Highstream ISP

...had a 12 month contract. Highstream give a 30 day money back guarantee which I can not comment on as I didn't have to use it. Our connection speed has been far greater than freeserve it is also a lot cheaper at only £9:99 a month.

Where is this company from you may ask???? Well believe it or not it's from the USA with a small office in the UK. But this is the amazing thing......When you connect to the internet you actual dial the USA ...
...to the UK one, when you need technical advice it is a freephone number and guess what???.... Yep right again you are connected to an american exchange. It's simply amazing that all calls are directed to the states and I don't PAY ANYTHING for them.

If there are any problems then because of the time differance you only get phone assistance from 1pm through to 3am 7 days a week. you do have a 24/7 E-Mail support. Another problem maybe ... more

I have been using ISP's for the past 3 years and have certainly noticed the price's are increasing and speed's are slowing down.
I therefore decided to "shop around" for a faster connection speed and a cheaper price.
After surfing the web I found a few that were cheaper than our current provider (Freeserve) but these companies tended to have a 12 month contract clause. When I asked if they would guarantee a higher speed than I was recieving they replied NO!!
We had been with Freeserve for over two years and the connection speed was decreasing as the months went by.

Unfortunately we were in an area that could not get the maximum speed but in the early months of our time with Freeserve we were getting a conection speed of between 37 and 40 kbps so were happy enough. However in the last 6 months they had been changing there connection numbers and the speed was getting slower........... When we contacted them (having to pay for the call!!!) they kept saying well try this new number etc...try down loading the up to date software....etc) All to no avail. In the last month of our time with Freeserve our connection speed was lucky to be 32 kbps and at times was only 19 to 23 kbps.....With a 56 kbps V92 modem..... I don't think so....

SO TIME FOR CHANGE........

I stumbled upon "Highstream" by chance as the previous companies I had contacted giving "special offers" had a 12 month contract. Highstream give a 30 day money back guarantee which I can not comment on as I didn't have to use it. Our connection speed has been far greater than freeserve it is also a lot cheaper at only £9:99 a month.

Where is this company from you may ask???? Well believe it or not it's from the USA with a small office in the UK. But this is the amazing thing......When you connect to the internet you actual dial the USA as you can here the dialing tone which is differant to the UK one, when you need technical advice it is a freephone number and guess what???.... Yep right again you are connected to an american exchange. It's simply amazing that all calls are directed to the states and I don't PAY ANYTHING for them.

If there are any problems then because of the time differance you only get phone assistance from 1pm through to 3am 7 days a week. you do have a 24/7 E-Mail support. Another problem maybe ....... you do only get 10 hours on-line time per day, but, this is anytime (10 hours per day). But for the average to higher than average home user (which I would class myself as) this is plenty.

So what speed do I get? well I certainly haven't dropped below 37.2 kbps (well I lie really I once connected at 31 kbps so did a quick disconnect re-connected immediatly and heh presto a speed of 41 kbps was achevied. Now some may think this is still not quick but when your in an area of the country that is miles away from an exchange I can assure you this is quick. For all you boffins out there that might say "Why didn't you phone up BT and ask them to do a line "gain"? well I did and yes it did increase a little with freeserve but not like it has done with "Highstream". I can honestly quote that my average connection speed is 39kbps .

What other plus points do they have ....Well.... you can attach a 5mb attachment better than hotmail. Your mailbox is limited to 10MB of storage space which I think is plenty especially if you download your messages to "outlook" or "incredimail"....So loads of space.

Another plus is the ease of signing up. You can do this 2 ways 1. by phone once again a freephone number, problem this way you get charged a one off "admin fee" of £4:00 and you can only phone between 1pm through to 3am 7 days a week. Secondly via internet (24/7), a quick down load of the software (a couple of minutes) and credit card details and off you go (NO admin fee this way though). This was the way I did it via the net and credit card.

You must have a BT land line to use this service.
They do have cheaper options depending on what your usage is. Note:- if you are a real "night owl you only pay £3:99 for using "unlimited" between the hours of 1am and 6am.
I rate this as a first class service at a first class price.
Unfortunately I think that the likes of Freeserve is now selling there "Broadband service" as the next best thing to sliced bread at an expensive price so they are reducing the speed of there normal dial up service so you have no option to switch to broadband. WRONG....you do and this is where "Highstream" comes into it's own.
I have even noticed a hot link on this site so go and have a look its a dead simply interface and with the 30 day money back it's got to be worth a try. I am very grateful I did.
 

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