Business Broadband & Electric

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Arehman99

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Jun 20, 2020
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4
  • #1
    Hi guys

    Hope you are well. I know location plays a big role aswell but are there any broadband and electric companies you recommend for a start up, or any that you would advise I stay away from?

    I have looked at reviews and all the companies have a mixture of good and bad reviews and I think it comes down to personal experience but it would be good to get some some advice as I don’t want to get off to a bad start by choosing the wrong company. The broadband/phone line will be purely to accept phone calls and connect Epos to. Thanks
     
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    RCC

    Free Member
    Dec 30, 2020
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  • #4
    I am actually moving my places to mobile broadband right now.
    Virgin failed to meet many different promises and deadlines for a new bar and as a temporary measure I went and got an O2 4G box as we need broadband for the POS, management system and music. Very impressed with it, cost is competitive and service is good.
     
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    Arehman99

    Free Member
    Jun 20, 2020
    55
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  • #9
    WaveJumper said:
    Bad experiences with both BT & Talk Talk moved to Plusnet last year and to date their customer service has been great
    Click to expand...
    Thank you for your message. I was really keen on Plusnet but then I read the bad reviews and saw the bad rating they got and that has really put me off. Have you encountered any problems with them? And did they get everything setup quickly? Thank you
     
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    WaveJumper

    WaveJumper

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    • Business Listing
    Aug 26, 2013
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  • #10
    Arehman99 said:
    Thank you for your message. I was really keen on Plusnet but then I read the bad reviews and saw the bad rating they got and that has really put me off. Have you encountered any problems with them? And did they get everything setup quickly? Thank you
    Click to expand...
    I can only speak as I find they made the whole transition trouble free. they dealt with my old provider Talk Talk and the switch over went without a hitch the best thing is not only do they actually respond to you on the online help chat but they also pick up the phone and you can actually have a proper conversation with them.
     
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    SillyBill

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    Dec 11, 2019
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  • #12
    We pay £150 a month for guaranteed download: 20 Mbit/s Upload: 10Mbit/s. And I seem to recall us having to pay about £2000-3000 installation cost upfront to get BT Openreach to sort that, EFM (Ethernet First Mile). Fibre? You must be joking. Before that we were running a £6M business on 2Mbit/s internet (about 3-4 years ago) - that was the absolute best we could get, no joke. I am envious of anyone who can get a cost effective internet connection, spare us a thought.

    Albeit the story ends well...fibre is finally being laid this year, in return for another 3 year contract at another £150 a month my provider has agreed to cover the install costs (we're c. 70M from cabinet). That feels like the result of the century. In 3 years time I may finally be able to shop around as other "normal" businesses do. Unfortunately if you are not on a busy road like we are we just got left, while everyone around us got the upgrades, we were left on the oldest copper cables in the city.
     
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    SillyBill

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    Dec 11, 2019
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  • #13
    I have Plusnet at home, they were the start of a journey of only using businesses if I could verify they had UK call centres. The Talk Talk experience was so horrendous I'd happily pay double with Plusnet just for the privilege of having a Geordie on the phone. I'd probably check out their business deals in a few years once I am out of contact.
     
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    justintime

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    Apr 12, 2009
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    Ripon
  • #14
    SillyBill said:
    The Talk Talk experience was so horrendous I'd happily pay double with Plusnet just for the privilege of having a Geordie on the phone. .
    Click to expand...

    Are you talking about Talk talk or Talk Talk Business? TTB offer very competitive rates and are nothing like the residential side. I've used them myself (twice) and have never had an issue with them. They use the old Pipex network which was a business only network.

    Plusnet (only used them for residential with no complaints) are based in Sheffield, and are owned by BT. They must have had a Geordie who had strayed away from home :)
     
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    SillyBill

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  • #15
    justintime said:
    Are you talking about Talk talk or Talk Talk Business? TTB offer very competitive rates and are nothing like the residential side. I've used them myself (twice) and have never had an issue with them. They use the old Pipex network which was a business only network.

    Plusnet (only used them for residential with no complaints) are based in Sheffield, and are owned by BT. They must have had a Geordie who had strayed away from home :)
    Click to expand...

    Talk Talk residential, no experience of their business side. Being cheap for a utility is less of a concern than having confidence if there is an issue that it is sorted straight away and communication is easy. Stakes too high for downtime with broadband these days to count pennies as losing hundreds, if not thousands a day if something goes wrong. You are unlucky if you have an issue with internet providers overall IMO so most will say "great" simply because they've personally had uninterrupted supply. Those reviews don't tell me too much, usually for that reason I like to dig dig deep into online reviews and see how customers who have had issues have been dealt with.

    I am aware, they make a song and a dance about being Yorkshire. It was playing on the stereotype that Geordies work in call centres.
     
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    A

    Arehman99

    Free Member
    Jun 20, 2020
    55
    4
  • #16
    WaveJumper said:
    I can only speak as I find they made the whole transition trouble free. they dealt with my old provider Talk Talk and the switch over went without a hitch the best thing is not only do they actually respond to you on the online help chat but they also pick up the phone and you can actually have a proper conversation with them.
    Click to expand...
    Thank you
     
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    A

    Arehman99

    Free Member
    Jun 20, 2020
    55
    4
  • #18
    SillyBill said:
    I have Plusnet at home, they were the start of a journey of only using businesses if I could verify they had UK call centres. The Talk Talk experience was so horrendous I'd happily pay double with Plusnet just for the privilege of having a Geordie on the phone. I'd probably check out their business deals in a few years once I am out of contact.
    Click to expand...
    Thanks
     
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    A

    Arehman99

    Free Member
    Jun 20, 2020
    55
    4
  • #19
    justintime said:
    Are you talking about Talk talk or Talk Talk Business? TTB offer very competitive rates and are nothing like the residential side. I've used them myself (twice) and have never had an issue with them. They use the old Pipex network which was a business only network.

    Plusnet (only used them for residential with no complaints) are based in Sheffield, and are owned by BT. They must have had a Geordie who had strayed away from home :)
    Click to expand...
    Thanks
     
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    F

    fc-ramon

  • #21
    +1 for zen internet. I have my full fiber with them now for the house. The big issue you'll mostly have is that most ISPs rely on Openreach if something goes wrong and they need to send a guy out and Openreach isn't very good for that (common delays, not showing up, only free slot in 2 weeks time, etc.)
     
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    A

    Arehman99

    Free Member
    Jun 20, 2020
    55
    4
  • #25
    SillyBill said:
    I have Plusnet at home, they were the start of a journey of only using businesses if I could verify they had UK call centres. The Talk Talk experience was so horrendous I'd happily pay double with Plusnet just for the privilege of having a Geordie on the phone. I'd probably check out their business deals in a few years once I am out of contact.
    Click to expand...
    Thank you. Are there any electric companies you recommend please? Thanks
     
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    bodgitt&scarperLTD

    Free Member
    Nov 26, 2018
    815
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  • #27
    fc-ramon said:
    +1 for zen internet. I have my full fiber with them now for the house. The big issue you'll mostly have is that most ISPs rely on Openreach if something goes wrong and they need to send a guy out and Openreach isn't very good for that (common delays, not showing up, only free slot in 2 weeks time, etc.)
    Click to expand...
    Apparently (it might be sales bull), PlusNet, being owned by BT, have a more 'direct line' to OpenReach. I've had no issues with PlusNet, but that may change as moving to a new place 500 yards down the lane. Same exchange- should be a simple job in theory.
     
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