I would be wary of many reviews and consumer groups… many web site consumer review sites I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.
The Ofcom report is the only review I would trust for fixed line, mobile and broadband… and there is differentiation or parity on key categories between providers and also trends so I don’t think really that tricky at all. You choose what is important to you, cross check with the Ofcom report and if available in your location and at the right price point for the service levels you want then consider subscribing.
From a ‘speed’ perspective, those that use the Openreach network are going to be reasonably consistent, although on superfast if you are at the main transition curve distance from the street cabinet, you could see a fair amount of variation between ISPs… due to the settings they use to optimise the modems on their routers, and different ISPs may suffer from different amounts of congestion on the backhaul. Virgin for example has suffered in the past with this.
I would check for reliability and customer service.
Thanks @Simon-in-Suffolk some helpful stuff your posting and in reasonably lay terms.
I wonder if you might be able to comment on the following (sorry it’s going to be in very basic layspeak)
My wife has an IT support package for her work, she was talking to one of their techies re Broadband who said that most if not all broadband providers never deliver the claimed speeds and this is intentional as they want to keep persuading you to pay for higher speed packages. I’m not sure how he explained the technology but he claimed they do something which deliberately limits the speed to a level below what one is paying for. He said that a gadget can be bought for around £15 that connects, I’m guessing between the incoming cable and router, and “unscrambles” whatever it is that creates the limiting enabling the full speed to be recieved.
Is there something in this or is he talking nonsense do you think?
Well that’s actually quite reassuring I was expecting to hear much higher figures than that.
Which then makes me wonder why or if theres any need to pay for so called super fast packages with claims of 100, 200mbps or higher
if you had a large family or heavy users - or wanted to do very high speed video downloads it may well help - but for the average family use I suspect that is more than required - although in marketing bigger numbers often look better
I’ve been with Virgin for 2 years, and have just agreed a new 18 month contract. I have broadband, TV and phone.
My download speed is 242 mbps and upload 36.
If you’re only getting 30 to 73, then surely Virgin need to investigate and resolve as they are breaking their contract.
Renewal pricing is frustrating and annoying I agree. I’ve had to play hardball at both my renewal dates but eventually agreed renewals at rates similar to new customer rates.
Yes that’s correct as I pointed out in an earlier post. They are also signed up to the Ofcom minimum speed guarantee, in my case 100mbps. I do believe though as has been highlighted by BBC Watchdog amongst others that they claim to offer speeds that they just cant consistently deliver.
And yes they’ve agreed to investigate the speed issue and said the earliest they can send an “engineer” is a date which is the day before my contract is due for renewal, Ha, cute!
I once had a client who insisted on using TT & to be fair, I did achieve a good connection, despite being well over the 5.4Km BT ‘limit’ with a slightly tweaked DG834 router. DG834s had an excellent S/N ratio in their day.
I use Vodafone and they have been the best service I have had. You can use your own routers with them also.
Customer service has been brilliant. I never get my promised speed but they discount every month because of it and this makes them one of the cheapest providers also.
I dont think there in my area West Sussex. Plus we need a Broadband & Phone package that includes unlimited calls, TV is not essential as long as decent Broadband connection to watch TV via internet
I use Sky for Broadband, land line and mobile phone, and their reliability and support service has been excellent.
They also have what I believe to be a sensible approach to promised broadband speeds. When I upgraded my contract (free of charge) recently I was told that my contract entitled me to 75 mbps download speed, but that this would be dependant on my specific location. They did guarantee 45 mbps for my area which would have been good enough for me, but ever since the upgrade some months ago, I have been consistently getting 76 mbps.
I know that this download speed is no longer considered to be particularly high, but it’s more than enough for my household needs, and I couldn’t be happier.
I stream everything. I use the NDX2 with qobuz in flac.
Use Netflix. I have 6 Ring internet security cameras surrounding the house plus a family that live on phones and iPads.
I have never suffered with dropouts, stability issues and I have never run out of bandwidth.
Have been with Vodafone for over 2 years now… one outage in that time which was a total network failure in my area, mobile out as well. Phoned support, who answered immediately I had navigated the menu system, and told me the problem.
I get the promised speed (superfast 1) and stream audio and films with no drop outs down here in Cornwall.
100% improvement over Plusnet my previous provider.
Thanks NFG, yes they do. My Wifes been checking them out, she says they dont include unlimited phone calls which is essential to us as she works from home on the phone and internet.
