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Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Martin_1962 on 30 November 2006, 20:29:32

Title: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 30 November 2006, 20:29:32
Oh well started on the web site, said call number a - phoned them after 20 minutes on hold - you need to call home highway - but they closed 20 minutes ago.

At this rate I'll be in ISDN still next Christmas.

Also quite restrictive download amounts. - I think I'll go for 6GB a month
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: STMO123 on 30 November 2006, 20:37:46
Can you get broadband in worcester :D
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 30 November 2006, 20:39:45
Depends on who you changing to Martin....my ISP is tiscali....and altho i had issues about speed...1Meg fine but try to get anything faster....apparantly bt prob tho  :( ...tiscali have a 'fair usage' unlimited download policy....some months ive downloaded probably nearly 10G.....and never had a whinge email from them  :y
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: STMO123 on 30 November 2006, 20:43:39
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Depends on who you changing to Martin....my ISP is tiscali....and altho i had issues about speed...1Meg fine but try to get anything faster....apparantly bt prob tho  :( ...tiscali have a 'fair usage' unlimited download policy....some months ive downloaded probably nearly 10G.....and never had a whinge email from them  :y

Yep. I'm only suppose to download 2G, but I know I go well over that. Strangely, I have just come out of my minimum period tie-in with them. They are trying deperately to tie me in for another 18 months. Heh heh

Sorry, BT that is
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 30 November 2006, 20:51:35
The problem is I am not currently on modem dialup - ie my connection takes less than a second and runs at 64kbps because I cannot get it to go at 128kbps via the USB link - I did use a router but that kept dropping the line even though it gave me 128kbps.

So to get broadband I have to get home highway removed first, and there is ONLY ONE ISP I can go to to avoid a couple of weeks of doyng doyng noises and taking 2 hours to dial up and that is BT.

Since normal surfing brings down around 50MB a day minimum and then I tend to download stuff (I wanted a trial version of a ULEAD graphics package) but I cannot pull down more than about 120MB without timing out connection and messing the download.

First things to come down will be shareware and freeware apps, a few trial apps (this is how I tested my MPEG encoder before purchase) and the thing I must not mention.

ANyway I'll keep everyone informed of my progress
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 30 November 2006, 21:02:38
I understand what you say Martin.....i have a BT line too....surely its just tellling BT to remove homehighway and telling them to enable ADSL on your phoneline....then you can choose any ISP......or do you use the ISDN line for phone calls as well.......ie not seperate.

When on adsl the connection is always on....if using a adsl modem/router  :y
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: tunnie on 30 November 2006, 21:43:28
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Oh well started on the web site, said call number a - phoned them after 20 minutes on hold - you need to call home highway - but they closed 20 minutes ago.

At this rate I'll be in ISDN still next Christmas.

Also quite restrictive download amounts. - I think I'll go for 6GB a month

6Gb a MONTH!!!  :o :o :o

Here we would go though that in a matter of hours!! - That would be 2Gb each for use here ... and thats easily done.
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 30 November 2006, 21:48:44
Quote
Quote
Oh well started on the web site, said call number a - phoned them after 20 minutes on hold - you need to call home highway - but they closed 20 minutes ago.

At this rate I'll be in ISDN still next Christmas.

Also quite restrictive download amounts. - I think I'll go for 6GB a month

6Gb a MONTH!!!  :o :o :o

Here we would go though that in a matter of hours!! - That would be 2Gb each for use here ... and thats easily done.

But Martin probably doesnt download porn movies  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 30 November 2006, 23:43:47
Well 40GB a month is nearly 30.

I have asked you have to go BT for a same day Broadband. All ISPs are as bad as each other anyway
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: tunnie on 01 December 2006, 08:38:38
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Quote
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Oh well started on the web site, said call number a - phoned them after 20 minutes on hold - you need to call home highway - but they closed 20 minutes ago.

At this rate I'll be in ISDN still next Christmas.

Also quite restrictive download amounts. - I think I'll go for 6GB a month

6Gb a MONTH!!!  :o :o :o

Here we would go though that in a matter of hours!! - That would be 2Gb each for use here ... and thats easily done.

