ISPs

[byron]

On learning C&W were closing down I was desperate for a decent ISP. I tried Surfanytime........slooooow I tried Freeserve Anytime even slooooower. I didn't bother with BT for obvious reasons, AOL is a non-starter for a multitude of reasons. I dredged the net and read up on ISP reviews from all sorts of sources. Finally I settled on the one I signed with today. I can only say.... 1st rate. Fast with excellent ping times. I tried their help line (local rate call) and the guy at the other end knew what he was talking about, indeed he sussed me almost immediately. Thoroughly recommended. If anyone is interested I have put a link up at:
http://www.education-jobs.co.uk/useful_links.htm

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[Guest]

I've been on Freeserve ever since we bought a 'pc, some 3 or 4 years ago and became a bit concerned at the way the call charges started to really mount up once I started spending more time on the web. Mainly here but also other sites. Earlier this year went on to BT's surf time anytime and it's crap. Best connection speed I ever got was 44bps, but most times 36 and the number of times it wouold drop out was unbelievable. A posting here about 3 weeks ago recommended NTL's Broadband and we had it put in today.

I have got to say it's unbelievable. Permanently on line, just click on any site and it's there. I don't understand the techie stuuff but it's stunning. No waiting for a site to load, it really is there at the click of the mouse. Total cost is £25 per month, whereas Fereeserve were charging £14 and BT Surftime I think was £9. So for an an extra not much, it's transformed the speed of the machine. We upgraded our cable TV to digital too today, but I've not had a look at that yet. If you live in an ntl broadband area, have a serious look. And no I don't wiork for them

 

[Guest]

I have a couple of ISP's.

For my mobile stuff from a 9210 or palm and phone for web and mail I use Enterprise in the Isle of Man.

At home I use broadband, before I moved to my current house I was with NTL (before access through your set top box) and when it was good it was good but when it was bad it stunk. When they changed signal strength it took 12 days to send out a guy to fit a ne intenuator.

Now I use BT Openworld and as yet have no problems with them.

The big problem with always on connections is the amount of attempted attacks on the machine, and dipsh1t with a port sniffer noe thinks they are a hacker and try to send upd packages to you machine. If you go broadband get a firewall, on average I have 50 attempts to access my system a day and if you are not protected one little bugger will get through

 

[Samb]

Firewalls

If you do need a firewall i suggest that you use zonealarm. www.zonealarm.com, its FREE aswell. You can set up what programs you want to access the net, and also have the option to shut off all access both ways incase you have a hacker on your case, very good. Especially if you have a permanent connection like Broadband or ISDN.

Regarding ISPs supanet.com are quite good, but i think there owned by Freeserve...

The NTL dial-up service is very good, but unfortunatly they have stopped accepting any new customers :-(. There putting there efforts into their broadband service now.

Samb
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/beddoess1
Updated 28/11/01<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Samb on Sat Dec 1 19:38:15 2001 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Guest]

Re: Firewalls

Thanks Samb and Tim, yes my son did install zonealarm this afternoon and saw 4 attempts to get in to our pc so your warning is very valid. Must say though so far it's the dogs b****x. Unbelievably quick.

 

[Guest]

Re: Firewalls

Hi Colin,

one thing I would ask. On a weekly basis please send your attack log through to your ISP. It's the only way (apart from mine) that we can get these a**holes off the net.

Most attacks are not aimed at the user machine. Once a backdoor or trojan are installed these minor league d*$kheads use your machine to launch denial of service and other attacks across networks

Tim Eades
http://www.btinternet.com/~tim.eades/

 

[byron]

Re: Firewalls

I'd like to see that log too as I very much doubt its done more than stopped a couple of mis-written Cookies and/or a pop up.


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[lyc]

Re: Firewalls

Zonealarm will take a few days to settle down and then it becomes a godsend especially if anyone in your house uses chat rooms. I wouldn't take much notice of the alerts for the next few days after that if your settings are set to high then not a lot will get through your back doors so to speak.

 

[andyball]

The isp Byron "mentions" trade under another name too, I recently signed up with them, and am also very impressed.

After signing up online....a few days later a guy actually phoned up, unprompted, just to ask if it all worked ok.....

Cheapest one too, I found.

 

[Scubadoo]

I totally agree with, everyone should have a firewall, I currently use the Nortons Firewall (£20) and seems to be very good. I am amazed at the number of attacks to my home pc when connected for more than 15minutes. I agree with the others try the free one first, there are plenty around.

RM.

 

[david_bagshaw]

Re: Firewalls

I also use Zone alarm, quite happy with it. Take a visit to www.grc.com where there is quite a good test prog called shields up, also a good site re security any way. Fortunate to have the basic ntl cable excellent!! but so was their free dial up.before that used free net name, back in the heady days of the dot com boom, hence the domain name.

David
www.yachtman.co.uk

 

[byron]

That's right, I think they also trade as F9 or something.

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