[Sussex] more broadband questions?

[John D.]

Sorry I can't reference the recent posts about broadband, the mail
archive link seems to have vanished from the SLUG site.

So, having read (but unfortunately deleted) the recent comment about
broadband services, I'm still investigating what it's gonna cost me to
upgrade from 512k to 1 Mbps.

The service that was mentioned by Gareth and Geoff, was it eclipse? or
something else? as I found a broadband deal at http://www.eclipse.net.uk
with a product called "Flex". Is this what was mentioned?


So I've been to look around the http://www.adslguide.org.uk and ended up
with info like this
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/summarylist.asp?order=tco1024k the idea
being that I can suss out basically a reasonable deal for not too much
money???

The pipex service I have at the moment is an uncapped 512k for £23.44
pcm (incl).

So, after digging around a lot, it seems that it's between

eclipse@	£25.52pcm +vat

plusnet@	£25.52pcm +vat

prodigynet@	£24.67pcm +vat

supanet@	£19.54pcm +vat

metronet@	£22.77pcm +vat

and that's for an unlimited 1 Mbps service.

On the face of it, for all round performance, it's between eclipse and
plusnet, but then there's the fact that supanet is £5 a month cheaper.

I've looked into contract periods, and eclipse, plusnet and prodigy are
1 month minimums, metro is 3 and supanet 12.

So given that lot, maybe some of you could advise as to what YOU
consider when looking at available services? and what is most important
i.e. the pecking order for cost, quality, contract tie in,
static/dynamic IP etc etc ???

Because although I've got this pipex service and it's been entirely
satisfactory, I'd like to upgrade to the 1 Mbps and they want too much
(£29 pcm +vat).

regards

John D.

p.s. those who use eclipse, do you think it's worth having the ability
to speed things up @ 8 pence per hour