Page 1 of Decided it`s time to upgrade to broadband.

I`m sick off my slow 56k connection and have been looking at a few braodband options, and i would like some help from those who have already made the move.
I know all the isp`s say that is ten times faster and you have a permanent connection, but what benefits has it had for you?

thanx in advance
Enemy

Just do it !

With Pipex offering broadband for a few pennies shy of £24, and the cheapest mainstream 24 hr ISP (Virgin) at £13.49 now is the time to go for it.

The benefits are nice fast downloads, you save loads of time when you`re browsing, you can benefit from streaming audio/video and multimedia presentations (rather than waiting 100 years for a Flash intro), and you get the advantage of being able to take phone calls whilst surfing the net.

Best £10 extra per month I ever spent, but I need a new hard drive as mine`s rapidly filling up with MP3s !

They say it is 10X faster. I used to take me 4 minutes to download 1MB, approx 4K/s, max. Now I can download around 60K/s on a good FTP server. I make that around 15 times faster.

Also ,if you sign up for Pipex between 14th May and 13th June and send in your old working dialup modem, with cables etc, you will get a brand spanking new Fujitsu FDX310 ADSL modem for FREE!. Also free connection so all you need to pay for is the monthly subscription and some filters, 1 for each phone socket. Your laughing. More details here. http://www.xtreme.pipex.net/adsl/sales/modem-xchange/

I have been with them about 5 months now and havent had any major problems. A couple of times when I lost connection for a few hours but other than that it has worked perfectly. Just make sure you get a decent Antivirus application and a firewall like Zonealarm.

Two disadvantages of having broadband...

1) Clayts has already mentioned this - you`ll need a new hard drive to hold all those mp3s and "non-copyright" movies you download.

2) You`ll never, ever be able to use a 56k modem again. Although if you suffer from insomnia you could try dialing up to the net. It`ll take so long you`ll be asleep in no time.

I`m on cable broadband with Telewest. It`s costing us the same as when we had our second phone line and the internet subscription for dial-up.

It`s great, love it, I don`t think I could ever go back to 56k.

Nick

do it i`m on freeserve and it is at least 10x quicker,i was thinking about pipex but on the http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=pipex forum they have had a lot of complaints, but i reccomend the b/b highly

Get broadband!!...but get ya self a decent firewall! too many script kiddies messing around with sub7 and the such like!

BlackIce Defender
Tiny Personal Firewall

are the ones I have most joy with, you find that when you get a perm connection, so many sad lil kids and wanna be hackers do ip swoops and p*** about with ya machine, well......in my case at least try.

This is the only downside of having broadband, I think places Like NTL change your IP every so often, which can be a bonus.

and like the other guy said, Get broadband, get a huge Hard drive....man! mines 40gb and already full with mp3`s and movies...oh but that would be against the law! hmmmmnnnnnn well......yeah! but there all for personal use officer!...HONEST!

Paul
Bored at work and just dribbling on :-)

If you can get it, GET IT!

I have had an NTL cable modem since the week it was available in my area, and 512k down, 128k up for 17.02+VAT a month is stunning value.

I have the Cable modem sitting on a dedicated PC hardware firewall, using NAT to send high speed Net access all over the house via the internal network. I can plug my laptop in any room (except the bathroom!) and off we go.

Certainly helps all the long hours setting up discs on DVD Reviewer!

Mark

This item was edited on Monday, 20th May 2002, 19:54

Sygate Personal Firewall is free for home users and pretty good.

http://www.sygate.com

Nick

I`m using Zone Alarm Pro, I always keep it up to date. (The latest version being 3.0.118). Protects against nasty internet people!! If you go for the standard Zone Alarm its free!

Good idea to get decent anti-virus software as well. Jong Pipex and they`ll give you Norton 2002 which is very good and runs happily alongside Zone Alarm.

This item was edited on Monday, 20th May 2002, 22:02