Broadband for Dad <not a swap>

Hi All,

My elderly but reasonably 'switched on' Dad has been on PAYG dial-up
with his eMac for a few years now and had seen his ISP change from
Freeserve > Wanadoo > Orange?

His usage is very light ~ £8 / q so he can't *really** justify
broadband with his current usage pattern.

However he still has a second BT line that is used for dial-up and fax
but the fax is nearly redundant now he's fully retired.

So, he could dump the second line (saving ~£9.m) and take up BB on his
main line (at ~£15/month) so BB is only 'effectively £6 / month?

On top of that he would be able to *use* the net more (it's no 'fun'
at 56k) and maybe if I added a wireless router my Daughter could leave
her older Tosh WiFi lappy round there (she often goes there after
school to practice oboe / keyboard) and help them get going on eBay,
selling all his old photographic gear ..?

So, they like 'Tesco' (as a shop and I know their BB is via NTL . I'm
a happy customer (service wise) after 10 years) and I think he may
have a Mobile phone from Orange?

Any particular ISP stand out as being particularly good for the above
please?

All the best ..

T i m

T i m wrote:
>
> Any particular ISP stand out as being particularly good for the above
> please?

NewNet (www.newnet.co.uk) 13 quid a month for up to 2GB (extra usage
charged at £2.70 per 3 Gigs). Email account included. He'll never get
to 2 Gigs anyway by the sound of it.

"T i m" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> My elderly but reasonably 'switched on' Dad has been on PAYG dial-up
> with his eMac for a few years now and had seen his ISP change from
> Freeserve > Wanadoo > Orange?
>
> His usage is very light ~ £8 / q so he can't *really** justify
> broadband with his current usage pattern.
>
> However he still has a second BT line that is used for dial-up and fax
> but the fax is nearly redundant now he's fully retired.
>
> So, he could dump the second line (saving ~£9.m) and take up BB on his
> main line (at ~£15/month) so BB is only 'effectively £6 / month?
>
> On top of that he would be able to *use* the net more (it's no 'fun'
> at 56k) and maybe if I added a wireless router my Daughter could leave
> her older Tosh WiFi lappy round there (she often goes there after
> school to practice oboe / keyboard) and help them get going on eBay,
> selling all his old photographic gear ..?
>
> So, they like 'Tesco' (as a shop and I know their BB is via NTL . I'm
> a happy customer (service wise) after 10 years) and I think he may
> have a Mobile phone from Orange?
>
> Any particular ISP stand out as being particularly good for the above
> please?
>
> All the best ..
>
> T i m

http://www.names.co.uk/home_broadband.html offer a couple of packages
around £15 or less.

Graham

"T i m" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> My elderly but reasonably 'switched on' Dad has been on PAYG dial-up
> with his eMac for a few years now and had seen his ISP change from
> Freeserve > Wanadoo > Orange?
>
> His usage is very light ~ £8 / q so he can't *really** justify
> broadband with his current usage pattern.
>
> However he still has a second BT line that is used for dial-up and fax
> but the fax is nearly redundant now he's fully retired.
>
> So, he could dump the second line (saving ~£9.m) and take up BB on his
> main line (at ~£15/month) so BB is only 'effectively £6 / month?
>

AOL are offering upto 1mbps ADSL with a free wireless router at
£14.99 per month (1yr minimum contract). One snag apart from it
being aol is that if the line is amber for 1mbps they only supply
512kbps and I found that it can be a fair amount of hassle getting
it regraded to the advertised speed.

On the other hand some people have managed to negotiate
the same package: sometimes without a wireless router for
£9.99 http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat...w=&sb=&o=&vc=1

"T i m" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
: Hi All,
:
: My elderly but reasonably 'switched on' Dad has been on PAYG dial-up
: with his eMac for a few years now and had seen his ISP change from
: Freeserve > Wanadoo > Orange?
:
: His usage is very light ~ £8 / q so he can't *really** justify
: broadband with his current usage pattern.
:
: However he still has a second BT line that is used for dial-up and fax
: but the fax is nearly redundant now he's fully retired.
:
: So, he could dump the second line (saving ~£9.m) and take up BB on his
: main line (at ~£15/month) so BB is only 'effectively £6 / month?
:
: On top of that he would be able to *use* the net more (it's no 'fun'
: at 56k) and maybe if I added a wireless router my Daughter could leave
: her older Tosh WiFi lappy round there (she often goes there after
: school to practice oboe / keyboard) and help them get going on eBay,
: selling all his old photographic gear ..?
:
: So, they like 'Tesco' (as a shop and I know their BB is via NTL . I'm
: a happy customer (service wise) after 10 years) and I think he may
: have a Mobile phone from Orange?
:
: Any particular ISP stand out as being particularly good for the above
: please?
:
: All the best ..
:
: T i m
:
:
:
:

You can get some payg broadband deals from around 9.99 with inclusive gigs
take a look at adslguide.

