Free Broadband Blog

Recently i have started being hit by Spam on my comments but that hasn’t affected me really as i look at each comment before allowing it for exactly this reason. But today i got a comment from a smaller ISP. They are not particularly well known but to give you a hint there name sounds like something painful that occurs involving elastic bands.

I bet you don’t know but they will. So is it ok for ISP’s to comment like this? Well not here i am afraid but i will post what he said minus the name.

T**** are tier 1 Internet Service Provider who are constantly recognised for being number one n both customer support and service. We are actively seeking people/ business that are looking to reduce costs and having the best broadband around.

Existing and New Business Account Manager

The cheeky lad even added his fax and telephone details.

I really don’t know how they can claim to be the best broadband around either. Did you win an award Mr New Business Account Manager? I see you got to be a finalist in one of the many categories in the ISPA 2005 contest but that doesn’t qualify you as number one, does it?

Oh well nice try and good luck with world domination.

Ok i know this is pretty old now but it is likely to have a big impact on the broadband market in the UK. Basically AOL has about 2 million subscribers which seems an awful lot but thats what they claim. So apart from the fact there are 2 million people suffering from the AOL browser and all its computer stalling and slowing down that it can offer it basically means that TalkTalk have just bought themselves another 2 million customers give or take a few.

How can a company which has openly admitted not being to cope with the number of subscribers it has envisage coping with another 2 million. Things can only get worse surely.

And what about AOL?

Well to be honest i won’t really miss them but for some it was a nice, comfortable, easy and supposedly safe way to access the internet. There is no doubt that the majority of AOL users have been there for years and they kept using it because they understood the naff graphics and most of all it worked.

So basically i now think there is a gap in the market for or there soon will be a gap in the market for supposedly user friendly (ie i will take over your PC) standalone ISP/browser application which helps the less techie of us out there.

So RIP AOL but who knows where Carphone is going with this.

It seems that sense has finally prevailed at TalkTalk as it appears that customers with genuine complaint such as those citing broken promises, service interruptions, and delayed local loop unbundling are being allowed to leave TalkTalk if they ask.

Basically this is a turn around for the thousands of customers who have experienced problems or have continued to be simply with out a service since signing up for Free TalkTalk Broadband.

The full story can be seen over at The Register 

BBC Watchdog have just shown an article tonight on the continuing issues that have been occuring with Customers signing up for Free Broadband with TalkTalk. They mentioned the fact that Talk Talk had adverts banned earlier this year for making the promise of “Free Broadband forever” and then went on to meet a few disgruntled customers.

Nicky Campbell also went to TalkTalk HQ to discuss this with Charles Dunstone who i guess is the MD, he stated that “half a million have already signed up and the offer has been so successful, the company has been overwhelmed”.

Well no surpise there and what i guess he was trying to say was that basically tou would expect a few disgruntled customers out of 500,000 but i think to be honest it is few more than just a few in this case.

But joy of joys, he then states that he hopes that by Christmas you should be able to TalkTalk to a human instead of a computer. That should be nice.

Anyway to read the full report go to BBC Watchdog.

I think we shall wait and see………did you know pigs can fly?

I am afraid problems just keep on building up with Sky Broadband. I have read this week about a continuing issue with accessing certain websites on Sky, this problem seems to be either due to the IP address Sky Broadband are using for there client or is due to the Anti Virus Software that Sky is giving away for free.

Firstly i would download a free Anti Virus Checker such as AVG from Grisoft then uninstall the software given to you by Sky and install the AVG software. Also make sure you switch on the Windows Firewall. Now try your Sky Broadband again.
As for problems with your Xbox 360 i think this just isn’t a priority with Sky at the moment. I would consider cancelling Sky Broadband stating the issues you have had. I’m not sure if you will have to pay a fee but obviously try and avoid this. Be aware however you will have to send back your router and you will have to get another MAC code.
Even getting a MAC code and cancelling supposedly isn’t simple at the moment they will obviously try dissuade you from doing it but even then a MAC code doesn’t solve your problems. This is because Sky use a different Technology to normal broadband ISP’s and this technology need to be completely cleared from the line before a normal broadband ISP such as the excellent Pipex Broadband can use the line again.
On a plus point when there internet connection with Sky is running well it seems to be mega fast but only of course to the sites that do work. I think it I Still best to hold off with Sky at the moment and use a more trusted and reliable ISP if you want an internet connection that is available when you want it.

It seems the ISP’s are starting to catch on to what i have been doing for over a month now. Thats right they have figured that “Free Broadband” isn’t actually free aswell. PlusNet the supposedly best value isp has a brand called “Free Online” and this seems to have been getting alot of enquiries about “Free Broadband”, needless to say it seem Free Online don’t offer free broadband so they are telling you wahat i have been telling you for a while now. IT ISN’T REALLY FREE! Mind you it still can mean a good deal. I wont comment further on the PlusNet service but i still reckon Pipex has the best service offer around at the moment.