But Martin probably doesnt download porn movies  ;D ;D

 ::) ;D

We are on Telewest here, they are merging with NTL to become Virgin Media group!

So soon i shall have Virgin Internet!  :o :-?
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Omega-MV6 on 01 December 2006, 09:21:05
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Quote
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Oh well started on the web site, said call number a - phoned them after 20 minutes on hold - you need to call home highway - but they closed 20 minutes ago.

At this rate I'll be in ISDN still next Christmas.

Also quite restrictive download amounts. - I think I'll go for 6GB a month

6Gb a MONTH!!!  :o :o :o

Here we would go though that in a matter of hours!! - That would be 2Gb each for use here ... and thats easily done.

But Martin probably doesnt download porn movies  ;D ;D

 ::) ;D

We are on Telewest here, they are merging with NTL to become Virgin Media group!

So soon i shall have Virgin Internet!  :o :-?

Virgin.. Poor you...  :'(

Stick with BT... The Original and the best.. :D

Matt
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: tunnie on 01 December 2006, 10:07:23
Got BT at home it is a better connection, however the unlimted downloads here is great. BT i think its around 50gb a month or something, fine for normal use. But no good for 4 students!  ;)
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: x25xe on 01 December 2006, 11:19:26
I am with Nildram whilst it is not the cheapest, it is a rock solid connection - never a moments down time (touch wood).  It is around £25.99 per month and I have no problems on my 2.2 Mb Connection.

This gives me a "fair usage" of 50Gb per month - which I never even approach but nice to have should the need arise.

Hope this helps
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: TheBoy on 01 December 2006, 11:25:47
wrt Home Highway, all ISPs are the same, including BT Yahoo and BT Broadband.  HH has to be ceased, then an order go in to provide the dsl.

Not the cheapest, but at least check out Zen Internet.  20G cap for £25 (though this is download only, they don't measure upload, so the 20G is not as low as first thought).  No real decent extras (1G webspace, but static sites only etc).
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 02 December 2006, 17:05:40
BT Insist no downtime - however I am currently running turbo ISDN as my usual ISP is rubbish so I have connected twice to UKONLINE PAYG so am getting 128kbps
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: TheBoy on 02 December 2006, 17:08:25
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BT Insist no downtime - however I am currently running turbo ISDN as my usual ISP is rubbish so I have connected twice to UKONLINE PAYG so am getting 128kbps
I think you'll find all ISPs can offer this 'no downtime' type offer - its a standard BT Wholesale product to migrate from ISDN to BB.  It's not 'no downtime' but usually 'same day' so you can expect a couple of hours outage...
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: MikeDundee on 02 December 2006, 17:25:42
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BT Insist no downtime - however I am currently running turbo ISDN as my usual ISP is rubbish so I have connected twice to UKONLINE PAYG so am getting 128kbps
I think you'll find all ISPs can offer this 'no downtime' type offer - its a standard BT Wholesale product to migrate from ISDN to BB.  It's not 'no downtime' but usually 'same day' so you can expect a couple of hours outage...

I am just n normal connection no BB, have tried with NTL, keep saying in area, OK I'll have it been twice now and it still bloody doesnt work >:(, back to normal standrad connection. Can be a bit slow at times but the job gets done for what I use it for :y
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 02 December 2006, 18:01:21
I am suprised i can get 1M ADSL to be honest....i know it wont go to 2M....even tho im paying for 2M  :(

Ive got overground phone line from telegraph pole and remember a few years ago i wanted a 2nd phone installed......so duly paid BT iirc £130 for a new phone line.....out came BT engineer, who decided to fit what i think he called a 'duplexer'......one installed in my house and another fitted in the exchange.....so one phone cable but getting 2 lines of it....job done....few days later i discovered if one line was busy....my fax machine connected on the other wouldnt work....so after phone call to BT....and them trying to suggest i dont use both at the same time!  >:( Hello!! but thats why i had two lines installed! Engineer came back and after about 2 days messing about......decided to rip out the 'duplexer' and run another cable from the telegraph pole......that fixed the problem.

