Recommendations for Broadband

Just popping here as ready to swap. I’m with BT, was with plusnet before. The BT router pumps out much stronger wifi than the old plusnet one I had before, which struggled getting signal upstairs even. No issues at all with BT but they want £30 when Now is £20 and only 12 months.
Can I use the BT gubbins if the Now box isn’t as good?
 
Can I use the BT gubbins if the Now box isn’t as good?

I doubt it, I suspect that if that was feasible millions would know about it and just get the cheapest BB after 12/24 mths with BT to get the kit (I may well be wrong) We are with Talktalk, been OK on the whole until you need to get tech support and then you talk to 'Brian' or 'Helen' who sound distinctly SE Asian. The 20 minute call could be done in about 3 but they repeat everything and talk bollox for half of the call. Recent issue was resolved and the attending engineer rated BT the best for BB, (and Talktalk "about the worse with PlusNet")
 
Just popping here as ready to swap. I’m with BT, was with plusnet before. The BT router pumps out much stronger wifi than the old plusnet one I had before, which struggled getting signal upstairs even. No issues at all with BT but they want £30 when Now is £20 and only 12 months.
Can I use the BT gubbins if the Now box isn’t as good?

I'm with Now. It's okay but the no-brand router is not as powerful for wifi as the outgoing D-link one supplied by Talktalk. Wifi extenders are fairly cheap but I have not bothered. It's only the bathroom affected so I just use 4G to stream Radio 4 when in the shower in the morning.

I have split the 2.5MHz and 5Hz bands on the router. 2.5MHz is capped at 35mpbs but has a longer range. This signal reaches the garden and is fast enough for streaming music. A 2.5MHz range extender is about a tenner if I needed it.

I signed up to Now via Topcashback and have had £80 back but still got the £21 a month deal
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/now-broadband/ has the same Super Fibre deal with £80 cashback and now £20 a month

Thing is now, your old ISP might want their kit back as they are required to recycle it. Talktalk can charge you £50 "environmental charge" if you do not return the kit.
 
Now the OP is sorted.....

Looking to get away from BT after 18 years. They charge me £62/month for 38MB broadband and unlimited calls inc mobiles (we do use this).

Best deal I can find is via Compare the Market - TalkTalk 67MB and Unlimited calls £31.45/month (plus £75 cashback, 18 month contract) plus £7.50/month to BT to keep our email addresses (b*stards - talk about anti-competitive behaviour). Shell do some good deals too (not sure who their ISP is though).

I will (try to) migrate away from BT Email forthwith, but after 18 years that is quite a job!

Anyone got a better deal?

Cheers,

A
 
Shell is just rebadged Talktalk. Despite the poor reviews, I had Talktalk for 2 years and they were fine. The odd billing query and contract negotiation after the first year were easily resolved using online chat. No waiting on the phone. Actual broadband feed was miles better than BT or Plusnet.

Have a look at Topcashback as well. I switched from TalkTalk to Now (part of Sky) and pay under £14 a month for 67Mb/s once the cashback is factored in. 12 month contract.

It works just as well as Talktalk for the internet, although the Sky router has a slightly shorter range so I use 4G in the garden.

Ditch the BT email in due course. Gradually switch online accounts to Gmail. Each account should have a secondary email for back-up facility so set this up and then flip to the gmail one as primary use. I did this years ago after using a Tesco one for a decade. Makes life so much simpler when you change ISP.
 
Cheers Wessie. I've been meaning to leave BT email but it will take a while! I assume your £14 is without calls, I will consider Topcashback too.

I have a separate Mesh set-up so whatever the router is, it is not important. Brilliant thing mesh - no more dropouts.

Any other opinions people?

A
 
Cheers Wessie. I've been meaning to leave BT email but it will take a while! I assume your £14 is without calls, I will consider Topcashback too.

I have a separate Mesh set-up so whatever the router is, it is not important. Brilliant thing mesh - no more dropouts.

Any other opinions people?

A

I think I get free calls to Now/Sky numbers but I do not use it. No actual phone plugged into the line. I think there was the option for a discounted calls package for the first year but I declined it. I use my mobile for the very rare voice calls.
 
Oh well, TalkTalk says they cannot offer services to my house, and Shell say they cannot transfer our landline number.

Still looking.....
 
Still looking.....

Back to the "new email address" aspect.....I've been with talktalk for years...probably 15+ and have just switched everything that needed it to a gmail email address prior to moving house. It wasn't quite as onerous as I'd expected....I just did the easy stuff...bank/utilities etc...then went through the various email folders and looked at what I'd need to update. Didn't turn out to be too much at all. I am a technophobe so was delighted when I found that anything that now goes to my talktalk acct automatically goes to Gmail as well.....so don't fear dropping the old provider.
 
Davey - yebbut, my passwords app tells me that my BT email address is my login for over 100 sites! You can still get BT email via web for free, so it's never gone.

I may take the opportunity to make myself a shorter (and anonymous) email address; my current one is too long, and my Gmail one is only 1 character less!

Anyway, it may all be moot - even Plusnet says they cannot quote for my address - and Plusnet is OWNED by BT!

My priority now is simply to find a supplier who will quote - I'm 4 miles from Northampton but in the wrong century.....

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.
 
had Sky for 2 years, no issues but stuck with a maximum of 67mb (up to). Mainly runs at 48mbps. was paying £30 and they were going to up it oto £35. Still reasonable, but I just changed to community fibre (not really sure who they piggyback on) but fibre to premises, free install, free router, picj a timeslot. 2 years for £27 a month. 250 -450mbps. Plenty compared to what we have now and a good saving. They use an Openreach telegraph pole (owned by BT) and run the fibre cable overhead from the pole to your property. To see how our we install full fibre broadband to your home
 
Oh well, TalkTalk says they cannot offer services to my house, and Shell say they cannot transfer our landline number.

