Finding a 'reliable' ISP.

[Musicman]

Trying to find a ‘recommended’ ISP – which seems to be quite difficult.   Currently with Sky but keen to leave at (or before!) end of contract.  Did look at returning to Plusnet, but see lots of complaints.  Was considering Zen – but lots of ‘One star out of five’ comments on www.broadband.co.uk  Obviously, there are some to avoid – but, how do your sort out ‘the wheat from the chaff’?

[mazi]

It’s a minefield isn’t it.  It also depends on how much you use your landline to make calls, some prices do not include line rental and some that do don’t mention what call charges are.

I have had faultless service from BT for years, sometimes it’s buy cheap buy twice.

Mike

[Musicman]

I have had faultless service from BT for years, sometimes it’s buy cheap buy twice.

Mike

Thanks Mike for suggestion.  Vowed I would never return to BT for bad service years ago - though, of course, I was with + Net for years!  Will certainly give them a look!!

[guest189040]

I was with Sky.

Tried to go with Virgin for the fast cable, they came, searched for and could not find their own cable to tap into, shrugged shoulders and left, never to return.

I then joined BT a few years ago simply for the fastest Broadband that I could get.

Now out of contract with them but still with them.

Zero problems with BT.

My Brother has moved over to Talk Talk and now it is hit and miss if their phone works

[Musicman]

Biggles50: Thanks for info. 

As Mike said earlier: It's a minefield! 

BT is out as I don't need high speeds and it's  2-year contract with them.  TalkTalk is a definite no-no! 

 Beginning to feel that dial-up might be a better option for me! 

[trystan]

The thing worth bearing in mind, is with the exception of "Virgin Media Superfast Fibre" (and people in Hull), I believe all the UK Internet Service Providers use the BT OpenReach infrastructure to deliver the broadband to your home. That's where most of the reliability lies.

I recommend Plusnet. Their call centre is in Sheffield, not in Delhi.

Other ISPs that may be of interest too, often overlooked are:

The Post Office:
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/broadband-phone

The Phone CoOp:
https://www.thephone.coop/

[HarryW]

I've had years of good service with BT I believe that all of their call centres are now back in the UK or Ireland.

As Trystan said, except for Virgin nearly all ISPs use the BT local network which is managed by Openreach (even Virgin do in some rare cases).   There are other Fibre only ISPs out there now, but most have to provide new cabling to give service (my son in law works for one).

In general cheap is dear in the long run.    One of the issues is, in general, people only post bad reviews.   Unsolicited good reviews on any forum are quite rare.

[Ray T]

We’ve been with a firm called “Eclipse” for Equus Africanus Asinus years. Maybe not the cheapest but it’s hardly, if ever, gone wrong and the only time the price ever changed was when they wrote to me to say that, if I agreed to stay with them for 12 months, they would reduce my monthly bill.

[Musicman]

Thanks Ray - however, you might be interested in this:

“UK ISP Eclipse Internet Quietly Withdraws Home Broadband Products” (16/10/14)

Source: ISP Review - http://www.rootschat.com/links/01pn9/