Sky are constantly bringing out new special offers and the latest as you might be well aware is Free Sky Broadband with your Sky TV.

So if you want to know the other current offers available from SKy and you want to take advantage of Sky Broadband go over to the Sky Website.

AT present you can also get Sky from only £15 per month which is an exceptional deal.

You maybe finding that as I have that you are not actually able to get Free Broadband from any of the big players or you simply cannot see it making your requirements. These actually both apply to me, I currently use a lot of bandwidth get irritated very easily if my Broadband goes down and want a customer service department that both has a good standard of English and actually seems to care.

That’s why I am still with Pipex for my Broadband provider.

What do they offer?
Well Pipex currently have three broadband levels and accompanying telephone packages. What I will do is outline the separate broadband packages and there accompanying telephone packages.

Pipexmini
Starts at an amazing £6.50 a month for the broadband package when bought with a phone package and rises to £14.99 when bought as a standalone package.
The Pipexmini option gives you 2gb worth of downloads a month, 50mb of webspace and a generous 100mb of email storage for further details visit the Pipex site.

So if you want standalone broadband it will cost £14.99 Find out more 

If you would broadband and anytime calls it will cost £6.50 for your broadband and £12.50 a month for free calls to any UK landline. Find out more 

If you would like broadband and free evening and weekend calls it will cost £14.99 for your broadband and £4.50 for your calls.  Find out more 

Pipexmidi
The basic price for broadband midi starts at £9.99 when bought with a anytime call package and then rises to £19.99 for standalone broadband.
The Pipixmidi option gives you 15Gb of downloads per month, 150mb of webspace and 100mb of email storage, for further details visit the Pipex site.

So if you want standalone broadband it will cost £19.99. Find out more 

If you would broadband and anytime calls it will cost £9.99 for your broadband and £12.50 a month for free calls to any UK landline. Find out more 

If you would like broadband and free evening and weekend calls it will cost £19.99 for your broadband and £4.50 for your calls. Find out more 

Pipexmax
The basic price for broadband midi starts at £14.99 when bought with a anytime call package and then rises to £24.99 for standalone broadband.
The Pipixmax option gives you an unlimited amount of downloads per month, 250mb of webspace and 100mb of email storage, for further details visit the Pipex site.

So if you want standalone broadband it will cost £24.99. Find out more 

If you would broadband and anytime calls it will cost £14.99 for your broadband and £12.50 a month for free calls to any UK landline. Find out more 

If you would like broadband and free evening and weekend calls it will cost £24.99 for your broadband and £4.50 for your calls. Find out more 

Conclusions
What you will get from Pipex is quality.

•    95% liked our speed and usage as well as our payment plans
•    Over 95% felt it easy to start using our home broadband service
•    Over 95% felt it easy to start using our home broadband service
•    95% would recommend Pipex to their family or friends
•    93% think their broadband connection is consistently reliable
•    Almost 90% feel they receive value for money from us
•    An impressive 90% are happy with our overall service

(Survey conducted by YouGov for uSwitch.com, March 2006. Sample Size 16,000)

Alongside this you get a local rate customer service number which in my experience is rarely that busy and you get competitive pricing. In my eyes this is by far the best paid for broadband service and is still the one to have if you are served your broadband through a BT line.

Go get Pipex Broadband 

Reports seem to be showing that Sky have finally started emailing users who have registered there interest in Sky Broadband but the wait to get the service is not over.

Users have been asked to ring a 0870 number or national rate number and there have been reports of waits of upto an hour. Sounds like another reason why Free Broadband might not be that Free afterall.

Click here to visit the Sky Website and register your interest to find out if you can get the right package
Many users are now starting to take advantage of a Genuine Sky Broadband package. The reason for the delay has been the installation of the equipment needed to run the service.

The first wave of installations were completed early this month and if you are in one of these areas you should be trying frantically to take advantage of the offers available to you (see my earlier article on free Sky Broadband).

However there have been a few issues with sites such as Morethan and CNN and XBOX 360 sites being inaccessible.

The man from Sky he say:

“This is the same issue as CNN - Morethan’s hosting provider’s upstream ISP hasn’t updated their filters to allow the Sky IP range in.

As Sky’s range is rather large (1.05 million IPs - 90.192/12 for net anoraks), RIPE allocated us this range from a greenfield IP range which until now has never had anyone on it.

Consequently, IP carriers round the Internet filter out these ranges (bogon filters).. mainly to stop things like spam/DDoSes spoofed from these illegal IPs.

Now that this range is no longer “illegal”, these ISPs need to update their bogon filters.

Most are pretty good at updating them, however there’s always a few that fall through the cracks, hence situations like this.” Sourced from adslguide.org.uk

So basically the problems people are having should get sorted over the coming weeks as more servers update there allowed IP addresses.

Click here to visit the Sky Website and register your interest to find out if you can get the right package