Topic: Free Broadband

[Roy Bham UK]

I called into Carphone Warehouse today to inquire about this free broadband offer I saw on this mornings news.

It sounds too good to be true, £21.00 per month for "Talk Talk" landline, free to phone America, Canada, Australia, 28 european countries and all British landlines 24/7 10% reduction when phoning mobiles an extra 25% reduction if you pay an extra £1.50 per month free voicemail and free broadband at up to 8 meg. :o depending on how close you live to the server. 8)

I'm going for it even though I have to change to BT :-[

[adam04]

two things.

Check how far you are from the server as some smaller providers have one server and even though they offer 8 meg you may be that far from it you end up with a speed slower than dial up.

Also see if your limited or not. the new thing is to limit the boradband, they do this by saying you can only download a gig per month. This is fuine if you are only going on small sites but im guessing this site alone must use a fair bit of that, plus if your downloading music et then you will soon run out.

[Roy Bham UK]

I'm not very techy minded Adam but can add that they claim it is up to 150 times faster than dial up internet, 40GB monthly usage = more than a 1000 iTunes plus 100 one-hour TV episodes and still have loads left for all that blogging, surfing and googling each day, on-line security free for 90 days, 5 e-mail addresses and 15 MB of free web space. :o

Enough for me, me thinks  ;D ;D

[Diesel]

your broadband  (ADSL) speed will be restricted by how far you are from your local telephone Exchange not by how far you are from the server.So Roy if you are close to the exchange you might just find you get the whole 8 Meg which for that price is a good deal,if you look at it even if you are the max distance away from the exchange you should see speeds of 2Meg. Hope you enjoy it :) I think other ISP's may follow suit soon.

[Mac49]

Don't use a credit card with Carphone Warehouse online, I did, £1500 approx went out of
my account in 3 day's, that had been the only time I had used the card in 9 months, the
credit card company 'phoned me to ask where I'd used it, thats the only reason I knew,
they reimbursed me though.
Mac.

[Roy Bham UK]

your broadband  (ADSL) speed will be restricted by how far you are from your local telephone Exchange not by how far you are from the server.So Roy if you are close to the exchange you might just find you get the whole 8 Meg which for that price is a good deal,if you look at it even if you are the max distance away from the exchange you should see speeds of 2Meg. Hope you enjoy it :) I think other ISP's may follow suit soon.

Hi Diesel, would that be the distance from "BT" or "Talk Talk" ??? Although like you say if I get 2 Meg minimum and it's free, far better than up to 4 Meg for £25 per month, even the phone deal is £5 per month cheaper, so I rekon I will save £30 per month, not to be sniffed at eh? ;D

[beejay]

This may or may not be of any use, but this offer was the "Website of the Day" on Steve Wright's Radio 2 show.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/wright/wotd.shtml

[Roy Bham UK]

I'm putting the brakes on this for a moment as my current supplier is now offering me very similar terms, I imagine a lot of the service providers are now running around like headless chickens, this is great news for us all. ;D ;D ;D

[Margaret]

It may sound like a silly question,as it seems too good to be true but does it include the line rental or is it just the phone calls that are good value? I don't make many

I am on dial up and if i change to broadband with anyone i lose my low user scheme rebate with BT.I am quite happy with what i have at present through freeserve,just get frustrated  with how slow things are sometimes.

The other reservation i have is that after watching Watchdog last night and seeing how carphone warehouse treated their mobile customers,how do we know we can trust their service/offer?

[Diesel]

Hi Roy

Your line speed is all to do with your local BT phone exchange.I think the equipment used at the exchange along with the distance you are from it determines your line speed.

[Roy Bham UK]

It may sound like a silly question,as it seems too good to be true but does it include the line rental or is it just the phone calls that are good value? I don't make many

Yes Margaret it does it's made up of £11.00 monthly line rental that you pay "Talk Talk" instead of "BT" and £9.99 monthly to cover all free calls.

I am on dial up and if i change to broadband with anyone i lose my low user scheme rebate with BT.I am quite happy with what i have at present through freeserve,just get frustrated  with how slow things are sometimes.

Weigh up the benefits Margaret (see my first post) the main benefit is that you will have
free Broadband high speed 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and the phone package is unbeatable, I sound like I'm on a little earner hear don't I and the irony is I'm staying with "Telewest" as it's made them very nervous and they have given me a very similar deal. 8)

The other reservation i have is that after watching Watchdog last night and seeing how carphone warehouse treated their mobile customers,how do we know we can trust their service/offer?

A company as big as Carphone Warehouse can't afford bad publicity, I think you will find those that suffered any loss were reinburst. :D

Hi Roy                                   From Diesel

Your line speed is all to do with your local BT phone exchange.I think the equipment used at the exchange along with the distance you are from it determines your line speed. 

Thanks for that Diesel, it matters not now that I am staying with "Telewest" ;)

Here's a link for those that are interested.....http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-home-Home?bbcam=adwds&bbkid=talk+talk&x#

[Roy Bham UK]

The Money Programme BBC2 is on as we write it may be interesting for those who want to save money on "Broadband" ;D

[Jill]

Hi Roy.  I did catch the prog.  Confirmed for me that Talk Talk wasn't what I would go for but that I should be looking to get a better "package" deal.  Just wish I could move to France for Freebox!!!!

[Roy Bham UK]

Absolutely Jill, "Talk talk" just started the ball rolling and I'm so glad that they did as I followed the same path as the  guy on TV that didn't leave his "ISP" provider but asked them if they would compete and my "Internet Service Provider did, with extras ;D and that saved me £30 per month  ;D

That French deal was fantastic, just hope it catches on here  ;D

[WASSISNAME]

If you have Sky TV it may be worth a look at their new BB roll out.
Google for Talk Talk there are loads of complaints from customers as to payments etc