Which Broadband? (Thinking of changing)

[Kingy]

I'm with BT - Infinity 2 Unlimited Fibre. With line rental. 

I do need true unlimited as my average download usage over the last 12 months is 380 gig a month.
 
So, current costs are : 

Infinity 2 Fibre: 32.50 per month with £6 discount for duration of contract = £26.50 per month.

Add line rental (£18.99 to that) and my monthly cost is £45.49 per month (plus any calls made). 

BT are increasing their prices so I can move without penalty if I want to. They are offering me a 'deal' to stay which (including their increase) is £47.49 per month all in. I do get a shiny new BT Hub 6 though if I stay which they are saying is worth £129.99

So, staying with BT will get me a new hub but cost me £2 a month more, plus start a new 18 month contract. 


I can't get Virgin / cable in this area, so the main providers I'd be looking at are Sky and Plusnet. I'd rather not bother with TalkTalk as they have been poor locally. 

Anyone on either of these (Fibre) and able to give appraisals and cost ideas? 

Thanks.

[FraserG]

I'm with Virgin fibre (which I know doesn't help you) so can't comment on the fibre stuff of Sky or Plusnet, however, I did have Sky when I was in second year of uni (2011-2012 academic year) and the service was terrible and the customer service was non-existent.

The begin with, we ordered the internet + phone (no TV) to be installed on the 1st week of September, when we were moving in, approx. 3 weeks before term started. On the day of install they didn't turn up and when phoned gave some excuse and rebooked us for the 1st week of October instead. So we spent the first few weeks of the house without internet, and crucially the first couple of weeks of term without the ability to check timetables, or access resources, etc. Worse - I couldn't play my online games!!

Then in the November, the previous tenants decided they wanted the number for their new house, so they organised with their providers to get it, to which Sky then cut us off with no warning (no letters, email, phone, nothing) because they (incorrectly) thought it was us moving house to a new house wanting the number. When we complained when the internet suddenly went off, we were told that it would take a month to get someone out to reconnect us.

During the academic year the service would drop out regularly, sometimes for minutes at a time, but often only for a few seconds. Not a problem unless, like me, you're trying to stream something or play an online game that kicks you off when you have no internet connection to the game server. I made notes of everytime it dropped for a couple of weeks (well, everytime I noticed it anyway) and it was dropping out for about 2 hours a week collectively, but only for moments at a time. Sky could never get to the bottom of it.

When it came to leaving the house they tried some f**kery to make us pay for ending the contract early. Why? Because of the f**k up in the November, they'd put us on a new contract instead of fixing the old one. So we had 3 months remaining of a 10 month contract as far as they were concerned (when in the original contract we were on time for 10 months). Luckily we got out of having to pay any early cancellation/remaining fees for simply reminding them of their f**k ups in the beginning and complaining that because of the drop outs we weren't getting the service we had been paying for anyway and that they could either accept the contract ending or cancel it early but in either case they were getting f**k all more money out of us. Dunno how they sorted it but have not paid a penny to Sky since.

As mentioned, this wasn't fibre, just normal broadband. And it was a few years ago. And others may have had better experience. But I personally won't use Sky for a very long time. They were cheaper than Virgin when I got my fibre initially but Virgin did a deal enhancer for us so we went with them, plus they weren't Sky! I dunno whether they were trying to take advantage of students or what, but that was my experience with them, and so, would not recommend them personally.

Not used or know anyone that has used Plusnet though so can't give an opinion there. Sorry!

[Kingy]

Thanks Fraser. Food for thought. I've had shite bb in the past too and will never use the company (Eclipse) again. 

I may speak to Sky, but their service checker is saying I can't get their 'Max' service so I'm not too happy about that anyway. We have me (streaming) and two teenagers hammering wifi/bb so I need the fastest unlimited or their will be hell to pay! Samee games online a lot so dropouts would (as you say) be a mare. 

A neighbour has Plusnet, but I'm not sure which package. He has had issues though as I've been round sorting it for him a couple of times. (I have a small hammer for delicate jobs!).

Still very interested to hear other experiences though. 


If all else fails I may opt for 'Zen'. I use them for work and they are superb. BT's increases have now put them in the game as they are £46.99 a month - although there is a £36.99 one off charge for connection and p&p of router. They are a proper company though - based in Rochdale, loads of awards and no throttling/ no fair usage or traffic management (which Plusnet advertise that they do on a constant basis).

[speedymadR6]

I am with Sky, but like BT are putting up prices so I can move should I wish to do so.

Not had any issues with them since swapping, download and upload speeds are reasonable (30 for download) so all good for streaming etc. I pay £20 a month for unlimited broadband which seems competitive to me plus it just makes things easier as tv etc is all with Sky.

[Kingy]

(02-13-2017, 05:44 PM)speedylovesDeadpool Wrote: Not had any issues with them since swapping, download and upload speeds are reasonable (30 for download) so all good for streaming etc.  I pay £20 a month for unlimited broadband which seems competitive to me plus it just makes things easier as tv etc is all with Sky.

We do have Sky (TV). I never use it but Yaz likes the series link element of it as she can't get her head around recording on the SAT box. (It's pretty much identical, but there you go). 
At present we have the basic TV package free for a year as that covers what Yaz requires. 
I cancelled Sky a few months ago and before I got round to stripping the box out they came on with offers, eventually offering 12 months for £0.00 - So we (Yaz) accepted that.   

