Well, it is sometime since I wrote an Opinion, and not having had too much time in recent months or motivation I always wondered what would be the item that would galvanise me into some writing action...well as it turned out, it just had to be those nice folk at Giointernet.....
For ages ... Read review
Advantages: Could save you a fortune Disadvantages: none, except like eveyone the start up costs
Well, it is sometime since I wrote an Opinion, and not having had too much time in recent months or motivation I always wondered what would be the item that would galvanise me into some writing action...well as it turned out, it just had to be those nice folk at Giointernet.....
For ages now I have been hankering to get on ADSL ( Its other name is broadband) and for months I have considered it far too expensive a commitment to make ... ...big boy ISP's who charge a small fortune ( in the region of £30 a month) for unlimited unrestricted access to the Internet, at speeds that will leave the average internet users squirming..so I researched the internet and looked at all the UK service providers and guess who came out on top...yup Giointernet ( www.giointernet.co.uk ) they were offering the same on line facilities as the bigboys for almost half the price..( £17.99 a month) No Time Limits! ... more
Well, it is sometime since I wrote an Opinion, and not having had too much time in recent months or motivation I always wondered what would be the item that would galvanise me into some writing action...well as it turned out, it just had to be those nice folk at Giointernet.....
For ages now I have been hankering to get on ADSL ( Its other name is broadband) and for months I have considered it far too expensive a commitment to make to some big company like BT, freeserve and the other big boy ISP's who charge a small fortune ( in the region of £30 a month) for unlimited unrestricted access to the Internet, at speeds that will leave the average internet users squirming..so I researched the internet and looked at all the UK service providers and guess who came out on top...yup Giointernet ( www.giointernet.co.uk ) they were offering the same on line facilities as the bigboys for almost half the price..( £17.99 a month) No Time Limits! No Call Charges! No Restrictions! with Download speed of 512kbps (Kilobits per second .... i.e. 10 times faster than a 56K dial up modem and your Upload speed of 256kbps with a maximum Contention of 50:1 users ( planned maximum number of users on line at any one time ) which is the same for the other big companies like BT Openworld, Freeserve Tiscali and Virgin.
So what is the cost ??
Well you need either a ADSL USB port Modem ( cost about £70) or if you plan to access the internet using a Laptop Computer then I recommend you use a single port ADSL Router rather than a modem they cost about £10 to £20 more to buy ( around £90) in addition you will need a microfilter for each telephone socket that you intend to use in the house ( these cost about £3 each but you get one with your modem or router as standard) and there is always a one off connection fee which goes into BT's pocket which is about £60)..you will also need to have a network card in your PC, most laptops have them already but check to make sure, net work cards are cheap but vary from about £3 to about £30...a nice mid range one that is plug and play should cost about £10 - £15...your ADSL Router will plug into the network card
Are there any other conditions..
Yes, you need to live within 5 miles of a telephone exchange that is equipped with specialised equipment to serve ADSL lines, ADSL works on High frequency whilst yout telephone line works on low frequency, which is why each socket needs a filter, this is also why those with a single telephone line can have constant access to the internet 24 hours a day and still make and receive telphone calls at the same time...
The benefits??
Well those with a single telephone line will be frustrated at say having been on line for anhour or two and when they come off line there are several messages for them to call back people who have tried to contact them, well with a broadband connection you can surf the internet with you always on connection 24 hours a day and still receive phone calls, this in turn will save you money on phone calls as you don't have to keep ringing people back at your expense...
The cost?
Well as I have said its £17.99 a month with Giointernet, plus a one off charge of £60 for BT to change your telephone line to ADSL, and about £70 - £90 for a modem or router...you install it yourself in minutes when it all arrives ( it takes about 2 weeks to BT to switch your line over to ADSL) and about a week for your modem to arrive, once you have installed you router or modem it takes about 10 mins to get connected...
The Advantages
The speed of surfing the internet is blisteringly fast, download times are incredible I downloaded a large update file for my HP all in one of 60 Mb in about 18 mins...it would have take me about 4 or 5 hours on my lap top modem, yes I am using a single port ADSL Router because I use a laptop, but I can also plug my main PC into it as well so I reckon its worth the extra £20 if you use both laptop and pc....( most laptops do not normally have the necessary power to work an ADSL modem via their USB Ports hence the reason for needing a router which is mains powered via an adapter)..
Disadvantages..
Apart for the set up costs which is always a bug bear for most folk..technical support costs about 60p a min on a special line, I hate this type of technical support and feel that most companies should give new members free technical support for the first 3 months at least, then charge by way of a gold membership plan or something similar, I hate these premium rate phone numbers, hich is why I cannot give Giointernet an excellent rating, apart from this, they are very good
I hope I havent confused you too much but if I can be of any help to you please feel free to contact me about this, I hope you go for it and enjoy your new connection, it is great to be able to download pages instantly rather than wait for them to donwload..ADSL/Broadband will free you up to do other things....Gio Internet are currently the UK's cheapest Broadband provider they were also voted Best Business ISP by The Sunday Times and Best Value ISP by The Sunday Express.
