Best ADSL Package at present?

Hi Guys

Queries that I would like to ask are:

1) I know this is pretty general, but could anybody tell me what they think
the best overall ADSL package for the UK is at the moment?

Usage is relatively light (ie, min transfer rate 620MB a month and max
950MB a month) and would like something with:

a) a static IP.

b) a good contention ratio.

c) SMTP standard service (ie, like a dial-up with no horrible forced display
of provider's email address option).

d) Newsgroup access (not through a web site, but say Outlook Express through
the usual NNTP port).

e) 512k is fine.


2) We were going to look at BT, but have been advised that UKFast, Plusnet
and MetroNet (this one offers what seems to be a unique pay as you go ADSL
option). Has anybody got any positive/negative experience with these ISPs?


3) Is it true that if we paid for a home/single user monthly option and then
got a NAT router such as the Zoom X4, we could have as many users as we want
accessing the home/single user connection on the other side of the NAT? Any
problems with this?


Your feedback would be very much appreciated.

Rgds

Laphan

> 1) I know this is pretty general, but could anybody tell me what they think
> the best overall ADSL package for the UK is at the moment?

www.adslguide.org might help with some comparisons between providers.

I`m with Pipex, and the service seems to be quite stable, but I believe
the customer service side isn`t as good as others. I`ve had no real
problems with them though, and i`ve been on the net for ~10 years with
numerous ISPs. From previous experience, they`re as good, or almost as
good as you can get anywhere (taking other users' comments into account).

> Usage is relatively light (ie, min transfer rate 620MB a month and max
> 950MB a month) and would like something with:

Sh!t, I seem to manage that at least every couple of days now :-}

> a) a static IP.
> b) a good contention ratio.

Depending on what you need a static IP address for, you may be able to
get away with a simple redirect service like dyndns.org

Can`t really advise on the contention ratios, but if you manage to search
google groups, a lot of discussion has gone on about them over the last
two weeks.

> c) SMTP standard service (ie, like a dial-up with no horrible forced display
> of provider's email address option).

Don`t really know what you mean about horrible forced display etc....

> d) Newsgroup access (not through a web site, but say Outlook Express through
> the usual NNTP port).

Ditch lookOut dEpress - it`s a security risk to any network :-)

Pipex have their own newsgroups, but I can`t comment on retention or
reliability - I use the former news.cis.dfn.de (now news.individual.de)
who only carry non-binary groups.

> e) 512k is fine.

Does me too, but you`ll be surprised at how quickly you get used to it
and yearn for more :-)

> 2) We were going to look at BT, but have been advised that UKFast, Plusnet
> and MetroNet (this one offers what seems to be a unique pay as you go ADSL
> option). Has anybody got any positive/negative experience with these ISPs?

BT - * NO * - don`t even go there :-}

Plusnet and Metronet have staff who frequent this group, and seem helpful
and friendly. Zen are also worth a mention going by other users`
experiences that i`ve read about. Not heard of UKFast personally.

I was astounded when I sent an abuse report to Zen the other day and got
a personal reply within ONE HOUR, and they had already acted on my
report.

If I compare that to BTopenwound, their turnaround is 3+ days and then
you get nothing more than an autoresponder f*-off, and they don`t seem to
know their arse from their elbow.

BT`s "tech" support is, from my experience, abysmal, and the people I
have spoken to don`t even know how to figure out if a server is hosted
within their network - I once reported a fraudulent clone of a finance
site that was gathering account details of unwary users, and had to
explain to them several times how I knew the site was on their servers...
I had to hand-hold them through www.geektools.com to prove what I was
saying. Tech support is a concept they may have heard of, but haven`t
actually done anything about.

> 3) Is it true that if we paid for a home/single user monthly option and then
> got a NAT router such as the Zoom X4, we could have as many users as we want
> accessing the home/single user connection on the other side of the NAT? Any
> problems with this?

Shouldn`t be - but you may need to get a router with a built in modem
depending on the type of modem you get. USB modems work, but in a kinda
crashy Windows kind of way - they`re not what you`d call entirely stable
for a great many users.

I`m running two machines behind a NAT`d router/modem now, and it`s great
:-)

--
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
or you are likely to be spam filtered :-}

Laphan wrote:

> 1) I know this is pretty general, but could anybody tell me what they think
> the best overall ADSL package for the UK is at the moment?

Depends exactly what you want. But any of (in no specific order):
Andrews & Arnold, PlusNet, Nildram, Pipex, & Virgin seem to be rated
well by their users.

Personally I would avoid AOL, Tiscali, & BT.

> a) a static IP.

The first 3 I listed certainly - Also the likes of Demon.

> b) a good contention ratio.

