[GLLUG] Fibre broadband

[John Winters]

On 20/12/12 23:57, Charles Flèche wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I'm back in London after 2 years on the go and I need to subscribe again
> to a broadband provider. I'm looking for a computer enthusiast-friendly
> connection as I'm going to host my own servers. In order of importance :
>
> - a fibre connection
> - no monthly data cap
> - static IP
> - no P2P throttling

As John says, no-one will genuinely provide you with the second of 
these, at least not on any kind of end-user tariff.  If you pay 
£600-£1000/month for a full Ethernet connection then you can have it, 
but not otherwise.

I have no experience of Zen, but I can heartily recommend Andrews and 
Arnold - http://aa.nu/

One point which might be of interest to you, depending on what sort of 
traffic you anticipate - A&A meter only data heading towards you.  Stuff 
going from your machines out on to the 'net does not count towards your 
usage total, so if the traffic is caused by your servers sending stuff 
out it's effectively unlimited.  They also have different rates 
depending on the time of day.  Data are metered by the unit, and one 
unit buys you 2.5 GB during the day, 50 GB in the evening, and 1000 GB 
in the small hours of the morning.  If you want to do, for instance, 
regular mirroring then run it between 02:00 and 06:00 and you can move 
vast amounts of data at negligible cost.

Their main selling point however is their customer service.  They do 
genuinely have real technicians available, and they're especially good 
at telling BT not to be silly when problems do arise.  It takes the 
pressure off you when BT won't admit they have a problem.

Of course, whether or not you can have FTTC at all still depends on BT. 
  Our exchange (Wallingford) has been upgraded, but our cabinets haven't 
so we still can't get it!  Silly or what?

John