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cable/bt tossup

Started by |fury|, November 01, 2007, 09:39:40 AM

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|fury|

Seems the new house we're moving to hasn't had a BT line connected for a while, so if we get a BT line we have to pay the full installation fee, so I'm considering other options.

What do people think of the cable option? I'm open to the idea of cable broadband in theory, but don't know shedloads about it so would appreciate comments from those with the benefit of experience.

If we stay BT we can keep our number as it'll be the same exchange and I'll go to be for my broadband

TV is a non-brainer btw - since being taken over by Sky, I get Sky World for free so don't need to worry about that aspect of the deal

Arathrael

Cable... well, my experience (so far) is as follows:

I signed up online. That bit went fine.
They sent me two different sets of details.
The cable modem was supposed to arrive before 9am on a Friday. It arrived after 9am. On Tuesday.
When I went to register it, neither set of details worked.
When I rang them, they told me I had to ring a premium rate number because the standard rate customer services people don't have access to the systems they need. Eventually got it registered and working.
They sent me a random angry demand for £15 - this was before the connection was even working. I rang them up to ask them what it was for and they said it was for delivering the modem before 9am on a Friday. I said "but you didn't" and they refunded me. Or at least they said they did.
Later I found out they were overcharging me - I signed up for a £10 a month promotional rate, which they then ignored and charged me the standard £18 a month instead. The customer services guy sorted that one out quite quickly though.

Also, the connection isn't that great. They seem to occasionally have problems with their network which takes them a while to sort out. It's ok for £10 a month for the 2mb connection, but I'm not remotely tempted to pay for more. So I wouldn't recommend cable myself. It's probably ok if they get everything right, but I think the odds are that won't happen. And then you'd have the phone side of things as well - even more for them to screw up.

Having said that, when I moved it took BT over a month to move the active line over to me, despite them regularly assuring me it'd be done in a few days. So they suck too.

So basically, I think you're screwed whatever you do. :banana2: But if it was me, I'd stick with BT. At least they don't make you call premium rate numbers.
Cave Cricetum! :hammering:

rover

i too have had cable when i was in blackpool only real problems with it was the person who's account it was not paying on time.
when i moved in to this flat it took BT almost a month to come out and fix the line but since then ive had no problems (apart from nildram not paying me back when i left them)

Cromlech

I have never had cable, but my sister has had cable in two places amd a nightmare each time.

I have never had a problem with BT directly since having BB at our current place, the only problems I ever had were with demon themselves. Hence the forthcoming move to be.


|fury|

thanks for the comments guys, BT it is then ;)

Calibrax

I wouldn't consider anything other than cable. Fast, reliable, and losing connection is rare. I have no complaints at all, especially having heard some of the nightmare stories about ADSL connections, and having experienced my parent's ADSL which disconnects all the time without warning.

I guess ADSL might be ok if you live very near the exchange... but for me, it's cable FTW.


mrstella

Yeah cable rocks, never had a problem with it and 20Mb rocks

Spyke

Quote from: mrstella on November 03, 2007, 12:41:15 PM
Yeah cable rocks, never had a problem with it and 20Mb rocks

20Mb?? Holy (insert fav curse word here)... Am I misunderstanding that you mean 20 Meg per second?

I'm currently at .5 Mb here on DSL and waiting for the Cable company to hook me up at a Blazin' 1.5 Mb !

20Mb? 20? omfg! I feel sick.

RichardWhitely

I play games on a:
ZX Spectrum 48K | Grundig C410 cassette recorder (adjustable head) | 20BT TV Philips Multistandard Color V37cm | ZX Interface 2 | New Kempston Compatible Competition Pro Switched Joystick | Sinclair BASIC OS

Undergrid

* Undergrid has 22Mbit/s  :banana2: :badger:
QuoteIn the force if Yoda's so strong, construct a sentence with words in the proper order then why can't he?

Calibrax

Quote from: Spyke on November 03, 2007, 01:28:18 PM
20Mb?? Holy (insert fav curse word here)... Am I misunderstanding that you mean 20 Meg per second?

I'm currently at .5 Mb here on DSL and waiting for the Cable company to hook me up at a Blazin' 1.5 Mb !

20Mb? 20? omfg! I feel sick.


Yep, I'm on 20Mb too :)  And Virgin's 50Mb trials are running, I know someone in Ashford who is on it, and he says it's awesome. Will be rolled out nationwide at the beginning of next year apparently. ADSL can't compete with that!  :banana2:


JohnnyFind

BT line, Be 24Mb/2.5Mb upload and sky HD ftw  :badger:

I'm just back from Norway, hello everyone  :D

Col

Hi JF   :meuh: how you finding Be? I'm thinking of migrating to the same package you have ;)

mrstella

Quote from: Undergrid on November 04, 2007, 02:04:52 AM
* Undergrid has 22Mbit/s  :banana2: :badger:

Yep but wont be long before i have 50  :banana2: :banana2: :banana2: :banana2:

RichardWhitely

#14
Quote from: mrstella on November 11, 2007, 06:31:38 PM
Quote from: Undergrid on November 04, 2007, 02:04:52 AM
* Undergrid has 22Mbit/s  :banana2: :badger:

Yep but wont be long before i have 50  :banana2: :banana2: :banana2: :banana2:

And more traffic shaping than you can shake a stick at, one wonders if Virgin will have the network capacity to cope with 50Mbit/sec...

I shall quote this little gem from the Virgin Cable forums on AG ;)

"But be warned, many of us experience awful speeds in the time most people can access the Internet (16:00 - 24:00), streaming does not work, software downloads just fade away and all is not well. The fact that this happens in the time slot available to most working folks and as such makes mockery of Virgin Media's capacity management concepts. VM has a self imposed built in quarrel with its customers.

Then you must add to this the simple fact of life that since the merger, Virgin Media has proven to be a very ineffective manager of both network and people resources to the extent that many of us who experienced superb service under Telewest, now get a pretty lousy experience must of the time. "

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=virgin_cable&Number=3167567&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=0&fpart=all&vc=1

Certainly with regards to network capacity investment Virgin have some way to go.

Not that BT doesnt suffer from the same problems, as they do also. Even LLU may come under the same problems as more and more exchanges are unbundled.
I play games on a:
ZX Spectrum 48K | Grundig C410 cassette recorder (adjustable head) | 20BT TV Philips Multistandard Color V37cm | ZX Interface 2 | New Kempston Compatible Competition Pro Switched Joystick | Sinclair BASIC OS