Advice about Broadband
 

Please excuse me as I'm a complete Veg Head.

I've received an e-mail from Wanadoo asking me if I want to up grade to 1Mbps broadband. I am interested, but need a couple of questions answered.

1) I run a VERY elderly Dell PC on Windows98. Will it be compatable?

2) How will I know if the phone line is up to it?


Answers that a 5 year old would understand gratefully accepted :)

1) As long as you can use USB devices on the PC then the PC should be up to it. If it doesn't then you can get it to work but this involves installing new cards into the PC etc...wont go into that just now though.

2) You can do a check on your phone number to see if you are on an exchange that is DSL enabled - http://www.adslguide.org.uk/availability/btchecker.asp

dont use wanadoo

Ian, Firstly thanks for the link, at least I now know that I can use broadband at home :). Apparently, I can go p to 2Mbps (whatever that is!!) Secondly, I haven't got USB ports on here, so it's probably a non-starter :(

Conq, out of interest, why shouldn't I use Wanadoo? I've never had a problem with them as an ISP.

looks like you need a pci internal modem rather than usb modem

should only cost 20-30 quid

if you are just surfing wanadoo should be fine for you

I'm slightly intrigued by Conq's comment too - seems a bit light on information;)

If it's of any help, after a fair amount of research I switched over to Wanadoo's 1mb broadband service in June of last year and really can't fault it. I managed to get it up and running straight away, and the service has been superb ever since. The odd query I have had has always been answered straight away.

Compared to my previous ISP - Tiscali - Wanadoo is infinitely better. The download/upload speeds also seem to be much more consistent than our office's BT broadband which tends to be rather flakey.

As far as connection speeds are concerned, it really depends on what you're going to be doing. But for normal domestic use a 1mb connection should be more than adequate for more most people - it is roughly 20 times quicker than a conventional 56k dial up modem. This means that most internet pages load more or less immediately - so no more waiting for the photos/graphics to gradually load; file downloads are also very much quicker.

Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and buy a new PC?;)

Hi

If you don't have usb then you wont be able to use the wanadoo modem. It was mentioned you could install a network card but the wanadoo modems do not have an ethernet connection they are usb only so this wouldn't work.

As for wanadoo, I've used them for anytime dial up without any real issues. Had a problem once when I couldn't dial in and they insisted it was a problem with my modem despite me telling them I had tried two separate computers with different modems to connect. When I upgraded to broadband with them they insisted the modem was ethernet compatible but when it arrived it wasn't so I cancelled which was a bit of hassle. However I can't think of a company I've had dealings with who's customer service is perfect!

If your going for it you'll need an internal modem as mentioned previously.

Rich

wanadoo has those limits17.99 a month with 1mb with 2gb limit

how about tiscali which is 15.99 a month which is a 2mb line and 2gb limit?

little light information? you should research mate!

wanadoo http://www.internet-broadband-uk.co....broadband.html

tiscali http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/nm...broadband.html