| Author |
Message |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, 13 May, 2007 - 11:01 am: | |
Hi,
We are with the 'Citrus Fruit provider' ( not sure if I can mention them by name on here) and have just been off line for over 24 hours. This seems to be a regular occurrence in recent months. Is this standard to be expected everywhere or do others know of a more reliable ISP that we can try?
Thanks |
Hilltopgeneral
Joined 24-03-2004
| | Posted on Sunday, 13 May, 2007 - 01:51 pm: | |
I've never had any time offline in something like 3 years with the current provider. I'm with a company that also provides TV and phone for £15 a month, and really don't understand why more people don't take up this particular option! |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2007 - 09:42 am: | |
can you let me know who? we were off for the rest of Sunday until this morning and even then it has taken 40 minutes to get online. Thanks. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2007 - 09:55 am: | |
Also- is there an ISP watchdog with reviews on service etc, that might also help? Desperate to get rid of this bunch of rip off merchants. Today if possible. Cheers. |
Dave
Joined 11-01-2007
| | Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2007 - 10:43 am: | |
After a period of a couple of months when my connection from Virgin was pretty much unusable every evening, I have recently changed to an LLU (Local Loop Unbundled) supplier who have been very good, though expensive - www.bethere.co.uk (beware, this may be the ugliest website I have seen since 1998). Since they have less of a dependency on the BT backbone they don't seem to be subject to the same bottlenecks as a lot of the others. I tend to get 10-12Mb speeds, which is nice.
Roz - for good info take a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ - there are ratings of service/speed etc as well as forums which contain a lot of useful info on how to solve particular problems. And it's nicely jargon-free in some places.
The watchdog for ISP's is OFCOM, but they can only take an interest when people have exhausted the channels with their own provider - since this can take months it's a service of limited use. |
Blushingsnail
Joined 21-12-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2007 - 10:50 am: | |
I'm with the same provider and couldn't connect yesterday either. I'm thinking of cancelling my contract primarily because I use it so little (do most of my surfing at work!) but have also noticed that sometimes I can't get online anyway.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews. cgi?newsid1092034925,22928, is a good place to start. Halfway down the page are some links to a discussion forum and a couple of websites. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2007 - 11:11 am: | |
Thanks for your help- I'll look into this. I;ve also come across surfthenet and zeninternet- any views on these would be appreciated.
Cheers again |
Applespider
Joined 26-02-2006
| | Posted on Monday, 14 May, 2007 - 01:06 pm: | |
I'm with Be too and have had excellent service from them for over a year.
I was with regular BT before that and only left because their prices at that point weren't great. They've revamped them a little since then and bundle in Openzone roaming minutes and now BT Vision - on-demand TV so they look a little better value. I'd consider going back to them if I left Be now |
Theotherbrian
Joined 28-03-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, 15 May, 2007 - 06:23 pm: | |
I'm with Waitrose - not the cheapest but very reliable and if there is a problem, they email straight away with the reason. Also, all their internet profits are donated to one of four charities - you nominate the one you want. I'm very happy with them and would heartily recommend them. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, 16 May, 2007 - 01:22 am: | |
Thanks for this- after another day without service from Citrus Fruit ( until 30 minutes or so ago) I will be looking to switch quite soon as 4 days on the trot is simply not on. |
Hilltopgeneral
Joined 24-03-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, 16 May, 2007 - 06:35 pm: | |
Try Homechoice, now part of Tiscali. £15 for broadband + free phone calls + TV. |
Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 May, 2007 - 08:35 pm: | |
Hilltop, we almost agree on something, although haven't gone for the TV package as eventually may get round to buying a digital telly. |
Queenofdarts
Joined 30-11-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 May, 2007 - 08:52 pm: | |
I wouldn't recommend anything to do with Tiscali - I've had problems with them for some time (intermittent connections, traffic shaping, nothing working for three days after they supposedly upgraded something at the exchange); and their customer service/tech support is, well, let's say 'interesting'.
My (techie) boyfriend has just switched to Zen - they seem to come fairly highly rated.
adslguide.com and thinkbroadband.com have been useful sources of info for me in the past, too.
Good luck! |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 May, 2007 - 10:22 pm: | |
Thanks for all the advice. I like the idea of Homechoice but to be honest we are not technical enough to cope with the internet, a phone and telly changes so for now we just want to stick to an internet provider solely. Zen have been mentioned but they charge a £47 fee as well as monthly fee of £17 so a little pricey, however if they are reliable then they may be the one for us. Now we have to get to grips with the lingo- migration etc and work out how to have a smooth transition. |
Queenofdarts
Joined 30-11-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 May, 2007 - 11:59 pm: | |
Roz, I think that the £47 charge applies only to people who are completely new to broadband - i.e. new activations, not people who 'migrate' from a different broadband provider. (And aforementioned techie boyfriend says he wasn't charged this when he moved over from his old ISP). So, so long as you're getting broadband not dial-up from 'Citrus Fruit' - although it sounds like you haven't been getting much from them at all lately (!) - it wouldn't apply to you. |