You may sign up on the phone by calling 0870 922 4000 or... Their website is .......
www.giointernet.co.uk email me at dalesman@asr.giointernet.co.uk
Advantages: 56k Anytime Access with NO HIDEN CHARGES Disadvantages: you nead to reconnect every 2 hours
Updated 15/06/02 Gioserve is my isp and for someone on a low budget with no access to cable. I think its the best.....certainly the best value I can find.
At present they charge £7.99 a month with is about half price compaired to most of the other leading isp providers I've checked out.
They say they are reducing there price soon to £4.99 a month although they have not given us a date. The promise been that they will when more people join their ... ...to BT Openworld surftime package, where you get disconected every two hours*. However you can sign straight back in and you are not restricted to evening and weekend access only.
*15/6/02 update- they are sadly currently running on a 1-2hr cut off, but normal service is promised to resume soon. You do still need a BT line but none of there packages so it makes it a very viable option!
Before I joined them I did sent lots of questioning emails which ...
scallie 04.06.2002 (15.06.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of giointernet.com
Advantages: None that I can see Disadvantages: Unreliable, bad support, uncommunicative about problems
I joined Giointernet over 2 years ago. Apart from a few outages, my connection was generally ok, though slow for a 512K ADSL line. Their FTP servers were often down so I had to use another company for reliable webspace. The real problems started more recently, in October 2004, when my email stopped working. I could send, but not receive emails. Phoning technical support, which goes through to Pakistan at 75p/min, I couldn't get and answers, they ... ...it is a rip-off to charge high rates for technical support when the problem is with them & not with me! Eventually I discovered a message on their website to say that they were upgrading systems and that email would not be working for a few days. When my email was back online I discovered that I had no emails, all my subscriptions had been cancelled due to "non-existant email address". Some friends confirmed that they were being told my email address ...
carlossus 29.11.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of giointernet.com
Advantages: none Disadvantages: tech support line charges premium rates, tech support people are crap!.
I was subscriber to GioInternet broadband provider. After about 17 months of subscribing. I decided on Sep 2004 to move to another provider as it was cheaper.
By a simple phone call the move went very smooth and I was on my new provider. However, GioInternet hasn't repaid back my deposit. I phoned them loads of time speaking to their overseas call centre. It was difficult as they didn't speak good English and the line quanlity was extremely poor. ... ...deposit would be refunded within a few days. But it never arrived.
I phoned again today, and realised their call centre has been move back to UK. The guy from UK simply said, you're not going to get the deposit back because you didn't give a one month written notice. I thought that was outrageous as that was not explained to me on the phone when I cancelled! He apologies that their untrained overseas staff didn't explain this to me when I cancelled. ...
wdaliu 08.12.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of giointernet.com
Advantages: Cheap Disadvantages: Constant disconnections, premium rate tech line to Pakistan
My sister discovered Gio Internet last year as a pay monthly replcement to our current pay as you go service, which was costing us a fortune. We (stupidly) signed up for one of their summer madness deals that would provide us with 24/7 internet access for £100 for the 12 months. I suppose for the price, I shouldn't complain, then again, there have been so many times when the service has just gone down altogether, that I feel like we've been paying ... ...disconnections, after being connected for merely a few minutes, terribly slow connection speeds, sometimes meaning it can take 5 minutes for a page to even open up and a premium rate technical support helpline, which I discovered connects to a call centre in Pakistan are just some of the reasons for which we will not be renewing any connection with Gio in the summer or ever!
If you want to pay through the odds to find out that your internet connection ...
sarahbott 15.03.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of giointernet.com
Tempted by the low cost of £7.99 for 24/7 access, I decided to switch to GioInternet. This was a terrible decision, as I was to find out soon.
The speed of the service is mind-numbingly slow. You can watch one of the soaps by the time you get an established connection. Once connected, you need buckets of patience as the browsing, uploading, downloading can be pathetically slow. I have a 56k modem but with Gio, it feels like I’m using a 14 k modem. ... ...loads of packages like Pay As You Go, Anytime, Broadband (512k, 1MB and 2MB) and ISDN. Whilst the offers for broadband appear cheap, there seem to be costs for setup and activation. Some broadband offers charge less for the first 3 months and revert to full charge after that. All these carry a 12-month contract period.
Once I decided to cancel the account, Gio's cancellation procedure required that I send a letter by Recorded Delivery giving them ...
ranja100 23.01.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of giointernet.com
good value for money unmetered 24hours a day, £15 of free phone calls for BT customers in non-NTL area
technical support at £1/min, response to e-mails is slow, communication between departments & customer service is poor, almost impossible to leave/en (*)
