best bare-bones broadband in blighty?

November 5, 2014 2:25 AM

I'm so sorry, "blighty" is a word that I've never, ever used before. But it begins with B, so it just kind of popped out. Anyway: my BT HomeHub 3 is shot - and they won't send me a new one unless I renew my contract. But their prices suck, so I'm looking for a different provider. Any ideas or recommendations? Thanks...

The issue with my current homehub is stupidly simple - the power switch won't stay switched on. I've got it stuck down with blutack, which is working for now, but really doesn't feel like a permanent solution.

Aside from that, I've had no real issue with BT's service. Each year or so when I called them back for a contract renewal / reasonable discount, they were very obliging. The broadband was around £14/month, so with the line rental included, I was on a total of £30/month. This is BT Infinity with no download cap.

Now, the best they're prepared to do is £18/month for the same package. That feels like too much. I guess they're easing up the prices to pay for BT Sport - which was never really a big selling point for me anyway, and I don't mind losing it.

I'm pretty sure I can beat their price with some other provider's new-customer discount. I don't need any bells or whistles - the simpler the better in fact - as long as there's no download limit. If there's no router included, I don't mind - but a simple / hackable device is fine too. I'm agnostic about whether I keep the BT landline, but I need the number to stay the same. I pretty much never make outgoing calls on that line, so call prices are not an issue.

Not cable, if possible. Also not Murdoch. My employer pays for my mobile phone, so there's not much potential to combine that into a bundle.

Within those limits, does anyone have a favourite provider that might fit the bill? Thanks for any recommendations or other advice. And I promise I'll never say "blighty" ever again. Honest.

posted by rd45 to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

I'm on Virgin and I cannot say enough good things about them. Excellent service, always quick to fix things, and they're not frothing at the mouth to upsell you packages which I appreciate. I've been with them 7 years after switching from BT and I've never looked back.
posted by kariebookish at 2:36 AM on November 5, 2014

Not cable and not murdoch really limits your options.... I have to ask - why not cable? Pretty much everyone else if going to be a BT reseller.

Have you looked at Broadband Choices?

I think plusnet is going to be your only choice if you want broadband on its own. Obviously, you'll still have to pay your line rental to BT.
posted by missmagenta at 2:58 AM on November 5, 2014

Given that the replacement costs of a new router pale into insignificance with the revenue that BT can get from you over the years, the decision not to send you a new one sounds more than usually dumb on their part. If you want a working router and to avoid the hassle of changing suppliers - then an appeal to towards the manager of whoever told you "no" should probably work.

I am another customer of PlusNet and would recommend them. While you said "no cable" it might be worth looking at whether they could provide a fibre-to-the-box service for you - that would give you considerable faster connectivity.

MoneySavingsExpert has an article on "cheap broadband" which might help.
posted by rongorongo at 3:00 AM on November 5, 2014

PlusNet are good, and also have the best customer service of any broadband provider I've ever used. Like night and day compared to BT.
posted by Catseye at 3:41 AM on November 5, 2014

The Phone Coop provide a pretty good service. A few of my colleagues have them at home and we use them for some work stuff. Of course, they are tied to BT via Openreach, but you can migrate your landline to the Phone Coop if you want to deal only with them. Real people answer their helplines, and are actually helpful!

Can't help you on price, but you may be able to get a deal if you do move your landline to them.
posted by car01 at 5:03 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've also had PlusNet for three years without a hitch. We have only the naked ADSL and are in a rural area. I've literally never had to call them for any problems in all that time. Can't recommend them enough.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 6:47 AM on November 5, 2014

I'm with Virgin Media. It goes down every single day and does the same for my friends but oh well I've been with them since they were Freeserve (Freeserve went to ntlworld went to Virgin)... Or maybe we switched out from freeserve to NTL, but I was young at the time and it's difficult to remember. My friends seem to think Sky is better. Or BT but you're trying to move away from them.
posted by Woodstock at 6:55 AM on November 5, 2014

I'd put one more recommendation in for PlusNet, too. I use The Phone Co-op (technically Co-operative Phone and Broadband, IIRC) for my landline supplier, and they're both great for customer service, but unable to help when OpenReach are being useless.
posted by ambrosen at 7:22 AM on November 5, 2014

Response by poster: Ok, thanks everyone, those are all great replies. I think PlusNet looks favourite after a quick look at Broadband Choices, with The Phone Co-op in reserve.

My reasons for not wanting cable are pretty much based on drilling-holes experiences like winterhill's. The reasons I don't want Murdoch are obvious. ;) I know that limits my choice to whatever extent. And I know I'd still be at the mercy of Openreach. But it's good to know what else is working out well for others.

Thanks again!
posted by rd45 at 7:56 AM on November 6, 2014