I don't use it but a good place to look would be adslguide.org they have a lot of info there. Pipex in terms of service are quite good apparently also.

Look out though, as soon as you have experienced it, you'll never want to go back!

You'll be looking at ADSL then, as you can't get cable where you are..

Pipex was pretty darn cheap, it's fairly quick, but for me it's been a bit hit and miss, I've had quite a lot of lengthy disconnects, but then again it's been on more or less all the time.
There wasn't a setup fee as pipex paid it for us, and the installation is pretty quick, but you do have to buy your own ADSL adaptor etc, but as with most things if you look around you can find it cheap enough.

Basic installation is this;
You fill out the online applications and they inform BT to link your phoneline to the ISP's network if the line tests are sucessful.
You then buy the hardware, your pc will be okay as it is, my parent's pc is a *lot* worse than yours and that runs it okay.
From the spec of your your machine you'll need an internal PCI ADSL adaptor (because you have no USB ports) - these are from about £40-60, then you'll need a a dongle called either a "splitter" or a "micro-filter" - These are between £6-10.

The only other thing is the ISP and the package - Mum and Dad pay £23 (inc vat) a month for the pipex service.

There's a big list of the ADSL offerings at the http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ site.

The cheapest service is the "wires only" option which is the one detailed above

There are a number of others but you have to pay a large setup fee and up to £10 a month more for the service, but the hardware is included..

Basically a bit of shopping around is needed, but you can get it quite cheap

Yes. I have Telewest broadband and this is the second year I've had it. Short of major problems that seem to affect the West Midlands area I've never had a problem and the cost for just the broadband connection is only £30 a month. It does depend on if you have any other cable service (television or telephone) or even if you get the enhanced 1mb line.

(Edited by Morph 06/10/2002 19:48)

---

by Stoo
You'll be looking at ADSL then, as you can't get cable where you are..

---

Damn, that must suck. We have NTL broadband and I've never been happier *ahem*

Nope... no cable. I think its the hill that puts the men off coming to put the cables down.

I applied for Demon ADSL after their site said that it was available in my area.

It turns out that Demon only check your actual phone number to see if your local exchange is ADSL enabled, they don't check your phisical location. So although my exchange was ADSL enabled it turns out that I'm too far away to get it.

Looks like cable for me.

Well, it's mainly cities where the cable companies operate.. They have to balance the cost of laying the cable against how many people will actually subscribe, whereas BT just need to upgrade their exchanges to offer ADSL.

Which is just one of the reasons I'm glad I moved to Birmingham, where we get Telewest broadband.

Loathe though I may be to compliment NTL, aside from a couple of initial problems, I've no complaints about NTL's cable modem service.

We're getting broadband on Wednesday Well, assuming we can - apparently we should be just within range of the exchange *fingers crossed*

I second Ethan & Stoo's recommendation of looking at www.adslguide.org.uk - lots of info to be found.

I'll probably be taking the plunge myself soon. I was hoping for ADSL (you have a bit more flexibility if you are technically inclined), but my exchange is not likely to upgraded anytime soon so I guess it's NTL cable for me...

Right, I've had a look about and I've got some prices together..

Most places charge £50 for installation/activation, and then £23-25 a month for the service. Hardware costs are about £35 for the pci adsl adaptor, and another £10 for the filter thingy.

So for your first month you'd be looking at about £120 to get setup, then it'd just be the £23-25 a month depending on who you go with..

I wish I couild get broadband but I can't see them enabling my exchange anytime soon.

Thought this was pretty interesting though...

www.broadband4britain.co.uk/easingwold

---

by Milky
I wish I couild get broadband but I can't see them enabling my exchange anytime soon.

---

Same here we are on thee pre-register scheme its at 175 at the moment but we have to reach 400, and lets face it most people dont like pre-reging for stuff.

The worst thing is just over a mile down the road its enabled and less people live there

(Edited by JtB 07/10/2002 22:34)

yeah, I think they picked the numbers by going "eeny meeny miney mo" on the calculator...

Well I had broadband for a little while now.... 16 months I think it is. And I've been very happy with my @Home Benelux cable connection.

What seem a nice page to look at the prices of diferrent adsl providers in the UK is adslguide stoo mentioned.

They have a lot of info on different providers but do keep in mind that the ratings they give to providers is based on what the users themselves find from the service so not really unpartial (also really depends on your area)

When you get a broadband 24/7 connection also make sure you get something down the line of a firewall as windows isn't known to be the most secure system on this planet. A software firewall like zonealarm will do just fine in your case as you don't have to protect a large company network etc..

If you want to for example share your line with another user via a network of some sort just give us a jell I'm sure we can sort something out (Do keep in mind that a cheap networkcard + hub + cable aren't free but the low preformance you need to have on them mean you can use cheap(er) materials (no brand hub or nic's )


(Edited by Chambler 08/10/2002 06:21)

---

by JtB
(quotes)

Same here we are on thee pre-register scheme its at 175 at the moment but we have to reach 400, and lets face it most people dont like pre-reging for stuff.

The worst thing is just over a mile down the road its enabled and less people live there

(Edited by JtB 07/10/2002 22:34)

---

Count yourself lucky

My exchange doesn't even have a trigger set yet, and at last inspection the BT site was showing 8 pre-registrations.

If I hadn't chosen to live in one of these out-of-town-new-developments, I would have been OK as the town's main exchange was upgraded ages ago.

---

by Ethan
Pipex in terms of service are quite good apparently also.

---

Not according to this poor chappie...
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2307157.stm

For those without ADSL you could always move to Sweden.. My friend lives out their and he gets 10Mbit (yes that is 10 Mega Bit) for the equivalent of 15 pound a month....

Jealous? I am!

Another alternative is Satelite, but it's no panacea. It's pricey from what I can see, and you need to use a normal ISP for your return path via a conventional modem.

Cost is around 27quid for 20hours a month, and that is on top of your normal ISP connection cost. You could though from what I gather, say if you were using a standard 'flat rate' dialup package, use that for something low bandwidth like IRC and email, and only fire up the satellite bit when you wanted the extra speed.

Download speed is up to 768Kbit

Or you could move to a Dutch university and get 100Mbit for less then 10 pound a month