Changing Internet Service Provider

[Garden Manager]

After suffering from regular disconnections of late we have decided to look into changing our ISP from AOL to something better. In investigation though  finding something similar which is better value for money than AOL seems somewhat of a minefield.

What we want is:

High connection speed (around 8mbps)

Unlimited downloads

Availabilty of the above in out area (this appears to vary).

Good (ideally free) customer support.

No setup charges and ease of set up

Value for money and reliability

What we dont want is:

A telephone service (happy with the one we have from BT thanks)

Slow connection

Limited downloads

Unreliable connection and poor value for money.

Premium rate customer service phone calls

Other addons that push up the price.

Monthly fee of more than £25 per month

Can anyone recomend a provider that fits the bill? (no pun intended). Bit of a tall order I know.

Thanks

PS: Have investigated O2, Sky and BT and found to be unsuitable

[Garden Manager]

[BarriedaleNick]

I have been with Demon for over 12 years and I think they are very good.
http://www.demon.net/demon/products/internetaccess/broadband/home

No setup fees - free router - unlimited (they do have a far use policy but I download 10s of Gb every month with no issues). Support is in India but it costs 10 p a min

Also check http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk/ or http://www.ispreview.co.uk/ for comparisions between ISPs

[manicscousers]

been with a few but very satisfied with virgin  :)

[Uncle Joshua]

BT'S homehub always needed rebooting for me, Virgin isn't bad but costs too much, Talktalk while hosted bu AOL is very cheap (£7.00 per month) and mine hasn't dropped off in the six weeks we've had it.

[jimtheworzel]

T  mobile   £15 Month

[dtw]

The speed you get is dependant on how far you are from the exchange, nothing to do with supplier.

[tiger47]

I have had appalling service from Tiscali which will now become Talk Talk , i will not be staying with them long term .
Take a look at BE if you need an Unlimited package with a good up speed ...

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/homepage

[Mr Smith]

We are in this exact position with BT can someone direct me to a provider with call centres and contacts in the UK, 

[Sholls]

We are in this exact position with BT can someone direct me to a provider with call centres and contacts in the UK, 

I've been with Eclipse internet for several years (sadly, the generous subscription package I'm on is no longer offered), their call centre is somewhere near Exeter.

My experience has been positive, I've only had to call twice the entire time I've been with them; once to technical support where I queued for less than two minutes, the other to customer services who (much to my surprise) picked up straight away.

[Garden Manager]

Thanks for replies. Still a bit of a minefield though isnt it? Even with the extra info and recomendations are still not sure what to do. Demon looks interesting, have been recomended it by someone else too.

Any other help or advice woud be appreciated.

Thanks

[Larkshall]

I have had appalling service from Tiscali which will now become Talk Talk , i will not be staying with them long term .
Take a look at BE if you need an Unlimited package with a good up speed ...

https://www.bethere.co.uk/web/beportal/homepage

I've been with Tiscali for several years, the only problem I've had is when BT Openreach broke my line when connecting a new line next door. I notified Tiscali (by mobile phone) and they got BT Openreach to reinstate it within 24hrs (and gave me a £6.00 credit).

[Nemesia]

I use AOL which seems to have a bad name but I have been with them for ten years and only had to ask for help a couple of times. I send emails and they respond by email which is great  One of the Techie lads on MSE told me to haggle with them about my subscription when I was changing to Broadband. I did and it worked.  I pay by credit card each month £6.99 (they take it, I don't have to remember) and I also got a free router.  Talk Talk now own the UK part of AOL.  By the way the help is free.

Re telephone calls - we are low users and our monthly bill is between £2-4 - amazing. This is with Primus. The price for Australia is only 4p minute, same as Spain and many other places. Have a look at their web site. They are called Planet Talk/Primus.

I can't find the speed right now but can come back if you wish. I bought a Sony laptop last Christmas.

Finally, it is recommended to stay with BT (on MSE) in the event of any phone problems. I pay them £12 month. Total therefore about £21/22 which includes phone calls.

[steve76]

Ntl or virgin as they are called now got the whole package with them and have never had a major problem with thembeen with them 5yrs +