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ISP advice sought, please

By kingjaime - 10-10-2013 19:51

[BVB]

I'm looking to switch to wi-fi having been on wired connection up to and including the present. But this has given rise to some questions... I'm on AOL, which by all accounts is crud and indeed my experience with it hasn't been great, speeds not up to much, intermittent connection problems, so I don't want to just have them switch me over to wi-fi, ideally I want to get on a better deal with someone else. Now what's causing me no small amount of confusion is the [b]line rental aspect[/b]. I'm looking at Sky as seeming a good deal (no monthly download limit, up to 16mb speed, £5 per month the first year, £10 after) but then they mention line rental £15.40 per month, and in the details "No extra cost when you take Sky Line Rental Line rental that’s cheaper than BT's standard monthly price, Inclusive weekend calls to UK# landlines and calls to 0870 numbers, Great value call rates to UK mobiles and international landlines, Hassle free switching – no need for a new number". So here I'm confused. Is it... (1) I'd be cancelling telephone services from BT, and switching to phone services (and the broadband) just from Sky, in which case also only ever paying Sky this line rental charge and for calls, no longer paying BT anything? (2) Is it in addition, so the phone Sky supplies is maybe plugged in to whatever filter device they provide, and so I pay them mainly for the broadband, and it's just like a little bonus I can use that phone to make free calls at weekends, and I pay them the £14.50, plus continue to pay BT whatever I currently pay them? (3) Something else? [u]Also, this may be obvious to some, I hope:[/u] If I'm paying BT monthly line rental for just the telephone, do I have to pay them additional line rental for broadband, if I get a BT Broadband package? [u]And finally, just this would be useful, oh casual visitor...[/u] Who do you use, what do you pay and are you happy with them? CHEERS.I'm looking to switch to wi-fi having been on wired connection up to and including the present. But this has given rise to some questions...

I'm on AOL, which by all accounts is crud and indeed my experience with it hasn't been great, speeds not up to much, intermittent connection problems, so I don't want to just have them switch me over to wi-fi, ideally I want to get on a better deal with someone else.

Now what's causing me no small amount of confusion is the line rental aspect. I'm looking at Sky as seeming a good deal (no monthly download limit, up to 16mb speed, £5 per month the first year, £10 after) but then they mention line rental £15.40 per month, and in the details "No extra cost when you take Sky Line Rental
Line rental that’s cheaper than BT's standard monthly price, Inclusive weekend calls to UK# landlines and calls to 0870 numbers, Great value call rates to UK mobiles and international landlines, Hassle free switching – no need for a new number". So here I'm confused. Is it...
(1) I'd be cancelling telephone services from BT, and switching to phone services (and the broadband) just from Sky, in which case also only ever paying Sky this line rental charge and for calls, no longer paying BT anything?
(2) Is it in addition, so the phone Sky supplies is maybe plugged in to whatever filter device they provide, and so I pay them mainly for the broadband, and it's just like a little bonus I can use that phone to make free calls at weekends, and I pay them the £14.50, plus continue to pay BT whatever I currently pay them?
(3) Something else?

Also, this may be obvious to some, I hope:
If I'm paying BT monthly line rental for just the telephone, do I have to pay them additional line rental for broadband, if I get a BT Broadband package?

And finally, just this would be useful, oh casual visitor...
Who do you use, what do you pay and are you happy with them?

CHEERS.

 

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Re: ISP advice sought, please

By mosmosmos - 10-10-2013 20:05

[ENG]

It's number (1) The phone line infrastructure is provided by Openreach (a division of BT) but that is used by all providers so you don't have to have any extra holes drilled in your walls or sockets added in. It then gets routed into Sky's kit in the exchange. Everything will be with Sky, and you no longer need to pay anything to, or have an account with BT. For your also; Yes you would need to pay extra for Broadband with BT. Finally, I use Sky, as I have Sky TV as well. Nothing to complain about, certainly rate them far far higher than BT. Incidentally on an aside note; I got a new phone on 3 network. The Speed is 3 times that of my home broadband (will be even faster with 4G) and it allows the phone to create a wifi hotspot with tethering included so in theory I could run everything from the phone without the need for broadband or line-rental. If you live in a cable area, you may want to consider that from Virgin.It's number (1)

The phone line infrastructure is provided by Openreach (a division of BT) but that is used by all providers so you don't have to have any extra holes drilled in your walls or sockets added in.

It then gets routed into Sky's kit in the exchange.

Everything will be with Sky, and you no longer need to pay anything to, or have an account with BT.

For your also; Yes you would need to pay extra for Broadband with BT.

Finally, I use Sky, as I have Sky TV as well. Nothing to complain about, certainly rate them far far higher than BT.

Incidentally on an aside note; I got a new phone on 3 network. The Speed is 3 times that of my home broadband (will be even faster with 4G) and it allows the phone to create a wifi hotspot with tethering included so in theory I could run everything from the phone without the need for broadband or line-rental.

If you live in a cable area, you may want to consider that from Virgin.

