Every little helps!?! Tesco Broadband? Pah! *update*

[Cobra]

They have crossed me for the last time!
I've been with Tesco since the early days of dial up.
There have been no issues to mention,
until the last couple of years, when it started to get a bit erratic, and increasingly, drop off more and more.

The best I could hope for was 2.5Mbs / 0.9Mbs (and got) due to the exchange the Romans built on their way up from London.
(The exchange is nearly a couple of miles away,)
And the fact that BT don't seem to have enough fibre optic cable to get this far.

More and more its seemed like I was wading through treacle,
trying to open web pages.
I ran a speed test after midnight and got
0.3 down and 0.6 up.

A polite but firm email @Lynton style, last night,
produced a response from the customer care guys.
The gist of that email was,

I have altered the frequency of signal being sent to the router to reduce any interference and solidify your signal.
This alteration should ensure that your connection remains stable during the evening
when it is peak times as it is likely that other local networks were using the same frequency channel which can cause this issue.

Which of course completely ignored the fact that I said it happens at random times of the day (And night)
At the time of receiving that email, this morning, I did another speed check.
3Mbs and 0.9mbs,
See, they can do it, and exceed the "maximum"

But hang on. A further speed check just now, produced a reading
of 0.7mbs both up and down.
Well that lasted a long time!

I have now just discovered that BT have found more lengths of fibre
and are taking orders in my area
There are far cheaper ones out there,
and they all want you to use their "phone line"

I'm a bit reluctant to do that,
as I envisage problems, should a fault develop,
with the ISP saying its BT and BT saying its the ISP.
(is that a cynical view?)

It seems that Plus net are actually part of the BT group and at a reasonable price are
a possibility.

So what are you recommendations folks?
(Company wise)

I DON'T need or want TV / sports channel deals or phone deal.
I want to be able to open Flickr without having time to put the
kettle on and do the housework, while waiting for it to load.
Oh and I suppose the on line gaming thing and
downloading movies that my son is fond of doing ,is maybe
important too.

 

[Cobra]

And the latest test carried out just now?
These figures are apparently unobtainable,
from my location
Do they make it up as they go along?

View attachment 26725

 

[Nod]

You could always throw the problem at your son - it looks like it's his usages that require a faster connection than yours! Can only comment on my ISP since I've had no problems with them since I've been on t'interweb and currently have plenty of speed to stream HD via Netflix - give EE a try. I do now have my phone through them as well as part of the deal. Currently 14.68 Mb/s download and 5.64 upload (via fibre optic).

 

[Cobra]

@Nod
I have an EE phone too, but that occasionally drop off, both signal and tinternet.
I can get a good deal through them, but am reluctant for the reasons above.

 

[mickledore]

I use Waitrose/John Lewis. Never had any problems at all, but I think they are piggy backing onto Plusnet. I "believe" that a lot of the so called independant ISPs piggy back onto Plusnet but I'm not enough of a geek to understand any of that.

Mind you I don't download videos or play internet based games so perhaps I don't stretch credibility of the system too far.

 

[Cobra]

I use Waitrose/John Lewis. Never had any problems at all, but I think they are piggy backing onto Plusnet. I "believe" that a lot of the so called independant ISPs piggy back onto Plusnet but I'm not enough of a geek to understand any of that.

Mind you I don't download videos or play internet based games so perhaps I don't stretch credibility of the system too far.

A lot seem to piggy back, when I read the small print for Tesco, seems its Virgin.
I didn't know JL did it TBH.

 

[MartynK]

My wife has her landline and broadband through BT, and she's pretty satisfied. She needs the landline anyway, because it's a rural area with very poor cellphone coverage. The other ISPs tell her she's "out of network" and would have to pay significantly more for broadband than their standard pricing, and it suits her to deal with one provider if anything goes wrong.

ADSL is usually around 2 mbps, but it's reliable and fast enough for her. She's been offered Infinity - up to 30 mbps - but doesn't need the speed and it's far too expensive.

 

[Nod]

@Nod
I have an EE phone too, but that occasionally drop off, both signal and tinternet.
I can get a good deal through them, but am reluctant for the reasons above.

Very rarely get mobile dropout with them (other than in completely dead zones where no network seems to have coverage!) and had no problems with the landline since going over to them. Interestingly, when we went over to FO, it was a BT engineer who did the switch. Weirdly, he was subcontracted to yet another company but was in his BT uniform (and had a BT ID card).

 

[ecoleman]

I use zen Internet and get 8mb even in darkest Wales.
You don't have to use their phone line, although I found them to be a bit cheaper than BT, and you are not signed up to any lengthly contracts. You only sign up on a month to month basis, so if things don't work out you can leave.

