Broadband for heavy downloaders
There's one company that is attracting consistent praise among broadband aficionados. It's not a wellknown brand like Orange or BT, though, and it doesn't even sell its products direct to consumers. Entanet started out as an ISP, but now resells services wholesale.
Its most high-profile client is the up-and-coming ISP ADSL24 – a company providing tailored packages to the most demanding, highest volume home users. If you need a robust, fast connection with a predictable download allowance, this is the company for you.
In March 2009, the company launched a new range of ADSL2+ products that are notable for their transparency of provision. While other ISPs label a package 'unlimited' and then hide download allowances deep in their terms and conditions, ADSL24 puts clear limits on how Flexibility is part of the package too.
You can top up your allowance if you want: £9.90 will buy you an extra 10GB that rolls over from one month to the next and never expires. You can also upgrade or downgrade your account through a control panel. So, if you regularly download Linux ISOs, builds of open-source software or large film or music files, you'll know up-front and in advance how much data you can download without penalty.
To ensure you stay on track, ADSL24 gives you comprehensive access to personal logs that track your usage, line performance and connection.
An open relationship
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Another key selling point of the package is that all ports are open. There's no precedence given to HTTP traffic over email, instant messaging, streaming video or Bittorrent. Unlike Virgin Media – which admits reducing speeds for the top five per cent of its users at peak times – ADSL24 doesn't target high-bandwidth users either.
Entanet admits to using a form of traffic throttling (a management technique that ensures everyone has an equal slice of the pie) at times, but it doesn't as yet discriminate between types of data or users. If you needed any further proof that this really is the Bugatti Veyron of broadband packages, we've got it.
The control panel that allows you to change your account also gives you the ability to individually tweak all the line characteristics of your connection, allowing you to optimise it for whatever you're using it for at any given time.
If you're gaming and you require low latency, switch off packet interleaving. If you're downloading a large file, optimise your connection for stability instead. All this comes with a rolling one-month contract, so you're never tied in if – for some reason – you want to move on.
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First published in PC Plus Issue 281