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Thinking of switching to Bt for broadband

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Thinking of switching to Bt for broadband

Mon 9-Jan-12
7:22 pm

Danny

Scarborough, England

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We got a leaflet from BT with our morning post offering broadband with a router and all, along with free Anytime land line calls for £16/mth. There is also the option of a Freeview set-top box for £4/mth that has the pause and recording features but we don't watch enough telly to make that worthwhile.

Seeing as this is what we are paying to TalkTalk for our stuttering internet connection it seems like a no-brainer.

We never signed up with TalkTalk. They bought our original ISP, Freedom2Surf.

Does anybody here use BT and what do you think of their broadband service?

Never knowingly underfed

Mon 9-Jan-12
7:36 pm

elrohana

North West Leeds, UK

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We're in the process of moving to O2 for the same reason - TalkTalk bought our lil' ISP (Nildram, used to be part of Pipex) and the connection has been going downhill ever since.

We looked at BT and were nearly convinced as we had our landline with them already, but they couldn't do a static IP address, whereas O2 offer one as part of their top end package (which we wanted anyway due tot he amount of gaming we do) AND they offered 6 months free on the broadband, the landline rental was a few quid cheaper than BT for the same deal, AND we get a fiver off the package price once the broadband charge does kick in as we have our mobiles with O2 already. Win.

BT just couldn't match that.

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Mon 9-Jan-12
7:40 pm

Sooliz

Somerset

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We do, Danny. It's fine - by and large. We do get very good speeds here - around 6 mbps - which surprises me as we live in a small very rural village. When we lived in the Midlands 2 years ago, on the edge of a very large town, we only got around 3 mbps (to be fair, that was with Virgin Media, not BT - if that makes a difference).

However, sometimes the broadband just goes off, for no apparent reason - this happens maybe once or twice a week, usually for just a few minutes, but once or twice for several hours. The first time it happened to be off for ages, I tried ringing BT, which was a bit of a nightmare - the call went through to India and the operator and I had great difficulty understanding each other. Now I don't bother, as I know it will come back on eventually, although I do have to reset the router a few times.

They do have online help, although I have to say I haven't found that particularly helpful (that may have something to do with the fact that I'm not good with techie stuff, being exceedingly blonde when it comes to that sort of thing embarassed big_laugh ). And of course, if your broadband has gone off, then online help is not a lot of use if you can't actually ACCESS IT!!!! steam aargh

Incidentally, we have the Freeview box (it comes with the BT Vision package we have) and husband loves it, although I'm not particularly interested.

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Mon 9-Jan-12
9:12 pm

devongarden

Devon, UK

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Not BT, but I gave up on Tiscali after TalkTalk took them over and offered appalling service. I switched to PlusNet last autumn, and have been happy with them. Their call centre is in Yorkshire, the people I have talked to are polite and helpful and sort things out. I get free anytime phone calls as well as broadband. The price of calls to mobiles is much less than with Talktalk. I don't have the TV package with it. Plusnet was independent, but is now owned by BT though it is run as a separate company. Be careful with BT's offers, since they often have 3 months low priced and then go to an exhorbitant level.

Once I switched to Plusnet my broadband was quicker, and then it slowed drastically. I used their online support, and later talked to them, and ran various tests including using my old router again. It turned out the router they supplied had failed. They sent me a new one which arrived almost before I knew they had sent which works reasonably.

They have monthly usage limits, but any use between midnight and 8 am doesn't count.

They offer a discount if anyone signs up on a recommendation. I find that difficult, as it could sound as if I am recommending them because of that. If anyone does decide to give them a try, if you want to ask me for my username to give them during the signing up process I would PM it to you. Here is a link to their site.

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Tue 10-Jan-12
7:44 pm

Gottaknit

South Lincolnshire

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We have got BT and no problems. Much better than the mobile extemely-narrow-band from Orange was. (We are in a distinctly not-hot spot).

We have had to re-boot the hub on occasion, and it has dropped off it's perch once or twice, but come back quickly. So no complaints.

Do bear in mind that the figures quoted usually don't mention that you will have to pay the normal line rental as well. Read it carefully before you do your sums! wave

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Sat 21-Jan-12
6:21 am

Danny

Scarborough, England

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Well, the die is cast. We switch over on Jan 30th.

Fiona uses wireless around the house. She says the signal from the BT routers used by our neighbours on both sides comes through stronger than our own 6 year old router!

Nobody I spoke with who uses BT had any significant complaints.

Can't wait really because the Talk Talk service has become truly rotten and irritating.

Never knowingly underfed

Mon 23-Jan-12
5:35 pm

KateUK

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We use BT and it has been fine- we need to log in again to our network when a new network arrives in the neighbourhood ( if I had known before how many people nearby would have unpassword protected broadband I could use, I wouldn't have bothered paying for my own....) as the computer gets confused,poor lamb. In four years we've had to switch off and switch on again about 4 times, speed is OK except around 4pm when all the kids in the universe get home and start using the net. My neighbour and I exchange ' BT good deal' info and when something worth having comes out and they offer it to her and not us, or vice versa, we just phone,complain, get better deal....

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Thu 9-Feb-12
5:43 am

Danny

Scarborough, England

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We made the switch and our BT router arrived on schedule on Jan 30th.

I was away and F had no problem hooking it up. Initially it was fast as lightning but BT did warn that speeds would fluctuate for the first two weeks, which has been the case. So let's see how it settles down in Feb.

The wireless signal is far better than our old router.

Overall, we are pleased with the service.

Never knowingly underfed

Thu 9-Feb-12
9:14 am

mike.

Coventry

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We're having problems with our tiscali/talktalk broadband at the moment. The connection keeps dropping but we don't know whether that is the router or something at their end. I've ordered a new router so I can work out whether the problem is with us or not. If the new router doesn't sort it out, we might be looking to get our interent from somewhere else... BT looks ok especially if we get the internet tv option but it's been a while since I looked into the different packages available.

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Thu 9-Feb-12
9:16 am

Toffeeapple

North Bucks

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I shall be interested in your research Mike. I haven't had any problems with Tiscali other than the constant price increases but it will be as well to be aware of what is on offer.

I'll try that again!

Thu 9-Feb-12
10:39 am

Hattie

Bucks/Oxon Border

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bobquail said:

We're having problems with our tiscali/talktalk broadband at the moment. The connection keeps dropping but we don't know whether that is the router or something at their end. I've ordered a new router so I can work out whether the problem is with us or not. If the new router doesn't sort it out, we might be looking to get our interent from somewhere else... BT looks ok especially if we get the internet tv option but it's been a while since I looked into the different packages available.

Bob, I got a new router from Tiscali/Talktalk & actually managed to get it for free.... smile