Best phone/broadband package

[Bouleversee]

I have an unlimited call/line rental package with BT, which does not include calls to mobiles, however. I have a basic broadband (not fibre) package with plusnet and am having awful problems with this. It is unbelievably slow and often fails to connect when I click on something. Time to switch to fibre, methinks. BT claims to have the best router/home hub whereas PlusNet includes calls to mobiles and would presumably be reliable if I switched to their fibre unlimited package, though since the recently supplied router's EPS light flashes constantly, which I gather it is not supposed to do, maybe I'd still have problems. They are sending me another router.

What are others' experience with either of these or are there better options?

[supremetwo]

At present, AFAIK, Sky are the only ones with a package of unlimited calls (up to 1 hour duration) including mobiles - Sky Talk Anytime Extra at £8 per month.

I also have their unlimited broadband and basic TV and I've always managed to negotiate down any of their price increases.

There are many package deals available some with paybacks via such as Quidco or Topcashback, see:-

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband-offers.html

No issues with Sky reliability over several years.

[quelquod]

I have been with PlusNet as an ISP since 1998 soon after they started as Force9. They were originally a strongly technically-orientated company targeting self-sufficient users. More recently and after being bought up by BT they have declined somewhat and I think that BT are using them to harvest the low-cost end whilst maintaining the BT brand as a quality name. They have some good entry offers.

Their exchange equipment, fibres and cables are of course the same as BT's so there is no reason for a different level of service there and in my experience their technical offering is solid. What YOU get of course depends a lot on your distance from the exchange (or, for fibre, the cabinet) and the quality of your local copper link but if you opt for fibre any problems with your house wiring should be bypassed during the installation.

I suggest you have a look at their on-line forum (open to non-subscribers) at https://community.plus.net/t5/Forum/ct-p/Forum to get a flavour of customer experiences old and new. Their customer service has apparently declined quite sharply of late but I have never needed it so can't comment.

FWIW my own service with them from modem to ADSL to Fibre has been uniformly excellent and I'd recommend them strongly were it not for poor reports recently on customer service.

[rgifford]

At present, AFAIK, Sky are the only ones with a package of unlimited calls (up to 1 hour duration) including mobiles - Sky Talk Anytime Extra at £8 per month.

Plusnet £8.50 a month

[mutantpoodle]

Virgin Media also have a bundle which includes unlimited calls inc to mobiles
although this might be onlt for existing customers??

AND they pay no attention to loyalty or inflation figures when it comes to the annual price increse

but service IS very good if something goes wrong (IME)

[dionaeamuscipula]

I have an unlimited call/line rental package with BT, which does not include calls to mobiles, however. I have a basic broadband (not fibre) package with plusnet and am having awful problems with this. It is unbelievably slow and often fails to connect when I click on something. Time to switch to fibre, methinks. BT claims to have the best router/home hub whereas PlusNet includes calls to mobiles and would presumably be reliable if I switched to their fibre unlimited package, though since the recently supplied router's EPS light flashes constantly, which I gather it is not supposed to do, maybe I'd still have problems. They are sending me another router.

What are others' experience with either of these or are there better options?

No problems with BT service is fast and reliable. The Home hub is OK but not really designed for fiddling about with. It has ac WiFi but is the only thing we own that does ergo is useless.

When we had sky copper the router was locked down and impossible to tweak..

DM

[Bouleversee]

Thanks to all. Actually, I have found the help given over the phone and online by the plusnet techies insofar as the time they have spent and pleasant service to be v. good. The problem is the equipment. We are too far from the exchange which I think is still suffering from being flooded last winter; it is desperately slow and keeps dropping out, although the new router is not flashing on wps. Physical service at the property checking things is another matter but that is Open Reach. Their engineers don't seem to have much of a clue and contradict each other but we'd be stuck with them. I need to find where the fibre cabinet is. It will have to wait. With only 3 hrs sleep last night am too tired to think and am off to bed.

If I switch to their fibre, can I guarantee it will work from Day 1? I can't be without online access with so much to deal with following my husband's desth.

I've just bought a new laptop and it keeps freezing. I don't know whether that is Yahoo or the computer.

[Rover110]

I am with Plusnet business for phone and broadband. Some months back I had problems with the link from my router to the exchange dropping out. There were many Openreach "engineer" visits; the general pattern was they would come along, use an electronic box and see there is a fault on the line and the box would say how far away the fault is, fiddle with the joint at that distance and then the box would claim everything was working properly. But after they had gone, perhaps 1 - 2 hours later, the line would start dropping out again. Plusnet could see that faults kept occurring, and changing router made no difference.

