Broadband - Who do you use and how are they?

[zomex]

Hello all,

I'm looking to cancel BT broadband and move on.

The price is a INSANE £70/month now for the slowest most unreliable broadband. I am looking to switch.

I tried YouFibre for a month and it was very unreliable so canceled.

So the question is who do you use and how are they?

Jack

 

[UcallJohn]

Hi Jack,

For recommendations, the options depend on the type of broadband you’re using (residential/business), and what kind of connection and speeds you are looking for.

We do provide tailored broadband solutions for businesses, based on needs and location, considering coverage and available providers. If you'd like, drop me a message with your requirements and postcode, and I’ll find the best options for you.

John

 

[Ozzy]

Another deciding factor will be based on who has what infrastructure in your area.
Gigaclear are in our area and use them at the stables for security cameras and client wifi access, and use them at home for home stuff, and constantly have a nice stable and fast service.

 

[GLAbusiness]

So the question is who do you use and how are they?

I use Hyperoptic. 1Gb connection at a good price. Only drawback is that they don't offer a service everywhere: only where they have been able to install a full fibre connection.

 

[WaveJumper]

Another deciding factor will be based on who has what infrastructure in your area.
Gigaclear are in our area and use them at the stables for security cameras and client wifi access, and use them at home for home stuff, and constantly have a nice stable and fast service.

Yep Gigaclear get a thumbs up from me

 

[DontAsk]

BT was around £30 a couple of weeks ago. A bit more with a landline.

 

[zomex]

BT was around £30 a couple of weeks ago. A bit more with a landline.

BT like most service providers will start you on a cheap deal. Over the years price rise after price rise and before you know it it's £70/month. That's what happened to me.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

We do things a bit differently. CommunityFibre (1gbps free) + we route our own IP addresses via DDNS (without a static IP, xD).

We've got the ability to host everything physically, yet, with our infrastructure, isolate everything as if they're on their own servers/networks running around 100mbit each, leaving a few hundo mbps for generic phone devices and computers etc.

 

[Newchodge]

We do things a bit differently. CommunityFibre (1gbps free) + we route our own IP addresses via DDNS (without a static IP, xD).

We've got the ability to host everything physically, yet, with our infrastructure, isolate everything as if they're on their own servers/networks running around 100mbit each, leaving a few hundo mbps for generic phone devices and computers etc.

I'm glad that works for you, although I haven't the faintest idea what you are describing!

 

[ThatDevAaron]

I'm glad that works for you, although I haven't the faintest idea what you are describing!

Essentially, we can cut out the need for business wifi.

IPv4/IP = internet address

Business wifi is needed for 1 primary thing: a static IPv4 address.

everything else, speeds etc, you'll find ISPs are very competitive about, and if you commit, you can easily get a good deal.

now, you don't need a static IP, if you have your own IP address(s) (about £2 each), and a server for that IP address (<£5), this already is cheaper than most 1gb business plans - DDNS (similar to DNS) links your router, to your IP address, allowing the £2 ip address to be a static IP address on your network.

Now, you can do this with as many IPs as you want, this means, you can slowly make your infrastructure more complex. And btw, although requires a little bit of know-how, is still cheap as hellllll, and results in so many long-term savings.

 

[Newchodge]

Essentially, we can cut out the need for business wifi.

IPv4/IP = internet address

Business wifi is needed for 1 primary thing: a static IPv4 address.

everything else, speeds etc, you'll find ISPs are very competitive about, and if you commit, you can easily get a good deal.

now, you don't need a static IP, if you have your own IP address(s) (about £2 each), and a server for that IP address (<£5), this already is cheaper than most 1gb business plans - DDNS (similar to DNS) links your router, to your IP address, allowing the £2 ip address to be a static IP address on your network.

Now, you can do this with as many IPs as you want, this means, you can slowly make your infrastructure more complex. And btw, although requires a little bit of know-how, is still cheap as hellllll, and results in so many long-term savings.

Mmm. Thank you.

 

[zomex]

I didn't understand it either. Fair play to you Aaron. When I got started I rented a server, got DDoS attacked, didn't know what to do and from that day I realised I was not a server admin thus hire other people to manage that for me.

Sadly the smaller ISPs are not available in my area Looks like I'm stuck with the mainstream providers.

