Help! I need to change my ISP - any advice?

[Normandy Cow]

We have been having a lot of trouble with our emails over the past couple of months and our ISP has not been at all helpful in resolving it.

So we need to switch ISPs I think - but I have no idea who to go with. We may go with BT, but I'd like to get some advice from other UK-based people if possible, before we sign up for anything.

Can anyone recommend a good (and good value) ISP? I am going to switch all my web hosting to 1and1, so I only need it for internet access and email.

[tree-peony]

have a look here

www.thinkbroadband.com

they rate ISPs via their users

[la vache!]

RE your hosting - I've just read a post on the LF forum you may be interested in from Arnold (Mascamps.com)
http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums ... spx#992038

I've always had my site hosted by www.ukwebsolutionsdirect.co.uk from the UK and they are a little dearer than hosts like 1&1, but my site comes up really well in the search engines and any queries I have are answered within about 10 mins.

[Hells Bells]

My website has been with 1and1 for over two years, no problems at all.

[la vache!]

I didn't say there were problems, it could just mean that there are fewer UK visitors to your site than you'd get with a UK host.

[Hells Bells]

They have a UK option, although it is hosted in germany, but No shortage of visitors to my site either.

[ttp]

Can anyone recommend a good (and good value) ISP? I am going to switch all my web hosting to 1and1, so I only need it for internet access and email.

You do tend to 'get what you pay for' but we have been using Zen (www.zen.co.uk) for many years & they have always given good support of the couple of occasions we have needed it.

[la vache!]

They have a UK option, although it is hosted in germany, but No shortage of visitors to my site either.

Did you actually read the relevant post in the link I gave Helen?

[Lesblancs]

Morning Daisy,

I use UKwebsolutions as well. Like my vet (for the animals of course) I do not tend to trouble them too much, but if I do have a query they are excellent.

Isn't it strange how the simplest of things slip one by?
I had never given much thought to why the majority of enquiries to our site were from the UK, I assumed it was because I had a UK domain name. Thanks for that LV, anything else I need to know

Bobby

[la vache!]

Thanks for that LV, anything else I need to know

Bobby

Yes, get your suncream ready, it's going to be a hot weekend in Brittany - 28°C on Sunday! But then you probably know that already...

[ttp]

I didn't say there were problems, it could just mean that there are fewer UK visitors to your site than you'd get with a UK host.

I don't understand, why would the location of the server affect the number of visitors from a particular country ?

[KateK]

We've been using PlusNet (www.plus.net) for years and even though there have been the odd problems I would still recommend them. All ISPs have problems from time to time, it's the way they deal with them that's important and PlusNet have generally been OK, fixing them pretty quickly. They were bought out by BT earlier this year and have recently been voted "Number 1 for Overall Customer Satisfaction in the UK" by uSwitch so I guess that's also a recommendation.

Kate

[Hells Bells]

I have a uk domain, but my site is apparently hosted in Germany. Then why are 95% of the visitors to my site from th UK. I am not convinced it matters.

[AndyLucia]

I have a uk domain, but my site is apparently hosted in Germany. Then why are 95% of the visitors to my site from th UK. I am not convinced it matters.

My understanding of this (gleaned from attendance at "Google University" sessions at far too many marketing do's in my previous life) is that it doesn't matter where the site is hosted, but the domain type will make a difference. So, for example, you should have a .com website if you are targeting a US market, .co.uk for a British market, .fr for French etc.

The company I was working for at the time, a corporate software vendor, had a .com site but was selling in the UK and Europe. We would get better search results on Google.com than we did on Google.co.uk, which was obviously where our potential customers were searching!!

[Hells Bells]

That's what I thought, that it was the domain that mattered rather than where the server was.