What to do?

Stevescat · Apr 02, 2013, 19:31:16

Never thought I would be considering a change from idnet to BT or Sky!!! Been very happy here, but no matter how much data allowance I have, it never seems quite enough. Kids are gaming, watching videos, several computers surfing, downloads, mobile phones etc! On top of that, wife wants HDtv and likes the idea of Sky's tv on demand! The only way is obviously unlimited. So, anybody got opinions/personal experiences of Sky or BT for broadband? The long contracts scare me but the prices are very tempting.

Thanks for your contributions,
Steve

Steve · Apr 02, 2013, 20:43:40

I thought I might need unlimited with FTTC and Sky demand but the max so far has been 120Gb per month usually less than a 100Gb.

Stevescat · Apr 03, 2013, 07:32:25

The problem for me, Steve, is we're regularly hitting the mid 90GB mark a month without the addition of TV on demand!

Steve · Apr 03, 2013, 07:43:18

I have a 200Gb limit so I'm well within that. TV on demand with Sky - we don't use very often as the Sky+ feature covers most of our needs and other content doesn't suit us. My wife tends to sit down once a week or so and plan the recordings. Full use of the On demand feature of course requires no planning ahead and would consume more bandwidth and I'm not to keen to go unlimited as I fear there will be a trade off with reduced evening performance.

Niall · Apr 03, 2013, 08:25:26

I'd avoid BT as I found volumes of horror stories about what they call support when I was considering moving. Sky is the better option of the two. My mate just moved to sky from idnet when he moved house in order to keep prices down, and so far hasn't had support issues although he's only been with them for a month.

D-Dan · Apr 03, 2013, 08:39:33

To be honest, I went with BT for the unlimited option, and besides, I'm less than 50m from the cabinet and 200m from the exchange, so I get full speed on Infinity. One of the things that swung it for me (over Virgin, for example) is that the BT router is so much better than the Virgin router, and having dealt with both in the past I wouldn't touch Virgin with a barge pole. I have no experience of Sky since I got rid of their sattelite service years ago, but if they are still like they were then, I wouldn't touch them either.

The bottom line is that the big companies are more interested in profits than they are CS, and trying to compare them with smaller companies like IDNet is like comparing lemons and apples.

Clive · Apr 03, 2013, 12:58:55

I'm ex BT and I would advise you to stay well away. Their call centre is in India and you will get nowhere with them. They even tried to convince me that 104 Kb/s was an acceptable broadband speed.

Lance · Apr 03, 2013, 21:01:27

IDNet is like an insurance policy. You hope you don't need to use the Support Team, but if you do you'll be glad you pay for it over the likes of BT and co.

Clive · Apr 03, 2013, 21:34:59

Very true Lance. When I had problems they were most helpful and they were genuinely interested in sorting them out. I can't speak too highly of them.

zappaDPJ · Apr 04, 2013, 06:48:04

I have/had the same issue. I manage to get a partial fix by sending my daughter off to university

I've also stopped my other half signing up to an on-demand service for the time being

It's a problem and I don't really have an answer to it unless you can get away with either of the above! Even then we still don't really have enough bandwidth. It's a quality vs quantity issue and as I work from home via the Internet I have to have the quality.

Stevescat · Apr 04, 2013, 07:38:25

I don't need convincing that IDNet is the better experience, I've enjoyed several years here!

When my data allowance was doubled from 50GB to 100GB (for no extra cost) I thought that would be more than enough for our needs. But, of course, our needs change and that extra allowance gets eaten remarkably quickly. That's my issue Zap, the bandwidth limit is dictating how we use the internet, unless we throw more money at it. Just can't justify the extra cash needed with IDNet. I'm trying to trim outgoings, not increase them. I honestly don't know how to proceed.

Steve · Apr 04, 2013, 07:57:11

We've had people on here successfully move to BT and Sky and been happy, I think there may well be a trade off in terms of levels of support and overall performance. If you need more bandwidth to use the internet as you and your family wish to and can't justify the extra cash then you've little choice. I can't advise of either as I've never used BT or Sky for broadband.

Stevescat · Apr 04, 2013, 08:32:43

Your right of course, Steve, I stay put or move to the unknown. I suppose one thing that should be in my favour is the exchange is across the road from me - surely not even BT or Sky could cock that up, could they?

cavillas · Apr 04, 2013, 14:25:14

I have been with Idnet for well over 6 years now and never encountered any problems. Even if I wanted to leave Simon wouldn't let me.