Reply With QuoteI am with Taltalk they are pretty good.
Setting up a home in the UK in approx 2 months and will need internet and television. We only need the terrestrial TV channels, with maybe a basic add-on for stuff like Dave. Three or four devices streaming simultaneously. At the moment all our TV and internet is over a cable/WiFi connection so that's what the kids are used to.
Looking for VFM and I don't want to be tied in for more than a year.
House is in NN4, near J15 of M1. Traditional aerials have never been much cop in the area. There is fibre but not Virgin Media broadband apparently.
Many thanks, Matthew
I am with Taltalk they are pretty good.
Avoid BT - wish I had!
I'm planning on switching soon (due to unreliability issues that BT are failing to put right) and Vodafone and TalkTalk have been recommended several times.
NN10 area and use BT Broadband Internet. Haven't had an issues in the 8 years we have used them
Not cheap but with 2 kids who are always on line it's perfect.
https://www.productsandservices.bt.c...15848953818589
Zen offer a near peerless service if that is of importance
If not then I belive plusnet or Vodafone are considered good vfm.
If a dish is installed you can get freesat that has almost all the freeview channels, but most green channels also have a web portal so if there is no firetv app you can watch in a browser.
Plusnet are worth a look, they usually tell you up from what speed to expect and it's very accurate and they also seen to do well in customer service surveys.
Zen user here too, fab service, not the cheapest but you get what you pay for.Originally Posted by Captain Morgan
Please don't go for TalkTalk.
Zen sounds worth a look. If it's reliable then I don't mind paying a bit of a premium as I'll be out of the country for much of the time. There is a dish IIRC and I'll wire it in to a box as backup but these days the kids generally want to stream directly to their devices.
Thanks to all
I have them very good internet service but trying to sort something out with them on the phone is a nightmare so, all good while it’s working!
So bbc, itv, c4, Dave etc all have apps for tablets etc.
I’m not sure how amazon prime and Netflix handle multiple users but I suspect this is similar to if not the same as your current subscriptions?
I know Spotify has a family option.
Zen has been solid for us, when we have had minor issues support has been very good, it might buy you some peace of mind while traveling.
Last edited by Captain Morgan; 11th June 2018 at 18:03.
Have a word with a few of your neighbours ,i'm not disputing some of the other posters on here but there really is a huge difference in the quality of service from one region to another .
Having a quick word will some highlight the good from the not so good.
Appreciated - Unfortunately that's not going to be too easy as I'll arrive there just two days before the family and I'm hoping to hit the ground running. Trying to do as much as possible before touchdown in Blighty.
Correct, subscriptions will move with us so shouldn't be too much of a headache. The kids are happy with the free TV stuff and have Sonos speakers with access to our shared Deezer account via the app.
Freeview / Freesat is fine, loads of channels and with the BBC, C$, ITV and C5 on demand services you'll never run out of stuff to watch and you'll not pay a penny.
Shop for ISP deals, we are with BT and they are OK though. We are with them because our line is overhead copper and therefore theirs and I want the leverage of being their customer direct.
I know it's "take as you find" and if I had issues with a supplier I'd be the same but BT have been excellent for me. Consistently 60+ Mbps, reliable UHD recorder and streaming, lowered the price over the phones year on year for the full package and, as long as you speak to someone and don't use the chat function, good customer service when I had a connection issue.
My Mother has Virgin fibre which is amazingly fast but we don't have cable TV at all here. Customer service was shockingly poor when we had an issue though.
They're all basically the same - if they use BT's infrastructure (i.e. all of your options seeing as there is no Virgin coverage), you are in for a wait should anything go wrong, so go for the cheapest that meets your requirements and buy your own decent router.
That’s only part of the picture, a high quality support team based in the UK will win for me against a poor quality offering that does little more than read off a script irrespective where they are located.
In the op’s case he’s expected to be away most of the year leaving his family to manage any outages, I know which I would choose in that instance.
A friend who works for BT refers to this location as "Region 5"
That's the advanatge of going with Zen; although they are expensive the CS is up North in the UK. I made my sister go with them & if they can get her online (including a fibre upgrade) they can sort anyone out.
Many thanks to all for the advice.
Zen are quoting £36.99 p.m. for twelve months for 'Full Fibre 1' 38Mbps (average) including line rental. This then rises to £43.99 p.m.
We manage with 20Mbps at the moment so that package seems okay for our needs and I think that it could be upgraded at a later date if necessary.
Does that sound reasonable compared to other ISPs?
Im paying £20 38mbps with Nowtv (sky I believe) so sounds expensive to me.
Used quidco too so get £70 cash back.
This - My Dad had them, but after he died my Mum wanted to cancel and it was a challenge to say the least!
I've been with VM and it's predecessors since the mid 1990s - I'd swap if I could find anything better, but if you're on a cabled area, I don't think it's possible. Broadband is fast and dependable.
The few times I have dealt with them, they've been pretty good at sorting problems out, getting engineers out quickly when required, too.
I know the OP isn't in a VM Fibre area, but if you are, they're probably the best (if not the cheapest). Anyway, that's my experience.
M
A quick update. We went with Zen, and I've been very impressed with the customer service to date. When I made the initial call I was talked through connecting and powering up the existing BT Openreach box so that it could be configured remotely prior to the FRITZ!Box 3490 wireless broadband router arriving. The box arrived two days later along with some configuration instructions and the passwords.
We had been advised that the connection would be live a few days later but I connected it up immediately anyway.
As we have fibre to premises the FRITZ!Box piggybacks off the Openreach box, requiring configuration on arrival that is slightly more complicated than via a copper connection to external fibre. The step-by-step guide was excellent, I didn't need to call their helpline but I'm certain that if I did the talk-through would have been clear and professional. As soon as the settings had been saved and the box rebooted it all sprang into life and I recorded a solid 40Mbps download speed.
The WiFi signal is strong throughout the house and garden, and it transmits in both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands simultaneously. It has been in for almost a month now and there have been no problems with streaming HD on multiple devices or a need to reboot.
You're in denial; everything needs a reboot eventually.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
True enough, the kids know what to do. In Bogotá the regular power cuts took care of things
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