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By ashleyhughes - 10-10-2013 21:08

[LEGEND]

Pretty much mos has said more or less everything I was about to say as basically you'll be paying line rental regardless of who you go with which is more or less £15 per month. I'm on the exact same package with SKY with unlimited weekend calls (although I still use my mobile) as the one you're looking at even though the line rental is going up by 90p in December to help function another 4 UK call centres to continue their award winning customer service. I had the option of SKY, BT or TalkTalk as I live in flats and SKY was without doubt the best option for me as unlimited downloads, no pings, no lag, or traffic monitoring was used for truly unlimited broadband (even at peak times) and I have around 14-16MB in terms of speed and I certainly have no problem shooting Zombies on Xbox Live. As for Wi-Fi it works well with my phone (S2) so I would certainly go for SKY but otherwise consider Virgin.Pretty much mos has said more or less everything I was about to say as basically you'll be paying line rental regardless of who you go with which is more or less £15 per month.

I'm on the exact same package with SKY with unlimited weekend calls (although I still use my mobile) as the one you're looking at even though the line rental is going up by 90p in December to help function another 4 UK call centres to continue their award winning customer service.

I had the option of SKY, BT or TalkTalk as I live in flats and SKY was without doubt the best option for me as unlimited downloads, no pings, no lag, or traffic monitoring was used for truly unlimited broadband (even at peak times) and I have around 14-16MB in terms of speed and I certainly have no problem shooting Zombies on Xbox Live.

As for Wi-Fi it works well with my phone (S2) so I would certainly go for SKY but otherwise consider Virgin.

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By darkline - 11-10-2013 02:07

[FLUSA]
President

I have BT infinity unlimited, my download average is around 30MB and never goes below 24MB, that bandwith comes really handy for me because I have kids and they like to stream movies, play games, etc on their computers and they all do it at the same time :) With BT, you also get the 2 BT Sports channels + ESPN included in the price, and you can watch them online or if you have SKY, it's free to add. If I remember correctly, I'm paying £7 per month for the internet service (+ line rental), and there's another plan that gives you speeds up to 70MB that costs slightly more.I have BT infinity unlimited, my download average is around 30MB and never goes below 24MB, that bandwith comes really handy for me because I have kids and they like to stream movies, play games, etc on their computers and they all do it at the same time :)

With BT, you also get the 2 BT Sports channels + ESPN included in the price, and you can watch them online or if you have SKY, it's free to add.

If I remember correctly, I'm paying £7 per month for the internet service (+ line rental), and there's another plan that gives you speeds up to 70MB that costs slightly more.

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By darkline - 11-10-2013 02:08

[FLUSA]
President

Damn it, I sound just like an infomercial.... I should really start charging BT for this!Damn it, I sound just like an infomercial.... I should really start charging BT for this!

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By rockstarroberts - 11-10-2013 02:11

they're still the pimp

darkline wrote:

Damn it, I sound just like an infomercial.... I should really start charging BT for this!

they're still the pimp

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By bigbear - 12-10-2013 00:51

I was with Sky for six years before I moved house and now with Virgin.Sky's internet is solid and apart from the odd problem at the exchange never had a single complaint with their internet service.My only complaint was with the signal strength of the wifi which was very poor,unless you was sat very near the router the signal loss was bad.However I do believe Sky has a new router for new customers so I cant comment on that.Open Reach provide a good service but you will find you will be down the list of importance as of course you are not a BT customer. As for Virgin again there internet is solid and I was upgraded on net speed and a new router for free a few months ago (which surprised me),even with the old router the wifi signal was very strong and I could sit outside the house in the car and still get a signal and often use three wifi devices at once with no hint of slow down. As for AOL they were my first ever ISP and were pretty good until carphone warehouse bought them out then they sucked big time,guess they still suck now.I was with Sky for six years before I moved house and now with Virgin.Sky's internet is solid and apart from the odd problem at the exchange never had a single complaint with their internet service.My only complaint was with the signal strength of the wifi which was very poor,unless you was sat very near the router the signal loss was bad.However I do believe Sky has a new router for new customers so I cant comment on that.Open Reach provide a good service but you will find you will be down the list of importance as of course you are not a BT customer.
As for Virgin again there internet is solid and I was upgraded on net speed and a new router for free a few months ago (which surprised me),even with the old router the wifi signal was very strong and I could sit outside the house in the car and still get a signal and often use three wifi devices at once with no hint of slow down.
As for AOL they were my first ever ISP and were pretty good until carphone warehouse bought them out then they sucked big time,guess they still suck now.

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By heddo - 15-10-2013 05:31

Sky are absolutely terrible at selling their products to new customers, there is no transparency whatsoever, with small print hitches and hidden charges, and the customer is left to tot up a price/deal for themselves , exactly why i have always binned their promotional gumph, after seeing through the crap they try to push into your face at first hand,the stuff in the background , like the hidden line rental charge, makes me wonder what type of people i am dealing with, and i decide to politely decline..Sky are absolutely terrible at selling their products to new customers, there is no transparency whatsoever, with small print hitches and hidden charges, and the customer is left to tot up a price/deal for themselves , exactly why i have always binned their promotional gumph, after seeing through the crap they try to push into your face at first hand,the stuff in the background , like the hidden line rental charge, makes me wonder what type of people i am dealing with, and i decide to politely decline..

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By kingjaime - 15-10-2013 15:01

[BVB]

Cheers all. I'm going to go for Sky, but this last-minute caution about their not being transparent is welcome and will ensure I ask a good few questions ;)Cheers all. I'm going to go for Sky, but this last-minute caution about their not being transparent is welcome and will ensure I ask a good few questions ;)

Re: ISP advice sought, please

By rockstarroberts - 15-10-2013 21:51

bad move kingjamiebad move kingjamie

 

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