Best Broadband in East Dulwich?

[Heart108]

After years of using Virgin and paying nearly ?60 for "Phone ( I never use, Tivo + Fast Broadband" Package) I have got sick of the extortionate price and am looking at a letter just come through the door from BT "Superfast Fibre Broadband Unlimited" for ?29.99 a month including line rental.

Since we have reluctantly not wanted to change our little used but still necessary BT landline (BT phone rental charge monthly is outrageously high)- are there any bright independent consumer opinions on this?

[Bic Basher]

All fibre broadband providers that use the Openreach network buy their fibre broadband wholesale from BT. The main difference is in price. Speed will depend on where you live to the exchange on LL.

I'm on TalkTalk, but live next to the exchange, so get 75mb download on TalkTalk. This I'd expect to the be the same if I switched to BT, Sky etc.

If you plan to buy copper broadband, some providers have what is known as LLU, local-loop unbundling where they can provide their own service, which may be faster than BT. TalkTalk and Vodafone have this at the Dulwich exchange.

[tash b]

Hi there I had bt the broadband was terrible been with sky now for 4 yrs have no problems at all.

A few of my neighbours recently changed to sky and my mum as well who lives in east dulwich I can see sky are doing sky fibre max and phone line for ?27 a month for 18 months. Hope that helps a bit

[Heart108]

@Bic Basher + tash b - thank you! .. this is the kind of helpful info I was looking for - let's see what else comes up

[Penguin68]

Hi there I had bt the broadband was terrible been with sky now for 4 yrs have no problems at all.

BT Openreach is the underlying local network provider for both BT Retail and Sky. Did you buy an uprated service (copper to fibre for instance) when you moved to Sky? Otherwise there really isn't any obvious reason why pipe badged 'BT' should perform worse than pipe badged 'Sky'. Just changing over from the same level of service wouldn't have required any work in the local network at all, just, probably re-terminating on a different line card in a different rack on the exchange. Line-card performance is pretty well identical (unless you have a faulty line card). The back network (again) from the exchange is going to be technologically very similar (and probably again bought wholesale from BT).

I have been with BT for very many years and problems have been very few - never lost service for more than a couple of hours - and much less than once a year for such a loss. As I have upgraded my deal (from dial-up to ADSL to fibre) my service quality and performance has ramped up with the price. I have not had any real problems with network congestion (slower speeds at key times) although this has been noticeable when e.g. snow has piled people in to work-from-home. Network resilience is not designed around such worst case scenarios.

As far as services locally are concerned, there are only two local infrastructure providers, BT (through its arms length BT Openreach subsidiary) and NTL Cable trading as Virgin. If you're not on Virgin you are on BT if you have a wired connection.

[Sue]

I changed to BT last year because taking into account all the special offers which in effect reduced the price I paid, they were cheaper than Plusnet at the time (who I was then with) and for some reason I thought their router would be better.

However I will be leaving them as soon as I can.

In my experience, their customer service is absolutely abysmal. Plusnet's customer service was always excellent.

I haven't found the actual BT broadband to be noticeably better than I was getting with Plusnet (and yes I know that BT is Plusnet's "mother company") but even if it had been I don't think I would stay with them.

I'm leaving as soon as I can, which sadly is not till September as I am on an eighteen month contract.

I also have a sim only mobile contract with BT, which ends in March, and I will be moving elsewhere with that as well.

I always look for value for money, and good customer service is vital in my opinion. Unfortunately this time I was swayed by cost, but I won't make the same mistake again.

[colb2015]

Plusnets customer service may have been good previously, but judging from many online comments and review site's, that doesn't seem to be the case now. Take that along with the shambolic billing issues they have after implementing a new system, which seems like nobody decided to test beforehand, then I would be very wary about signing up to any of their services.

[Bic Basher]

Ironically both BT Retail and Plusnet are owned by....BT. They also own EE's home broadband too.

[tash b]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi there I had bt the broadband was terrible been

> with sky now for 4 yrs have no problems at all.

>

> BT Openreach is the underlying local network

> provider for both BT Retail and Sky. Did you buy

> an uprated service (copper to fibre for instance)

> when you moved to Sky?

No I didn?t had standard broadband from bt to sky only upgraded to fibre last year, was paying for bt broadband and wasn?t getting it unless I was on top of the box they was not interested at all when I kept complaining asking for help moved over to sky and picked up the broadband in every room.

[ed26]

Virgin all the way here. Speed is rarely below 200Mbs - maybe a slowdown on weekend evenings but still > 100Mbs. Apart from the 24-48hrs outage last year, the connection has been rock solid. I know we're lucky, but it's good when it works as it should.

[happyjack]

Virgin will continue to raise the price of your package year after year (and it seems keep the prices the same for new customers), in the hope that you will swallow it. After every 12 month contract is up, I phone them and ask them to match the existing rate, and tell them that I will leave otherwise - last increase was from ?35 to ?42. I still pay ?35 a month for their phone, 100mpbs fibre, and basic tv package.

