Broadband and router suggestions in NE London
June 10, 2020 2:55 AM Subscribe
I'd like to switch from Virgin to a good broadband provider, ideally one that will let me use my own router. Recommendations for good companies and good routers to use would be perfect.
I'm quite sick of Virgin and their terrible router ā downtime every day, two hours diagnosing the connection this morning because their service page was green despite the rep telling me they'd escalated it long before I called, etc.
We get our landline and tv from Virgin as well, so I'll be switching those too, but for now the broadband is the most pressing issue.
Ideally I'd like to switch broadband immediately and go and buy a router myself from a local store, but any other suggestions are more than welcome, especially if you can suggest a way for me to personally make Richard Branson's life a little harder.
I'm quite sick of Virgin and their terrible router ā downtime every day, two hours diagnosing the connection this morning because their service page was green despite the rep telling me they'd escalated it long before I called, etc.
We get our landline and tv from Virgin as well, so I'll be switching those too, but for now the broadband is the most pressing issue.
Ideally I'd like to switch broadband immediately and go and buy a router myself from a local store, but any other suggestions are more than welcome, especially if you can suggest a way for me to personally make Richard Branson's life a little harder.
I use Plusnet, and it's OK. It runs on top of BT fibre. Their standard router doesn't let you change your DNS, so I bought a Netgear R7800 & I use that instead with no issues - originally I had a plan to run DD-WRT on it, but in the end I've stayed with the stock firmware.
posted by rd45 at 3:50 AM on June 10, 2020
posted by rd45 at 3:50 AM on June 10, 2020
Best answer: If you really know what you want technically, then Andrews & Arnold are the provider for you. They will send you a (good) basic router if you sign up for a 12 month contract, or they'll sell you better ones, or they'll let you use your own. The choice is yours.
The router they sent me last time I had a contract with them is extremely good, and one of the very few routers that I could configure to use with Now TV's extremely unusual authentication process. But I've not fixed that yet, even though the router I have from Now TV is bad* for my small flat with just me and a few devices. So I'd advise against Now TV, or their parent provider, Sky. FWIW, Sky is no longer part of the Murdoch empire, it's owned by Comcast.
There are a couple of recently launched technologies that are genuinely faster than previous "fibre" broadband that was offered by non-Virgin companies, if you need/want over 80Mbps, but apart from that, remember that everyone except Virgin is selling nearly identical services using Openreach (was BT)'s infrastructure. There are some differences to the equipment they put in the exchange, but it doesn't cause that much difference.
*it is extremely slow to transfer a link over to Chromecast compared to previous routers.
posted by ambrosen at 5:04 AM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
The router they sent me last time I had a contract with them is extremely good, and one of the very few routers that I could configure to use with Now TV's extremely unusual authentication process. But I've not fixed that yet, even though the router I have from Now TV is bad* for my small flat with just me and a few devices. So I'd advise against Now TV, or their parent provider, Sky. FWIW, Sky is no longer part of the Murdoch empire, it's owned by Comcast.
There are a couple of recently launched technologies that are genuinely faster than previous "fibre" broadband that was offered by non-Virgin companies, if you need/want over 80Mbps, but apart from that, remember that everyone except Virgin is selling nearly identical services using Openreach (was BT)'s infrastructure. There are some differences to the equipment they put in the exchange, but it doesn't cause that much difference.
*it is extremely slow to transfer a link over to Chromecast compared to previous routers.
posted by ambrosen at 5:04 AM on June 10, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I've been with SSE for the last year (living in the east of England) and have only had good experiences with their service. I had no idea how an energy company would do as a broadband provider but they've exceeded my expectations. They've managed to fix line issues that our previous ISP (Vodafone, terrible, don't go there) insisted were router issues, and their support people are friendly and clear communicators. You can use your own router with SSE according to their FAQ (#7).
However, the most tech-savvy roll-your-own person I know swears by Andrews & Arnold, as recommended above, and if you're looking for max flexibility and customisability then I suspect they'll be a better fit than any of the big name brands available over here.
posted by terretu at 6:37 AM on June 10, 2020
However, the most tech-savvy roll-your-own person I know swears by Andrews & Arnold, as recommended above, and if you're looking for max flexibility and customisability then I suspect they'll be a better fit than any of the big name brands available over here.
posted by terretu at 6:37 AM on June 10, 2020
Also with Zen and pretty happy with them.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:47 AM on June 10, 2020
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:47 AM on June 10, 2020
I've been with Plus.net for over 10 years and have been happy with them the whole time. Last year I switched from them to a Fibre-to-the-premises company as I wanted to stop paying for a BT landline.
posted by snarfois at 8:43 AM on June 10, 2020
posted by snarfois at 8:43 AM on June 10, 2020
Best answer: How long have you had your router? We got a new one from Virgin, free, and all problems solved. Maybe try that while your researching other providers, because it was a very quick fix.
posted by glasseyes at 11:10 AM on June 10, 2020
posted by glasseyes at 11:10 AM on June 10, 2020
Iām with the Phone Co-op. They are a member owned part of a cooperative society and seem ethical and fair. Customer service has been great. I had some technical issues and got through to their UK based helpdesk who talked me through what to do in a grown up non condescending way without reading any scripts at me! Highly recommended.
posted by ElasticParrot at 12:56 PM on June 11, 2020
posted by ElasticParrot at 12:56 PM on June 11, 2020
Response by poster: Thanks all, I just went with BT in the end thanks to the reminder about the actual infrastructure, and partly because of the CEO's response to the pandemic. I've always fancied signing up with A&A, but I don't think I have the brain space for it at the moment ā maybe next year if BT isn't an improvement over virgin.
posted by lucidium at 12:06 PM on June 20, 2020
posted by lucidium at 12:06 PM on June 20, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
They're perfectly happy with people running their own routers AFAIK. I run my own R7800+OpenWRT with their most basic router running in bridge mode, and have had no problems. Although unless you've explicit reasons to run your own router, I'd probably start with their provided one and see if it suits your needs - easy enough to put it into bridge mode later.
posted by Mostly Harmless at 3:14 AM on June 10, 2020