Home business broadband

I run a business from home. I used to have ISDN, and changed to
broadband mid-contract when it became available. This meant that I was
obliged to use BT.

Now my 12 month contract is up and I can change provider, so...

1 - Can I use any of the home user services advertised by broadband
providers, or do they all prohibit it? I just use it for normal
browsing and email - I don't upload/download large amounts of data. My
family uses the same connection for home internet use.

2 - Can anyone recommend a cheaper, reliable supplier? At the moment
I'm paying about £30 a month exc VAT. I think 512 is the max available
on my line.

Thanks for your advice!

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
JK <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I run a business from home. I used to have ISDN, and changed to
> broadband mid-contract when it became available. This meant that I was
> obliged to use BT.
>
> Now my 12 month contract is up and I can change provider, so...
>
> 1 - Can I use any of the home user services advertised by broadband
> providers, or do they all prohibit it? I just use it for normal
> browsing and email - I don't upload/download large amounts of data. My
> family uses the same connection for home internet use.
>
> 2 - Can anyone recommend a cheaper, reliable supplier? At the moment
> I'm paying about £30 a month exc VAT. I think 512 is the max available
> on my line.
>
> Thanks for your advice!

The main difference, as I understand it, between 'home' and 'business' ADSL
offerings is the contention ratio. Business services use a lower ratio, and
are more expensive.

There seems to be no reason why you can't have either a home or business
ADSL service on either a home or business line, in any combination.

Have a look at PlusNet.
http://www.plus.net/residential/inde...99847ae49e1985

Their home 512k service starts at about £15 per month INCLUDING VAT - albeit
with a 1GB per month cap on downloads. However, the uncapped service is only
£22. Either way, you get free migration if you already have ADSL from
another provider.

I've been with for a few months ago, and they are pretty reliable. Like all
ISP's, they get problems from time to time - but they do keep you informed
of what's going on - and the techies also post here from time to time.

If you *do* go this way, you could save me a few bob by quoting a referral
code of 'mills37' when you sign up.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is invalid.

"JK" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) om...
> I run a business from home. I used to have ISDN, and changed to
> broadband mid-contract when it became available. This meant that I was
> obliged to use BT.
>
> Now my 12 month contract is up and I can change provider, so...
>
> 1 - Can I use any of the home user services advertised by broadband
> providers, or do they all prohibit it? I just use it for normal
> browsing and email - I don't upload/download large amounts of data. My
> family uses the same connection for home internet use.
>
> 2 - Can anyone recommend a cheaper, reliable supplier? At the moment
> I'm paying about £30 a month exc VAT. I think 512 is the max available
> on my line.
>
> Thanks for your advice!

From what I've seen, £30.00 for 512k is about right. Be sure to add in the
cost of the following which may, or may not, be included.

- web space
- e-mail addresses
- telephone (optional)
- BT line rental - most ADSL still requires a BT line although if you still
use BT for telephone, this is irrelevent.

For example, I'm considering OneTel because I make a lot of calls to the US
and their broadband/US bundle should work out cheaper for me. You might
want to investigate other broadband/telephone bundles.

Also, do you have your own domain name? If not, your e-mail address may
change and this could be a hassle for your business clients. If you don't
have a domain, I'd get one, let clients slowly move over to using the new
address (which you redirect to your existing BT e-mail address) and then you
are free to switch ISPs, just moving the redirect - your clients won't know
the difference!

Hope this helps,
Paul DS

In article <(E-Mail Removed) >,
(E-Mail Removed) (JK) wrote:

> I run a business from home. I used to have ISDN, and changed to
> broadband mid-contract when it became available. This meant that I was
> obliged to use BT.
>
> Now my 12 month contract is up and I can change provider, so...
>
> 1 - Can I use any of the home user services advertised by broadband
> providers, or do they all prohibit it? I just use it for normal
> browsing and email - I don't upload/download large amounts of data. My
> family uses the same connection for home internet use.

The main difference between business and residential connections is
contention.

Some ISPs will have in their T&Cs that you can't use their residential
product for business use and some don't, you just need to check the T&Cs.

I use Zen, who don't mind, and I would thoroughly recommend them.

If you run a business I'm assuming you need something that is reliable
and whilst they aren't the cheapest, Zen do tend to just work.

Also worth a look would be Metronet, AAISP (bit pricey for high use),
and maybe Eclipse?

cheers,
Paul
--
paul <at> spamcop <dot> net

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:56:10 -0000, "Tiscali Tim" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
>JK <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> I run a business from home. I used to have ISDN, and changed to
>> broadband mid-contract when it became available. This meant that I was
>> obliged to use BT.
>>
>> Now my 12 month contract is up and I can change provider, so...
>>
>> 1 - Can I use any of the home user services advertised by broadband
>> providers, or do they all prohibit it? I just use it for normal
>> browsing and email - I don't upload/download large amounts of data. My
>> family uses the same connection for home internet use.
>>
>> 2 - Can anyone recommend a cheaper, reliable supplier? At the moment
>> I'm paying about £30 a month exc VAT. I think 512 is the max available
>> on my line.
>>
>> Thanks for your advice!
>
>The main difference, as I understand it, between 'home' and 'business' ADSL
>offerings is the contention ratio. Business services use a lower ratio, and
>are more expensive.
>
>There seems to be no reason why you can't have either a home or business
>ADSL service on either a home or business line, in any combination.
>
>Have a look at PlusNet.
>http://www.plus.net/residential/inde...99847ae49e1985
>
>Their home 512k service starts at about £15 per month INCLUDING VAT - albeit
>with a 1GB per month cap on downloads. However, the uncapped service is only
>£22. Either way, you get free migration if you already have ADSL from
>another provider.
>
>I've been with for a few months ago, and they are pretty reliable. Like all
>ISP's, they get problems from time to time - but they do keep you informed
>of what's going on - and the techies also post here from time to time.
>
>If you *do* go this way, you could save me a few bob by quoting a referral
>code of 'mills37' when you sign up.

Hi there,

I'ld just like to add in cases like this where a business is being run
from home, we would expect the customer to really go for a Teleworker
or Business account.

http://www.plus.net/business/

kind regards

Luke
--
| Luke Horwath Broadband Solutions
| Comms team for Home & Business
| PlusNet Plc @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----+

Thanks for the advice everyone. That's very helpful. We'll have a think
about how much data we get through a month (unlimited vs limited), but
it looks like we should be able to cut the monthly bill from £30 to
about £15 - 20 a month which is great.

"Paul Hutchings" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsaul-(E-Mail Removed)...

> and maybe Eclipse?

I asked Eclipse if they'd do a 'home' package for a 'business' line and they
said yes!


--

J B

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:29:45 UTC, (E-Mail Removed) (JK) wrote:

> 2 - Can anyone recommend a cheaper, reliable supplier? At the moment
> I'm paying about œ30 a month exc VAT. I think 512 is the max available
> on my line.

You don't say what volume of data you're shifting, bit have a look at
AAISP. The Home accounts are perfectly acceptable for business use as
far as they are concerned, so with the slightly worse contention
(unlikely to notice) it could be fine.

The basic account has a limit of 3GB/month during working hours [1],
unlimited outside that. It's about 27 quid a month inclusive of VAT, and
you can have 2Mb/s for that, if your line supports it.

http://aa.nu

[1] Roughly; see the details on their website.
--
[Davism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. (also known as Gee-axia)]