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I'll break the silence for a while to ask another question about broadband. This is something that's entirely new to me, so I'd welcome any comments and suggestions that other people have.
The situation with the phone line is that it won't be active until the 19th of September, but it's likely that it'll be simple and free to switch it back on. For phone service, I think we only need BT Option 1, as it's the minimum we can pay (it includes the line rental) and it's adequate for how much we're actually going to use it.
Broadband is more difficult, as I don't have any experience with any companies here. At the moment, there are three possibilities:
Pipex Lite 2000 5GB - 2MB maximum bandwidth, 5GB usage a month, free hardware and setup. They advertise it as £9.99 a month, but it isn't really - it's that for the first two months, then £23 after that, which is still outwardly comparable with the other services in terms of price. Choosing this gives Don a bonus from customer recommendation!
PlusNet Broadband Plus - 2MB maximum bandwidth (split between 50), unlimited usage, with free hardware and setup. This is the company that I know the least about, but it also looks the most promising. They say that the Plus package is for "email and surfing" rather than downloading, but I can't really see why. It's £14.99 a month.
Tiscali Something - I've been warned to stay as far away from Tiscali as is humanly possible, and further research on the Internet seems to agree with this, but Whitney used them two years ago in Oxford and never had a problem with them at all. They also seem to change their offers by the week, so it's a bit difficult to choose one. The one I'm looking at just now is £14.99 a month, and gives 1MB bandwidth, unlimited usage, and a phone service that's cheaper than the BT one. 2MB is only £2 more a month, though.
As the phone line isn't switched on for a fortnight, I can't actually check the availability until then, but from looking at this directory it seems likely that we have access to them all.
Any ideas? Comments from people who have had experience with these companies would be much appreciated.
The situation with the phone line is that it won't be active until the 19th of September, but it's likely that it'll be simple and free to switch it back on. For phone service, I think we only need BT Option 1, as it's the minimum we can pay (it includes the line rental) and it's adequate for how much we're actually going to use it.
Broadband is more difficult, as I don't have any experience with any companies here. At the moment, there are three possibilities:
Pipex Lite 2000 5GB - 2MB maximum bandwidth, 5GB usage a month, free hardware and setup. They advertise it as £9.99 a month, but it isn't really - it's that for the first two months, then £23 after that, which is still outwardly comparable with the other services in terms of price. Choosing this gives Don a bonus from customer recommendation!
PlusNet Broadband Plus - 2MB maximum bandwidth (split between 50), unlimited usage, with free hardware and setup. This is the company that I know the least about, but it also looks the most promising. They say that the Plus package is for "email and surfing" rather than downloading, but I can't really see why. It's £14.99 a month.
Tiscali Something - I've been warned to stay as far away from Tiscali as is humanly possible, and further research on the Internet seems to agree with this, but Whitney used them two years ago in Oxford and never had a problem with them at all. They also seem to change their offers by the week, so it's a bit difficult to choose one. The one I'm looking at just now is £14.99 a month, and gives 1MB bandwidth, unlimited usage, and a phone service that's cheaper than the BT one. 2MB is only £2 more a month, though.
As the phone line isn't switched on for a fortnight, I can't actually check the availability until then, but from looking at this directory it seems likely that we have access to them all.
Any ideas? Comments from people who have had experience with these companies would be much appreciated.
