Best (cheapest) ADSL provider for short-term use?

I will shortly be moving into my parents' house (currently standing
empty while they're abroad) for an unknown period before starting a new
job and moving away again. I could be there anything from a month to
eight months, but it's almost certain that the duration will be more
like two or possibly three months. I'd like to have ADSL service while
I'm there.

As I'm not currently working, cost is an important consideration. I'd be
grateful if you can suggest a provider whose total cost over two or
three months is as low as possible (provided the service isn't
completely crap).

When they lived there (until early September) my parents had ADSL
through BT's Internet-connection-only service (can't remember the name)
which might be relevant if there's some kind of cheap reconnection deal.
This also means the line's good and I'll already have a modem at the house.

I know that there are a number of providers with "no 12-month contract"
claims, but they tend to charge fairly hefty fees if you leave before
that time. I know they have to pay setup fees to BT, so it's not
reasonable to expect them to charge only a month or two's twenty-odd
quid usage charges and nothing else, but I'd like to minimise what I
have to pay them.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Pete

PS: I'm not interested in higher speeds than 512k. The always-on aspect
of ADSL is more important than speed, and provided the Web is reasonably
snappy I'm happy.

Pete

Pete Verdon wrote:

> PS: I'm not interested in higher speeds than 512k. The always-on aspect
> of ADSL is more important than speed, and provided the Web is reasonably
> snappy I'm happy.
>
> Pete

Eclipse Flex Home 500 £17.99/mth plus £47 connection fee - monthly
contract - uncapped

Eclipse Home Broadband, fastest connection available up to 2 Mb,
£14.99/mth - monthly contract - 1 Gbyte/mth inc (extra Gig's
£1.75/mth), plus connection fee.

The service has been superb for over a year apart from one well
publicised cranal dump a few weeks ago.

In message <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
dudicous <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>
>Pete Verdon wrote:
>
>> PS: I'm not interested in higher speeds than 512k. The always-on aspect
>> of ADSL is more important than speed, and provided the Web is reasonably
>> snappy I'm happy.
>>
>> Pete
>
>Eclipse Flex Home 500 £17.99/mth plus £47 connection fee - monthly
>contract - uncapped
>
>Eclipse Home Broadband, fastest connection available up to 2 Mb,
>£14.99/mth - monthly contract - 1 Gbyte/mth inc (extra Gig's
>£1.75/mth), plus connection fee.
>

Freedom 2surf

Monthly contract from £15/month for a 2M connection with a 2G limit
(unmetered 1am to 6am) with £1.50 per extra metered 1G - connection fee
= £50

<http://www.f2s.net/adsl/homeuser.php>

--
Alan
news2005 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

On 26 Dec 2005, Pete Verdon wrote:

>I know they have to pay setup fees to BT,

that's now 40 +VAT, I think...

>a month or two's twenty-odd quid usage charges and nothing else, but
>I'd like to minimise what I have to pay them.

depends (a) what speed you want, (b) how much traffic you are going
to expect while on, and (c) what you'll use it for.

Examples:

1) 69.95 setup, Metronet.co.uk (now owned by Plus.Net)

variable traffic, variable fees, any type of use (*)

500 kbps, 11.75 ( 400 MB traffic) PayGo up to 22.75
500 kbps, 16.99 ( 15 GB traffic) PayGo Extra

1000 kbps, 13.75 ( 2 GB traffic) PayGo up to 26.75
1000 kbps, 19.99 ( 45 GB traffic) PayGo Extra

2000 kbps, 18.75 ( 10 GB traffic) PayGo up to 38.75
2000 kbps, 22.99 ( 90 GB traffic) PayGo Extra

(*) Plus.Net is putting 'traffic shaping' into use so some types
of use may be speed-limited except from 0000-0800

