Broadband Internet & ISP Recommendations?

If you can, ge tone with the ability to have an external antenna. Only really makes a difference if you are in a less than perfect signal area, which it sounds like you will be.

It really depends on the quality of signal where you are at the time rather than the hardware itself.

My 4g router gives me 200Mbps upload on a good day but might only be able to do 50 Mbps 200m away.

The best thing to do would be to order some free payg sims from the usual phone providers and do some speed tests with your phone to see which performs best. You could then get a dongle for that network.

Ordered a tp link archer mr600, hopefully it does the trick!

I reckon that'll work out nicely for you, based on my experiences of using a very similar TP link model in a marginal signal area. Same chipset and antennas so hopefully will be just as good.

Fingers crossed! Now to do as you recommended to ExTra and order a few payg SIM cards to find the best provider!

John Lewis fibre have been decent. Answer phone quickly, pleasant to deal with. Easy negation on price at the end of the contract. No complaints.

Anyone with Plusnet? Seems a good deal at the moment. I'm currently with EE but just at the end of the contract.

Or, wondering whether I should go for fibre. I've been happy enough with standard broadband for my basic use. What are the advantages?

Plusnet like EE are BT owned, so the product will be the same. Plusnet used to (and may still) have the better customer interaction

We use Zen and they've been great thus far.

Plusnet like EE are BT owned, so the product will be the same.

Not quite from my experience. Was with BT and using a Netgear router getting 6 to 6.5Mb.

Swapped to Plusnet with the same router. 5Mb and slower ping.
But half the price and customer service has been good.

Plusnet used to (and may still) have the better customer interaction.

They sorted out my folks phone and broadband during the lock down as they had just moved. Talked through setting up the router etc to a pair of not very techy 70yo 😊

My contract ends on 10th Aug and I'll probably stay. Although I'm looking at 4g mobile and microwave options as I can get 20 to 30Mb. My exchange is a mile and a half away so wired is never going to be quick 😩

Any recommendations for fibre broadband ? im at the end of my time with Plusnet (thank God) after 8 or so years

our current house has virgin ready - previous owners had this as does my neighbour - we are literally next to the cabinet if that helps? seen a deal for the M100 package
2 devices and 2 laptops as i work from home most time as does the mrs peroidically to deliver our classess/workshops

I've had Virgin here for 10 years. I like it. It went down once I think during lockdown but then our own data centres went down more often than that so whatever. Think I'm paying 70 quid for 18 months of 100Mbit, phone and almost full tv package w/ Tivo.

I dont need phone or TV so package I've seen is 24 a month online

worth trying on the phone as well?

It's almost always cheaper with the phone.

I have Virgin, the actual service has been very good with very few outages. Their customer service is a bit shit with crappy call centres with limited understanding. Fortunately don't have to deal with them often.

They're also a but sneaky for constant price increases so make sure you get the price fixed.

It's almost always cheaper with the phone.

Yes but from what I’ve seen online this is the cheapest

Yeah I know what you mean plus net do similar

This is fixed for 18months

One of my favourite ever calls was to Virgin getting a cheaper deal.

The dude was Scottish and I think he had a crush on me coz of my accent. He really wanted to go to Oz. Was really bummed he couldn't say 'cunt' while he was telling me about The Big Lez Show because the convos were recorded.

Every time my contract is up I ring up and lock in another 'loyalty' deal.

Maybe it's only existing customers it's cheaper with.

New customers get cheaper deals than existing ones so it might very well be the case.

But what harm is ringing them up and asking if they can do better?

I'm switching broadband from EE to Plusnet. EE stopped service on Monday morning but Plusnet have yet to start service as of today (so 3+ days without internet so far).

Anyone had similar situation? Presumably should be pushing for compensation of some kind.

What have Plusnet said is the problem ?

You're basically switching between two departments of BT....should be fairly straightforward for them to get right!

they said something about it being delay by their supplier (openreach?) not processing the order?

I have now received a router but apparently not supposed to do anything with it until they confirm the service is ready.

I suspect they will just not start charging you until the service is live. No harm in asking for a discount off your bill for the trouble though.

Plusnet giving me £25 to spend on some form of mobile data as service won't be live for another 7 days. Buy more data under phone contract and tether to computer/ TV etc? Or some thing else?

Ideally I want to watch TV, Youtube, Netflix, etc. Fortunately off work next week so hopefully won't have to use Zoom.

Plusnet missed date for activation - could be until 4th Sep until connected now...woeful