 

[DontAsk]

BT like most service providers will start you on a cheap deal. Over the years price rise after price rise and before you know it it's £70/month. That's what happened to me.

Never happened to me.

Is this residential broadband or business premises?

 

[SharedGrid]

I tried YouFibre for a month and it was very unreliable so canceled.

I am surprised you had a bad experience with YouFibre, what was up with it? I've been with them since they launched and it has been solid. When Virgin Media had contractors out pulling fibre in our area, they destroyed the YF cables on our street and knocked off a few houses - not even 24 hours later and they had it fully repaired.

If you're stuck with OpenReach providers, then I would look at Plusnet - owned by BT but cheaper, so any OR issues are generally dealt with quicker, support based in the UK which takes a few minutes to get through to on the phone.

Slightly more expensive than Plusnet, but lower than BT, you can take a look at Zen too. 10/10 for support and dealing with issues.

 

[Paul Norman]

When in the UK our base is a village.

The only option is BT. There is cable to cabinet, and the last bit is some copper from around 1530. The billing is from EE, because despite being the same company they charge less. The service, despite all that, is usually bearable.

In Spain we have 5G. I am not even sure who provides it, but it is amazing, all the time.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

I didn't understand it either. Fair play to you Aaron. When I got started I rented a server, got DDoS attacked, didn't know what to do and from that day I realised I was not a server admin thus hire other people to manage that for me.

Sadly the smaller ISPs are not available in my area Looks like I'm stuck with the mainstream providers.

Not a big problem, what kind of DDOS, Layer 4 or 7 (did they ddos your IP, or your website URL)?

if they ddosed your website URL, I recommend using cloudflare.com - please PM me for absolutely free consultation - I am an expert in this field and can certainly help you lower your operational costs EASILY.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

I didn't understand it either. Fair play to you Aaron. When I got started I rented a server, got DDoS attacked, didn't know what to do and from that day I realised I was not a server admin thus hire other people to manage that for me.

Sadly the smaller ISPs are not available in my area Looks like I'm stuck with the mainstream providers.

Tbh, I can see your websites use CPANEL, and I really don't recommend that - PM me and I'll share how easy it is to gain information on your website, very dangerous, and just asking for trouble;

Use cloudflare, took me 3 mins to search internet registries for zomex.com lol

image hosted at ImgBB

Image image hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

one reason i hate cpanel is, in order for me to know if you use cpanel, just go to http://zomex.com:2083

 

[YasmeenLondon]

We do things a bit differently. CommunityFibre (1gbps free)

Same problem as hyperoptic, not available everywhere or else it would've been a great solution.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

Same problem as hyperoptic, not available everywhere or else it would've been a great solution.

Yeah, but the places it's at, are fabulous.

 

[LPB 123]

We have sky business broadband and 5G backup hub with Three.

The sky business fibre line is just under £20 a month and includes calls. The 5G hub is £14 a month.

 

[zomex]

Tbh, I can see your websites use CPANEL, and I really don't recommend that - PM me and I'll share how easy it is to gain information on your website, very dangerous, and just asking for trouble;

Use cloudflare, took me 3 mins to search internet registries for zomex.com lol

image hosted at ImgBB

Image image hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

one reason i hate cpanel is, in order for me to know if you use cpanel, just go to http://zomex.com:2083

All that thinking you're making a valid point or an amazing discovery

Yes my website and hosting services use cPanel. Which happens to the most popular web hosting control panel in the world.

I've been using cPanel for over 15 years. Never been hacked, if it was such a security risk it would not be the most popular control panel. Your DNS screenshot is nothing of concern. Like I said cPanel is used by the biggest web hosting companies.

 

[zomex]

Not a big problem, what kind of DDOS, Layer 4 or 7 (did they ddos your IP, or your website URL)?

if they ddosed your website URL, I recommend using cloudflare.com - please PM me for absolutely free consultation - I am an expert in this field and can certainly help you lower your operational costs EASILY.

They DDOSed my server IP. This was long before the days of Cloudflare or modern anti DDOS technology. It was the wild west back then. Like I said leason learned, I don't manage servers or attempt to now.

I don't like Cloudflare. Nothing worse to me than visiting a website with that Cloudflare anti-robot pause.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

All that thinking you're making a valid point or an amazing discovery

Yes my website and hosting services use cPanel. Which happens to the most popular web hosting control panel in the world.

