DSL

[Big Al]

Is BT the only DSL ISP you can get in St Andrews or do you guys know of any other ISPs that might be cheaper/better?

[teamonkey]

[s]Big Al wrote on 13:56, 26th Apr 2003:
Is BT the only DSL ISP you can get in St Andrews or do you guys know of any other ISPs that might be cheaper/better?


You can use any UK ADSL provider. I use PlusNET (www.plus.com). It's great.

[Big Al]

Thanks, but can you (or anybody else, for that matter) recommend any Broadband/DSL ISPs (we just need a cheap internet connection in our flat...)? Any advice on this is greatly appreciated!

[Mr Tickle]

I think he just recomended you one, if you want more info on choosing an isp go to: http://www.adslguide.org

They have upto date, speed test info and have whole message boards on how to choose which isp, and info on how to set your connections up.

I use Pipex.

bear in mind you might be better getting a router, with built in modem, if you want to share your connections, as speed is supposed to be better.

[hr]Are you tickly? if you are, be afraid, be very afraid.

[highway_to_hell1982]

I'm going to be staying in st andrews over the summer and wish to get ADSL for just the 3 1/2 months during the holidays until i move to my dorm in september. i want to use ADSL so i can finally start downloading files again. all the ones i have been to seems to offer minimum 12 month contracts. can anyone help in where can i find a good dealer (not expensive) that can give me ADSL for just 3 months? thanks

[teamonkey]

PlusNET's minimum contract is for 1 month, I believe. It's certainly less than 12 months, which is why I chose them in the first place.

[highway_to_hell1982]

[s]teamonkey wrote on 13:45, 8th May 2003:
PlusNET's minimum contract is for 1 month, I believe. It's certainly less than 12 months, which is why I chose them in the first place.




whats their link? and what is the connection charge when initiating the 3 month deal, and are there any closer costs when ending the connection?

[teamonkey]

www.plus.com

AFAIK there is no disconnection charge. The one-off connection charge is whatever BT are charging for it these days. Probably £50, although you might be lucky and the house you move in to might already be ADSL enabled.

[Valen_gr]

gee i wish i had DSL instead of this blocked LAN crap....DAMIT!!!

[hr]where's spoon????
-There is no spoon!!

[highway_to_hell1982]

[s]Valen_gr wrote on 00:18, 10th May 2003:
gee i wish i had DSL instead of this blocked LAN crap....DAMIT!!!

[hr]where's spoon????
-There is no spoon!!




i know how you feel...

[john]

[s]Big Al wrote on 13:56, 26th Apr 2003:
Is BT the only DSL ISP you can get in St Andrews or do you guys know of any other ISPs that might be cheaper/better?

Check www.bandwidthmarketplace.com and see if they can help you find other providers.

[Pilmour Boy]

[s]Unregisted User john wrote on 02:21, 20th May 2003:
[s]Big Al wrote on 13:56, 26th Apr 2003:[i]
Is BT the only DSL ISP you can get in St Andrews or do you guys know of any other ISPs that might be cheaper/better?

Check www.bandwidthmarketplace.com and see if they can help you find other providers.
[/i]


Except that that site is for the US only, and not for over here. But if anybody would be interested in setting up one of those for over here...

[Blaggy]

ipstream(home 50:1 contention) products go from between 18-30 quid a month(512/256) depending on isp, most with a ONE month min contract these days.
just released is the new ipstream production still 50:1 contention but 512/1024/2048 x 256 from between 40-60quid a month again depending on the ISP (MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE ON ST-AND EXCHANGE YET)

Trust me i know, i have had adsl since the trials back home, thats quite a while ago now, mark my words: DO NOT GO WITH BTopenworld, or BT Broadband (same thing really) there are 3 companies ide suggest:
1) Nildram
2) Zen
3) Plusnet
4) Pipex(possibly)

if u have money to burn and dont want the issue of contention, and hell there will be some with the amount of users with adsl on the st andrews exchange, go for a datastream(business) product (20:1) contention (uses different vpath on the DSLAM in the exchange) expect to pay between 70- 120 for a 2048/256 service on datastream

router is a just for more than 1 user, infact full stop, i have used many different ones, atm im using speedtouch pro by alcatel, has lan ports, lowers latency by about 8m/s compared to the shitty usb frog that BT supply.

good thing about zen is that they give u multiple ip address for free, where as nildram and most other will charge u an extra 5'er a month for blocks of 8. good to have as u have assigned ip address for each machine and avoids running NAT, altho not essential as router will take your external ripe address and auto assign local ones to its clients, ST pro does this auto by running dhcp, most routers will/do.

cant be fecked going into anymore detail atm, if anyone has any queries post here and i'll reply asap

[Mr Tickle]

If you spend a few mins on the site i recomended it has lots of advice to fist time users in the uk, and importantly it has independent speed test data, so you can compare difrent isp's.

I agree with the thing on bt internet, they are overpriced for what you get.

http://www.adslguide.org/isps/summaryli ... er=tco512k

It is also by far the best updated site that i have found about adsl in the uk, but it is paid for by pipex.

[hr]Are you tickly? if you are, be afraid, be very afraid.

[Blaggy]

'I agree with the thing on bt internet, they are overpriced for what you get.'

its not the price, its the network itself, on average 4 more hops to linx, telehouse docklands and most main peering points with BT's network, u spend more time jumping around theyr badly setup and optimised routers. This affects latency overall, packet loss is also an issue, online gaming with BT is poor, as theyr routers are not optimised for udp packets, theyr traffic shaping is non exsistent, routing on the whole poor, they have technical issues on a weekly bassis as well as support staff who dont even know what tcp/udp let alone a trace route.


'It is also by far the best updated site that i have found about adsl in the uk, but it is paid for by pipex.'

ADSLguide is a 100% independant entity in no way affiliated with any ISP let alone pipex, it was started up about 4 years ago from early in the dsl rollout... its owned by netconnex, a data carrier/co-lo and connectivity company, altho it does in no way indorse its parent company. Money to maintain the website/gaming servers is not by any means 'donated' by pipex or any other isp, its earny via advertising from certain isps/hardware retailers/webhosts.

With regards to speed rankings, yes adslguide does hold the most definitive speed test results, putting nildram consecutively number 1 for 4month, only this month slipping to 2nd behind eclipse (another reputable isp) ive been with BT, Nildram, Pipex and Newnet since having dsl and overall would rate nildram #1 in terms of speed/superior routing/network reliability and redundancy with top notch knowledgable tech support to boot and commited high ranking staff.

Blaggy