Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[feeutfo]

 The line in our road is 3.5km from the exchange, but has so much noise(loads addresses on it)  it sometimes drops to 500kbs which is worse than pants. This level of service has been the same with 3 different providers. Bt themselves who we left for oranges free service via our mobile phone contracts, they could not match the speed to the level the line could take so all we got was errors and no service. So we left them for sky who now deliver the same level of service as bt, with the phone and tv we pay 36 a month. £4 a month less than we where paying bt for just the phone and broadband.
A total saving of £59 a month now that we dont pay bt's £25 broadband and £30 monthly phone bills.


But that still leaves us with a crap broadband connection due to the phone line, or rather bts crap exchange on the end of it as i understand it. So question is, what isp do we try next?... as the Mrs needs better service for work and they will pay for it. Obviously the only way to improve the service is to move away from the bt based exchange. My thinking so far,

Virgin, quickest probably, but cant face their customer service.
O2, allegedly have their own, equipment in bt's exchange and is probably favourite but how to prove the service before the install?
Talk talk as 02 but by carphone warehouse, cant see customer service being up to much there.
3G via the mobile phone network, im told this can be set up to work for all devices in the house, 2 wifi phones, 360, ps3, 2 lap tops and a pc we rarely use.

Anybody got any thoughts..? Cheers

Chris.

[Mr Skrunts]

Plusnet get my vote, I reckon I am within a mile of my exchaange but the wiring is up to 32 years old to the house, so has to be taken into consideration I suppose.

Normally get 6700 Kb/s

[Jay w]

virgn





their customer service are not as bad as they used to be when they were telewest/NTL

[doog]

If your line can only carry .5Mb then thats all you will get regardless of what isp you choose
they all come down the same bit of copper cable and that seems to be the problem

have a bonfire under your phone line sometime  that might  help you get better speeds after bt fix the line  

Doug

[kevpuk]

Virgin have been great for us.....sure, they had 'issues' a while back, but have to say I really rate them

[philhoward]

I've just been down a similar situation at work - we're 6km from our exchange and currently have a wireless point to point link (old and expensive).  We looked at just about everything under the sun and our usage put us out of the use of a satellite link (you get upto a certain data usage then they literally cut you off..).

Other options are bonded ADSL but its pricey..very pricey for home usage.

We're in a 3G dead spot, or we might have had Vodafone's 3G unlimited (i.e. Mobile) package - best speed will be 3Meg if you can get it (T-Mobile do a 10Gb fair usage version..)

We've ended up getting a new 2Mb leased line at 1:1 contention ratio for £600/month, upgradable to 20Mb if needed (and it'll cost even more).

Really annoying as Virgin's main UK backbone and Internet PoP runs through our carpark...sadly you can't just hook in there (like trying to connect your house electric straight to a National Grid Pylon, apparently..) or so they told us.

In short - Vodafone 3G dongle if you can get signal, or satellite (if someone else if paying!!).  Otherwise you're stuck with 512k max..

[webby23]

We use 2 laptops with Oranges 3G dongle on one of them and built in sim card with internet connection on the web book.

£15 a month or £25 with the web book for 3gb a month.

Probably not that much to you guys but I am on the net most nights for 3-5 hours and use around 2gb a month.

[feeutfo]

We use 2 laptops with Oranges 3G dongle on one of them and built in sim card with internet connection on the web book.

£15 a month or £25 with the web book for 3gb a month.

Probably not that much to you guys but I am on the net most nights for 3-5 hours and use around 2gb a month.

Mate of mine suggested similar, i asked about other devices,phones, consoles and other lap top etc. He said should be able to run both lap tops and other devics from one dongle. He talked about 'ad hoc' and 'piece of pis s to set up'. But then i guess the lap top with dongle would have to be always on? Didnt beleive the piece of p part but i guess it should be do able. Anyone tried it?

[philhoward]

You can get wireless routers (Draytek spring to mind) which will take a USB 3G dongle directly (as opposed to a phone line/Cable modem connection), then happily distribute it to your other devices..

[feeutfo]

thanks Phil, interesting about the same 'copper wire' the implication with 02 was they had their own exchange and that ran quicker than the bt steam powered contraption. But as you say if the line cant take it...   Must say i am confused as to weather its the line that cant take the traffic or the exchange thats causeing the traffic jam on the line. If its the exchange then maybe 02 is the answer, if its the line then it will have to be virgin or a mobile dongle i guess...? How do you find that out?

[philhoward]

I don't suppose you can find it out as contention ratios for individual exchanges aren't freely available.  The speed shouldn't change between you and the exchange, but your real life speed will depend on how many other O2 customers there are plugged into their dedicated "hub".  LLU, they call it - when as soon as you're at the exchange, you plug into someone elses internet rather than BTs.

You can find out who has their kit in your exchange though... http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

[philhoward]

As for finding out 3G coverage, I use the Network search function on my phone...(Nokia N82 - not gay!)

[feeutfo]

I don't suppose you can find it out as contention ratios for individual exchanges aren't freely available.  The speed shouldn't change between you and the exchange, but your real life speed will depend on how many other O2 customers there are plugged into their dedicated "hub".  LLU, they call it - when as soon as you're at the exchange, you plug into someone elses internet rather than BTs.

You can find out who has their kit in your exchange though... http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

Oh yeah, so it does. Hope the link works,
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/THS

[philhoward]

Those listed on the bottom right as LLU operators are those who can offer their OWN internet, rather than reselling BT.

Your sticking point will still be the bit of copper from you to the exchange though - that may change when ADSL2+ comes online (End of March next year apparently for you).

[willyboy]

Virgin Media  ...there service aint bad & I do think they  try to sort out probs quickly I'm on cable I do get the odd glich but 99% of time all runs very well....Some good  deals to be had if you take it on as new customer ! just now.