very helpful and very hard to do with a mainstream ISP.
Now for a little funny screenshot.
Thanks for telling me it was cheaper BT! Very useful!
You need to login in order to vote
I think they have seen your posts
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
You need to login in order to vote
If you have those options it should not matter much when Openreach decide to do your area.
If you want to find out it though: https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband
Scroll down a little and you will see a map. Put in your postcode and it will tell you if they are building in the next 12 months.
Also put your postcode and building into https://bidb.uk
This will tell you of any other prividers laying fibre in your area.
Liked by:
You need to login in order to vote
I have used https://mastdatabase.co.uk/maps/streetworks/
This tells you current activities in your area relating to construction works taking place on or near a carriageway or footway etc.
In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).
Liked by:
You need to login in order to vote
You would think that but I’ve seen it be pretty bad on some 1 Gbps lines.
63ms jitter and 256ms average ping!
You need to login in order to vote
I got the sceenshot from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suy6xJrcsZY
They show dsleports but not much. I like waveform because you get numbers after the test to draw some conclusion from. It also generally coinsides with own pings tests when running so I tend to believe it. It’s much more recent than dslreports test also.
Liked by:
You need to login in order to vote
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.