Chris


--
Cheap As Chips Broadband http://yeah.kick-butt.co.uk
Superb hosting & domain name deals http://host.kick-butt.co.uk

"Mel" wrote in message news:45263683$0$97250$(E-Mail Removed) reenews.net...
>
>
> On the other hand some people have managed to negotiate
> the same package: sometimes without a wireless router for
> £9.99 http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat...w=&sb=&o=&vc=1
>
>
Another option might be a £15 virgin mobile contract 300 minute
a month with "free broadband" (sim only).
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/paymonthlySimOnly.do

Also worth checking if he can get the sky deal (or the £9.99
ukonline deal if he is not a sky subscriber)

On Fri, 6 Oct 2006 11:56:48 +0100, "Mel"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>AOL are offering upto 1mbps ADSL with a free wireless router at
>£14.99 per month (1yr minimum contract). One snag apart from it
>being aol is that if the line is amber for 1mbps they only supply
>512kbps and I found that it can be a fair amount of hassle getting
>it regraded to the advertised speed.

And did you succeed? How did you do?

I have tried, and tried, and tried, and tried..... and eventually I
got worn out and stopped trying.

Lorenz (who actually was at 1MB with his previous ISP)

[L.]

"[L.]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 6 Oct 2006 11:56:48 +0100, "Mel"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >AOL are offering upto 1mbps ADSL with a free wireless router at
> >£14.99 per month (1yr minimum contract). One snag apart from it
> >being aol is that if the line is amber for 1mbps they only supply
> >512kbps and I found that it can be a fair amount of hassle getting
> >it regraded to the advertised speed.
>
> And did you succeed? How did you do?
>
> I have tried, and tried, and tried, and tried..... and eventually I
> got worn out and stopped trying.
>

The best thing to do would have been to ask for a mac code
during the modem cooling off period after you'd been turned down a
few times.

Other than that is to keep ringing (0800 279 6771 or 0117 919 1100)
until you speak to a helpful AOL employee, some do exist!
Maybe try the billing and account department.

It may also help if you can tell them you've had 1mbps before and
your downstream attenuation is well below BT's max limit for
1 mbps (60dB).

Oh, and I had about 4 regrades in all! But, most people seem
to get it sorted with just a few calls.

They downgraded my connection to 512Kbps when I joined.

Two calls plus a couple of weeks later they regraded my line
back to 1mbps, but omitted the aol.com isp-domain so I
couldn't connect without their software running.

Several more calls requesting that they add the domain
and a few weeks later they downgraded my line to 512kbps
instead!

A couple of calls and a week or two later they regraded
my line to 1mbps again, but this time with the correct
domain.

Billing and Accounts were the department that finally sorted it.

I wouldn't have minded quite so much if I'd got the £9.99
deal plus the £25 (each) refer a friend discount, but I paid
full price!

"T i m" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi All,
>
> My elderly but reasonably 'switched on' Dad has been on PAYG dial-up
> with his eMac for a few years now and had seen his ISP change from
> Freeserve > Wanadoo > Orange?
>
> His usage is very light ~ £8 / q so he can't *really** justify
> broadband with his current usage pattern.
>
> However he still has a second BT line that is used for dial-up and fax
> but the fax is nearly redundant now he's fully retired.
>
> So, he could dump the second line (saving ~£9.m) and take up BB on his
> main line (at ~£15/month) so BB is only 'effectively £6 / month?
>
> On top of that he would be able to *use* the net more (it's no 'fun'
> at 56k) and maybe if I added a wireless router my Daughter could leave
> her older Tosh WiFi lappy round there (she often goes there after
> school to practice oboe / keyboard) and help them get going on eBay,
> selling all his old photographic gear ..?
>
> So, they like 'Tesco' (as a shop and I know their BB is via NTL . I'm
> a happy customer (service wise) after 10 years) and I think he may
> have a Mobile phone from Orange?
>
> Any particular ISP stand out as being particularly good for the above
> please?
>
> All the best ..
>
> T i m
>
>
>
>

Consider www.efhbroadband.com £14 a month, they'll throw in hardware and
pay the activation fee if he stays for a year.

1GB a month included and excellent customer service.

Works for my Dad!

Also have good experiences with NewNet.

On Sat, 07 Oct 2006 00:47:43 GMT, "JGG" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>>
>
>Consider www.efhbroadband.com £14 a month, they'll throw in hardware and
>pay the activation fee if he stays for a year.
>
>1GB a month included and excellent customer service.
>
>Works for my Dad!
>
>Also have good experiences with NewNet.


Thanks to all for the advice.

The only problem with any 'light user' accounts will be if my Daughter
get's on it ;-)

Also, if they do get 'into' ebay I guess that will rack up a few bytes
(uploading photos etc)?

Food for thought though ...

All the best ..

T i m