Tesco Broadband

[mchunt]

Been with idnet for a couple of years now. They have been excellent. Couldn't have been more helpful on the change-over and reliability has been first class. I haven't needed to use support because I've had no problems, but they are uk based techie geeks. They are not the cheapest but I can't recommend them highly enough.

I have worked for IDNet over 12 years - so thanks :-) Generally I would say you get what you pay for - some of the smaller providers (like us) are generally better but more expensive - bandwidth costs providers money so someone offering cheap service is just putting more people down the same lines or making a loss which they will have to recoup somehow.

The best option is going to depend exactly on where you live and what LLU services are available - if BE is available then they are a good cheap bet (we can provide lines over BE wholesale also). Plusnet is now owned by BT so not the same company it was a few years ago.

 

[sheddy]

I seem to remember that Tesco locked people out of their own online bank accounts for several days

 

[brokenflipflop]

I've got BT Infinity (fibre broadband) and get about 38 meg on a good day. It's free too

 

[SquareDaff]

What sort of problem have you had with PlusNet, SquareDaff? I've been with them about five years and have found them consistently excellent - mind you, I only want a cheapish tel+broadband package and I don't need lighting download speeds or a large data allowance.

I'm not after fast download speeds - my house is based a long way from the nearest exchange so until BT start ploughing some of those obscene profits into actual infrastructure (rather than a shareholders pocket) I'm pretty much stuck at 512K or 1M. What I'm after is consistency. With Plus.Net I've just not been getting that.

Things were good for the 1st couple of weeks and then they've gradually got worse (even slower than 512K speeds - dropped connections - router "lock"). If I was the suspicious type I'd suspect they'd changed the contention ratio. Was with them once before, many years ago, and seem to remember the same thing happening then.

 

[Doseone]

I'm not after fast download speeds - my house is based a long way from the nearest exchange so until BT start ploughing some of those obscene profits into actual infrastructure (rather than a shareholders pocket) I'm pretty much stuck at 512K or 1M. What I'm after is consistency. With Plus.Net I've just not been getting that.

Things were good for the 1st couple of weeks and then they've gradually got worse (even slower than 512K speeds - dropped connections - router "lock"). If I was the suspicious type I'd suspect they'd changed the contention ratio. Was with them once before, many years ago, and seem to remember the same thing happening then.

I'm the same as you - rural area, long way from the exchange, 512k is about what I was getting. When I changed to idnet (was with orange before that) my speed went up to anywhere between 700 - 900 ish, although in truth I didn't really notice the difference. I don't want to tempt fate but idnet have been rock solid, not one problem. No slow downs, no dropouts, nothing. The only comment I would make is that their download allowances are not the most generous - but on the speeds that you and I get it's not a problem and even having to fight over the laptop with two kids we don't get anywhere close to our monthly limit.

 

[SquareDaff]

The IdNet "HomePlus Broadband" with Anyime Lite phone package is looking like an option to me.

 

[bobpullen]

Hi there,

I'm not after fast download speeds - my house is based a long way from the nearest exchange so until BT start ploughing some of those obscene profits into actual infrastructure (rather than a shareholders pocket) I'm pretty much stuck at 512K or 1M. What I'm after is consistency. With Plus.Net I've just not been getting that.

Things were good for the 1st couple of weeks and then they've gradually got worse (even slower than 512K speeds - dropped connections - router "lock"). If I was the suspicious type I'd suspect they'd changed the contention ratio. Was with them once before, many years ago, and seem to remember the same thing happening then.

Happy to take a look at your account to see if there's anything I can do to help improve your situation? Contention ratio is a bit of a misnomer nowadays and doesn't really apply to the infrastructure we rely on. On a congested exchange you may see slow downs during peak hours but that's pretty much out of our control and will affect any supplier dependent on BT Wholesale's network.

We certainly won't have altered anything our side to reduce the quality of your connection.

Best regards,

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care

 

[SquareDaff]

Hi there,



Happy to take a look at your account to see if there's anything I can do to help improve your situation? Contention ratio is a bit of a misnomer nowadays and doesn't really apply to the infrastructure we rely on. On a congested exchange you may see slow downs during peak hours but that's pretty much out of our control and will affect any supplier dependent on BT Wholesale's network.

We certainly won't have altered anything our side to reduce the quality of your connection.

Best regards,

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care

Let me know what info you need and I'll PM you the details. Thanks for the response.

 

[bobpullen]

Let me know what info you need ...

Just your account username or a recent support ticket reference from your account should suffice.

Rgds,

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care

 

[brokenflipflop]

Hi there,



Happy to take a look at your account to see if there's anything I can do to help improve your situation? Contention ratio is a bit of a misnomer nowadays and doesn't really apply to the infrastructure we rely on. On a congested exchange you may see slow downs during peak hours but that's pretty much out of our control and will affect any supplier dependent on BT Wholesale's network.

We certainly won't have altered anything our side to reduce the quality of your connection.

Best regards,

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care

You could put your own network in so you don't have to use BT's

 

[growingvegetables]

ROFLMAO - after 4 months of arguing with Tesco, believe me, you don't EVER get even a whisper of such service!

 

[bobpullen]

You could put your own network in so you don't have to use BT's

Doesn't really make commercial sense for us to do that if I'm honest.

Even LLU providers like Sky and Talk Talk are reliant on BT Wholesale's infrastructure from the telephone exchange to the customer's premises, although you're right to assume that exchange congestion across Wholesale's network wouldn't necessarily affect an LLU provider.

Virgin Media is probably the only mainstream consumer Internet Access provider that isn't dependent on Wholesale's network at all.

Rgds,

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care

 

[brokenflipflop]

Doesn't really make commercial sense for us to do that if I'm honest.

Even LLU providers like Sky and Talk Talk are reliant on BT Wholesale's infrastructure from the telephone exchange to the customer's premises, although you're right to assume that exchange congestion across Wholesale's network wouldn't necessarily affect an LLU provider.

Virgin Media is probably the only mainstream consumer Internet Access provider that isn't dependent on Wholesale's network at all.

Rgds,

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Digital Care

I know mate, I'm a BT Engineer and I couldn't understand why we maintained the "family silver" for 25 years as a private business and then rolled over and allowed other service providers to use our network - It's a bit like Tesco allowing Asda to rent space in its supermarket. When I started at BT it was the largest private employer in the UK - 250K employees, That's down to 80K now - 170k well paid UK jobs gone. I've got my own tales of what all these service providers tell customers, I hear it 10 times every day, the lack of customer care and the lies and bull is quite shocking really.