I've been using cPanel for over 15 years. Never been hacked, if it was such a security risk it would not be the most popular control panel. Your DNS screenshot is nothing of concern. Like I said cPanel is used by the biggest web hosting companies.

1. The biggest web hosting companies offer it to customers, you're actually using it for your website.
2. The whole point about cyber security is minimizing the information attackers can gather, I didn't say you've been hacked, or you are susceptible to it, I'm simply trying to let you know that it gives away information without you really needing to.

This is likely one of the main reasons you got successfully taken down, most platforms, can withstand hundreds of thousands of requests per second, but I can assure you, the vast majority of cpanel-hosted platforms, are extremely easy to take down, due to the lack of information preservation that it needs.

And that is the weakest form of attack, a ddos attack

cpanel is for hobbyists, and shouldn't be used in a professional setting, AT ALL.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

They DDOSed my server IP. This was long before the days of Cloudflare or modern anti DDOS technology. It was the wild west back then. Like I said leason learned, I don't manage servers or attempt to now.

I don't like Cloudflare. Nothing worse to me than visiting a website with that Cloudflare anti-robot pause.

1. You should implement cyber security 101, and origin mask, this is something cloudflare provides for free.
2. Cloudflares anti robot is extremely configurable, and doesnt show up by default.

I hate supporting the monopolization of the internet, but cloudflare has earned the right to be called every webmasters ****ing dream (excuse my french).

Honestly; check them out, you're missing out.

Also, goes without saying, they have a global CDN so your website is fast across the world.
(your website HTML is stored in cloudflares servers across the world, depending on where visitor is from will fetch frontend from close by server).

trust me, you want it.

 

[zomex]

1. The biggest web hosting companies offer it to customers, you're actually using it for your website.
2. The whole point about cyber security is minimizing the information attackers can gather, I didn't say you've been hacked, or you are susceptible to it, I'm simply trying to let you know that it gives away information without you really needing to.

This is likely one of the main reasons you got successfully taken down, most platforms, can withstand hundreds of thousands of requests per second, but I can assure you, the vast majority of cpanel-hosted platforms, are extremely easy to take down, due to the lack of information preservation that it needs.

And that is the weakest form of attack, a ddos attack

cpanel is for hobbyists, and shouldn't be used in a professional setting, AT ALL.

Absolute nonsense

Like I said the majority of the biggest hosting providers use cPanel. If it were "easy to takedown" they wouldn't be in business for very long.

You're also ignoring what I have mentioned. This happened to me a good 10 years ago. The tools and attack mitigation available today was not a thing back then. It has nothing to do with using cPanel. It's called using a VPS with no experience of how to manage it. Hence why I said I quickly learned from that and since then do not pretend to be a server admin.

Zomex has been using cPanel for 15 years and never been hacked. It does provide more info than it should and I agree, the default login ports should be replaced but it doesn't change the fact that even with that it has not impacted the security of my website.

I'm well aware of what a CDN is. Like I said I do not like Cloudflare and will not use it.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

Absolute nonsense

Like I said the majority of the biggest hosting providers use cPanel. If it were "easy to takedown" they wouldn't be in business for very long.

You're also ignoring what I have mentioned. This happened to me a good 10 years ago. The tools and attack mitigation available today was not a thing back then. It has nothing to do with using cPanel. It's called using a VPS with no experience of how to manage it. Hence why I said I quickly learned from that and since then do not pretend to be a server admin.

Zomex has been using cPanel for 15 years and never been hacked. It does provide more info than it should and I agree, the default login ports should be replaced but it doesn't change the fact that even with that it has not impacted the security of my website.

I'm well aware of what a CDN is. Like I said I do not like Cloudflare and will not use it.

Well you kind of have to tell us why you don't like cloudflare. This is a vital question. Your a professional in the IT industry, and cloudflare, in my opinion, is one of those boilerplate platforms everyone in the industry should be familiar with, and actively use. If you don't agree with me/express an explicit disliking to the platform, I lowkey want to demand a reason.

Origin Masking isn't new, its an old concept, but I understand your point. As a professional, you shouldn't treat this so lightly.

