Topic: Cheapest Broadband deals around?

[Shaz]

Hi Peeps, simple question for you, what are the best and cheapest broadband deals around at the moment? One of my other brothers, we shall name him 'Chorley Martin', is still on a penny a minute dial up   :shock:    , his girlfriend has recently moved in with him and has been trying to get him to sign up for broadband so she can study at home while she is doing a course at college! Anyway after much bullying and arm twisting off his sister  hes agreed that if she sorts it all out he will pay for it as long as it dosent cost more than £15 a month!!! They dont download much( no wonder if theyre still on dial up) :roll: , so any recommendations will be appreciated!!!!!

[Clive]

PLUSNET are reliable and do good deals.

[Simon]

Much as I HATE to admit it, as PC Pals has had lots of trouble with them as hosts for the website, I can't fault Pipex as a home broadband provider, and they are one of the cheapest to set up with.  With the 'Pipex Start' package, you get up to 2Mb broadband speed, capped at 1Gb per month (which is OK if you don't download much), free modem and set up, and 500 minutes of free phone calls per month, if you switch to them for your landline service.  It also says you get the first two months free, but I think that's only if you switch to them from another broadband provider.  Customer support leaves a lot to be desired, and once you have signed up, they won't give a toss about you as a customer, but hopefully you should hardly ever need to contact them.  Bearing that in mind, as they are one of the cheapest to get started with, they might be worth a look.

http://www.solo.pipex.net/

[Shaz]

Thanks fellas, just had a look at pipex deals think the 14.99 will be ideal for them,I think the offer of free calls will go down well with 'Chorley Martin' AKA 'Im a tight fisted sod'
To be honest i might sign up to them myself as ive been on wanadoo unlimited broadband since upgrading from wanadoo dialup, but im paying top wack for it, they keep sending me e-mails telling me im going to be upgraded to 8 MG soon  free of charge :susp: (im on 2 MG) but think theyre blagging me into keeping with them as they obviously know how many cheaper options there are now.
Ill keep you posted on developments!!

[Simon]

Remember the 1Gb capping, Shaz.  It doesn't go all that far once you start downloading stuff, which most are inclined to do when they first get broadband.  This is where these providers hope to get you.  Pipex is a good deal, no question, but just check out the small print with the free phone calls and what they charge for extra usage if you go over the 1Gb limit.  This doesn't just apply to Pipex by the way.  Most of the cheapish providers are capped.

[Shaz]

Dont worry Simon, I never sign up for ANYTHING without scrutinizing the small print first, a small piece of advice my late grandad   gave me when I was a child which Ive always adhered to :wink:
It amazes me how so many people take the sell tactics literally, then moan when they relise all is not what it seemed

[Lona]

A point to bear in mind when signing up Shaz, you have to take out a year contract with Pipex.

For the first time ever, Pipex were being slated on Ispreview forums this week for throttling ports to downloaders on PSP sites.

[Simon]

Jesus, Lona, I can hardly believe what I just read on ISPr!  Yet again, Pipex seem to be blatantly lying to customers, in denying that they are throttling ports, then admitting it the next minute!  This just goes to verify my point above, that they really don't give a stuff about their customers, once they are signed up.  That said, however, it could be that they are targetting specific users under the terms of the fair usage policy, and not actually throttling torrents in general.  I have been downloading torrents with no problems at all, but I have recently noticed a decrease in upload speed, which affects my rating on a certain music download site, as it now takes me about 10 hours to reseed something I downloaded in about 3 hours, to maintain my share ratio.  I had put it down to the torrent client, but I may try a different one to see if there's any change.  

Pipex still offer one of the best start up packages around, but they will never be your best friend, and do not seem to value their customers one iota.

[chorleydave]

Which just answers my question of a few weeks ago:

"Does anybody actually benefit from broadband".

I have the latest version of Onespeed and I might nip round tomorrow and put that on the computer.  If it looks good (and they only surf and use email) I might encourage them to avoid BB and go onto a non-contract monthly fee dialup package.

It shouldn't be too difficult.  Martin is like me.  Cynical and not easily taken in by offers that are too good to be true.

[Shaz]

we had better find them something suitable for her needs and his price range before this happens
Its causing friction and Im sick of getting dragged into it  
,so if your idea fits the catagory then get round there asap an sort em out before theres a bloodbath  

Oh by the way Dave my dearest, seeing as you do most of your downloading at my house due to no limit restrictions I can see why you might not need broadband anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!! :wink:  :heehee:
PS
scousers on at 1 and chelsea on at 4 if you want to come round,usual clan will be here

[chorleydave]

I tried to bring up the topic in the pub last night, but Martin insisted on not talking about computers!

