Pipex > Reviews (87)

When moving home at the end of last year, I was certain of one thing: I was going to get rid of my old Dialup Connection (reviewed on here sometime ago) and switch to Broadband. Dialup was slow, inconvenient (I need to have the phone line free at all times), and no longer suited my browsing habits (heavy and often!).

My initial problem was which one to choose. My sister had just signed up with BT Broadband, and was experiencing a lot of problems with her service. I knew I wasn't going to go for BT Openworld, but that left me researching the alternatives.

Wannadoo/Freeserve (only just moving into the broadband market), and Tiscali were valid options, but I wanted to go with a provider who offered local rate customer support (having heard horror stories of people stuck in queues, racking up huge phone bills).

Eventually, I "googled" broadband providers, and drew my line at Clara.net or Pipex.

Now I didn't know much about either, but what I did recollect (from the pit of my brain) was that I'd seen businesses and educational institutions use a Pipex address. What's good enough for a company is good enough for me.

In fact, upon revisiting their site to aid me in this review, I notice that they've received 'multiple' awards as an ISP for Business and Residential (see for yourself: http://www.pipex.net/awards).

Clara came a close second, but their setup fee put me off. Thus, Pipex was my choice.

# Speed:

This was a fairly easy choice for me: go for as high a speed as you can afford. The options available to me were (up to) 512k download, 256k upload, or 256k/128k. Having been on a dialup previously, I knew that I wanted as fast as I could get. This time there would be no waiting for that Ciao login to happen. The only constraint in the speed I would receive would be the price.

- A note for those who don't understand the differences -

A standard dialup Internet connection (through your phone line, giving an engaged tone) will usually give you 56k connection speed.

This means that your computer will connect to the Internet at a speed of 56,000 bytes per second. However, due to traffic constraints, when downloading/uploading, surfing, the average dialup will reach roughly 5k/sec, if you're lucky! Given that an average MP3 is 4mb (roughly 4,000,000 bytes) (NB: not that I advocate illegal downloads!), you're looking at *does the maths* an average of 13 minutes per MP3 downloading. That's assuming that you've not been disconnected in the meantime...

- So why the 512k/256k or 256k/128k split? -

Put simply, the former is the maximum bandwidth speed you can receive when downloading, the latter is the maximum speed when uploading. Downloading = pulling things to your computer, uploading = pushing things to other computers (or for others downloading from you).

# The price is right:

Back in November 2003, there weren't the £15.99 offers of broadband being advertised everywhere you look (how things change in so little time!). In fact, you were expected to pay your one-off setup fee back then.

I had a lot to consider. I had set my budget at £25 a month maximum.

With the likes of BT Openworld coming in at £30 a month, Freeserve not too far behind, my interest increased in Pipex when I saw their £23.44 a month package (that's £19.99 a month plus VAT for you and I). This offered me a 512k/256k speed at a price I liked. All that was left was to arrange the setup.

Being a stingy person, sorry, an economist, I set my sights on paying as little as possible, for the best product. I paid £18 for my one-off setup fee (to include an Alcatel ASDL modem and two micro filters, as well as my telephone line setup), much less than the £50+ charges I saw when researching. Nowadays, such packages are free. There's never been a better time to switch to broadband.

I checked my availability of broadband on the Pipex site, and when this was confirmed I set about ordering online. This was a simple step-by-step process, or for those of you wanting to speak to a human, I believe that this can also be done online as well, through their very friendly Customer Service helpline. However, I would recommend using the online forms as this gives you the chance to review everything before submitting your order.

# What's in the package?

I received a confirmation letter for my order within 48hrs of placing my order, and then five days after placing my order online, a package arrived. This consisted of my ADSL modem, two micro filters and full setup instructions. A separate letter was sent (for security purposes, I guessed) detailing my login name and passwords.

The modem was simple to setup - using the instructions provided - and was compatible with all Operating Systems from Windows 98 upwards (apologies to MAC users - I'm not sure about compatibility). With XP, it was even simpler as most of the setup was done for me. The Pipex configuration was just as easy and completed via a step-by-step set of instructions included.