Still looking.....

try this tool https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker
it should tell you who can provide a service - look for LLU or cable providers

I get this:
BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT Wholesale WBC (21CN)
BT Wholesale SDSL
Vodafone LLU
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband
Zen LLU
Virgin Media (Cable)

and we will have City Fibre as well as they put the fibre cables in a few months ago
 
Wessie, great link thanks.

I can get

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT Wholesale WBC (21CN)
BT Wholesale SDSL
BT FTTC
BT FTTP
Vodafone LLU
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Sky Broadband

Strangely it doesn't mention Gigaclear who closed roads in our village for a week 3 years ago digging FTTP trunk routes to each house.....they want only £17/month for 200MB up/down fibre but without any phone line.

Is it possible to get an independent VOIP service using our old BT landline number if we have bare broadband?

EDIT - YES I THINK (Answered my own question)

A
 
Used BT - never again, brainless f*cktards charged me £258 for 2 weeks' supply of internet and cut me off saying I had used my allowance...on an unlimited downloads contract! PlusNet is BT. Vodaphone when I cancelled my contract still tried to bill me for no supply without telling me I owed them anything, which they reported as a default on my credit score and took 6 months to notice (if you haven't already - check!) took 3 weeks to sort, no apology, or to the email from their customer services stating when I cancelled that I OWED NOTHING.

I have Sky/Virgin here where I live in the smoke and plenty of others. Virgin is very expensive, but they have the best network. Sky uses Fibre near here, but no one can get close to the up/down of Virgin (no pun intended). Just renewed last week for £44 a month for the 500 gig package, didn't want the phone so left it off, and also being with O2 via mobile, I get those offers also. Had 2 outages in 18 months never more than one day, and no compo offered. The only issue was when I got them to re-connect, they disconnected my neighbour to give me their supply during lockdown and then disconnected me and reconnected them, it wasn't a very polite call that I made and was sorted out before I had to even get past the word inept.

I needed the increase in data as my new job requires a lot of working from home.
 
BT has been stable for years for us (we've been on BT Broadband for 18 years!); it's just their pricing. I will try to negotiate, but asking for a £30/month reduction is unlikely to happen!

Gigaclear offers 200MB up/down for £17, but I know they will ramp it up after the 18 month contract. They offer 300MB at £20, 500MB at £25 (with a free Smart Wifi mesh worth £90) and even 900MB at £49/month (perfect for gamers/porn hubs!)

I will have to pay BT for email (£7.50/month - daylight robbery and so anti-competitive, yet OFCOM seems powerless to change it. You can have free access but only via a web interface, not IMAP).

I am thinking of ditching the landline by going VOIP. You can keep your existing landline number, and if you use an adapter box, you can connect your existing house phones rather than using an app on your smartphone. VOIP package from VirtualLandline is £7.95/month for unlimited calls, and their Buzzbox is £49.95 to reconnect the home phones to the VOIP.

All of the above means £31.45/month (plus £49.95 one-off) to get much faster broadband (FTTP) and free unlimited calls again, whilst keeping our email addresses and landline number.

Saves us £360/year.


QUESTION - Anyone got feedback on VOIP providers/technology?
 
Possibly true, but I'm going full fibre, so the copper line is redundant.

Gigaclear DOES offer VOIP, but only where they have got the equipment fitted. Fortunately for me, my area is ready, so £9/month for unlimited calls to UK landlines and (I think, must recheck) mobiles. An adapter to link existing home phones is included FOC and they can port your existing landline number too.

This is NOT publicised on their web page and NOT in their online ordering form. You must telephone to get it.

So £17 broadband + £9 call package + £7.50 BT fee to keep email = £33.50/month. Happy at that.

I could have reduced the BT package by £8.50 if you have a 700 minute limit/month. So still saving £20/month with much better speeds.
 
QUESTION - Anyone got feedback on VOIP providers/technology?

I'm fortunate to live in a village that has, in the last year, had fibre installed by B4RN as part of a community led project. B4RN will provide 1GB upload and download for £30 per month (edit, just remembered it went up by £3 last month). However, for the last year, whilst I've still been in contract with BT they have been providing this service for £5/month, this goes up to the full price when my contract with BT terminates in July.

I'll be moving all my emails to outlook.com (I have my own domain so I need only to change who I forward emails to).

For a VOIP service I will probably use Sipgate, but they do charge £30 to port a number. They provide a free service for incoming telephone calls, so I may just use my Mobile for outgoing calls, but they do have a very reasonable call plan for £9.95/month for UK phone numbers and mobiles. Fortunately, the Fibre router provided by B4RN has VOIP built in, so no adapter required to use existing land-line telephones.
 
We provide VoIP services (only to clients at sites that we operate so no good for domestic I'm afraid!) and charge £8/user/month + VAT with a call plan included.

Sipgate's £9.95 is very reasonable and they are a company that's been around for ages and have a good reputation.

As for the number porting - we get charged £20 for a number port so adding £10 on to that as an admin fee is also reasonable.

With BT killing the PSTN in the near future VoIP is becoming more and more popular but I'd say it's probably worth getting it sorted out now as I reckon there's going to be a bit of a mad scramble for it when the switch off happens.

The Sipgate Basic (the free plan) does allow you to make calls and do do call forwarding (you pay for the forwarded call) so if you only get very occasional calls on your landline then you might want to set up call forwarding to your mobile. You can always hang up and call them back as you probably pay less (if anything) for making the call on your mobile.

That's probably who I would use if I was setting up a VoIP phone at home.
 


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