Unfortunately, they are not the cheapest around, but I've rarely had an issue and on the odd occasion I have their CS has been fantastic. The upside to moving my line over to them as well is they can not fob me off to BT either.

 

[neil_g]

Speed tests should be used with a large pinch of salt. It wouldn't be unheard of load on the site to slow the reading.

Pick a big company (Ms, Adobe) and download a large file. See what download you get.

 

[Gremlin]

I've been with BT for a very long time now and not had any problems, not gone for the fibre optic superfast as what I have is plenty fast enough for
the things I do and way above what you have
I went to them originally after losing my BB connection and the server I was with refusing to take responsibility for it, I had no connection for 3 weeks whilst
they insisted it was a problem in my house, strange how I switched to BT and came back on without anyone coming near the place.
When I moved I was back online the same day too.
I do like the roaming connection, that comes in very useful when I am out and about, can even connect my mobile to it

 

[Cobra]

Cheers Guys

The upside to moving my line over to them as well is they can not fob me off to BT either.

That was a point I was asking, isn't all the lines owned by BT, and they rent them out to ISP's?
When something goes wrong, I've heard that the ISP blames BT aand BT refuse to
do anything as its not their probelm.
Or has things moved on?

Speed tests should be used with a large pinch of salt. It wouldn't be unheard of load on the site to slow the reading.
.

That maybe so,
But up to now the best readings I got were 2.5mbs & 0.9mbs.
(The stated Max for this area)
Wading through treacle when I was getting 0.6 & 0.3
Now with the updated 3.6 & 1.6mbs its absolutely flying.
flicker is opening almost instantly.
So I'm guessing although they may not be accurate,
they certainly have a baring on what is actually happening?

 

[mickledore]

Isn't there a difference between BT and BT OPEN REACH? Isn't BT the company that provides the service and OPENREACH the company that looks after the actual wires? I presume they are all owned by the same set up somewhere at the end of a financial maze.

But as I understand things OR are the ones who come to line faults whoever your ISP might be.

It will no doubt be very complicated with shell companies and licence agreements that we will never be told about.

 

[Cobra]

Isn't there a difference between BT and BT OPEN REACH? Isn't BT the company that provides the service and OPENREACH the company that looks after the actual wires? I presume they are all owned by the same set up somewhere at the end of a financial maze.
But as I understand things OR are the ones who come to line faults whoever your ISP might be.
It will no doubt be very complicated with shell companies and licence agreements that we will never be told about.

I've no idea TBH,
on any of those points, hopefully someone will though
Although if thats right, it should make things a bit simpler

 

[tijuana taxi]

That is right, OR deal with the infrastructure for any ISP that uses their network. Any problem needs to be raised with the company you pay your money to.

Retired 12 months ago after nearly 40 years with BT last few for OR so know a bit about it

 

[Steep]

ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN

and again ZEN

http://zen.co.uk

I pay £46 per month for phone and fibre optic BB, I get 79 down and 19 up, unlimited. It's completely changed the way I watch TV, hardly ever watch broadcast TV any more, I just download what I want to see when I want to see it. I'm sure there are cheaper packages out there but I've been with ZEN for a decade or more and never ever had reason to complain about the service.

 

[Cobra]

That is right, OR deal with the infrastructure for any ISP that uses their network. Any problem needs to be raised with the company you pay your money to.
Retired 12 months ago after nearly 40 years with BT last few for OR so know a bit about it

So basically then, there is no more fobbing off, its not us its them, like the early days of BB packages?
They should deal with it? Cheers for that

 

[Cobra]

ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN ZEN

and again ZEN

http://zen.co.uk

Sorry Steep, did you have a preference or not?
It wasn't clear from that post
I'll check'em out

Thats the end of that then

Sorry, there is currently no scheduled time to enable this line for Fibre Optic Broadband

 

[Steep]

weird, are you sure BT are offering it on your line? if they are it should be available from everyone.

 

[Cobra]

weird, are you sure BT are offering it on your line? if they are it should be available from everyone.

BT have only just updated my "status" to taking orders, this afternoon.
Maybe Zen haven't "caught up" yet?

 

[Lynton]

hope the Lynton style of email helped... hang on I'm getting a bit of a "rep" round here... (fair enough as for work t'other week I decided to take on the dealer principal of the main local ford dealership, and give him the great news that due to one of his spannermonkeys, and his incident with our pool car, they are no longer an approved repairer).. we are with aol, well talk talk now, as they sold out... we have a std 8mb exchange and fibre optic is but a mere dream...........

