Changing broadband supplier?

[Golfmmad]

I'm thinking of changing as I'm fed up with slow speed and not being able to watch any video or youtube. My daughter tells me it's because the package with AOL isn't very good.

I've just had a flyer from O2, (my mobile provider) offering what seems a very good deal. Because I'm with O2, an exclusive reward of 6 months free broadband. Then £12.25 per month, "Download as much as you want",(Fair usage policy applies). Up to 20meg broadband. Double-strength wireless router.

I've no idea if this is the good deal it says it is.

So I need help from you guys in the know, please.

What d'ya think?

Golfmmad.

 

[Aztecs27]

Do it. I've been with O2/Be for nearly 3 years and their broadband is great.

Especially with the O2 customer discount.

It's fast, reliable and I've only experienced it go down twice in three years and that was only ever for an hour.

 

[brendy]

If you have sky tv, their faster package is very hard to beat and they dont throttle during peak times either.

 

[madandra]

Check your braodband speed in your area by using the broadback speed checker and it will recomend some better options.

 

[G1BB0]

how far is your local exchange? cos if its miles it wont matter who you go with unless virgin or BT Infinity is being rolled out sometime soon!!

 

[brendy]

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

Samknows is pretty good for this kind of info.

 

[G1BB0]

the variety of speeds people get is unbelievable, I work as an engineer and some folk can be 3km from exchange and get 1-2mb!!! I get 12 and am 1.5km, also distance isnt the only factor as aluminium cable is pish for bband and theres plenty of it, even some lead still in the ground altho there isnt if you ask anyone high up

if you get crap speeds now with your sp dont expect a massive boost because of a change as chances are you will be on the same pair from the cabinet and only the exchange to cab will be new (that could be the same aswell and just through new sp eqpt)

dont want to be negative as it might be a good move, just dont expect top speeds just from changing provider

 

[dieseldave]

I've had o2 for about two years a lot of problems at the start but they got BT to put in a new line at no expense to me,since then no problems at all,get 6.5 meg enough for me to watch youtube and bbc iplayer i would recommend.

 

[stevek1969]

I'm with Sky and get 3.5meg which is enough for You Tube and the kids running XBox live no prob.Used ther customer service to have a look at my router and they were spot on.

 

[brendy]

We went from 2mb with BT to 13 with Sky, there certainly is room for improvement without having to go to infinity, unless you are a serious (ab)user of the internet, you won't need anything over 5-10mb.

 

[G1BB0]

oh I totally agree Brendy, I went from BT (free as an employee but capped too much) getting about 7mb to sky and getting 12-13mb unlimited.

Sky seem to be the best for unleashing the full amount possible wheras others do seem to cap/throttle

 

[G1BB0]

the reason I mentioned infinity is if he is in a slow area infinity or virgin are less affected by this (although rural you got no chance of either)

 

[Owen_Thomas_14]

Please dont get TalkTalk.... theyre p*sh

 

[Golfmmad]

Thanks for all your replies and help guys.

The exchange is about a km away, so shouldn't be a problem.

On checking the contract it says minimum term of 18 months which still has a year to go, so I might have to wait. In the meantime I'll phone AOL and perhaps increase download speed from 8Mbps.

Golfmmad.

 

[Smiffy]

In the meantime I'll phone AOL and perhaps increase download speed from 8Mbps.

Golfmmad.

If you have a download speed of 8Mbs Chris, Youtube videos shouldn't be a problem mate.
What Anti virus do you use???

 

[Ethan]

AOL is notoriously rubbish, and is a Which Don't Buy. O2 is much better and gets high quality ratings.

 

[Smiffy]

AOL is notoriously rubbish

I was with AOL for about 6 years and didn't have a problem at all. Only reason I changed was because I went with a Sky combined package otherwise I would most probably still be with AOL now.

 

[Ethan]

AOL is notoriously rubbish

I was with AOL for about 6 years and didn't have a problem at all. Only reason I changed was because I went with a Sky combined package otherwise I would most probably still be with AOL now.

Maybe, but rubbish doesn't mean all customers are dissatisfied, just too many. In Which surveys, they score pretty low very consistently and a lot lower than the highest rated such as Zen and O2.

 

[Smiffy]

Maybe, but rubbish doesn't mean all customers are dissatisfied, just too many. In Which surveys, they score pretty low very consistently and a lot lower than the highest rated such as Zen and O2.

I take your point Ethan. But when I was with AOL I used to get fed up with people slating them and saying that their software used to take over your PC. As I say, I had no problems with them at all, and when I switched to Sky I also had no problem with uninstalling the AOL software from my computer.
But as I state above, if Chris is getting 8Mb download speeds with his current ISP there is no reason that YouTube wouldn't stream properly.
I have just deleted my old anti virus software from my PC and have now gone with Microsost security essentials. My broadband is now much more stable and I have no problems whatsoever with Youtube. I did with my old anti virus loaded.
My only problem now is a reluctance for Firefox to work properly with Shockwave flash enabled. This site in particular crawls so I have it switched off.
Trouble is, I then have to switch it back on again to watch any video content

 

[Golfmmad]

If I'm understanding you correctly, I have Norton safe search, although they keep asking me to update, which I was going to do but they want to charge for it. I've always been advised not to take anything which involves a cost.

I'm really just a beginner on computers and sometimes find it all a bit confusing!

This is the 2nd post I've typed, the first one when I previewed it wouldn't load the page. Bloody annoying!

Thanks for your help Rob.

Golfmmad.