I'm changing ISP, help!

[nekokate]

I finally found out why 4oD doesn't work anymore on my PC, and also why my uTorrent downloads are going so slow - Tiscali.

Apparently Tiscali are throttling anything other than HTTP traffic really badly, and they all but block something called "Kontiki", which I've found out is the P2P software 4oD uses.

I'm also pretty bored with Tiscali in general - inconsistent speeds and zero tech support - so I've decided to migrate to another ISP.

My problem is I don't really know too much about the decent ISPs and the crappy ones. My area of (sort of) expertise is in hosting, so I know where to go to get a website hosted professionally, but not really where to go to get myself a decent ISP.

I've read a few articles on places like cnet and other discussion forums, and they all seem to be saying that you should steer clear of the big names, like Tiscali, BT, Virgin and all those because they all tend to do "traffic shaping", which is basically telling you you've got unlimited broadband and then not letting you use it during peak times (and I'm only ever online at peak times, I can't leave my PC on overnight, unfortunately!)

I'm looking for a reliable, professional ISP that isn't a big name but that will allow me to download extensively via uTorrent and 4oD, etc., etc., and not restrict me too heavily. I'm not too bothered about a bargain, either - I'm prepared to pay over the odds for a service that actually does what it says it does.

So far, I've found this ISP, and they look pretty cool - https://www.ukfsn.org/home/internet/adsl/maxallowance.html

I was thinking of the "Home MAX 30" or maybe even the "Home MAX 60" package.

Any of you tech-sperts got any advice or recommendations for me?

[faceless]

their peak hours are 08:00 to 22:00 and you're only allowed to use 30gb a month in those hours? That's not much at all for £19.99 a month - in fact, it's taking the michael!

I just looked at this on O2 and the premium one seems pretty good. I've checked their T+Cs and there's no obvious pitfalls.

http://broadband.o2.co.uk/packages.jsp

[Mandy]

I will defer to faceless's experience.

There are some price comparison web sites for ISP .. maybe one of those will help -- though you would be probably regarded as a heavy user .. and almost everyone has "fair use" clauses.

[Griffo]

You should check out Be as they seem to be awesome if you can get it in your area.

https://www.bethere.co.uk/

[major.tom]

I'm amazed at how low those prices are, Griffo. You'd have to spend over $50 for unlimited bandwidth in Canada, and no ISP (to my knowledge) has d/l rates that high. They're mostly 7-10 Mbps down.

*grumble*

[faceless]

that is a brilliant price for sure - I might even be tempted to get on there myself. The problem is that I'd have to get a BT phone installed

[nekokate]

O2 looks good, thanks, Face, and the price of that Be* provider seems really good, but I'm still skeptical. Like I said, I'm not looking for a bargain, I am willing to pay £30 to £40 a month for an ISP that will genuinely give me total freedom - no on-peak/off-peak shite, no capping if I use too much. Seems that most of the well known providers have this annoying fair use thing.

My problem is that I fully intend to download vast amounts, so I need a provider who will be aware of that and accept it.

[faceless]

I use Virgin Media XL which is limited to a maximum of 3gb downloads or 1.2gb upload between 4pm and 9pm. Other than those hours you can do as you like. It's £37 a month, but you'd need to have cable available and I'm not sure if you can just get the broadband without getting the phone and tv too.

[nekokate]

[nekokate]

I've narrowed it down to either "O2" or "Be*", but I still can't decide which is best.

O2 is slightly cheaper for some reason.

They both insist that there are no limits on bandwidth and when I ask about their fair use policy which states they can terminate the contract for "excessive network usage" they both refuse to give me a figure they would consider excessive.

Hmmmm, it's annoying. I might just toss a coin.

[luke]

do they lock you into contracts or can you pay just month by month?

when do you change isp, make sure the one you're canceling gives you some code - i can't remember what its called, a mac code or migration code or something, but without it you can have bit of a wait - when i moved once i didn't get the code and it took a couple of weeks

[faceless]

Having looked again, I reckon the Be* one seems best. Any limitations should be temporary though and you'll get used to working round it, if there is one.

[nekokate]

[faceless]

I've just heard more positive things about it in the past while, but now on looking closer it seems they are actually owned by O2... typical.

Bearing that in mind I reckon you'd be as well tossing the coin after all.