I regularly get 13-14 Mbps DL speed though.. how does that happen?

 

[OldCarlos]

I've been with Tiscali/Talk Talk for a good few years & after the issues we've had this last 2 years...............can NOT recommend them!
As soon as they have a new advertising campaign. . . . . . S l o w w w w w w

It took months to get our issues sorted & wish I'd changed isp early doors, but after going on their help forum, refusing to pay for a `bright spark` engineer to come out & check everything, getting them to change our profile, disabling DLM, trying a new router etc etc.......drop outs eventually improved & speed went up from less than 1Mb to around 5Mb.

Slowly though, over a few weeks, we were being `throttled back` again (I'm sure they think you won't notice) & getting fobbed off on the forum. but I managed to get hold of Dido Harding's (CEO) personal contact details. Amazingly, after a couple of days...............nearly 7Mb

 

[neil_g]

hope the Lynton style of email helped... hang on I'm getting a bit of a "rep" round here... (fair enough as for work t'other week I decided to take on the dealer principal of the main local ford dealership, and give him the great news that due to one of his spannermonkeys, and his incident with our pool car, they are no longer an approved repairer).. we are with aol, well talk talk now, as they sold out... we have a std 8mb exchange and fibre optic is but a mere dream...........

I regularly get 13-14 Mbps DL speed though.. how does that happen?

What's your router syncing at? There isn't such a thing as an "8mb exchange" and upgrades get made all the time to infrastructure so if may just be your line supports faster speed or your service has been switched without notice (they don't if it doesn't impact you).

Edit: on the assumption you mean 8mb as in adsl1 those are being/been phased out so may explain better speeds, adsl2 was introduced some time ago now. In fact weve just had a few services updated 2+ without any warning (which incidentally broke them as the routers weren't compatible).

 

[onomatopoeia]

What's your router syncing at? There isn't such a thing as an "8mb exchange" and upgrades get made all the time to infrastructure so if may just be your line supports faster speed or your service has been switched without notice (they don't if it doesn't impact you).

As far as I recall, if there is only a BT 20CN connection at the exchange, that means ADSLMax which only supports a maximum of 8Mbps.

 

[neil_g]

As far as I recall, if there is only a BT 20CN connection at the exchange, that means ADSLMax which only supports a maximum of 8Mbps.

Yeah was editing cross post.

I've not seen an exchange only offering adsl/Max for a long time now, falsely assumed they'd all been switched to 21cn by now but they only finished them recently or to be finished shortly I think?

I can't remember if ADSL/Max routers are adsl2 capable, I don't think so. So if the service switched then the ISP should assign new kit so users should know.

 

[Cobra]

hope the Lynton style of email helped... hang on I'm getting a bit of a "rep" round here...

Ah but your advice and influence have helped a few of us get a result
Seems you maybe owed a few beers

drop outs eventually improved & speed went up from less than 1Mb to around 5Mb.
Slowly though, over a few weeks, we were being `throttled back` again (I'm sure they think you won't notice) & getting fobbed off on the forum. but I managed to get hold of Dido Harding's (CEO) personal contact details. Amazingly, after a couple of days...............nearly 7Mb

It really is amazing the way these things work

Y
I can't remember if ADSL/Max routers are adsl2 capable, I don't think so. So if the service switched then the ISP should assign new kit so users should know.

I'm lost now, is there a way of boosting regular BB for those sorts of speeds
with a different router?

 

[drounding]

Is Virgin cable an option where you live? Last month we used about 500gb. I don't know what my family would do without out our 120/10 link.

 

[ecoleman]

So basically then, there is no more fobbing off, its not us its them, like the early days of BB packages?
They should deal with it? Cheers for that

Yes, if there is a problem with my line, I contact Zen. Zen will deal with openreach to ensure it gets sorted.

 

[Steep]

If you want to know the state of play with your exchange stick your addy or postcode in here and you'll get a page which tells you what you've got, what you're going to get soon and whether there are any unbundled operators in your area.

https://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

 

[u8myufo]

Opinions on ISP`s are no diferent to anything else Chris.I have been with TT since I think it was Wannadoo then Freeserve.Only had one major issue when signal kept dropping out at intermittent times,a change of router and two visits by the same engineer to sort it.What with having the heart attack and then breaking my ankle it was hard for me to say exactly when it had all started but at a rough guess it was a couple or so weeks after a branch had come down on the BT line and pulled the pole over at 45 degrees.Bt just pushed the pole back up without even checking the connections in the box.They got BT to check the box and found a cracked wire.Two days later I had a phone call from TT line manager,they gave me 5 months free internet and credited my account to the sum of £35. They keep me up to date via email with any potential scams that are going around,as well as their support group.All in all I think they provide a pretty good service for the price.

