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Broadband (advice needed) (1 Viewer)

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Hi all.

I need advice from all the experts on this forum. I am seriously thinking of going for this broadband connection but I don't know anyone who has it to tell me the rights and wrongs of it. More to the point which is the best one, what are the right prices and what do you get for your money.

Help!!!!
 
Well John J can't tell you much about it except that me, Colin and Ralph want it badly but we can't get it!!!!!

El Annie:-C
 
Not every area of the country can be provided with Broadband at the moment.

The way to find out whether you're covered (and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Birmingham was) is to go to http://www.bt.com and have a look around for the Broadband heading. In there, you can enter your telephone number, and it will automatically tell you whether your BT Exchange is Broadband compatible.

Good luck - I think that less than 40% of the country is capable of having Broadband at the moment, and the quicker BT (and the Government, I dare say) do something about this, the better.

As for the rights and wrongs, don't believe all the hype about its speed capabilities - usually, Broadband delivers signals up to ten times faster than your 56k modem - not always guaranteed to be super quick, of course. And as more and more exchanges are converted to digital ones, more and more people are gonna be shifting over to Broadband, which, once again, will clog up the system just like at present.

Shop around for prices. I suspect most high street stores these days are promoting broadband - check a few out; thumb through 'Which?' in WH Smiths and see if there are price comparisons - better still, check out 'Which? Online' and see what they have to say.

As for me here in Wales? Well, Broadband is a far-off dream. On the face of it, we've only just moved out of the dark ages here, and are getting used to this new contraption called 'electricity'!

:bounce:
 
Hopefuly the rapid take-up of broadband will mean less strain on the old 56k system and therefore things maybe better for those who stick with it?..... though I 'd expect bt to put pressure on 'us' to move to broadband in the near future so they can free-up conventional lines.
Andy B.
can get it.... but it's too pricey!
 
I'm actually with Ntl Broadband, having upgraded a couple of months back. I wish I'd done it far sooner. I only have the 128 connection but I find it is a lot faster than the 56k modem and comes with 25 MB webspace and loads of email addresses.

Obviously if you want a faster connection you pay more.

I'd certainly advise you to consider it as an option if you have Ntl in your area.

I found the usenet newsgroups a very useful source of information for advice when I was considering which to get.
 
Heres a link to help you on your way to choosing, but then again it may make things worse.

http://www.broadband-help.com/cm_reviews.asp

Most people i know who have moved to NTL broadband are happy with the service they receive, 128k 14.99 per month (seems to be the popular option, cheap, quicker than a modem and always online), 500k 24.99 per month or 1000k 34.99 per month. In my area they are offering special installation deals to try and get people onboard. I think it will be my choice when I move over, but then again I not a big fan of BT even if they are try to price the opposition out of the market.
 
John, for reviews of most ADSL broadband providers have a look at www.adslguide.org.uk


I've had broadband for about 3 years as I got onto an early trial by Demon/Thus and really couldn't do without it nowadays. Demon were terrible and I'm now with a company called Nildram and they are very good (fast & reliable).

>what are the right prices?
ADSL is £25 -30 a month. there are companies offering it for £20 but they can be over subscribed which slows the service.

>and what do you get for your money?

always on connection.
fast web browsing.
streaming video
online gaming :t:

A couple of friends have cable rather than ADSL and they are happy with it.

hope I've helped

Dylan.
 
Broadband

John

Here in the West Mids we're covered by Telewest. I moved on to BB last month and there is a def improvement.

They supply you with a cable modem as part of the package.

However, you MUST get a firewall. This blocks access to your pc from the hackers. Sounds worse than it is, but it is important. You can download a freebie at

www.zonelabs.com

You should also have a good antivirus program. Many are available, but I use AVG which again, you can download for free at

http://www.grisoft.com/html/us_index.htm

The telewest website is at

www.telewest.co.uk

Hope this helps!

B :)
 
Monkeyman

Prior to reading your post I rang Telewest to see if they covered my area. They did. I had been listening to their adverts on Heart F.M and it actually stated that quite a few polls and magazines had put them at the top of surveys of broadband companies. There company (blue yonder) also boasts at being twice as fast as BT.

I went through the costs and was amazed at the difference of their offer. All the other companies I had rang were quoting about £150 for installation (except Freeserve who were giving a promotional £85 offer). Telewest only wanted £25. Added to that if I ditch BT then telewest can become my phone company with me keeping my own phone number and instead of paying £10:50 a month line rental to BT it reduces to only £5 per month. Also added to this their technical support is on an 0800 number whereas other companies you had to pay either a local or national call rate depending on which company you chose.

Another offer was that if I joined up with them I could have the digital T.V channels for £8.50 a month and they would waver the £50 installation fee.

Needless to say I have signed up but they won't be able to come and install everything until December the 10th.

I can't wait

Thanks to everyone for all your advice. I don't know if I have done the right thing or joined the right company but I have found a few people at work that are on it and they are very happy with it.
 
Congratulations!

But believe me, Telewest are just like any other company! I've had my run ins with them in the past, but compared to what else is on offer, they ain't that bad!!

My father became a silver surfer this year and was with BT. I did the "installion" for him. He had a BT landline and so we signed him up on BT's "anytime" service with payments thru his credit card. It now transpires that BT have "cut him off" cos they weren't receiving payments! Barclaycard new nothing about it! I wouldn't trust BT as far as I could spit!

However, I must reiterate my earlier warnings! GET A FIREWALL! GET ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE!

These are imperatives if you go on BB! (The thing about BB is that your computer is "open" all the time. Hackers have developed software that "scans" the net looking for ways into people's pcs. On the whole they are harmless to us mortals. But you never know what malicious little toad is lurking out there!)

On the plus side, surfing has been a hell of a lot quicker with BB, so (so far) I've no regrets, and I trust you won't either!

B :)
 
Monkeyman

I have already downloaded AVG. I also have Trend-PCillin 98 as a back up. Tomorrow I will have a go at downloading from zonelabs. Can't do it now as I am about to go to bed.

Thanks for your help mate.
 
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