Most will offer 50:1 - having said that this is not the issue people
tend to think it is, since it is not 50 people sharing a potential 512K.
It's 50 people sharing the capacity of the backhaul connection between
your exchange and the ISP. So unless you know what capacity this link is
the contention ratio does not tell you much.

> c) SMTP standard service (ie, like a dial-up with no horrible forced display
> of provider's email address option).

i.e. you want to use your own domain and you don't want the SMTP server
refusing your emails because they do not appear to come from
you@isps_name.co.uk ? Most are OK with this - I only have personal
experiance with Demon and PlusNet which are fine. I also believe
Nildram, and A&A are ok also - don't know about the rest.

> d) Newsgroup access (not through a web site, but say Outlook Express through
> the usual NNTP port).

Moat will offer this - but it is an area that differentiates the ISPs.
Especially if you want access to binary groups. Clara have a good
reputation of newsgroups in general. I alwas found Demon to be very good
as well. PlusNet don't have anything like the storage capacity of Demon
at the moment although I understand this will change shortly.

> 2) We were going to look at BT, but have been advised that UKFast, Plusnet
> and MetroNet (this one offers what seems to be a unique pay as you go ADSL
> option). Has anybody got any positive/negative experience with these ISPs?

PlusNet do PAYG as well.

See http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp

for a comparison.

> 3) Is it true that if we paid for a home/single user monthly option and then
> got a NAT router such as the Zoom X4, we could have as many users as we want
> accessing the home/single user connection on the other side of the NAT? Any

Generally yes. Although definitly skip AOL if you want to do that!

> problems with this?

Should be fine - if the ISP complains then ditch them!



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article <FbU0b.9833$(E-Mail Removed)>, John Rumm wrote:
> Laphan wrote:
>
>> 2) We were going to look at BT, but have been advised that UKFast, Plusnet
>> and MetroNet (this one offers what seems to be a unique pay as you go ADSL
>> option). Has anybody got any positive/negative experience with these ISPs?
>
> PlusNet do PAYG as well.
>
> See http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp
>
> for a comparison.
>
From their website as far as I can tell, it is not with their broadband
service which is what we do that makes us different.

They have links to PAYG on their site however it all looks linked to only the
dialup access and not ADSL wise.

Regards

Alex

--
Alexander Clouter <(E-Mail Removed)>
MetroNet Support http://www.metronet.co.uk/support/

Metronet Support wrote:

> From their website as far as I can tell, it is not with their broadband
> service which is what we do that makes us different.
>
> They have links to PAYG on their site however it all looks linked to only the
> dialup access and not ADSL wise.

I suppose it does depend on what you define as "Pay as you Go" - IIUC
the PlusNet offering allows you to pay for one months service at a time
with no annual contract.

What does the Metronet package do differently?



--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article <j641b.9967$(E-Mail Removed)>, John Rumm wrote:
> John Rumm wrote:
>
>> I suppose it does depend on what you define as "Pay as you Go" - IIUC
>> the PlusNet offering allows you to pay for one months service at a time
>> with no annual contract.
>>
>> What does the Metronet package do differently?
>
> OK scratch that question I just read your web site! ;-)
>
> Yup you are right - different from plusnet.....
>
>
<smug_mode> yep </smug_mode>

Regards

Alex

--
Alexander Clouter <(E-Mail Removed)>
MetroNet Support http://www.metronet.co.uk/support/

In article <t3r2ib.oog.ln@127.0.0.1>, Metronet Support
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>In article <j641b.9967$(E-Mail Removed)>, John Rumm wrote:
>> John Rumm wrote:
>>
>>> I suppose it does depend on what you define as "Pay as you Go" - IIUC
>>> the PlusNet offering allows you to pay for one months service at a time
>>> with no annual contract.
>>>
>>> What does the Metronet package do differently?
>>
>> OK scratch that question I just read your web site! ;-)
>>
>> Yup you are right - different from plusnet.....
>>
><smug_mode> yep </smug_mode>

Error 404
The document could not be found.
The document /paygo.shtml could not be found on this server.

?

--
Andrew Coates

In article <Bev1OTRDzXR$(E-Mail Removed)>, Andrew Coates
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>In article <t3r2ib.oog.ln@127.0.0.1>, Metronet Support
><(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>>In article <j641b.9967$(E-Mail Removed)>, John Rumm wrote:
>>> John Rumm wrote:

>>>> What does the Metronet package do differently?

>>> Yup you are right - different from plusnet.....

>><smug_mode> yep </smug_mode>
>
>Error 404
>The document could not be found.
>The document /paygo.shtml could not be found on this server.
>
>?

Forget about that, filters having a bad day.

--
Andrew Coates