[ubuntu-uk] Broadband and hosting reccomendations

[James Milligan]

On Thu, 2009-06-04 at 10:28 +0100, Rob Beard wrote:
> Sean Miller wrote:
> > I was with Pipex before I moved and have had great trouble cancelling
> > them - they keep billing me at the old address, despite written
> > confirmation I'm no longer there and receiving any service. Their
> > computers say "if you don't pay we'll cut you off" and their call
> > centre won't acknowledge that if I'm not there I DON'T CARE if they
> > do, as they already did.  It's a nightmare - and the "cancellation
> > line" is a premium rate number which doesn't get answered for 30
> > minutes "You are in a queue - we will get to you when we will, but in
> > the meantime please be assured that your 20p/minute contribution to
> > our Christmas Party is very important to us".
> >
> >   
> That matches what I've heard about Pipex and Tiscalli, IIRC Nildram and 
> possibly Freedom 2 Surf are owned by them too.  Shame really as years 
> ago Pipex were one of the good ISPs.
> > So avoid Pipex/Tiscali like the plague for now.  Wife is with Talk
> > Talk and appears to be happy, so perhaps the Carphone Warehouse will
> > improve their service - or perhaps they'll destroy Carphone Warehouse.
> >  That is to be seen.
> >
> >   
> With any luck Carphone Warehouse will turn them around.  Okay Carphone 
> Warehouse aren't the best ISP either the few people I know who have 
> connections with them don't seem to have many problems.
> > I am with BE Broadband (http://beunlimited.co.uk) now and I'm getting
> > speeds in excess of 8mbps (I've paid only for the 8mbps option,
> > apparently the line could do 16mbps) for about £12.50/month and I'm
> > very happy.  They tried to charge me a connection fee but I phoned
> > them on their freephone number and they apologised profusely and
> > refunded them - that's customer service!!
> >   
> The only problem I find with Be is that you have to be connected to an 
> exchange that they have their equipment installed in.  I've heard they 
> are pretty good and you can get some good offers from Be and especially 
> O2 via Quidco (a visit to the O2 section on the ThinkBroadband.com 
> forums is useful as there is someone in there who collates the offers 
> that Be and O2 have and sometimes you can get cashback which covers most 
> of the broadband fees (some people were getting the equivalent of about 
> 9 months free after cashback!).  Plus if you're an O2 mobile customer 
> (either contract or Pay As You Go spending £10 every 3 months) you can 
> also save money on O2 broadband.  The only problem is if your exchange 
> has their equipment.  I'd say if you wanted to go down the O2 route read 
> the ThinkBroadband.com forums first as O2 offer LLU connections which 
> are pretty good and O2 Access (for those who can't get the LLU service) 
> and that is pretty bad.
> 
> If you have a look at SamKnows.com on the exchange search you should be 
> able to find out what is available on your exchange.  On my local 
> exchange I have the choice of BT (or any ISP who uses BT Wholesale) or 
> Talktalk LLU but some of the bigger exchanges may have 2 or 3 providers 
> covering them.
> 
> Rob
> 
> 
> 

I'm now typing this through Evolution (woohoo!)

Right, now back onto the topic

I've heard great things about BE - they come highly recommended from
everyone I know, and I would indeed swap to them if it wasn't for the
fact that Orange are fairly uptight, and I can't be bothered dealing
with them yet.

Regarding hosting, TMDHosting(.com) have the best customer service EVER.
They've replied to tickets within 1 minute before now - and they can
help with anything you want, whether it's changing hosts, or merely
something small.

The only downside is that you can't 'choose' your server type, as far as
I know

James
-- 
                             James Milligan
                         http://www.lake54.com
                     http://www.killermentality.com
                     http://www.twitter.com/lake54