Author Topic: broadband (Read 5440 times)

Sarah-b · « **on:** December 06, 2004, 15:55:21 »

Thinking of getting broadband and hoping for some advice...

Will it completely muck up my home machine?
What does "monthly usage allowance" mean exactly?
What speed is good? - just for normal stuff?
What if i wanted to make our x-box live?

How does it all get installed? Does someone come to the house?

Thanks,
Sarah.

Palustris · « **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2004, 15:58:35 »

Avoid BT like the plague.

sandersj89 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 06, 2004, 16:05:51 »

Will it completely muck up my home machine?

Should not, it was very simple for me to get up and running other than BT taking an age to switch the line over to ADSL

What does "monthly usage allowance" mean exactly?

How much data you can transfer from the internet over the line to your computer. If you are not downloading TV, music, film then the lower limits should be fine for normal browsing, if you down load lots of music think about a higher limit.

What speed is good? - just for normal stuff?

512k is the standard and is fine for normal browsing, I am about to upgrade to 1mega service but I need this for work, large spreadsheets being moved around lots.

What if i wanted to make our x-box live?

Not tried this yet, though have spoken to people who do it and seems to be very easy, 512k should be fine.

This link might be of use:

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

Jerry

Roy Bham UK · « **Reply #3 on:** December 06, 2004, 16:49:45 »

We have Cable installed and are with Telewest, an engineer did have to call to set up the line, took less than 2 hours, it has been trouble free and speed will have been increased twice come January 2005 for the same price bring it up to 1 megabite 8)

Not sure if Telewest cover the London area yet. Try this link...
http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyonder/getContent.jspx?page=bbs_evenfaster

Sarah-b · « **Reply #4 on:** December 06, 2004, 21:31:45 »

Thanks for the good advice - as always!!

Am thinking about virgin 512k - is mant to be a surprise for oh for xmas - hmmm bit tricky to arrange...

sb

Jill · « **Reply #5 on:** December 06, 2004, 22:42:41 »

Hi Sarah, just to say my connection is with Virgin and altho' its not the cheapest around, it's been pretty good over the past two years. Didn't need anyone to come to the house - just plugged in a green fish-shaped thing and some filters. Easy peasy.

Palustris · « **Reply #6 on:** December 07, 2004, 08:57:46 »

Just a quick thought, look at the terms and conditions of your present Narrowband supplier. Some contracts are more difficult to terminate than others, if you want to change ISP. You may end up having to either keep both and pay for your old one for the remainder of the contract or pay the full amount to terminate. Most of them also insist on a months notice of termination.

Sarah-b · « **Reply #7 on:** December 07, 2004, 09:12:29 »

Our current ISP is BT and we don't seem to have any sort of agreement that I am aware of. It is a pay-as-you-go arrangement. I think we can just stop using it. I suppose I'd better check though!

Jill - that sounds encouraging...
Thanks,
Sarah.

Columbus · « **Reply #8 on:** December 07, 2004, 22:42:48 »

Hi Sarah,

A broadband modem-router will allow you to connect more than one pc and/or your x-box to the net at the same time. I believe the green frog modems don`t allow this (someone correct me if I`m wrong). We have two pcs on the net at the same time with no noticable reduction in performance. We have ethernet rather than wireless connections to the router.
I have used Demon internet for about 10 years+ without problems. I now get more internet for less cost than I ever did as the technology gets better all the time.

Col

derbex · « **Reply #9 on:** December 08, 2004, 11:55:47 »

My setup and ISP are the same as Columbus, I bought a SAR110 router -has a built in firewall, just plug the ethernet cable in and off it goes -even under Linux.

I imagine there's a newer, faster, cheaper, model now.

Jeremy

Columbus · « **Reply #10 on:** December 08, 2004, 18:44:59 »

I use a netgear DG814, the software makes a web page for setting up the net access, its easy enough to do. I got it from dabs as used stock so I saved a few quid. You might find this useful. No they aren`t paying me ;)

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware/reviews/2002/q4/netgear-dg814.asp

Best of luck, Columbus

or this
http://www.netgear.com/education/xbox.php

Gardengirl · « **Reply #11 on:** December 08, 2004, 22:13:35 »

All this talk of broadband is making me really jealous :( After getting everything set up a few months ago, modem connected, filters fitted, waited ten days to be connected, only to be told by BT that we could not get broadband in my neck of the woods. It is not as if I live in the back of beyond......how come Eric can get it and I can't :'( after all, he lives in the middle of nowhere by the looks of it ;) :D Did a check today only to be told again that we are too far from the exchange, but of course they are doing everything they can!!!

Rant over

Pat

simon404 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 05, 2005, 16:04:15 »

In case you,re interested Tiscali are now offering 1Mbps (20 times faster than dial-up) for £15.99 a month. No, they're not paying me.

Slaine · « **Reply #13 on:** March 05, 2005, 17:58:55 »

I've got the basic 300K link using NTL and a cable modem and i find it's more than enough for general browsing and downloads.

Plus there's no monthly throughput limits that i know of.

Cheers

George

Marianne · « **Reply #14 on:** March 05, 2005, 18:59:46 »

We have BT Broadband and are very happy with it. Initially it cost us to pay for the modem but apart from that, we pay the flat monthly fee.

If there is a problem logging on, we Restart the computer and it's back to its good old self.

:)

johcharly · « **Reply #15 on:** March 05, 2005, 19:05:17 »

I must agree Marianne I have had Bt Broadband for 18 months with not a problem, and I have just been upgraded to 2 MB for free.

Slaine · « **Reply #16 on:** March 06, 2005, 01:12:10 »

Extra bandwith is ok but it's the ratio to the local router the you need to take into account.

But if you cant get ntl or telewest then go with bt as most other people just resell bt products and bung in there own packages.

I know as i work for a telco and we do that for adsl, BT will give you the best rate long term, if someone is undercutting them then they are running at a loss which wont last.

Tis why i'm glad i'm using cable.

Ta

George

simon404 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 08, 2005, 14:49:18 »

Quote from: Slaine on March 06, 2005, 01:12:10

Extra bandwith is ok but it's the ratio to the local router the you need to take into account.

Could you explain a bit more?

Sarah-b · « **Reply #18 on:** March 08, 2005, 22:10:02 »

Thanks for everyones input.
I now have broadband fomr BT, an ADSl wireless router, and a nice new laptop with a wireless card - mmmm very nice - can't imagine going back to dial up now...

sb

NattyEm · « **Reply #19 on:** March 09, 2005, 15:16:50 »

Simon, tje ratio is how many people use the same bit of pipe. So you might have a 4 lane motorway, but if there are 4000 people sharing it you might still get stuck in a jam, whereas if there are only 20 people sharing it you shouldnt run into problems. Same applies to your broadband the contention is how many people share your allocation.

I'm with demon never had any problems. £25 for unlimited. Have a netgear wireless router.

News:

Author Topic: broadband (Read 5440 times)