With All The Chat About Cost Of Living - Internet Charges?

[Deleted member 149562]

Since there has been alot of discussion about the cost of living....mainly the utilities of gas and electricity, what about the one thing that brings you to this and many other websites?

The internet.

Internet service providers (ISP) are currently falling over each other to tempt consumers away from their existing deals and towards their better ones.

But just how good are they?

What about reliability? Speed? Value for money?

I had been with BT (British Telecom) for as long as the internet has existed. Pretty decent but a little pricey.

One of their latest things is so-called unbreakable connection...it works as normal but with a 4G backup router alongside that picks up the service in the event of the normal one dropping out for any reason.

I had this system for a little over a year...long term customer, initial rate of £54 per month, 65mbs speed, and yes it worked quite well, the hybrid router came online many times and it was OK.

Then in April this year BT bumped the cost up and dumped the speed...mid contract...to £84 per month, 35mbs speed.

I complained. Many many arguments by email with customer services. Eventually broke the contract and got a month's money refunded plus compensation "for my obvious displeasure and inconvenience".

So I started hunting down a new ISP.

In May I jioned Virgin Media on their cable broadband. I went with their Volt 2 deal (sim from O2, broadband VM). Speed was advertised at 200mbs. Cost (not including sim) £25 per month. Actual speed was 225mbs.

Last week I changed up to VM's 350mbs. Actual speed is 365mbs. Cost (not including sim) £32.95 per month.

A considerable saving from the BT.

So who else has been fishing for new ISP deals and how many others here have been vastly overcharged for the service they have?

Is your ISP good value for money, reliable and a decent speed?

 

[Fishmanic]

If you are the only one using the internet in your apartment, the 365mps is way more than you need… even 100 mps would be plenty. Your devices wont run any faster on the 365mps. It’s good that you have more than one service to choose from so you can switch if your provider raises prices .

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Idk, we have Hughes net which absolutely sucks but they are the only service provider that give service in our area, because of how far out we live.

And then my cell service is AT&T. It’s ok, honestly could be better.

 

[Rocky998]

Suddenlink..... Their not the best really. The connection can be sketchy and the customer service is complained about in our neighborhood.
The WiFi goes down here and there

 

[jaylach]

Unfortunately I have Spectrum but not much choice if I want 100+Mb/sec. I pay $79.99 USD. I use their modem but not their router. I use a pretty nice Belkin router.

I could go Century Link at ~60Mb/sec but hesitate to go DSL as past experiences have not been great.

 

[Fishmanic]

I pay $42 per month for 175 mbps here in the US. First year was only $30 per month. They wanted to jump up to like $80 per month but I negoitated the price lower. I use my own modem and router...no sense renting their devices at high cost.

 

[JuiceBox52]

We have starlink since no other internet providers come out here to where we live, had no Wi-Fi for over a year until we got it. The only cell provider that works out here is Verizon and it’s pretty pricey

 

[Rocky998]

We have starlink since no other internet providers come out here to where we live, had no Wi-Fi for over a year until we got it. The only cell provider that works out here is Verizon and it’s pretty pricey

Oh cool! Starlink! That's those crazy looking satellites, right?
I don't know how well they are but they do look pretty cool.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Oh cool! Starlink! That's those crazy looking satellites, right?
I don't know how well they are but they do look pretty cool.

Yep. They work well, the Wi-Fi drops for 5 or so minutes a few times a day but it’s rarely noticeable.

 

[GaryE]

We're in a huge country larger than the US, with 1/9 the population. Infrastructure is pushed as a reason for very high phone and internet costs, even though the cartel in place makes excellent profits. There isn't much choice, price-wise, especially with phone plans. In exchange for providing access to isolated regions, a few corporations pretty well have a shared monopoly. They all keep prices up, way up compared to what British and American friends tell me about.

 

[Dexter Leopard Frog]

For us we use Plusnet, standard fiber to cabinet so nothing too fancy or speedy but been a customer with them for about 10 years now and their service has always been reliable enough for my needs and would recommend them. Sorry i am not sure about the numbers for speed but to be honest it works for us so i don't care what the numbers are

We can be streaming Netflix etc on two or more machines while my son also plays online gaming on xbox / PS. Our service is still reliable and capable. I don't need to be landing aeroplanes with live video feed etc etc lol

All in our line rental and internet costs £23.99 per month (2 year contract) i plan to sign up again when it expires.

We all have different requirements some family members pay much more for speedy services they don't use and they complain when paying 2,3 or 4 times more than us but somehow think that they have to have biggest fastest available service on offer. The biggest and best is only worth it if you need it.

 

[Fishmanic]

For us we use Plusnet, standard fiber to cabinet so nothing too fancy or speedy but been a customer with them for about 10 years now and their service has always been reliable enough for my needs and would recommend them. Sorry i am not sure about the numbers for speed but to be honest it works for us so i don't care what the numbers are

We can be streaming Netflix etc on two or more machines while my son also plays online gaming on xbox / PS. Our service is still reliable and capable. I don't need to be landing aeroplanes with live video feed etc etc lol

All in our line rental and internet costs £23.99 per month (2 year contract) i plan to sign up again when it expires.

We all have different requirements some family members pay much more for speedy services they don't use and they complain when paying 2,3 or 4 times more than us but somehow think that they have to have biggest fastest available service on offer. The biggest and best is only worth it if you need it.

Be aware that your ISP will most likely raise your rate substantially when your contract expires. Be prepared to try to negotiate a better rate at that time.