Recommmend a fibre broadband ?

[machew]

Virgin Cable here, and no land line. No cold callers it's bliss

 

[ScotiaLass]

I'm with Virgin too.
I've not had an issue with the BB (we're on 150 meg).

 

[slowmotion]

We are on a standard Broadband and calls package with TalkTalk. Trust me, their customer service and technical help lines are spectacularly bad.
One day, when trying to log in to my email account, it asked me for my password. It doesn't usually do that. I gave it and it was rejected several times so I picked up the phone to attempt to contact their technical help people. Forty minutes later, after the usual rubbish, I was attempting to understand a faint voice at the other end of a Bangalore drainpipe. It turned out that there was no problem with my password at all. Their geeks were tinkering with the software and had loused up.

Avoid TalkTalk.

(and breathe)

 

[andyfraser]

I'm on Virgin Media 150Mbps here and it's great. No problems so far but I've only been here for a few months. My mum's had VM for a couple of years with no issue and I had VM at a previous house for 4 years without any problems. They're not cheap but worth it.

 

[cookiemonster]

I'm with TalkTalk via tiscali that was. Seems OK (broadband speed >6Mb/s) but I'm having issues with email delivery from at least one correspondent. Sometimes he gets a "can't deliver" sort of message at his end and other times the mail is delayed by 7 hrs or more. It's mostly the one chap at the moment but I have had similar problems with others before now. I keep intending to have a moan at TalkTalk but so far haven't got around to it.

Edit:- Should have said I have Fibre to the cabinet on the street corner and copper from there to the house

One question. What's the point of installing fibre optic to the box on the corner then copper to the house? Why not fibre optic all the way? Seems illogical.

Back in the UK, I was with Virgin broadband for several years. They only screwed up in the last month before I moved but it was the replacement modem, not the connection.

 

[siadwell]

One question. What's the point of installing fibre optic to the box on the corner then copper to the house? Why not fibre optic all the way? Seems illogical.

With FTTC (fibre to the cabinet), the street cabinet is already connected to the exchange by fibre and they re-use your existing phone line to the house.
I had fibre broadband installed a couple of weeks ago and the OpenReach engineer just took a couple of hours to switch things over in the cabinet, then came to my house to fit a new face plate to the existing socket and plug in a new modem. So no-one had to go and dig up the road (or even my garden) to install my fibre broadband.
This is a good overview and explains why speeds vary: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.html

 

[Dirk]

Mega problems with Talk Talk. Outages and totally crap customer services. .
Changed to BT three years ago and had no problems at all.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I would just say try to avoid anything to do with Openreach as much as you can.

That unfortunately is virtually impossible unless in a Virgin area or in a block of flats etc. which has it's own network. Sky, Talk Talk & just about everybody else uses the same wires to get from the exchange to your house/premises which is supplied by Openreach. The supplier does have some control over speed by contention, I believe they lease a number of circuits from Openreach & they then decide how many people they put on each circuit, the more people the slower the connection.

 

[Over The Hill]

With TFFC, the street cabinet is already connected to the exchange by fibre and they re-use your existing phone line to the house.
I had fibre broadband installed a couple of weeks ago and the OpenReach engineer just took a couple of hours to switch things over in the cabinet, then came to my house to fit a new face plate to the existing socket and plug in a new modem. So no-one had to go and dig up the road (or even my garden) to install my fibre broadband.
This is a good overview and explains why speeds vary: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.html

I am in the process of doing this. They come along next week for the switchover. I asked if they could run a fibre right to my house and it is not even an option they offer.

Has yours got faster or more stable speeds?

 

[marknotgeorge]

We're with EE, and with them you don't need a engineer to the house - they send you a modem/router in a box and tell you when it's going to be changed over.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I have TFFC, I have cabinet within 50 yards of the house, but unfortunately mine does not go through it, but one nearly 1/2 mile away, about a 1/3 of the distance to the exchange. I signed up with Samknows & have a unit in the house that is in constant communication with them. At the end of each month they give me a report on throughput etc. last month I averaged 43.69Mbps down, 9.81Mbps up, 21.32ms Latency, 0.06% packet loss, it also provides mins/max on each of the figures as well.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

We're with EE, and with them you don't need a engineer to the house - they send you a modem/router in a box and tell you when it's going to be changed over.

Are you sure it's TFFC first time I've heard of no visit

 

[marknotgeorge]

Are you sure it's TFFC first time I've heard of no visit

Er, yes. I was there when the upgrade call was made.

 

[ColinJ]

FTTC - Fibre To The Cabinet!

 

[jongooligan]

BT here and it's very inconsistent. Dreadful tech support from 'Kevin' in Mumbai when things do go wrong. The only time we've had decent tech support is when I decided to bin 'em and asked for a MAC code so I could go somewhere else.
Frequently get glacially slow speeds and dropped connections. Frequently have to change channel which seems to fix the problem but it's usually only a matter of minutes before it's just as bad again.
Not recommended.