This is my recent experience with ISP’s.
VirginMedia over cable
- https://www.virginmedia.com/
- Generally a good service
- Free public IP, although can change from time to time
- Long contract
- Services are bundled (land-line, TV and internet), which becomes expensive
- Prices go up each year – you have to phone in to reduce the bill and commit to another long contract
- Download speeds are as advertised, but upload speeds are about 1/10th download
- Modem has limited admin functions (I had to use SNMP to change LAN address for example)
Link broadbands over CityFibre
- https://linkbroadbands.com/
- Offer cheap (£30 for 900Mbits/s) 30-day contract
- Free static IP if requested – default is CGNAT
- During the day, speeds are good
- During the evening, however, speeds are very poor
- Generally low latency, 4ms, but with spikes
- Do have an on-line ticketing system
- Router supplied is TP-Link vx230v with firmware from link broadbands. Supports SIP well. Limited admin only, mesh doesn’t fully work, port 7547 exposed to whole internet
- Authentication is PPPoE with username/password and VID
4th Utility over CityFibre
- https://the4thutility.co.uk/
- Offer cheap (£25 for 1,000Mbits/s) but with 2-year contract. Does include 30-day cooling off (testing) period
- Pay extra for static IP (£5 / month) – default is CGNAT
- Speeds are very good (after static IP applied) and fairly consistent (no evening dips)
- High latency, 15ms or so
- Allocated IP is deemed to be suspicious by https://www.20i.com/ so many websites have reCAPTCHA every 5 minutes
- Very hard to get through to support – no on-line ticketing or email system
- Router supplied is Icotera i4850-25, seems pretty basic and WiFi config manged by 4th utility. Didn’t use.
- Authentication is PPPoE with username/password no VID
Toob
- https://www.toob.co.uk/
- £29/month for 900Mbits/s, no in-contract increase
- Pay extra for static IP (£8 / month) – default is CGNAT
- They supply a Linksys SPNMX56 router … seems to be a little slower than my Asus XD6
- Consistent speed, low latency
- Authentication is DHCP
- Responsive on the phone
- Referral code https://rewards.toob.co.uk/VARrDV
Research
For 900Mbit/sec to 1,000Mbit/sec. CityFibre require 2 weeks to switch.
| Name | Link | Price / month | Public IP | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Link Broadbands | https://linkbroadbands.com/ | £30, 1 month contract | free | Very slow in evening |
| 4th Utility | https://the4thutility.co.uk/ | £25 (black friday), 24 month contract | £5/month | High latency, very poor support, many sites require frequent reCAPTCHA |
| Toob | https://www.toob.co.uk | £29, 18 month contract | £8/month | No in-contract increases, responsive support, low latancy, consistent speeds |
| Vodafone | https://www.vodafone.co.uk/broadband | £28, 24 month contract | ||
| Talk Talk | https://www.talktalk.co.uk | £28, 12 month contract | No | |
| Zen | https://www.zen.co.uk | £40, 18 month contract | free | |
| No one | https://orders.noone.co.uk | £31.99, 24 month contract. £33.99 12 month | £2/month | £3 increase each Apr |
| Brillband | https://signup.brillband.com | £35, 24 month contract | not supported | |
| Octaplus | https://octaplus.co.uk | £27, 12 or 18 month contract | £3/month | Unable to complete switchover |
| Briant Broadband | https://briantbroadband.com | £39.99, 24 month contract | ||
| Cuckoo | https://www.cuckoo.co | £45 | ||
| VFast | https://www.vfast.co.uk | £40, 24 month contract | ||
| Brawband | https://orders.brawband.co.uk | £36, 24 month contract | £45 inc static IP | |
| Idnet | https://www.idnet.com | £40, 12 month contract | free | |
| Fusion fibre | https://fusionfibregroup.co.uk | £39.99, 12 month contract | ||
| A&A | https://www.aa.net.uk | £65 | ||
| Fibrehop | https://www.fibrehop.com/ | £36, 24 month contract | £46 inc static IP | |
| Beebu | https://signup.beebu.co.uk | £35, 24 month contract | £5/month | |
| Lit fibre | https://litfibre.com | £42.99, 24 month contract | ||
| The one | https://theonebroadband.co.uk/ | £39, 18 month contract | ||
| Trooli | https://www.trooli.com | £39.99, 24 month contract | £5/month | 10% off xmas deal |
| Rocket Fibre | https://www.rocket-fibre.co.uk | £28, 18 month contract | £5/month | Maybe not available |
| Yayzi | https://www.yayzi.co.uk/ | £35 | £2/month |