*no ones hacked us yet so we dont need to update anything* said every company prior to a major breach

 

[Securify]

Origin masking is really useful when you know how to set it up It can be a a fantastic security measure since CF adds great features to block malicious traffic. However, when it's bypassable... pretty pointless. A good tip is not to leave your Swedish Privex servers origin IP open to all.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

Origin masking is really useful when you know how to set it up It can be a a fantastic security measure since CF adds great features to block malicious traffic. However, when it's bypassable... pretty pointless. A good tip is not to leave your Swedish Privex servers origin IP open to all.

We don't - If you want to prevent this, simply whitelist port 80 (and associated ports), and 443 to cloudflare ips =)

*swedish server you're referencing was recently rebooted after an entire year, and our iptables didn't keep persistence (the other one is our mail server which we leave open to the public)*

i owe u a vps for the alert

 

[fantheflames]

I tend to switch provider to get the best deals and connection. I travel a lot, so I'm always looking into the places I can go with the best Internet connection. I also have a 5G backup hub, which I haven't used much, but handy to have!

 

[HostXNow]

I was initially happy with Virgin Media until I moved to a new location. They claimed on their website that they could install the service at my new address, but two months later, it still hadn't been set up. As a result, I switched to EE, which turned out to be a big mistake because of their merger with BT. I couldn't even log into the EE website or app to manage my billing and accounts. They made duplicate orders etc.

I then decided to move to Vodafone. The installation was completed on the promised date, and all billing and website/app functionalities worked perfectly. I also transferred my SIM-only plan to them.

I opted for their MAX SIM Only plan, which includes Global Roaming and the highest spec broadband, for £65 per month. This has now risen to £72 per month. Still worth it.

Overall, my vote goes to Vodafone.

 

[cjd]

I use my own company's broadband. I can highly recommend it ;-)

(Seriously, it's reasonably priced, truly unlimited data and no contract - cancel anytime without penalty.)

 

[ThatDevAaron]

I use my own company's broadband. I can highly recommend it ;-)

(Seriously, it's reasonably priced, truly unlimited data and no contract - cancel anytime without penalty.)

calling your company line right ****ing now, bettter answer

 

[cjd]

calling your company line right ****ing now, bettter answer

You're out of hours for telephone support - that's 9-5 M-F.

An email to [email protected] will get answered pretty quickly or you can play with our prototype AI bot in LiveChat - it's pretty good with general enquiries but can get bit hysterical when things get a bit complicated.

Or you can just read the website ;-)

Blazing fast fibre broadband | No long-term contracts | No mid-term price hikes

Voipfone UK fibre broadband: unlimited data, no contracts, speeds up to 1 Gbps. Perfect for VoIP calls. Reliable connectivity for all users. Switch today for better service!

www.voipfone.co.uk

 

[ThatDevAaron]

You're out of hours for telephone support - that's 9-5 M-F.

An email to [email protected] will get answered pretty quickly or you can play with our prototype AI bot in LiveChat - it's pretty good with general enquiries but can get bit hysterical when things get a bit complicated.

Or you can just read the website ;-)

Blazing fast fibre broadband | No long-term contracts | No mid-term price hikes

Voipfone UK fibre broadband: unlimited data, no contracts, speeds up to 1 Gbps. Perfect for VoIP calls. Reliable connectivity for all users. Switch today for better service!

www.voipfone.co.uk

i pm'd you its not urgent <3

 

[Deleted member 367548]

I will be honest, I looked at this hoping for a response e.g yeah Sky is best or avoid vodafone

The technical stuff is way beyond me. Does anybody have a view on the best provider for a small business that does deal with large files video/images and is in a residential property

 

[KM-Tiger]

Having tried many there is IMHO only one Rolls Royce supplier of broadband and that is Andrews & Arnold.

I have only had to call customer support a couple of times in the last 10 years, but the experience is good. You speak to a British person that will help solve your problem. No foreign call centre where they read from scripts.

Not the cheapest, but good rarely is.

 

[BusinessBHub]

Used EE business broadband, and took a 5g hub for back up, been pretty could overall, costing us £44 a month, easy to setup and no current issues for us. Speeds decent for a basic fibre package

 

[Kerwin]

I've used Virgin Media Business since 2020 or so and been pretty happy. It is stable and fast but it is the only 1gig service in my area so I'm sort of stuck with them. £53 a month ex VAT.