AOL customer service is absolutely atrocious, but their service level is definitely right up there. The problem with AOL was that you always had to use the AOL software to gain a connection, but that's no longer the case. Unlimited bandwidth and no shaping.. it's not a bad package, but the stigma that comes with "I have AOL Broadband" is difficult to live with.

I have Telewest, but that's now got sucked into NTL so I expect the service is going to disintegrate around me now. It's cable, so it's no use to you here.

Quote from Jakg :

as much as i hate AOL, i have to ask about Sky broadband, how does it work? is it the usual system of phonelines, or is it through the dish? if so, how do they escape packet loss?

It's through the phoneline like any normal broadband, it's just people pay so much for the sky TV subscription that they can afford to cut the price of broadband (AFAIK)

EDIT: about usage, according to a calculator somewhere I only use 1.5gb transfer per month

I'm currently with Freedom to Surf.
Apart from a the ODD glitch where the connection drops out (BT end) its been very good, and quite reasonabley priced £15/month 8mb 5gig/month

Quote from SamH :

I have Telewest, but that's now got sucked into NTL so I expect the service is going to disintegrate around me now. It's cable, so it's no use to you here.

It's already started going down the crapper for me here believe it or not

Quote from mrfell :

quite reasonabley priced £15/month 8mb 5gig/month

5GB? I've done more than that in a few hours between various bits of traffic, and tbh for £15, you'd be much better off with another company...eclipse for instance

Quote from the_angry_angel :

You do know that they're changing the policy on that, and the only non-capped package will now be circa £70 - £80 (last time I checked)?

Got any info on that? I need an uncapped connection, lol

Quote from JamesF1 :

Got any info on that? I need an uncapped connection, lol

This page lists the new packages, most packages now get limited to 20 - 50GB. As far as I am aware, all current packages are being changed on renewal. So if you've paid up for 12 months you should be ok, but if you pay monthly then you're likely to be capped. I'll have a word with my co-worker since hes currently still with Zen, but if I remember correctly, if you log into your Control Panel you can see what you've used and can buy more data transfer.

This appears to be the only high speed, uncapped line from them now. Hell for that price you might as well start thinking about a leased line.

Quote from the_angry_angel :

It's already started going down the crapper for me here believe it or not

For me too. I had to ring the other night, and for the first time ever I got New Delhi. Not happy. But I am even more unhappy to find that getting an engineer takes 5 days. Booked Monday, they come on Friday. It's to replace a duff TV box. That used to be a same day/next day thing.

Quote from SamH :

For me too. I had to ring the other night, and for the first time ever I got New Delhi. Not happy. But I am even more unhappy to find that getting an engineer takes 5 days. Booked Monday, they come on Friday. It's to replace a duff TV box. That used to be a same day/next day thing.

Tell me about it Our line got chopped, it took a couple of days to do a temporary repair and then a further 3 weeks before the proper repair. It took more time to do the temporary fix

Quote from the_angry_angel :

5GB? I've done more than that in a few hours between various bits of traffic, and tbh for £15, you'd be much better off with another company...eclipse for instance

Thats fair enough, but i don't download much, so 5gb is plenty for me. Especially for LFS. What worries me about all these new companies, is that they promise the earth but when it comes to 6 months down the line everything starts to go pearshaped. I'm happy i've got a stable connection which is atm quick enough for me.

EDIT

Wow, just read your link, but how do you know ECLIPSE is going to be stable when everyone suddenly wants to join them?
I don't have that sort of inside knowledge

Quote from STROBE :

Did anyone say they weren't?

Yesterday, 12:39 #8 -
mrbogeyman
S2 licensed




Racername: [dSRC] BOGEY
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Scotland
Posts: 619
NTL are a cable provider, so they are a no go. Demon look OK, but don't really seem geared towards home users. I also noticed quite quickly that they have a fair usage policy thingy. But who knows how strict/flexible they will be...

MRBOGEY "ntl are a no go" just wondering why? I don't really care

Quote from CSU1 :

MRBOGEY "ntl are a no go" just wondering why? I don't really care

At a guess, because he has no cable fibre near his house, and thus they cant take a coaxial off it and pipe it into his house.

Quote from mrfell :

Wow, just read your link, but how do you know ECLIPSE is going to be stable when everyone suddenly wants to join them?

Unfortunately you'd never beable to answer this So far Eclipse is stable in the areas we're deployed them in. tbh with ADSL most of the problems come from problems at BT's end of things.

Quote :

With regards to Demon; they're still in business?

You know all these ISDN Broadband companies springing up all over the place? They get the franchise to supply broadband to your phone number from BT, they get the broadband connection from YourISP who are actually Demon, there's some others in the business too such as Tiscali and some lesser known trade-only guys, they then get the login server (radius server) from a 3rd company, basically all these different ISP's are actually just a billing and customer services front end for the same old big guys that we're trying to avoid by going to the little guys.

Quote from CSU1 :

Yesterday, 12:39 #8 -
mrbogeyman
S2 licensed




Racername: [dSRC] BOGEY
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Scotland
Posts: 619
NTL are a cable provider, so they are a no go. Demon look OK, but don't really seem geared towards home users. I also noticed quite quickly that they have a fair usage policy thingy. But who knows how strict/flexible they will be...

MRBOGEY "ntl are a no go" just wondering why? I don't really care

TAA is correct, im in a village that has no cable connection.

Quote from mrbogeyman :

TAA is correct, im in a village that has no cable connection.

I see I thought u meant ntl are no go in general I prob sounds like I'm an Ntl rep r' somethin I ain't as I said it does me , gosh come to think of it LFS is all I use it for

Quote from the_angry_angel :

This page lists the new packages, most packages now get limited to 20 - 50GB. As far as I am aware, all current packages are being changed on renewal. So if you've paid up for 12 months you should be ok, but if you pay monthly then you're likely to be capped. I'll have a word with my co-worker since hes currently still with Zen, but if I remember correctly, if you log into your Control Panel you can see what you've used and can buy more data transfer.

This appears to be the only high speed, uncapped line from them now. Hell for that price you might as well start thinking about a leased line.

Looks like I should be okay for now. I'm on the Home 250 one, I can ony get 256k connections in the village I live in, and it appears as though my package is remaining uncapped. If I'm ever going to upgrade, though (when the exchange allows), Zen won't be getting my money.

Thanks for the info

Quote from the_angry_angel :

It's already started going down the crapper for me here believe it or not

Guess I'm lucky - I'm on Telewest and their broadband has been as good as it's always been. I think it'll take a long time for anything to be standardised in a technical aspect across their networks, so I'm not too worried that ntl is suddenly going to ruin my internet connection. Customer service, and future investment to keep the quality of service where it is now, is a different matter however... :sour: