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UK Broadband provider

I

icarusflies

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 15, 2005
82
0
Can anyone recommend a decent broadband provider in the UK that supports macs - ie not with a USB modem router.

I need to be able to connect wirelessly and the best package I can find is the Wannado 'ice' package that comes with a wireless router all for £21.99 a month

I don't live in a cabled area so ntl etc aren't an option.

Anyone to recommend?
any one to avoid like the plague?
 
About to switch from BT Yahoo to Freedom2Surf myself. I have had several recommendations from friends. Less content than other providers but since I never use it anyhow, I look for things like php and mysql in the included hosting and IMAP e-mail. Several friends of mine are having big trouble with Bulldog. I know of 2 people who are perfectly happy with Wanadoo - soon to become Orange ( all part of France Telecom ).
 
My sister's just signed up with Plus.net for their £14.99 a month unlimited 2MB service (with the proviso that you don't download massive files during peak times) - software update and iTMS aren't affected by that. I think it's more certain P2P apps have to be used outside those times.

As usual setup is free with the USB modem but they do ethernet routers for £30 and a wireless one for slightly more. Hers came with Plusnet instructions for OS X so they do support Macs and their customer service is pretty good

Have a read over at adslguide.org.uk/ for information on how customer services and speeds are like with most of the major UK ISPs
 
I have plusnet (2mbit Premier) and a DrayTek wireless router, I've had no problems with them over the last 3 years. They always answer emails quickly (usually within a couple of hours) and you can change plans easily.
 
icarusflies said:
Anyone to recommend?
any one to avoid like the plague?
Click to expand...

avoid LIKE THE PLAGUE:

Bulldog Broadband.

They are truly the worst company I have ever dealt with in any situation - ever. They may offer 8MB but that would only come if you a) ever got connected in the first place and b) stayed connected for any length of time. From what I've read since we cancelled our order (after waiting two months to get it connected), it's terribly unreliable.



We use a 2MB Pipex line which was set up in a week and has been faultless. Quite pricey at £34 p/m but it had to be month to month and not a year contract. Company pays for it anyway (luckily) so it's not a problem.

My Folks are with an unlimited 2MB BT Business line (they run a home office) but i think the consumer version is limited which blows . Took a while to connect, but they live in the stix so fair enough. Been very good save the supplied wireless router refusing to accept its password when hooking up occasionally.

£21 sounds good for 2MB if it's anytime unlimited.
 
Bulldog is t3h 3v1l. Avoid. Unfortunatly I'm stuck with them until later this year unless the start listening to our complaints.

I've heard Demon are good (the used to be endorsed by Apple). Apparently they are increasing all their 512kb customers to 2mb for free.
 
iLaw said:
Bulldog is t3h 3v1l. Avoid. Unfortunatly I'm stuck with them until later this year unless the start listening to our complaints.

I've heard Demon are good (the used to be endorsed by Apple). Apparently they are increasing all their 512kb customers to 2mb for free.
Click to expand...


Are you not on a month to month contract with them?
 
iLaw said:
Nope, I think you can only get that if you take up their phone offer (incidentally they tried to change our phone line a few months into the contract).
Click to expand...

Yeah the phone line was one of stumbling blocks for us. I shudder when I think of dealing with that company to be honest. They were almost sickeningly bad. I guess if you have kept your BT line that halves the damage!
 
Homecall Broadband 2MB line, unlimited downloads, free national and local calls and has great technical support for macs only for £29.99 a month :). U get a free modem as well if u want.
 
I've used freedom2surf for a couple of years and they've been great. Just about to move house so am looking at telewest deals but I think f2s will win. They also have a deal that if you sign up to any 2meg service now you can upgrade when you're exchange does to 8meg for a one off £15 regrade fee.
 
AlBDamned said:
Yeah the phone line was one of stumbling blocks for us. I shudder when I think of dealing with that company to be honest. They were almost sickeningly bad. I guess if you have kept your BT line that halves the damage!
Click to expand...

We're trying to complain to them but we can't get through on the phone and they don't reply to the letters. I've found a decent guide about how to get out of the contract but we've not tried it yet.

They've been advised a couple of times to remove an award boast from their website and recorded phone message so people who complaint don't get even more irate. That is quite funny.
 
iLaw said:
We're trying to complain to them but we can't get through on the phone and they don't reply to the letters. I've found a decent guide about how to get out of the contract but we've not tried it yet.

They've been advised a couple of times to remove an award boast from their website and recorded phone message so people who complaint don't get even more irate. That is quite funny.
Click to expand...


That award sucks you right in doesn't it. I had one email answered from a very strong one I sent to them. I'd asked them to call me as I was sick of not being able to gst through.The email said, "Dear Mr Manchester, we cannot call you as we in the customer service department do not have phones that can make calls."

This was from a communications company.... There's irony there too.

Suffice to say to the original poster here: DO NOT LOOK TO USE BULLDOG BROADBAND. THEY ARE BEYOND USELESS.

Thank you. ;)
 
I can wholeheartedly agree with all the comments here.

Avoid bulldog like the plague! I wont repeat anything, but i will add this, in order to get their high speed DSL you need to have their phone line instead of BTs. This appears to be just a rubbish as their internet service.

Demon's support is in my experiance 2nd to none, it's a shame their service is a little expensive or they would be my ISP again, and my dad has just had his free upgrade to 2Mb this weekend from them, so he is happy as Larry!

Pipex are very good (my current isp) but their tech support is not 24 hour like demon, but I don't think i have ever had the need to phone it, apart from billing issues. (my fault)

Plusnet, I have heard from two people I know who use them, are pretty good, and by all accounts seem to be the "Cheap ISP du jour"

and just to throw into the high speed thing, Homechoice, while i think having download caps, seem to be quite alright with their 4Mb broadband service, they definitely support macs, and you get a TV service as well.
 
Bulldog customer service does indeed suck. But the 8Mb connection is (for me at least) great. Yes it was hassle to get it set up (and I was an existing Bulldog customer from back when the customer service didn't suck). Basically if you get on the phone to then sit it out and when you get to talk to someone DO NOT LET THEM GO!

I've seen downloads running at sustained 900KB/s with peaks at over 1MB/s. That's fantastic.

I used to be on Pipex and I'd have to say they were great.
 
I'm with Pipex, so are a bunch of people i know. seem to be very popular and from my end of things; have been great. not sure exactly what we're paying but its the 512kbps unlimited bandwidth service. we're getting a free upgrade to 1mbps soon, but alas, us folk in the hills have to wait :D

as for the anti-recommends; my cousin and her boyfriend are with NTL and hate it with a passion. BT set up broadband for my mate but when his connection wouldn't stay on past 5 minutes he called up a technician who decided that nothing was wrong. so he's stuck his finger up to them and has ordered Pipex.
 
You know that saying: "The rot stops at the top"? Well, Bulldog are part of Cable & Wireless now and it seems there are some problems on high. Read about it here.

I'm not defending them, but this article says it's as much BT refusing to transfer the lines as it is Bulldog seriously underestimating the demand. I still will never attempt to use Bulldog again though.
 
I'm with Plusnet (a few others mentioned them) and I am starting to recommend you DO NOT choose them. The reason is that whilst they are cheap, they are introducing bandwidth shaping on ALL products (basic or premier) This affects P2P speeds (e.g Bittorrent)

They change their policies every few months, and its slowly getting worse. It started with them warning a few people not to download too much, now they capping a product they original sold as 'cap free'. So i'd say avoid.

Zen Internet are very good, been with them before. They are more expensive but you get a much better service. And they've just announced that they offer full support for Mac users.
 
Demon, is brilliant. When I set up my account I had to do it with a pc and an iBook at the time. The telephone guy was fantastic, he switched repeatedly between the options on both machines in order to get me online.

Since then, I have never had a problem and I have been with them for nearly 2 years. No disconnects, no caps, no problems. I do pay more but I have peace of mind and its worth it. At the end of this month, 3 macs will be connected to my network router and I'm happy as larry, on top of that, they will be upgrading the line to 2 meg before the end of september for free!

No USB modem needed either.
 
E7Even

I use e7even (http://www.e7even.com) and although I'm not sure how to pronounce it they have been very good.

Currently it is £10p.m. and you get a free modem for the 512Kb service (but I think you also get a free upgrade to 1Mb (not sure about that though)

The only downside is that you have to pay for a year in advance to get the really cheap price.

Recommended
 
What are peoples' views on Tiscali?

I have had their 256kbps connection and am thinking of upgrading to the 2mbps (for the same price.) As far as i am concerned they seem OK, (apart from one fuzzy phone in our house - can this be fixed by attaching a filter to it?) but I am getting an iBook (to go with our 2 PCs) and don't know how Tiscali works with a Mac, (and as they have year long contracts, I don't want to get stuck with it.)

Also regarding download limits, should 15GB a month be enough for two people, (I will be setting up a network with 3 computers, 2 of which will be using the internet quite a lot.)
 
Another vote for Demon here. They have been great and I got my free 2Mb unlimited upgrade, although unfortunately i'm at the end of the exchange so only get 1Mb :(

Not too expensive at £19.99/month either. The support people are really helpful and knowledgeable for a change also. Would definitely recommend them. I use a wireless router/modem/firewall for both my Macs and a Windows laptop and it all works seamlessly.
 
timmyb said:
Also regarding download limits, should 15GB a month be enough for two people, (I will be setting up a network with 3 computers, 2 of which will be using the internet quite a lot.)
Click to expand...

Would not be enough for me, I'm getting through about 15Gb minimum. Typically 20-40Gb. That's for one person (me) with one computer. Depends on how you plan to use it though.
 
TMA said:
Would not be enough for me, I'm getting through about 15Gb minimum. Typically 20-40Gb. That's for one person (me) with one computer. Depends on how you plan to use it though.
Click to expand...
What do you do on the web? I (and my sister) will mainly be browsing, emailling and downloading some songs.
 
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