Broadband Internet & ISP Recommendations?

Seriously, fuck talktalk

I didn't logout of my virginmedia router properly last time I accessed the settings so it is locked until and unless I factory reset the router. Going to switch to EE for half the price instead.

Landline never gets used so no need really, unless there's a good reason to retain one I'm overlooking? I'll not miss the nuisance calls which is 99.9% of traffic to it.

I haven't had a land line for sixteen years and counting, never missed it. What the hell do people actually use theirs for?!

On a related note, which broadband providers offer a landline? Do the VOIP things allow you to carry your existing number over. MIL wants to keep her landline which may make moving away from Virgin tricky.

My brother and sister in law have kept theirs with BT; think all land lines become internet only next year.

That's been postponed until 2027, and I hope it never happens. I'm sure it will, though. The reasons why it's been held back are too flimsy for them not to move ahead with it.

Edit: Oops, sorry about using the reply function. Not paying attention.

I use mine for having phone conversations, among other reasons because I don't have a mobile phone.

What?! No mobile phone?!

It'll be a while for the response as Oliver has to scribe everything by quill pen and then send it by carrier pigeon to the analogue to digital LFGSS repository.

A very strong contender for the most stupid invention of all time.

Fucking Community Fibre.

Their product may be good value but their customer support is so incompetent that it makes me think maybe Virgin wasn't all that bad.

Every query I've raised with them, phone or email, just disappears into a black hole. They're completely incompetent at best, deliberately screwing customers over at worst.

"The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the merger of Three UK and Vodafone UK, subject to certain conditions."

Wonder what this is going to do to 5G mobile and broadband packages longer term?

I was going to move from Smarty to Three for home broadband (more expensive but a public IP)

What's happened? I've been with them for a couple of years, not had the need to contact them at all so far, everything's just worked... £29/m for 1Gb/s is nice enough to put up with slightly tardy support imo.

I'm sure it's been covered before but what options are there for home internet with no contract? I don't want to be locked into anything as I may move. Don't need mega fast speeds.

When I first joined them I was meant to get some £100 referral bonus. Never happened despite multiple calls/emails with them where they assured me it was sorted.

Now my contract has expired and the price increased. Called them and agreed a new contract at a reduced price (nothing complicated, just the price on the website).

Again, multiple calls and emails where they have no idea what is going on, assure me it's sorted and then next call starts from square one again.

No such thing as no contract...

A&A have short contract options, https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/home1/ lists the options they have and the minimum terms. You can probably get the same devices elsewhere, so looks like not BT FTTP.

How long for? In the interim, could you utilise a 5/4G router and your mobile SIM? (assuming you're currently on a rolling contract)

3 months I guess. Yes, am Thinking of something like the router idea.

Have a combined broadband/mobile deal at the moment - virgin fibre broadband/ 02 mobile SIM. Contract ends next month and so looking to change both

You can get a 4/5g SIM with no contract, but then you need to buy a suitable router up-front (unless you have a spare phone you can use to set up a hotspot)

Cheers - have got a spare phone so may do the hot spot idea.

Three 5G is a monthly contract or yearly for a bit less per month.
Have been on a rolling contract with them for over a year as we have community fibre in the building but not got round to switching yet.
The router is owned by them so you have to give it back, not the most powerful WiFi so may need a mesh system if you have a big property.

@chris0

I bought an unlocked (but Three branded) router off ebay for maybe £80. Then added a Smarty 5G SIM to it for unlimited broadband at maybe £18/month.

I'm thinking about getting a Three SIM instead though - looking for someone that provides a 5G public IP for networky stuff and Smarty doesn't. Three want £30/month for Unlimited data, but also want a bunch of info for credit checks or some bollocks which I don't want to do because I'm already a customer of theirs!

So, called Virgin and they offered basically the same price I'm paying but on a rolling one month basis. Went with that.

Fair. I ditched their package so I'm only paying for 5G broadband now.

Just to throw my two pence in here – I bought a flat 2.5 years ago and had an existing Vodafone internet contract. They couldn’t get access to the room in the block to connect us (due to incompetence with the council – who knew?). Vodafone ended up paying me to terminate the contract.

Knowing we wouldn’t be able to get access to the room to connect wired internet, we were left with the relatively new option of 5G home internet from Three. We signed up for a 2-year contract, with the first six months at half price. We could cancel after three months if we weren’t happy. It seemed like a good deal. The download speeds were terrific, but the upload speeds weren’t as impressive.

Six months rolled by, and the internet was stable and felt good. Then, on day one of month seven, Netflix started pausing and buffering. The box began playing up, as though it was losing signal. I checked for any news about masts, thinking perhaps they were doing maintenance. I also tested my mobile phone (also with Three), and it seemed fine – fast and stable. In the end, I resorted to hotspotting off my mobile phone (on the same network!) just to hold a stable MS Teams call.

That’s when a Community Fibre flyer came through the door. I sent them an email and set up an account. A technician arrived the next day and neatly ran a fibre optic cable from my front door to the middle of my flat. He plugged in the Linksys Wi-Fi 6E router and fibre box. We were up and running immediately, pulling and uploading at 500 Mb/s – a very happy customer.

Since then, I’ve referred a neighbour to Community Fibre, and we both received a £100 Amazon gift card – not bad! However, I’ve noticed their customer service leaves something to be desired. I understand they’re connected to the government in some way, so I don’t expect much after my experiences with the council…

Incidentally, here’s a speed test from just a few seconds ago:

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