ISP Advice

[Knottyboy]

Moving next Monday and I need to get an internet connection sorted. Flat is in the city centre so I'll be accessing the Denburn exchange; it says on BT's website that it is already upgraded for BT Infinity but it's not available for my building.

http://www.fibremap.bt.com/
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/NSDEN

Tried phoning them up to find out if the exchange had actually been upgraded or if it is my building thats preventing it, he basically said he doesn't know and tried to sell me some crap. I know theres been a lot of talk lately about fibre optic coming to Aberdeen so if anyone could shed some light on this that'd be great.

Second thing, I don't want to take out a year long contract a short time before fibre optic is available; should i go with a company such as Virgin or BT so i can easily upgrade? If not, any suggestions for an ISP? I remember Zen being mentioned a while ago but they are a bit more expensive compared to others. I'm thinking of asking plusnet if they could give me the same 'no download limit' deal I've got at home right now.

 

[Deep Blue]

Zen all the way, pure unfiltered non-shaped traffic, full line speed 24/7 1 month contract - nuff said

You do get what you pay for in an ISP remember that

Yes the exchange might be enabled for FTTC but you need to be serviced by a street cabinet and even then you might be unlucky on your particular building etc.

Once you have a tel number you will be able to get a better idea of what services you will be able to get

 

[.AC.]

Not had any complaints with virgin so far.. and upgrading to 60Mb soon too

 

[Knottyboy]

Just noticed Zen offer fibre optic and line rental, so I'll be giving them a call tomorrow.

I had Virgin in my last flat AC and i was quite pleased with them aswell, although i found during the daytime the speed would fluctuate quite a bit; only happened every now and again though. They've also got a few offers on at the moment so I'll try and get Zen to pricematch


Also whats the deal with the street cabinets? Is it part of the upgrading or will some buildings just never get it?

 

[.AC.]

Well, the speed is pretty stays much at peak for us, but they half it if we go over the period's limit (for 30mb the download limit a day is 7.5GB 10am -3pm + 3.5GB 4pm-9pm).. so when they double us for free to 60Gb, and we go over the limit then, the worst that happens is that we will just go back to our original speed.. Just under 4MB/s minimum on steam sounds grand!

It's been legalised for companies to install their own street cabinets on public streets, so now, there should be less having to go through red tape and the companies can just go out and install them without permission. It means the likes of Virgin or BT can bring in fiber optic to streets quicker.

 

[Deep Blue]

I don't think you understand, Zen won't price match for two reasons

1. They offer premium business services on an uncontended network that never slows down with no shaping, filtering or BS

2. They are a small business and survive with all of their broadband customers on monthly rolling contracts who stay with them because they choose to, not because they are locked in.

My previous posts stands - you get what you pay for

 

[Negator]

Depends if you need any other services... for example sky fibre is relatively cheap at £20 for unlimited use. I've been on sky broadband for years now and not had a single issue that has been on their side, and due to having a sky tv package the unlimited broadband (non fibre) is free.

 

[grogers126]

i live on the langstracht in aberdeen and im lucky enought to live close to my exchange im currently with TALK TALK who provide me with an excellent service and i have been lucky enough to not have any problems with my connection and all i pay is an extra £10 per month on top of my phone bill for my fibre

 

[Skull]

For Adsl, you want to go with Zen really. Virgin Media is only worth going with if you can get their cable services (not their ADSL).

 

[Knottyboy]

Zen won't price match

Don't ask don't get Generally most companies are open to haggling if you tell them you can get a better deal elsewhere, but i understand what you're saying about why they won't. I'm leaning towards them more and more as if fibre optic does become available I won't be tied into a year long contract.

It's been legalised for companies to install their own street cabinets on public streets, so now, there should be less having to go through red tape and the companies can just go out and install them without permission. It means the likes of Virgin or BT can bring in fiber optic to streets quicker.

Thats pretty decent, do they systemastically upgrade every street or prioritise over streets with a higher demand? (Assuming they are covered by the same exchange).

i live on the langstracht in aberdeen and im lucky enought to live close to my exchange im currently with TALK TALK who provide me with an excellent service and i have been lucky enough to not have any problems with my connection and all i pay is an extra £10 per month on top of my phone bill for my fibre

Been with Talk Talk already Dod, wasn't to pleased with the quality of the connection and found Plusnet much better. Didn't know you had fibre though you lucky git! What kind of speeds are you getting?

For Adsl, you want to go with Zen really. Virgin Media is only worth going with if you can get their cable services (not their ADSL).

Thats what i was thinking, the rolling contract with Zen is a big plus for if Virgin offer cable in the near future.

 

[Deep Blue]

Street cabinet upgrades are done on a case by case basis based on pure profit busy urban areas increase your chances although your lines must already connect from a green BT cabinet as sometimes they run straight from the exchange if this is the case then you are flat out of luck there!

Zen powers my own connection plus the connection at the hall and we all know how quick that is even with 30 folk using it!

 

[Knottyboy]

Ah thanks Dex, yeah I've decided to go with Zen

They offer routers on their website and have a list of compatible ones, is it worth taking one of them? I've still got my netgear from when i was with virgin media but it's not on their compatible list thing.

 

[Deep Blue]

Ah thanks Dex, yeah I've decided to go with Zen

They offer routers on their website and have a list of compatible ones, is it worth taking one of them? I've still got my netgear from when i was with virgin media but it's not on their compatible list thing.

Any router will work - do you know if ADSL2 is available on your exchange? if not then anything will work, if it is then you will need to make sure your netgear supports adsl2

Are the interface pages on the netgear virgin branded or did you just get a generic one from a shop to use? If it's virgin branded then I'd err on the side of caution and pick up another router