But i guess it was too much noise on the line and the added 'traffic' that one cable couldnt cope!
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: TheBoy on 02 December 2006, 18:11:55
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I am suprised i can get 1M ADSL to be honest....i know it wont go to 2M....even tho im paying for 2M  :(

Ive got overground phone line from telegraph pole and remember a few years ago i wanted a 2nd phone installed......so duly paid BT iirc £130 for a new phone line.....out came BT engineer, who decided to fit what i think he called a 'duplexer'......one installed in my house and another fitted in the exchange.....so one phone cable but getting 2 lines of it....job done....few days later i discovered if one line was busy....my fax machine connected on the other wouldnt work....so after phone call to BT....and them trying to suggest i dont use both at the same time!  >:( Hello!! but thats why i had two lines installed! Engineer came back and after about 2 days messing about......decided to rip out the 'duplexer' and run another cable from the telegraph pole......that fixed the problem.

But i guess it was too much noise on the line and the added 'traffic' that one cable couldnt cope!
Sounds like they gave you a WB900 to use one pair of wires for 2 lines. Awful equipment, internal batteries always died (designed in a time when we didn't use phones so much). So bad, that they were not allowed to fit the carrier line (the one with the box) on certain lines such as business, doctors etc (not that that ever stopped them). BT stopped fitting WB900 units about 15yrs ago, and fitted DACS instead, which were much better (and a little more modem friendly).
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 02 December 2006, 19:22:19
Quote
I am suprised i can get 1M ADSL to be honest....i know it wont go to 2M....even tho im paying for 2M  :(

Ive got overground phone line from telegraph pole and remember a few years ago i wanted a 2nd phone installed......so duly paid BT iirc £130 for a new phone line.....out came BT engineer, who decided to fit what i think he called a 'duplexer'......one installed in my house and another fitted in the exchange.....so one phone cable but getting 2 lines of it....job done....few days later i discovered if one line was busy....my fax machine connected on the other wouldnt work....so after phone call to BT....and them trying to suggest i dont use both at the same time!  >:( Hello!! but thats why i had two lines installed! Engineer came back and after about 2 days messing about......decided to rip out the 'duplexer' and run another cable from the telegraph pole......that fixed the problem.

But i guess it was too much noise on the line and the added 'traffic' that one cable couldnt cope!

What do you expect....there not engineers.....
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Taxi_Driver on 02 December 2006, 21:04:23
Quote
Quote
I am suprised i can get 1M ADSL to be honest....i know it wont go to 2M....even tho im paying for 2M  :(

Ive got overground phone line from telegraph pole and remember a few years ago i wanted a 2nd phone installed......so duly paid BT iirc £130 for a new phone line.....out came BT engineer, who decided to fit what i think he called a 'duplexer'......one installed in my house and another fitted in the exchange.....so one phone cable but getting 2 lines of it....job done....few days later i discovered if one line was busy....my fax machine connected on the other wouldnt work....so after phone call to BT....and them trying to suggest i dont use both at the same time!  >:( Hello!! but thats why i had two lines installed! Engineer came back and after about 2 days messing about......decided to rip out the 'duplexer' and run another cable from the telegraph pole......that fixed the problem.

But i guess it was too much noise on the line and the added 'traffic' that one cable couldnt cope!
Sounds like they gave you a WB900 to use one pair of wires for 2 lines. Awful equipment, internal batteries always died (designed in a time when we didn't use phones so much). So bad, that they were not allowed to fit the carrier line (the one with the box) on certain lines such as business, doctors etc (not that that ever stopped them). BT stopped fitting WB900 units about 15yrs ago, and fitted DACS instead, which were much better (and a little more modem friendly).

