Broadband

[portocat]

Hello

Who is the best broadband provider?  We are looking for cheap (�17.99 per month seems the cheapest) and secure (with anti-virus and firewall protection).  AOL looked good until I tried to sign up for it and found they only take visa etc as payment (ie you cant set up a direct debit from your normal bank account it seems).

Any tips?

[brawburd]

I'm on AOL with direct debit payment from bank account, you must be able to do it.

[brawburd]

a lot of people don't like AOL's policing but I have had no problems in 2 years of using them and get NO junk e-mail!

[stoo_pid]

If it helps you in your research at all, I'm pretty sure AOL just piggy-backs off NTL's network.  I used to be with AOL dial-up & you certainly could set up a direct debit then (in fact there weren't any other payment options)

[stoo_pid]

p.s. I'm with NTL - no problems yet

[archbishop]

Don't worry about firewall and anti-virus. I'm with BT-Yahoo and have had no problems.

By the way if you have Windows XP SP2, it's own firewall is far better than any you can buy. 

[PatTheRat]

Dont worry about firewalls and anti-virus??? Considering that without these the average pc will now be hacked or infected (in any even minor way) within 20 minutes of logging on, i think you should worry. But xp sp2 does offer a very good firewall, and avg offer a free anti-virus service which in my opinion is better than norton. Roll on xp sp3, which should have anti-virus. Microsoft cornering the market again.

[KittyGlitter]

Virgin are very good and cost �17.99/month for 512K connection speed.

[eman]

tesco broadband is buy far the best (read the reviews) i pay 19.99 per month for 512k speed which is 10 times faster than dial up,this allows you unlimited downloads unlike other people like aol and bt which are limited.

[portocat]

hello thank you for all the tips, after a failed attempt to join up with ntl I decided to opt for tesco.  now awaiting connection!