DSL help (uk)

[millar876]

First off, i dont know if this is in the best place, so feel free to move it somwhere better if needed.

Ill start with saying im annoyed with BT, I went with them for broadband because they said they support macs <now i know better type chuckle>, so i got my own router and for a time all was good, UNTIL BT said that they would be looking at emposing limits on their servise (15GB on 512Kbps lines and 30GB on 1Mbps lines), so wanting the extra capacity i upgraded to 1Meg, and for a time it was good.

The next chapter in this little saga starts when a letter comes through my door, which says "we are upgrading our existing customers to 2Mbps..." (good thing) "...reducing your monthly direct debit to £24.99 pcm..." (also a good thing) and "...with a download limit..."(thats total trafic, not just downloads but uploads to)"...of 15GB." (as you gan probably guess i dont wiew this as a particularly good thing, infact its mince)

so here i am, twidling my thumbs waiting for an upgrade when a letter comes through the door that says words to the effect of, "Dear sir, as you are aware... ...blah blah... ...unable to achieve this due to somthing about the line noise/distance from exchange." (ho hum nothing i can do about that, just have to stay on 1Meg for now) but i kept reading, "however we at bt would like you to know that we are constantly maintining and upgrading our lines and may be able to upgrade you to the new service in the future." (things looking up), " and would like to offer you the reduced price of £24.99pcm, ghiving you a £5 saving on your monthly charges". which incedently happens to be the same as people with 2Meg are paying, so i phoned BT to mention this point to them and their reaction was that the only way that i could have a cheaper line was to move DOWN to the SLOWER RADSL package they offer which IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH MACS (usefull aint they)

 

[millar876]

so anyway back to the point.

Im hacked off with BT and want another ISP.

I have a Powerbook (see sig 4 details) and a custom built gaming PeeCee (i know, I know, but its only 4 my games), connected to an airport extreme base station wirelesly (WEP 128 bit on)inturn connected to a 5 port 10/100 ethernet switch (also connected to this are X-Box and PS2 via ethernet) and that is connected to a D-Link DSL500 ADSL router, connected to broadband line.

I want to pay about £30 per month on direct debit, and go as fast as i can. Im in Elgin in the NORTH of Scotland and NOWHERE NEAR a telewest, NTL or other cable area.

I bont even mind AOL, i know a few people arround here (20-30 at place of work with PC version) and had no problems with it back in the dark ages of dialup.

CAN IT BE DONE? (setting up AOL broadband on my setup, can provide more info if neaded)

OR

What are some good mac friendly alternatives, ill even take another free router if theres one goung in the package, just not a wireless one, unles i can set it up a a repeater for my existing network.

 

[j_maddison]

hi

first off please forget the compatibility crap. The compatibility is to do with the modem supplied, dsl is dsl. There will be no compatibility issue

Secondly, remember that when dealing with BT you are dealing with call centre staff, so the advice you are given depends on the understanding of the individual you are talking to and also has alot to do with whether that person is having a good or bad day, not to mention their ethics. This isnt a problem with BT its a problem with all call centres.

I think i can make a few suggestions to overcome your problem, but it will take ages to do it on here. do you have ichat?? msn? if so pm me and i'll try and sort you out. I used to work as a corporate account manager for BT, so I might have a few ideas that can help. and dont worry, it wont all be pro BT, its more a case of being realistic and aware of their internal processes.

jay

 

[j_maddison]

ichat username j_maddison@mac.com

message me and i'll see if i can help.

Jay

 

[Nickygoat]

I'm on pipex £23.44/ month for 1 MB, with no cap. if you have your own equipment they give you a couple of months free. Have you had a browse through adslguide. they give you a good rundown of all the DSL providers and packages

 

[skp574]

I recommend PlusNet (http://www.plus.net). I use it at home and at work.

I have a 2MB connection at a 20:1 contention ratio at home which is nice. PlusNet are introducing a Fair Usage Policy to try to stop people hogging their broadband line for downloads. Reading through it, it won't affect me, but they had to do something. I need the speed rather than downloading volumes of files.

I get 70GB a month for downloads and pay £39.99, which seems high but I don't get the small bandwidth limitations of BT. I also get AntiVirus/Spam protection and most importantly for me a static IP all included in the price. Website storage is 250MB which ain't bad.

If I were to exceed the 70GB in a month I get a strike (as it were). If I get three strikes (i.e. exceed 70GB a month for three months), they drop my connection speed down to 128k for the remainder of that third month. Not nice but ISPs have to put some form of restriction on the connection otherwise the internet would be crawling.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

I'm sure there are other ISPs offering different perks and services which may or may not benefit you.

I moved from BT as purely on a customer services gripe. And as a business user want to change me an additional £25 a month to host a domain name registered with another company.

In the end I moved all my DSL connection over to PlusNet and have not had a single problem.

I laughed the other week, when the whole of the BT Business Broadband network went down. PlusNet was still working.

I am not anti BT, afterall I have a BT phone line. But I find that other companies can do better.

 

[millar876]

thanks for all the info but im still looking.

I still want to know if its possible to set up and run AOL broadbamd on anything apart from their own modem i.e. my equipment, or if they have an ethernet modem available?