Firstly, I think you should check what package you are on (?60 seems crazy for the same package I have), and then phone them to see if they can more closely match their current deals online for you: https://www.virginmedia.com/shop.html

[mimifantasia87]

plusnet- speed is pretty good and never any problems :) and cheap'ish

[ianr]

UnaAllan Wrote:

---------------

> It's very expensive, I agree. I would

> change the provider if I were you. There

> are many inexpensive ones.

Welcome to EDF. Is there anything you can say to undo my presumption that you're another username created with a view to earning money by using this forum to promote external websites?

[tiddles]

That aside - is it still thumbs up for bt? We have virgin but just too expensive but can not afford to lose any internet capacity (needed for work plus youngsters using all the time) latest recommendations appreciated.

[lpool]

If you never use the landline phone then Vodafone is good value. We are paying a 3rd of previous BT bill.

[ED Light]

Second the Vodafone recommendation, mobile and broadband bundles work well, especially when paired with 1 or 2 of the streaming providers

[tiddles]

thanks ED light and Lpool - I was wondering if anyone was using them and they were ok.

may have to investigate (I am such a techno dunce I am terrified of making a dreadful mistake!)

[bonaome]

As various have pointed out the fibre bb I the area comes from BT?s pipes regardless of who you buy it from. Some people will notice a difference between provider because

- the routers are different

- they?ve signed up to an unlimited deal whereas before they were throttled or vice versa

- when the changes were made at the exchange a problem in previous set up was corrected

Most people can vastly improve their wifi speed by doing a search on you tube and following a few tips about where to put your router and how to set it up.

I have flip-flopped between BT - Sky - Plus Net over the last 10 or so years based on who would offer the best deal. The plus net router is horrible if you have a place on different floors or lots of stuff between it and where you mostly use the wifi. BT?s is probably the best router and Sky?s is close (and this May have changed recently -they do sort of go neck and neck). But I?d advise anyone with a house to invest in a mesh router (easily bought on Amazon or in Argos). I bought a very basic system for ?200 and the wifi is like a rocket all over the house. Just plugged it into the PlusNet modem and followed the prompts on the phone app that goes with the system and that was it. The same system will work regardless of which provider's modem you are attaching it too.

[magmagda]

I would advise to avoid Virgin. We had problems with them in the past and now can't find a way to leave. We are moving our house and phoned them up to cancel the contract, but later found out that they didn't actually do it. Having have to call them each year to re-negotiate the contract is a horrible experience, as they try to trick you all the time. Most of the people I spoke to seem to follow the same pattern: ignore what you told them and keep selling you things, at times being rude or arogant.

A friend of mine left them years ago and they keep sending her junk mail all the time. She asked them to stop several times and they just ignored her.

[Sue]

Re bonaome's post above, I have Plusnet.

I have also in the past used BT and didn't find any difference in the router performance, though I was expecting to.

On the rare occasions I need to use broadband in a room where the signal is weak, I run a long phone extension cable to the room and just plug the router into an electric socket there.

It's much cheaper than other methods,though obviously not ideal if you want something permanent.

You just have to not trip over the cable 🤣

[Penguin68]

I have also in the past used BT and didn't find any difference in the router performance, though I was expecting to.

Why? BT owns Plusnet and they use the same kit in the exchanges. Plusnet is a no frills version of the BT offer in effect.

[bonaome]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

.... > any difference in the ****router**** performance, ....

> Why? BT owns Plusnet and they use the same kit in

> the exchanges.

The BT router is better spec'd than the PN one, so that's why you'd perhaps expect to notice a difference. Sue didn't, I certainly did!

[Bic Basher]

ISP routers are usually awful, but BT, Sky and TalkTalk have all introduced new routers that are a lot better.

[colb2015]

I moved to plusnet last year and have been very happy with the service. I was previously with BT, so I had one of their routers which I've continued to use. Plusnet router was rather poor in comparison, understandably so given the price difference in the offering.

[Sue]

kerry2015 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I moved to plusnet last year and have been very

> happy with the service. I was previously with BT,

> so I had one of their routers which I've continued

> to use. Plusnet router was rather poor in

> comparison, understandably so given the price

> difference in the offering.

At the time I moved to BT, they had some kind of cashback offer which meant it was actually cheaper than Plusnet over the period of the initial contract (I temporarily moved my mobile to BT for the same reason).

After both the contracts expired, I moved my broadband back to Plusnet and my mobile back to iD.

However I'd never use BT again regardless of cost, because their customer service was absolutely appalling. They were also incredibly rude when I left, once it became clear that I wasn't interested in any of their "offers" to induce me to stay.

I may try their router again in light of what others have said above, however I'm not sure I've still got it :(