2) 58.75 setup to get 1 month notice a/c,
Plus.Net up to 2000 kbps

used for mail/browsing, not heavy binaries use
Broadband Plus at 14.99/month
(no specified traffic limit)

heavier on binaries, under 100 GB total traffic
Premier account at 21.99/month

3) Nildram (owned by Pipex ?)
47.00 setup
http://broadband.nildram.net/display...product_matrix
Surf 500 50 GB limit
500 kbps is 22.99/month

Broadband 500 25 GB
500 kbps is 19.99/month

4) 'unlimited', Eclipse (Kingston Communications)

47.00 setup
500 kbps 17.99 FLEX 500
1000 kbps 23.95 FLEX 1000
2000 kbps 29.99 FLEX 2000

5) Zen.... hmmm, hadn't known how expensive they were!


Yes, I use PN but not everyone is happy with some of their policy
changes this year, especially their traffic calming kit (but I'm
using the Broadband Plus account, and even with that calming in
place, streaming audio/webcams seem fine. Peter M.


--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4>...
I save with Plus.Net on Broadband Plus at 14.99.
My reply-to address is valid - please add USENET to subject.

Peter M wrote:

> depends (a) what speed you want, (b) how much traffic you are going
> to expect while on, and (c) what you'll use it for.

In this case, nothing too serious. I don't tend to download all that
much, and while for a permanent setup I might be interested in some of
the more techy stuff like fixed or multiple IPs, this is just a
temporary link to keep me in Web, email and (non-binary) news until I
move into a place of my own.

Thanks,

Pete

On 26 Dec 2005, Pete Verdon wrote:

>this is just a temporary link to keep me in Web, email and (non-binary)
>news until I move into a place of my own.

In which case pretty much any of them will do, though at the lower end cost-
wise (comparable in price [only] to the Wanadoo and Tiscali, capped packages)
the Eclipse / Plus.Net ones might be OK, or Metronet, bar the costlier setup.

For mail + news + fax-to-e-mail you could try the Plus.Net account (free for
first 3 months at <http://www.plus.net/btbroadband/> from most any ISP), or
Clara, at <http://www.clara.net/btbroadband/> for mail [with filters] + text
only news service, for annual fee of 9.99, though most ISPs include news.



--

UK ADSL <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4>...
I save with Plus.Net on Broadband Plus at 14.99.
My reply-to address is valid - please add USENET to subject.

Peter M wrote:
> On 26 Dec 2005, Pete Verdon wrote:

>>this is just a temporary link to keep me in Web, email and (non-binary)
>>news until I move into a place of my own.

> For mail + news + fax-to-e-mail you could try the Plus.Net account

A misunderstanding, I fear. I already pay for non-ISP-dependent mail and
news; I just need a link to get at them.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Pete

On Mon, 26 Dec 2005 18:19:09 +0300, a particular chimpanzee named Pete
Verdon <(E-Mail Removed) d> randomly
hit the keyboard and produced:

>I will shortly be moving into my parents' house (currently standing
>empty while they're abroad) for an unknown period before starting a new
>job and moving away again. I could be there anything from a month to
>eight months, but it's almost certain that the duration will be more
>like two or possibly three months. I'd like to have ADSL service while
>I'm there.

This may be a long-shot, but if you have a wireless network card or
PC, have you checked whether there are any unsecured networks near
your parents' house?

When I first took my laptop to my mothers for a weekend stay, I was
expecting to be only able to connect via a dial-up, but when I powered
up the laptop it immediately found two or three unsecured networks
(see my thread, "Thank God for students").

I know it's legality is questionable, but as far as I'm concerned, if
I'm only downloading my e-mails and a few kB of newsgroup messages,
and I don't take the piss by downloading 3GB worth of movies, where's
the harm? [Flame-proof underwear on.]
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have you strayed?"

Hugo Nebula wrote:

> This may be a long-shot, but if you have a wireless network card or
> PC, have you checked whether there are any unsecured networks near
> your parents' house?

Highly unlikely, since their only neighbours are nearly ninety, but
thanks for the suggestion.

Pete