Help needed with choosing broadband!

[student_trap]

hello everyone,
i'm getting broadband but after calling up BT, i am confused as to what i should be expecting. I don't really want to put software on my mac, but BT seem to insist that this is what i need to do, also, they are offering a Voyager 2091 or Voyager 2500 adsl wireless router with these packages, are these any good? the later is "voice enabled", how does this affect me, if at all? I thought that they'd send me down a modem, and all id do was connect it to the phone, configure my internet on my mac and then i'd be up and running, things don't seem that simple anymore! Can anyone help me out here? Anyone use BT broadband here? or if not, could you recomend a better company? i expect to pay about £30 a month, and want to go wireless.

thankyou for any help

 

[Applespider]

Nope... you don't want a USB-based modem. They can work but .x upgrades can screw them up and they can make your Mac panic when it wakes up.

What you want is a router that has an ethernet port rather than a USB one - the wireless router they're offering certainly should have, the other might have if you check. Then you shouldn't need any other software - plug in the ethernet cable, configure with your username/password and you're set.

I used to have BT broadband but they're expensive for what they offer in terms of bandwidth and caps (how much do you think you're going to use each month?) and they seem to think that their free bundled software makes it worth it.

Go and have a look on adslguide.org.uk and see what kind of offers are currently out there - and what most users on their forums are saying about their ISP. There are folks there who seem to keep on top of whatever the current offers are from a variety of ISPs and you should get some good advice.

Some of what is available to you might depend on where you live. Cable can be a great option if it's in your area or if your local exchange offers it, the LLU operators can be good too. I'm with Be which offer ADSL2+ which is unlimited for £24 for new subscribers with a free wireless router.

How much support do you think you might need? Zen get great scores on their broadband and on their customer service (they have Mac screens as opposed to telling you to clean out your Registry as BT told me in January) but are closer to your £30 than the £20 that's more current.

 

[student_trap]

thanks for the reply, BT told me that the 2091 has one ethernet port, one wireless port and one USB port, and the 2500 has one wireless, 4 ethernet and one USB, and is also voice enabled. With all of these connections, are these USB based modems? for £30 i'll get 40gigs per month and is upto 2Mbps, and the modem is £25 pounds extra. what do you think? Basically i have been recommended BT by both friends and people in the apple store (Bluewater), as they say they are reliable and have good support.

 

[robbieduncan]

The wireless one works with Macs fine, I just talked a friend over setting this up on Monday (new Mac owner). I looked around a bit before he went for BT but they seemed to offer the best price/cap/speed/lack of total lock in when I looked, especially if you want a wireless option...

 

[Applespider]

I think it's pricey for that cap and their support isn't what it used to be. It was UK based and pretty good. Since late December, it's now based in India and the first-line support doesn't appear to be that hot. I got told that my problems were with my Registry repeatedly when in fact, there was a fault on the line at the exchange, which they should have been able to identify since I was telling them that my modem wasn't making any connection and it had nothing to do with the computer on the other end. I will say that it was reliable (aside from that) - my Be went down this morning but I called them and it was back up and running within 20 minutes.

You're also tied into a 12 month contract with BT. You shouldn't have any problems with that modem. What are they telling you your line can support? Will you be getting 2Mbps? When they finally start rolling out the 8Mbps service in a few months, will you be likely to get that? It took them over 6 months to get my upgrade to 2Mb through when they'd originally said 3 months and with no contact.

I would go and have a read through adslguide before you make a final decision. If you have a good line, then BT will provide you with a reliable service but I'd question the support they give you now and I'm not convinced about the value. Bear in mind that you could get ADSL from other suppliers at 2Mbps for under £20 a month - and a wireless router these days is under £60 even if you had to buy it.

Have a think about your usage - are you likely to need 40GB? If you don't use P2P or Bittorrent or watch a lot of streaming video, you might not so you could perhaps go for a lower cap and reduced price.

 

[student_trap]

thankyou applespider and robbieduncan for your replies. i'll give adslguide a look and see how it all compares to BT. I didn't ask them about exactly what speed i would be getting now, but the internet checker seemed to think that all would be ok, ie, the full 2Mbps, i didn't know it would all go upto 8Mbps, and i will look into that also.