150k service with no free modem?

Hi,

I've been looking on http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ but haven't found
what I want. Basically I am a cheapskate wanting a basic 150k
connection, and I don't want a 'free' modem because I've already got
one (and I presume that you pay for the freebies through the monthly
fee). Any suggestions? Do all ISPs throw these free modems in?


Martin Pentreath

Martin Pentreath <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
: fee). Any suggestions? Do all ISPs throw these free modems in?

They are now so cheap that it's doubtful if they put up the monthly fee
much (if at all!)

On 20 Oct 2004, in uk.telecom.broadband, Martin Pentreath wrote:

>I am a cheapskate wanting a basic 150k connection

There are few services (a) that slow, and (b) without a modem (+)
(as the assumption, however incorrect, is that they're getting
a few stragglers, who have been left behind now that so many
have gone to higher speeds), so I'd search only for service
at that speed and not look for 'no modem', personally. PGM.

(+) I haven't spent any time looking, but expect none, really!

Martin Pentreath wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been looking on http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ but haven't found
> what I want. Basically I am a cheapskate wanting a basic 150k
> connection, and I don't want a 'free' modem because I've already got
> one (and I presume that you pay for the freebies through the monthly
> fee). Any suggestions? Do all ISPs throw these free modems in?

They seem to. Flog the modem on EBay. I got rid of a Speedtouch 330
for 18 quid last month.

On 20 Oct 2004 01:24:12 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) (Martin
Pentreath) wrote:

>Basically I am a cheapskate wanting a basic 150k
>connection,

150k connections are fairly rare and in general undesirable (usually
being supplied by Tiscali using a 2M datastream connection).

What is your monthly price ceiling, do you mind having caps on the
amount of data or the need to pay more above a certain number of GB ?

Phil
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On 20 Oct 2004 in uk.telecom.broadband, Phil Thompson wrote:

>(usually being supplied by Tiscali using a 2M datastream connection)

while there may be problems with their customer service, I've been on
Tiscali-supplied 1000 kbps service for months and I've few complaints
( number of hops being my only concern, speed/connection isn't ) PGM

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 00:48:33 +0100, Peter M <us-(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>while there may be problems with their customer service, I've been on
>Tiscali-supplied 1000 kbps service for months and I've few complaints

arguably the 150k and similar services may suffer more as they have to
go through some bandwidth mangling machinery and it may be that that
gets overloaded at peak times. A 1M connection (do you know if its
datastream or IPstream or what the modem speed is) may be a cleaner
link.

Its also exchange specific, but why take the risk when you can have a
F2S 1M connection with 1 GB/month included for £1/month less than
Tiscali's 150k service. If it needs to be unlimited Pipex have a
service at the same price as Tiscali's 150k with free set-up and it
uses IPStream, Tiscali is £25 setup and Datastream so no contest.

Phil
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On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 07:59:54 +0100, in uk.telecom.broadband,
Phil Thompson <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>do you know if its datastream or IPstream or what the modem speed

It is datastream, and link to exchange is 2000 kbps, so yes, speed is
'mangled' to give the lower limit for my connection.

>If it needs to be unlimited Pipex have a service at the same price
>as Tiscali's 150k with free set-up and it uses IPStream, Tiscali
>is £25 setup and Datastream so no contest.

I can see some advantage in using IPstream (in migration, though that
will disappear in due course, happily) and have no wish to defend the
Tiscali people over their service, which I've seen complained about,
but it was the 'generally undersirable' tied to 'datastream' which I
see posted from time to time (also within Plus.Net's feedback group,
though Plus.Net themselves use/used Tiscali for their lower speed in
the early part of the year, subsequently came out with other products
without explicitly saying those datastream products performed badly
[unless I've missed some posts, or discussions in irc, etc]) and I
do defend datastream as not inherently giving poor service. Peter

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On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:15:02 +0100, Peter M <us-(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>I
>do defend datastream as not inherently giving poor service

I would agree with this, but most ISPs seem to be using datastream in
a way that does give poor service (overloaded small connections to
exchanges) so the association has become commonplace.

If you're on a big exchange with a decent sized connection it would be
OK, and perhaps they give priority to the 1M customers in the
bandwidth mangle.

A 1:1 contended datastream 2M line would be very nice, I'm sure.

As Tiscali datastream 150k seems to offer no advantages over the Pipex
150k IPStream product the latter would be a safer bet.

Phil
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Come on down !

Phil Thompson wrote:
> arguably the 150k and similar services may suffer more as they have to
> go through some bandwidth mangling machinery and it may be that that
> gets overloaded at peak times.

Yes, I've set someone up with the Pipex 250k service. It's working OK
(after I messed about with MTU settings) but I'd say it's still rather 'bursty'

My 512k Pipex service is nice and smooth on all 4 PCs fed by my
router, and I've never had to bugger about with MTU settings on
those as download speeds are consistently 60kB/s on all.