Actually now u mention DACS.....im pretty certain it was that they fitted originaly....it was only max ten years ago.... :-/
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 02 December 2006, 23:16:15
Onetel still crap - so back to PAYG UKOnLine 2 lines is use :o

I'm paying 2p a minute plus VAT
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Ken T on 02 December 2006, 23:33:47
we are using Freedom 2 Surf there is a supposed download limit but the conter seems not to move which is kind of handy, considering the number of movies my son watches!. It/they have been very good for several years, apart from recently when the line started droping out after 20mins or so. It took 1hr30mins to get thro to helpline, and they said they would get BT to do a line test. BT said, 'obviously line noise' and lowered our line rate to 1meg. However the problem persisted. I eventually discovered that the problem was I had recently added a wireless phone, Philips all CE approved, and had run an extention cable beside the BT phone line. I rerouted it but found that even 2 ft of parallel cable was enough to upset the broadband. I now have the phone cable at right angles to the BT line and it works fine. With respect, expecting unscreened phone cables to work at all with these sort of download speeds is on a wing and a prayer.  Way back in the Radar industry, signals of a similar bandwidth were sent differentially down screened cable, lines terminated correctly, with expensive high quality connectors. To expect the simple insulation displacement connectors and unscreened cable to work at these kind of speeds is........ well lets just say I am amazed it works as well as it does.  
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: JohnM on 03 December 2006, 16:58:54
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... With respect, expecting unscreened phone cables to work at all with these sort of download speeds is on a wing and a prayer...
........ well lets just say I am amazed it works as well as it does.  
That'll be a balanced (hopefully) pair then, nothing wrong with that.  Indeed you can run much higher speeds than that if you do right.  
But I do think it does work on a wing and a lots of praying sometimes.
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: supermop on 04 December 2006, 15:21:26
If you can get NTL in your area, please go for them.

I don't often say this about NTL, but here goes... Best cable ISP ever.
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 04 December 2006, 16:34:48
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If you can get NTL in your area, please go for them.

I don't often say this about NTL, but here goes... Best cable ISP ever.

Cable TV - novel idea!!
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: supermop on 04 December 2006, 16:39:51
I wont go any further than to say they're a good ISP :D

Their TV services are crap, however.
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 04 December 2006, 20:49:33
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I wont go any further than to say they're a good ISP :D

Their TV services are crap, however.

Well for TV I have three choices - analogue with ghosting, Satellite if I can get a dish high enough and want to spend a fortune, or Digital - guess which I have!

Yes digital TV been through ONDigital, and all of Freeview
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: supermop on 05 December 2006, 12:27:59
In that case, cable sounds like a good idea for you. TV is rubbish, but it beats freeview for choice, and it has on demand services.
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Martin_1962 on 05 December 2006, 13:17:27
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In that case, cable sounds like a good idea for you. TV is rubbish, but it beats freeview for choice, and it has on demand services.

No new cable TV systems have been done for ages, which is why the companies are in trouble, Worcester was supposed to get CTV about 8 - 10 years ago - but nothing
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: Ken T on 05 December 2006, 15:20:16
NTL the best ISP....well, we signed up with them a couple of years ago. The TV had problems initially with locking up; it turned out they were overloading the box, and it took several very long phone calls (1hr plus) to get them to sort it. The phone seemed to work OK, but they never supplied the broadband they were being paid for. After a year I was able to cancel the contract, and went back to BT, only to find that the NTL installer had put a staple thro the BT cable, which cost £75 to repair. Recently I was working locally and used to send my invoices via Email. They started not getting through. Guess what this coincided with my client changing over to ....NTL. It seems their server blocks emails from yahoo over spam considerations. There are several sites like NTLHELL to show what they are like. I think the trouble is they are trying to provide a service on the cheap, they don't have the server capacity. This means that at peak times they will crap out. ;)
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: supermop on 06 December 2006, 00:10:43
Totally different experience. Whilst I had the problems with the box locking up on TV and phone being useless, my experience with the Internet service was pretty much the best I've ever had. Went down once that I can remember in 18 months, and I never experienced any drops in connection speed (at 10meg). It was stable, fast and reliable.

The cable contention ratio is far higher than ADSL, so less likely to crap out at peak times. The servers in my area in particular had plenty of bandwidth to handle the load.
Title: Re: Trying to get Broadband
Post by: TheBoy on 06 December 2006, 13:51:14
I have been with Zen Internet using the standard IPStream product for around 5yrs, and this forum runs from that line.  Cannot complain at all, and speed wise, its far faster than the BT Business Broadband line I have (which syncs at 6 - 7Mbps).