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Post by showgirl on Jul 30, 2017 13:45:07 GMT
We've been with them for 10 years but John Lewis (i.e. Plusnet) really are rubbish and the service has gone downhill over the last couple of years. We'd like to move but don't want to give business to BT or Sky and we''re looking for a more reliable service, not a worse one, which rules out a lot anyway. The best seems to be Zen but they're really expensive, so if anyone here could recommend a reliable, affordable provider, I'd love to know, please.
We're not interested in including any tv or mobile phone services, which seems to limit the options, but an inclusive landline and calls bundle (which we have now) would be great.
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Post by glossie on Jul 30, 2017 14:14:01 GMT
I definitely recommend Zen Internet. I have home phone & internet. No, they're not one of the cheap as chips providers but paying that extra amount is worth every penny as far as I'm concerned for excellent customer service and a very reliable service.
When we had problems with our phone line, an engineer was sent out and it was fixed within a few days, - no "We'll get around to it when it's convenient" more "I've booked that in for the day after tomorrow if that suits you." And he admitted it was a line problem which should have been put right years ago when BT were our provider. New line, new connector, line moved to more convenient situation to come directly into the master socket.
I've been with them for years and when we moved here I was tempted to change to a cheaper provider but my one experience with the TalkTalk call centre was enough to send me speeding back to Zen!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2017 16:24:48 GMT
Plusnet is BT anyway. I've never had any problems with them personally, though the connection does drop occasionally.
EE are ok but not the cheapest.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2017 17:33:02 GMT
I've heard quite a few good things about Andrews + Arnold, also known as AAISP. They're not the cheapest but their users swear by them. I don't know if they still do it, but last time I looked they had a policy where if you were having significantly poorer speed or connectivity than you should get for your location then they'd undertake to sort the problems out as part of taking you on as a customer.
I was thinking of switching to them at one point, but decided to stay with my current ISP because I've been with them for over 20 years and that's kind of cool.
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19,787 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 30, 2017 17:47:34 GMT
Beware of the hype. Whoever you choose you're on the network that's provided and maintained by BT (Openreach) anyway.
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19,787 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 30, 2017 17:48:31 GMT
I've heard quite a few good things about Andrews + Arnold, also known as AAISP. They're not the cheapest but their users swear by them. I don't know if they still do it, but last time I looked they had a policy where if you were having significantly poorer speed or connectivity than you should get for your location then they'd undertake to sort the problems out as part of taking you on as a customer. I was thinking of switching to them at one point, but decided to stay with my current ISP because I've been with them for over 20 years and that's kind of cool. ...being the key words here. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2017 19:33:21 GMT
I've heard quite a few good things about Andrews + Arnold, also known as AAISP. They're not the cheapest but their users swear by them. I don't know if they still do it, but last time I looked they had a policy where if you were having significantly poorer speed or connectivity than you should get for your location then they'd undertake to sort the problems out as part of taking you on as a customer. ...being the key words here. Well, if you're a long way from an exchange you can't expect to get the highest speeds. The point of the offer is that it's often near to impossible to get some of the cheaper ISPs to fix things that are clearly problems. If you live just round the corner from an exchange and you're getting 6 Mbps speeds on ADSL2+ then there's something very wrong with your broadband, but some ISPs will adopt a policy of "if you can connect at all then it's fine". With Andrews + Arnold they'll investigate the problem instead of feeding you a line of bollocks about how speeds can't be guaranteed. |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 31, 2017 4:22:37 GMT
Thank you all for the helpful comments; I hadn't heard of AAISP, so will see if they're an option. I do realise that the dreaded BT Openreach are behind most provision (unless you have cable or satellite, I believe), but I'd prefer the interface not to be the other BT, too. We're not after great speeds, either, as we don't do anything fancy; we just want a reliable connection and decent customer service.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2017 5:36:59 GMT
Technically BT are very good, but to get to their technical people you first have to go through their call centre and many of their call centre staff are ... not so good. And that makes all the difference.
Not long ago I had a problem with my Internet connection. A third-party contractor employed by BT to set up a new cabinet had connected some of the wiring incorrectly and cut off my landline completely. BT's engineers sorted that out very quickly but my Internet connection still didn't work. I knew exactly where the fault was: although BT isn't my ISP I still need to run over BT lines to the exchange and through to my ISP, and the fault was the way my account was being validated by BT's initial equipment. It wasn't routing through to my ISP but instead to a dummy Internet service BT runs to deal with unrecognised accounts.
It took me ten days to get it sorted out, because BT's cretinous call centre staff decided that as BT wasn't my ISP the fault with my Internet connection couldn't possibly be BT's responsibility. On the tenth day I finally managed to get an engineer out, and when I described the problem to him he came to the same conclusion as I had, went round to the exchange, and had it fixed in half an hour.
So BT can provide good service. But unless you have the phone number of someone in upper management you're not going to get it.
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3,578 posts
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Post by showgirl on Jul 31, 2017 8:20:43 GMT
No wonder people hesitate to switch - so perhaps there's a need for a switching service such as that available for bank accounts, where the service does all the work and within a guaranteed time?
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19,787 posts
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Jul 31, 2017 8:33:14 GMT
...being the key words here. Well, if you're a long way from an exchange you can't expect to get the highest speeds. Im not sure everyone makes that connection... if you'll forgive the pun! |
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Post by showgirl on Jul 31, 2017 14:11:42 GMT
Thank you, theatremonkey.com - we do subscribe and I always check their site, but I thought I'd sound out people here, too. Also, some providers may be good but the sample size too small to feature in Which?
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Post by Phantom of London on Jul 31, 2017 19:25:57 GMT
That's true. Mine doesn't feature, but it's no use to you anyway as it's a business broadband package and costs more than domestic. On the other hand, I get 50mb minimum 24/7, fault fixing in 24 hours or compensation, and UK operated help from people I know. I bet that doesn't cost you £25 a month, with free UK landline calls. |
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 1, 2017 12:37:21 GMT
When you left TalkTalk, did they tell you they couldn't give a monkey's?
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5,159 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 2, 2017 12:22:43 GMT
So if you were so happy with their service, why did you leave?
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5,159 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 2, 2017 13:42:09 GMT
Yes, but why did you leave?
And by estate, you mean St George's Hill at Weybridge, right?
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5,159 posts
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Post by TallPaul on Aug 2, 2017 14:00:38 GMT
I wish. For the price of just one house on St George's, you could buy an entire suburb around me. For the price of a studio in London, you could buy an entire street.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2017 17:41:36 GMT
The other day I saw an online advertisement for one and two bedroom flats in some exclusive area. The difference in price created by the extra bedroom was more than the value of my house.
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