Help me make the jump

I'm currently on BT Dial-Up paying £17pm - I have been happy with the
service for the last 6 years.
But the time has come to jump to broadband - I would like to use mainly for
surfing, online-gaming & downloading.

My initial choice would be to stay with BT. But I would like a no download
limit.
I would also like a good usenet server with binaries.

The two isp's I have been looking at are
Plusnet at £22pm for 512k
- Is the usenet server any good ?
- what's the customer service like ?

Zenadsl 500 at £28pm (We use Zen at work & the support is excellent)
- what's the usenet server like ?
- am i paying too much just for the service ?

Also both do not supply a modem/router.
I would like to go for a router option - i've been looking at the

Netgear DG834 which has built in firewall.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...id=52754#pinfo

Any thought's or replies to the questions above please.
I would like to get onto broadband asap but it's a nightmare choosing which
isp to go with - i would like a good compromise on customer service & price.

--
Niaz Khan
'..getting old & still playing video games..'
Items for sale - http://uk.geocities.com/gospvg/index.htm

On Fri, 2 Jul 2004 07:51:38 +0100, "Niaz Khan"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm currently on BT Dial-Up paying £17pm - I have been happy with the
>service for the last 6 years.
>But the time has come to jump to broadband - I would like to use mainly for
>surfing, online-gaming & downloading.
>
>My initial choice would be to stay with BT. But I would like a no download
>limit.
>I would also like a good usenet server with binaries.
>
>The two isp's I have been looking at are
>Plusnet at £22pm for 512k
>- Is the usenet server any good ?
>- what's the customer service like ?
>
>Zenadsl 500 at £28pm (We use Zen at work & the support is excellent)
>- what's the usenet server like ?
>- am i paying too much just for the service ?
>
>Also both do not supply a modem/router.
>I would like to go for a router option - i've been looking at the
>
>Netgear DG834 which has built in firewall.
>http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...id=52754#pinfo
>
>Any thought's or replies to the questions above please.
>I would like to get onto broadband asap but it's a nightmare choosing which
>isp to go with - i would like a good compromise on customer service & price.

IMHO it would be best to avoid BTs offering - better value and more
facilities available with a number of other ADSL providers.

PlusNet gets mentioned a lot here and while there are some happy
bunnies with them it might be best to looked elsewhere while some
recent bad publicity works its way out of the system.

Again the Netgear DG834 seems to have some troublesome issues that get
aired here quite frequently.

I have no knowledge of ZEN and don't recall any postings here. The
ADSLGUIDE is a good source of information which indicates ZEN to be a
good choice. As you have some passing knowledge of them, it seems a
sensible choice for you also.

A router that gets a lot of positive mentions here is the various
flavours of Draytek. I suppose the reason for it not being the No.1
choice is because of its price. Its range of functionality and ease
of setup seem to be its strengths.

Hope this helps

David Bradley

Niaz Khan wrote:

> I'm currently on BT Dial-Up paying #17pm - I have been happy with the
> service for the last 6 years.
> But the time has come to jump to broadband - I would like to use
> mainly for surfing, online-gaming & downloading.
>
> My initial choice would be to stay with BT. But I would like a no
> download limit.
> I would also like a good usenet server with binaries.
>
> The two isp's I have been looking at are
> Plusnet at #22pm for 512k
> - Is the usenet server any good ?
> - what's the customer service like ?
>
> Zenadsl 500 at #28pm (We use Zen at work & the support is excellent)
> - what's the usenet server like ?
> - am i paying too much just for the service ?
>
> Also both do not supply a modem/router.
> I would like to go for a router option - i've been looking at the
>
> Netgear DG834 which has built in firewall.
> http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...2566581&action
> =c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52754#pi nfo
>
> Any thought's or replies to the questions above please.
> I would like to get onto broadband asap but it's a nightmare choosing
> which isp to go with - i would like a good compromise on customer
> service & price.

I just got ADSL installed after mucking about in a cable area that
didn't have broadband on offer. I chose the Pipex 256k service at
?17.99 for the time being. They have a 512 with Usenet package for ?23
I think. May be worth a look. As I don't have usenet access I uses the
free CIS server for text posts (which I used at work and instead of the
ntlworld servers anyway) and for binary downloads I use astranews at
about ?5.50 for 25Gb of anytime download.

I did have the Netgear you mentione above but after 2 firmware upgrades
found it very unreliable. The Linksys WAG54G with the latest firmware
now seems to be solid as a rock. I believe there are better wireless
router/modems out there though and I wish I'd gone for something with
better range as reception in my kitchen is weak.

Hope this helps.

"Niaz Khan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> The two isp's I have been looking at are
> Plusnet at £22pm for 512k
> - Is the usenet server any good ?
> - what's the customer service like ?
>
> Zenadsl 500 at £28pm (We use Zen at work & the support is excellent)
> - what's the usenet server like ?
> - am i paying too much just for the service ?
>

What about Eclipse Internet?
256k = £17.99
512k = £23.95

And whats really cool is that if you line can go faster you have the option
of bursting your speed
up to 512k or 1Mb for a period of time for a few pence an hour.

Also they use Giganews for their news service which is just about the best
news service around.

Jim.

Niaz Khan <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I'm currently on BT Dial-Up paying ?17pm - I have been happy with the
> service for the last 6 years.
> But the time has come to jump to broadband - I would like to use mainly for
> surfing, online-gaming & downloading.
>
> My initial choice would be to stay with BT. But I would like a no download
> limit.
> I would also like a good usenet server with binaries.
>
> The two isp's I have been looking at are
> Plusnet at ?22pm for 512k
> - Is the usenet server any good ?

At the moment the existing server is kind of broken.
However, the beta server is finally looking very promising (see other post
of mine) and is scheduled to replace the default one sometime this week.
I'll be mentioning it again when it goes live, with more stats.

> - what's the customer service like ?

Been good every time I've talked to them.

They also have a referrals scheme, to get modest amounts off your bill,
if you refer people. I'd of course appreciate you entering 'mauve' if
you do decide to sign up.

On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 18:40:17 GMT, Ian Stirling
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>They also have a referrals scheme, to get modest amounts off your bill,
>if you refer people. I'd of course appreciate you entering 'mauve' if
>you do decide to sign up.

Is there any incentive to the person obtaining the new contract to
refer anyone? Apart from the feeling of being extra-nice to a stranger
that is

Richard Sobey <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On Fri, 02 Jul 2004 18:40:17 GMT, Ian Stirling
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>They also have a referrals scheme, to get modest amounts off your bill,
>>if you refer people. I'd of course appreciate you entering 'mauve' if
>>you do decide to sign up.
>
> Is there any incentive to the person obtaining the new contract to
> refer anyone? Apart from the feeling of being extra-nice to a stranger
> that is

They get modest amounts off their bill (depending ont he sort of account)