Broadband, the choices!
What is Broadband?


Many of our customers ask us to recommend a broadband service provider. Some are trying broadband for the first time but most are already using broadband and have various problems with Internet or Email access, or poor customer service.

There are website's that specialise in this subject, such as ThinkBroadband, where you can compare up to six ISP's side by side and where the customers that are using the services actually rate their own ISP's for speed, reliability and customer service. You can also add your views on your own ISP to help others seeking the same advice.
If ThinkBroadband is a bit too techie for you, try BroadbandGenie. This site compares only the major players as it does not have much information on the smaller ISP's. To a degree, this is to expected with any site that relies on customer input, but prices and package details can be obtained from most of the smaller ISP's website's so there is no excuse for missing these out. The users input doesn't seem to play such a dominant role in deciding the ISP's rating as ThinkBroadband but there is a blog with users views.

So who do we use? Well after a disastrous year with BT, where they took two standing orders every month, despite telling us each month they wouldn't, then left us with no service for 2 weeks, while BT OpenReach missed 4 separate appointments to try and fix it, we decided to try some not so well known companies that work that bit harder for your custom. We have two broadband providers, Timico and Entanet We would have a third if Virgin had their cable on our Industrial estate, but they don't.

Monthly charges from Entanet start at £14.99 for an up to 8Mb service and Timico's from £11.70, with connection charges. Both of their help desk's are in the UK, are answered promptly and their staff knowledgeable.

Virgin Prices start at £4.50 per month with an optional virgin phone line, but you can keep your old number. However, their call centre is in India and as always, their level of expertise depends very much on the individual technician.

If you have any problems please give our sales line a call on 01604 415984.




If you are transferring from an existing broadband provider, you need to obtain a "Migration Authority Code" from them. (See Below)

Home or business broadband is available from £11.70 per month.

If you have problems call Computer Doctors, or Timico on 0844 871 8125

Entanet can supply home or business broadband with various options including no connection charges and monthly charges from £14.99 for ADSL Max PAYG.

If you are transferring from an existing broadband provider, you need to obtain a "Migration Authority Code" from them. (See Below)

If you have a problem call Computer Doctors, or Entanet on 0870 224 3494

Virgin Media broadband is different from the rest. They have a dedicated cable to most homes in Northants, Beds & Bucks which is independent of your BT telephone line that all the other ISP's use to transmit your broadband signal. This means that although your BT line prevents broadband speeds in excess of 8MB (and only then if you are very close to your local exchange) Virgins cable has virtually unlimited bandwidth and already transmit at 20Mb with plans to up this to 50Mb soon.

Pricing is complex as the monthly cost depends on whether you take phone and TV packages, but 2Mb broadband on its own starts at £10 per month and broadband/phone/TV packages start at £30 per month.

Click the Virgin logo (left) to check if you have fibre optic cable in your area and select which services you require.

How to get a Migration Authority Code (MAC Code)
(Not required for Virgin Media)

We are always amazed at the amount of hassle most people will put up with before changing their service provider. Mostly, they can't believe there is that much difference between ISP's, they don't want to change their email address and they don't want to contact their existing ISP ever again, even to get a MAC code.

Firstly, there is a big difference between ISP's, secondly, with a new email address send a single email to the whole of your address book telling all your friends your new email address and thirdly you only have to ring your ISP one more time and they have to give you a MAC code by law.
(Also a new email address comes with NO SPAM)!

You don’t have to be afraid to request MAC code as your broadband provider must supply you the MAC code within 5 days according to the UK law. If you ring your ISP, most will give you the code over the phone. Have your home phone number ready or your broadband customer reference as the customer service will want to confirm your identity. Requesting a MAC code does not mean that your contract will be terminated. In fact, you should terminate your contract after you have arranged a new contract with your new broadband provider. In this way you will not have any major downtime on your internet connection.

For a list of telephone numbers to request your MAC code click HERE or ring your ISP's usual number.

Not sure how fast your existing broadband is?

Just click "Start Speed Test" to find out. (It's normal for download speeds to be a lot faster than upload speeds).

Try it at busy and quiet times to get an average.