# I don't want to pay as much as you - what other packages are available?

With the cost of broadband decreasing, and a greater choice on the market, today's offerings from Pipex are much wider than the choice I had. As of June '04, the range was:

Solo 150 - 3x quicker than dialup, 150k/70k, unlimited bandwidth, 1 mailbox
Solo 250 - 5x quicker than dialup, 250k/128k unlimited bandwidth, 3 mailboxes
Solo 500 Lite - 10x quicker than dialup, 512k/256k 1Gb bandwidth, 12 mailboxes
Solo 500 - 10x quicker than dialup, 512k/256k unlimited bandwidth, 12 mailboxes

The important notes from the above are:
1Gb bandwidth - you are allowed up to 1Gb of data that can be sent and received each month. Not much use if you are a Napster/Coca Cola subscriber and download songs. Fine if you merely browse the web and email.

Mailboxes - 1 mailbox won't be enough for a family. A mailbox is the storage of mail for one email address. A family of 4 who each want their own email addresses should be looking at 4 mailboxes or more.

# OK, OK, I know what I want, what problems/experiences have you had?

Put simply, no problems whatsoever.

The only thing I will say about Pipex is that it is a dial-up broadband, so I'm still expected to click a 'connect' button when I use the Internet for the first time each day. However, once connected, you can remain so for the length of time that your PC's switched on (assuming no traffic problems and errant disconnections!). Some other broadband providers give you what is referred to as an 'always-on' connection, which connects immediately as the PC is logged on and requires no extra effort from the user.

I have no qualms with Pipex's policy of dialling up to their broadband; it ensures that I use it only when I want to. For those on the limited bandwidth, it's ideal, as you're not transmitting a minimal amount of bytes from the minute you log onto your PC, as you would be if you had an 'always-on' connection. You're not required to disconnect afterwards either, as the connection will be broken as soon as you shut down your PC.

I've had a "connection refused" dial-up problem a few times, but I merely redialled and was connected straight away. On very rare occasions (so rare I can count the number on one hand) I've been disconnected whilst surfing, but have been able to reconnect straight away.

I always connect at 512k, when downloading programs/files from large servers; I can get up to 50k on average, sometimes more. Usually my connection is limited by the other party's bandwidth but results are still favourable over standard dial-up connections.

In the seven months that I've been using Pipex (almost daily), I am very happy with the service. The quality of the service is excellent, I even changed my telephone number and Pipex continued to work (although I did inform them of the change afterwards!).

Email is swift and usually problem-free, although the odd 'blip' can occur at Pipex's end; Newsgroups - I don't use, so am unable to comment. Surfing is problem-free, and I've had no problem with the software Firewalls I've installed.

A nice aspect is the WebMail service that you can access from any computer, so whilst you're away from home, you can still pick your emails up without having to setup any extra accounts in Outlook (etc). I use this whilst at work, and can report favourably in this area. The fact that the emails remain on the server and thus are still downloaded to your home address is also a bonus.

# A few things to be aware of...

There are a few things that I've had to get used to (the 'Pipex way' of doing things, I guess), which on reflection seem quite quirky and frustrating:

The login name assigned to you by Pipex is not changeable. Nor is the password. This can get very frustrating as they are clearly randomised. I have - despite Pipex advising me not to - written them down. Who else would remember "peookava" as a password, for example?!

Ditto for the mailboxes. If you wish to have more than one email address (and not everyone wants mghm77@x.y.z as their email address, do they?!), then you have to create 'mailboxes' and add aliases to them. For example, to set myself up with a unique email address using my name, I had to generate a new mailbox (eg hfki43@x.

y.z) then add the alias I wanted to it. I chose firstname.lastname. You could choose anything.

To be fair to Pipex, this is all detailed and done step-by-step on their website. I just wonder how easy it would be for them to provide you with what you want, rather than creating mailboxes and then adding aliases. I guess you can't have everything. It does mean that you can change your email address easily though, by adding a new alias. I have up to twelve mailboxes and aliases which I can create.

The dial-up broadband connection - mentioned above but worthy of a consideration as a Pipex 'quirk'. It soon becomes second nature to click the 'connect' button on your first use of the PC, however, and from then, it's 'always-on' anyway!

One aspect I will draw your attention to is that it's not a short term thing. A £58.75 cancellation fee applies should you cancel within the first twelve months. Some of the other broadband providers are scrapping this, and I believe that it will eventually be withdrawn, but it's certainly an aspect to consider.

However, for reliable broadband access at a reasonable price, I don’t think I could find anyone more worthy of my money. I’m trying to convert my sister away from her BT, and my mother away from dial-up as we speak!