rpaco - Hi. Didn't mean to ignore but was waiting for a response from one of the regulars... ;-)
There is a thread here on the subject of brokers :- http://www.moneyam.com/InvestorsRoom/posts.php?tid=9881
You should find others by using the thread search facility above.
E*Trade is one of the most established of the online brokers and I have no reason to doubt that they have a stable user platform. I haven't used them for some years now but when I did, I experienced very few problems.
You will find that there are horror stories about most of the brokers at one time or another. You will also find most of them receiving glowing praise too.
It is all a matter of personal experience and individual requirements.
If anyone else can point rpaco in the right direction, I'm sure we would both be grateful. :-)
rpaco - I'm now an ex-pat so I had to move all my dealings to the continent. I now use Internaxx in Luxembourg. It was nothing to do with the performance of any UK brokers I used. ;-)
I've used TD Waterhouse and Comdirect (now Squaregain) in the past for physical shares.
I closed TDW because at the time their internet trading platform was unreliable and their customer services were quite frankly hopeless. I have no idea if they have improved although I was thinking of opening a new account with them as they are doing 2 months of free trading - so I will probably give them a go again.
Comdirect trading platform I have found quick and reliable but again the customer service side of things leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.
The trouble with the 'cheapie' brokers is exactly that - they are cheap - they don't give a t**s about churn as long as they can attract new customers and you often have to complain in writing to them to get anything sorted out - it's no good phoning them.