 

[neil_g]

I'm lost now, is there a way of boosting regular BB for those sorts of speeds
with a different router?

You're very much at the mercy of:

* What your exchange supports
* Distance from exchange
*Quality of copper from the exchange
* internal cable

If you can make sure your internal cabling (from master socket to router) is good and remove any sources of interferrance (fridges, microwaves, power transformers etc) from near the router then that's about the best you can do.

Worth replacing micro filters too, that's the first thing ISP get you to do when raising a fault anyway.

 

[tijuana taxi]

Add Christmas tree lights to the above list, another known source of REIN. Probably the worst offenders are overhead power cables including railways ( in particular pendolino trains) and electric fences.

Filters amongst other solutions are available once the offending source is identified

 

[Cobra]

Is Virgin cable an option where you live? Last month we used about 500gb. I don't know what my family would do without out our 120/10 link.

In some area's yes. (But not mine apparently)
I'm on the edge of Milton Keynes, some of it is very new and has the latest stuff available,
The peripheral areas that "Milton Keynes" was built "in between", are very slow to catch up.

If you want to know the state of play with your exchange stick your addy or postcode in here and you'll get a page which tells you what you've got, what you're going to get soon and whether there are any unbundled operators in your area.

Cheers Huge. I did check and according to BT it was activated yesterday.

 

[Uneducated_Rick]

it's not just the exchange that affects you, it's your kerbside cabinet too

our exchange is fibre but we only get 8mb to our cabinet - no idea when they'll sort out the rest of the town

 

[Cobra]

Its still very unstable despite their promise of making it more stable.
Its half now compared to what it was yesterday (Fri) at about 18:00

View attachment 26766

 

[Nod]

Opinions on ISP`s are no diferent to anything else Chris.I have been with TT since I think it was Wannadoo then Freeserve.Only had one major issue when signal kept dropping out at intermittent times,a change of router and two visits by the same engineer to sort it.What with having the heart attack and then breaking my ankle it was hard for me to say exactly when it had all started but at a rough guess it was a couple or so weeks after a branch had come down on the BT line and pulled the pole over at 45 degrees.Bt just pushed the pole back up without even checking the connections in the box.They got BT to check the box and found a cracked wire.Two days later I had a phone call from TT line manager,they gave me 5 months free internet and credited my account to the sum of £35. They keep me up to date via email with any potential scams that are going around,as well as their support group.All in all I think they provide a pretty good service for the price.

Rich, do you mean TT or EE? I've been with EE since they were Freeserve (still have a .fsnet.co.uk e-mail addy somewhere!).

 

[tijuana taxi]

Not all cabinets get enabled, it involves putting up an additional one known as a DSLAM. There can be a number of reasons for not siting one such as no suitable position within 50 metres of existing cab, objections such as conservation area, lack of power nearby (cannot use street lighting circuit) and not commercially viable to name but a few.

Also you need to be within approx 1.5km of the cabinet to receive fibre broadband. Will work albeit not so efficiently at greater distance, but an ISP would not provide it knowing they cannot meet the advertised speed.

One last problem is if you are fed direct from the exchange, no cabinet means no fibre broadband. Before I retired they were working on a solution, but as far as I know that hasn't been overcome yet

 

[Cobra]

One last problem is if you are fed direct from the exchange, no cabinet means no fibre broadband. Before I retired they were working on a solution, but as far as I know that hasn't been overcome yet

I'm less than two miles as the crow flies from the exchange.
There are cabinets on the next estate over, less than half a mile away as the crow flies,
that have the fibre sticker on them.
Whether of not we are fed from those, though, I don't know.
There are no cabinets that I am aware of, on this estate
unless they are hidden away.

Although there has been a fair amount of BT / open reach guys
on this estate in the last couple of months, looking "down holes" in the road side verges.
So again, whether of not that's anything to do with the fibre installation, I wouldn't know TBH.

 

[tijuana taxi]

Use this https://www.dslchecker.bt.com

It will give your exchange name followed by the cabinet number right at the top with all the availability listed below.
No cabinet mentioned means you are extremely likely to be served direct

My role entailed all aspects of broadband issues and liasing with MP's, local government, media and other influential bodies.
Not many scenarios I didn't have to investigate, some things may have changed, but no doubt the main issues still exist

 

[jockwav]

I have been with plusnet for just over 3 years now,their support is excellent,our village has just been fibre enabled,very happy.
Getting 37-38mb down & 9-10 mb up on average.