Talking to people who have BT (rather than Plusnet) I understand that BT (perhaps only business BT) would lend a router capable of 4G and a 4G SIM so that you could have some (albeit slow) internet while they sorted out the mess. Plusnet would not do this.

The fault was eventually traced to a joint that the first "engineer" made. For whatever reason, he left it so it filled with water and then started breaking down with broadband signals on it but appeared good with just phone.

As to the laptop, is it just your internet browser that freezes? Can you bring up other applications e.g. Wordpad while the web page is frozen?

- Rover

[pottager]

If I switch to their fibre, can I guarantee it will work from Day 1?

Do you know how far you are from the fibre cabinet? What does the BT Wholesale checker say when you enter your phone number?
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/adsl.htm
(VDSL range, clean and impacted)

[Radiccio]

We're a long way (1.5km+) from our exchange and both work from home, so jumped at fibre when offered it. BT refused to offer any deals so we took TalkTalk on a very cheap 18 month deal with Quidco cashback.

We moved from 2Mbps/448kbps downstream/upstream on a good day to a reliable 25Mbps/1.8Mbps and the TalkTalk Huawei router had a much better WiFi signal than the BT HomeHub 3. It did seem a bit slow, but configuring it for OpenDNS helped and gives us another layer of family safety too.

When it came time to renew, TalkTalk came out cheapest again with their £27 per month package including line rental (and there were some Quidco options too). Interestingly, this includes a free SIM on a 200 minutes/500MB pay monthly package with another one on the same package available for an extra £5 per month.

TalkTalk mobile is on the O2 network which gives us better reception than our previous carrier EE. I've already switched and Mrs R is switching once we've unlocked her phone.

When I asked EE for the PAC code to transfer the number, they started asking questions to tempt me back:

EE: Can I ask how much is the new tariff you're looking at?

Me: It's nothing. Free. Zilch.

EE: Ah - OK. Your PAC code is on its way. Have a nice day!

[Leither]

We've been with Virgin for many years, no complaints, very good service. Currently getting about 30 megabits download speed. But maybe Virgin isn't available in your area?

Regards,

Leither.

[Infrasonic]

Anyone got any real world experience of Hyperoptic?
https://www.hyperoptic.com/

They've just left letters with my block asking if we'd be interested in their service, approaching the managing agents if enough people register.
It's fibre to the building not FTTC, so the speeds and prices look quite good (on paper).

Good and bad experiences welcome...

[Infrasonic]

http://www.broadband.co.uk/broadband/pr ... c/reviews/
From amazing to rubbish seems to be the spread of opinion, no change there then...

[Bouleversee]

Thanks to all for replies which I am now plodding through:

Rover -

"As to the laptop, is it just your internet browser that freezes? Can you bring up other applications e.g. Wordpad while the web page is frozen?"

Don't know what Wordpad is but I think the whole thing freezes, even the x out. I am a pretty fast typist and frequently if I type a word, either nothing appears, or only the first or last letter, and if I click on a link nothing happens. At this moment, it seems to be OK but it is driving me mad.

[Bouleversee]

Fred -

But does your anytime phone package include calls to other people's mobiles? Mine doesn't, which is a nuisance as more and more people only seem to use mobiles. BT suggested I should use a mobile instead of landline; thanks but no thanks. I like to have phones in various places in our rather spread-eagled bungalow. I never hear my mobile if it rings and would never get to it in time.

[addycres]

I was with Plusnet wehe they were Force 9, but some reason (can't now remember why) went away from then. Couple of years ago went back to them for an all inclusive eat-as-much-as-you-can phone/fibre broadband deal. No problems whatsoever.

[Bouleversee]

pottager -

Well, I did that but the figures don't mean much to me so I tried to copy and paste but it wouldn't let me, so I tried a screen shot but couldn't paste that either. Anyway, this is what it said:

VDSL Downstream Line rate Upstream
Clean high 32.4 low 23.2 H 7.3 L 5.4 available

FTTP
on demand 330 30 - - available

Cabinet 7 is nearest but dunno where that is.

[Bouleversee]

My neighbour tells me he gets 24.62 download and 4.48 upload with fibre so I really must see whether I can get out of my BT anytime package without penalty and transfer phone to PlusNet and get their fibre.