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Re: [LUG] Alternative to BT (Business Broadband) in Minions

 

On Sat, 27 Jun 2009, kevin wrote:

On Sat, 2009-06-27 at 16:48 +0100, Gordon Henderson wrote:
On Sat, 27 Jun 2009, kevin wrote:

Hi All

Does any one Know if the Orange (or any other of the USB Dongles) would
be a reasonable bet to replace my expensive (I feel) BT Business
Broadband.

In Minions we get 1/2 speed Duplex on the Phone line which is 500 k and
250 k respectively. Marginally faster than a good Modem.

For this I get charged £103 per Qtr. I also have to pay the (Business)
rent on the BT Line which is around £45 per qtr. As I have another  Line
in, which the PO pays for I don't need the BT Line really.

So looking at Orange they suggest Minions Has %80 2g Coverage (whatever
that is) and no 3G or 3G+  Would I be wise trying it?  I also have not
seen anywhere on the Orange site any mention of Linux at all.

2G is GPRS - 56Kbps at best. Avoid at all cost IMO.

However, you're paying over the odds for your phone line and broadband -
the issue is that BT "have you over a barrel". They probably won't let you
drop to a residential tarrif as they'll claim you're a business...

Changing the line from business to residential might be hard, but the best
price there wil lbe about £12.50 a month, or £37.50 a quarter.

Yes Ive looked at releasing the Business Line and then to get another
Residential, BT wants a New Install Fee. There was one "Spare" line
Coming to the House but BT pinched it for the Village Phone Box! ( which
nobody can use as it doesn't take coin and they havn't put in a card
reader yet.

Yes - PITA.

However, I had to rush off earlier, but I've just noticed your phone number & post code...

I've put them into Entanets own checker and the Sam Knows checker and they reckon you ought to be getting about 1.5Mb/sec, rather than your fixed 500Kb/sec.

However there are other factors to consider, but even so...

As an indication of services, Enta is a tad more expensive than some, but their "Business 15" package - which has a data cap of 15GB a month, and elevated data over the BTW network would cost you £19.75 + VAT, their "Family 30" (30GB) is £18.95 inc vat. (There is no cap at off-peak times)

Could you "sneak" broadband onto the PO line? (if it's not already enabled). Then you could port your BT number into a VoIP platform to keep the number and save the line rental...

Gordon
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