Be as good as they sound... what's the catch?

damien_ls · 2nd May 2008

I'm currently using F2S for my home broadband connection (as are various members of my family - nice that they give you commission for that sort of thing

) but since, or maybe even slightly before, the Tiscali purchase of Pipex - which of course owned F2S - things have got slower and less reliable.

Problem with ADSL is I'm never sure who to blame - the ISP or BT, but since LLU this situation seems to have improved as you have the option of using an ISP with LLU in your exchange, so in theory they should have more responsibility.

As things are getting pretty poor with F2S I find myself in the market for a change. Sky initially took my fancy as Sky Sports etc. appeals, and with their broadband so cheap it's a tempter... although I've never really believed in buying soley on price and looking around it seems as though YMMV with Sky?

Be seem to get good comments though, and I'm wondering if that's the general consensus (i.e. if they're in your exchange, they're a good choice)? My observation is that they seem to have expanded into a lot more exchanges recently - certainly when I checked a few months ago I don't think they were in my area but they're ready and willing now...

If they have expanded a lot recently that makes me nervous, hence this post. Anyone got any insight into quality/expansion (or any other favourite providers)?

Ricky · 2nd May 2008

Be rock. I have it.

If you want to join, let me know and we'll both get a free month :>

damien_ls · 3rd May 2008

So what's the deal with the static IP on "Be unlimited" - their website says "optional extra" but doesn't tell you how much they want to charge... is it free or am I optimistic?

Also I read something in the FAQ about Be Home Monitor or something like that, but I don't see any further details about it on their site - something they used to do and stopped?

ThomasC · 3rd May 2008

I believe with Be, you get 1 static IP free

stephend · 2nd September 2008

The only catch I've found is that getting your kit to work instead of the be box can be tricky because their settings are distinctly weird.

bluewave · 7th September 2008

At home I have a £18 /month Be connection which has been faultless since day 1. It comes with a static IP on the £18 and £22 /month tariffs which is nice.

And LLU is a major +. I called up Be to ask about increasing the line synchronization speed and firstly I was amazed the person knew what I meant. Secondly he logged onto the DSLAM and increased my maximum line speed by 10% which didn't work and had to be reset but still nice they know what there doing.

Be is a good choice and there is no monthly contract either.

Stuart

quicklyweb · 22nd September 2008

I am with virgin at home. Paying £25.00 for TV and Broadband. It is working great since last year. Unlike other providers i don't have to have a land line. (I have 2 SIPgate account running with incoming UK numbers on the broadband connection also lol )

JSamuel · 23rd September 2008

Just signed up for 02 Broadband for home, mainly because 02 offered me 50% off the broadband line because my mobile is with them.

Speeds seem good, 1.3miles from the exchange (copper length) and getting a decent speed.

Thomson (02 branded) router is relatively shite, but has good range, considering the house has alot of pipework and it reaches the loft conversion from the ground floor kitchen.

Dhosting · 23rd September 2008

Joel dump the Be Router and grab a draytek 2820n, provides better line stability than the Thomson crap plus not had a single crash or overheat issue. Well worth the £170 I paid!

Karl · 23rd September 2008

Only problem is that you'll get lower sync speeds with the Draytek and O2 won't change the settings you need changing to make it work properly with their setup - Be will, but O2 won't (different market targets), or at least that used to be the case.

Dhosting · 23rd September 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karl

Only problem is that you'll get lower sync speeds with the Draytek and O2 won't change the settings you need changing to make it work properly with their setup - Be will, but O2 won't (different market targets), or at least that used to be the case.

That be odd i plugged in the draytek altered a couple of settings on the router didn't need anything tweaking at Be's end.

I suppose its down to the amount your paying for the service £22 p/m for a 11Mb service which is what we get is super cheap I'd pay £30-40 for what we are getting.

Over 2km from exchange so we pull down at 1.1mb/s ish and 130-140kb/s upload.

Draytek 2820n settings
WAN > Internet Access > WAN1

MPoA (RFC1483/2684) Tab
Encapsulation: 1483 Bridged IP LLC
VPI: 0
VCI: 101
Modulation: ADSL2+(G.992.5)

Enter the BE Static IP / Subnet / Gateway and our DNS Servers worked perfectly

238hrs since last router reboot and the ADSL has been up for 235hrs solid!

fov · 23rd September 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dhosting

Over 2km from exchange so we pull down at 1.1mb/s ish and 130-140kb/s upload.

Is that all? Im best part of 5.5km and I get 1.5Mbps down and 340Kbps up and I dont pay anywhere near that!
Smallish company on here. Very good support.

Karl · 23rd September 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dhosting

That be odd i plugged in the draytek altered a couple of settings on the router didn't need anything tweaking at Be's end.

I'm willing to bet that if you plug in your Be box that you get higher sync speeds. I speak from experience, I've just done one this afternoon and the sync was down from 11000-ish to 7500-ish, with tweaks it is now back to about 10000-ish.

Dhosting · 23rd September 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karl

I'm willing to bet that if you plug in your Be box that you get higher sync speeds. I speak from experience, I've just done one this afternoon and the sync was down from 11000-ish to 7500-ish, with tweaks it is now back to about 10000-ish.

BeBox gives near enough the same about 25kb/s in it tbh.

I can get the draytek to give faster upload / download but stability isn't great.

Trikkitt · 25th September 2008

I couldn't get anything to work as well as the BeBox on my Be connection. I managed to tweak it up to 10.5Mbit but it was only stable at about 9.5Mbit. Using any other router didn't get beyond about 5 or 6Mbit, one wouldn't even hold a stable connection.

I've been with them 2 years 3 days and they've had very good up-time. I think I've had a few occasions of instances of losing connectivity for about 10 seconds at 1am.... but nothing more.

I was very glad to be rid of BT Openwoe and the green stingray thing. I started using F2S quite early on with a ZyXel router (still going strong on another connection), F2S have definately gone downhill since Pipex took over though.

Not tried a Draytek, have one of them kicking around so may give it a try. I hate the interface on the BeBox.