I've just remembered that Holly told me that the computer has started freezing up completely and that the only way to get it back is to hit the reset button, so they might want to sort that out before broadband.

[Clive]

Dave, did you read http://pc-pals.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18512

I also understand that they downlaod your e-mails and you have to ask onespeed to have them back.

[Simon]

Just as an update, I have had a fiddle with my torrent client, and I have managed to now get a better upload speed by limiting the amount of slots available.  Apparently, I was "choking" before  :ooo:  so I can't blame Pipex for that.  I think it could be that they are throttling heavy downloaders under the fair usage policy, as I am still getting reasonably healthy download speeds, but of course, it does depend on the upload speed of the seeders.

Here's a few quotes from the OnSpeed FAQs: http://www.onspeed.com/en/find_out_more.php :-

How does ONSPEED work

As you cannot physically change the speed of your Internet connection, ONSPEED uses a technology called Content Sensitive Compression ('CSC') to individually compress each element of a web page or email using various compression algorithms based on a patent approved proprietary technology. The end result is that your web pages and emails (PC only) load and download faster using your existing Internet connection.

When your web browser requests a web page, the ONSPEED software redirects that request to the ONSPEED compression servers. They take the respective web page content, compress it and send it back down to the ONSPEED software which decompresses it and sends it to the browser requesting the information.

ONSPEED offers a unique, patented technology called ?Advanced Imaging?, enabling you to receive fully viewable and instantly usable web pages, while maintaining the maximum quality of images. Advanced Imaging delivers all images on a page simultaneously. You continue to browse web pages while images are being progressively loaded. Image quality progressively improves until images have reached lossless quality.

ONSPEED?s dedicated algorithms compress the following elements:
      Text
      HTML objects
      Photo-realistic images (e.g. Compressed and uncompressed JPEG, PNG, Compressed and uncompressed GIF, and BMP)
      Line art and drawings (e.g. GIF, BMP)
      Animated objects (GIF)
      Office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
      Macromedia Flash

If a web page or email contains information that is not covered by a dedicated algorithm, ONSPEED will apply a generic compression algorithm to that data element.

Can I use my existing telephone line at the same time as using ONSPEED?

If you are using a Dial-up Internet connection, your telephone line will continue to be used exclusively for your Internet connection while you are online. Adding ONSPEED on top of your existing Dial-up Internet connection will not give you the ability to free up your telephone line. This is because ONSPEED does not replace your current Internet connection. It makes your existing Internet connection faster.

If you are using a Broadband Internet connection and have added ONSPEED, you will continue to be able to use your telephone line for voice calls while you are online.

What are ONSPEED's limitations?

ONSPEED speeds up your web browsing and sending and receiving of emails.

ONSPEED does not increase the size of your Internet connection. It compresses the data received hence speeding up your web browsing experience. ONSPEED does not replace your existing Internet Service Provider (ISP) and is to be used in conjunction with your existing Internet connection.

ONSPEED will not accelerate browsing over HTTPS (secure websites), file downloads or uploads such as QuickTime files, MP3, AVI, MPEG, exes or streaming media content (over FTP or file sharing programs). ONSPEED will accelerate both compressed and uncompressed JPEG, PNG and GIF files.

All AOL Users: You can only use ONSPEED outside of the AOL and Internet Explorer browsers. If you would like to use ONSPEED for your web browsing, please download an alternate web browser to surf the web. AOL blocks certain ports within its browser which make ONSPEED incompatible with AOL at present. To achieve email acceleration with AOL, you need to use your AOL web mail through the alternate web browser. Once you have purchased ONSPEED and downloaded and installed the alternate web browser, please click here for detailed instructions on how to configure the alternate web browser.

It should be noted that that last bit seems to indicate that you can't use OnSpeed with Internet Explorer, which in many ways is a good thing, as Firefox is a much better alternative!

[Shaz]

It should be noted that that last bit seems to indicate that you can't use OnSpeed with Internet Explorer, which in many ways is a good thing, as Firefox is a much better alternative!

You still Firefoxs NO1 fan then Simon!!

[Simon]

Well, Mozilla actually, Shaz, but as they are stopping development of it, I will have to move fully to Firefox soon.  :smile