So it would be easy to add Sky Broadband / Phone line to the 'package' - which is why I'l probably speak to them and see what they can offer. I had a quick look earlier and Sky Fibre Unlimited is on offer at £30 a month (18 month contract) which includes line rental. That's the 34mb download though. I'd prefer the 'MAX' (60mb downloads) at £35 a month but computer says no - so it would mean a mind numbing time wasting death inducing phone call to Sky. 

What does bother me though is that despite saying 'Unlimited', the smallprint does say ...

Sky Fibre, Sky Fibre Unlimited & Sky Fibre Max: Availability subject to location and survey. £50 standard fibre activation fee. Maximum home download speeds: Sky Fibre and Sky Fibre Unlimited - up to 38Mb; Sky Fibre Max - up to 76Mb. Speeds vary by location. Sky Fibre monthly usage – 25GB.

... The bit I'm concerned about is "Sky Fibre monthly usage - 25GB". Which is fook all use. So that would need to be questioned as it may be part of a 'fair usage policy' which then results in 'traffic management' or 'throttling'. 
As we use (on average) over fifteen times more data per month any monthly usage limits like that would be spent in the first two days!   Then we would be in buffering hell.

[speedymadR6]

Just give your hand a rest for a while and your download would reduce to a few gb a month!

[Yogi]

I have unlimited fibre large with Zen.

It's OK but not noticably any better than the previous. provider talktalk

The one time I had cause to ring support, they were very helpfull, I could understand what they said (which helps) but I ended up finding and fixing the problem myself.

I don't like the fact that they don't include mobile minutes in the plan.

As Gert, keeps ringing our eldest at Uni, on the landline instead of her mobile. It bumps the bill right up.

No caller display either.

I'm going to try plusnet in April when the current contract expires.

[Kingy]

(02-13-2017, 08:32 PM)speedylovesDeadpool Wrote: Just give your hand a rest for a while and your download would reduce to a few gb a month!

Arf! 

(02-13-2017, 10:11 PM)Yogi Wrote: I have unlimited fibre large with Zen.

It's OK but not noticably any better than the previous. provider talktalk

The one time I had cause to ring support, they were very helpfull, I could understand what they said (which helps) but I ended up finding and fixing the problem myself.

I don't like the fact that they don't include mobile minutes in the plan.

As Gert, keeps ringing our eldest at Uni, on the landline instead of her mobile. It bumps the bill right up.

No caller display either.

I'm going to try plusnet in April when the current contract expires.

We are with Zen (ADSL) at work. I won't move from them as their support was nothing short of amazing with a significant problem we had. EE/Orange washed their hands of us and their Indian call centre was useless. We kept getting broadband dropouts - sometimes for days. Left EE and went with Zen. The issue went for a month or so then was back again. BT tried to blame it on our machinery, but Zen insisted it wasn't. It took about 3 months to resolve and we had to put up with BT bellends turning up with AM radios and spectral analyzers demanding we stopped and started machinery so they could listen for 'noise' issues. Throughout this Zen kept insisting on a resolution and eventually BT agreed to a 'lift and shift' at the exchange and new cabling from the nearest box to our premises. I'm 100% certain that without Zen pushing this all the way we would have been left high and dry. 

I'm looking at Plusnet, but I'm quite concerned with their traffic management which is always active. (They prioritise your personal / household traffic according to their agenda). Price wise they are cheapest (alongside Sky with their 'reduced customer offers'), but in both cases they appear to have usage policies hidden away in smallprint. (As does BT Infinity 1 with 25 gig and 45 gig 'fair usage' caps many folk may not be aware of).

I have a feeling I may end up staying with BT on my current Infinity 2 plan (better the devil) or moving to Zen as, whilst I won't see any improvement in speed, I will def have no concerns over traffic management or throttling. 

And Yogi - I know what you mean about using landline minutes. It's ridiculously expensive nowadays. Yaz uses the landline when she has free minutes on her mobile which go unused every month. I'm one step away form taking the landline phones out of the house to stop her making calls as we only really need the landline for BB anyway!

[Kingy]

After much deliberation I'll most likely take the BT offer. It will only save me 50p a month from 2nd April (when prices go up) but I'll get a new Hub 6 out of the deal. I've no issue with BT and with our usage I'm thinking along the lines of 'better the devil you know' to avoid issues. 

If I go with Zen I need to buy a router upgrade as their standard one is shite. That adds £10 a month over the contract term so isn't really worth it. 

If I go with others (Plusnet / Sky) their routers are shite, they have 'traffic management' in the smallprint and oddly can't offer me (in Sky's case) the same speeds I can get now. With regards to Plusnet I also don't like the smarmy Yorkshire chubby bastid that does the ads so they can do one.  

So, looks like I'll be staying loyal to BT. Mind you - I'm doing this in full knowledge that I'll have another opt our before the term ends as they increase prices every 9-12 months so there is no way they will see out an 18 month contract!

[Kingy]

Stayed with BT.
Main reasons are those in the last ^^ post.
Have a new Hub 6 waiting to be installed when I get chance.