problems with broadband

[jillR]

i just wondered if anyone else gets their broad band from EE and have been having problems with connectivity and speed ?

whos the best for speed and reliability ?

who do people think are the best these days

jill

[Jim]

Hi Jill,

If I'm correct, EE was formerly Orange Broadband. A friend of hours signed up with Orange and I found it very slow, even though his house was closer to the exchange than us. I use BT which is very fast and rarely suffers from problems and talking to others, it seems BT is pretty popular in most parts of the UK.

I can't compare my speeds with ordinary broadband users as we are in a different situation here. As I work with CCTV and need to download large files quickly, we are on a low contention ratio package costing more than most would want to pay. We also have business broadband on a residential line which BT will no longer provide to new customers

[Hockham Admiral]

Jill, Hi

We're on BT too, here in Gt Hockham. The exchange is just about in the middle of no-where and we're near the end of the line but we still average over 6Mb/s most of the time.

The other great advantage is that you can use BT's network of BT Openworld and BT Fon nearly anywhere in UK and over lots of Europe.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/c ... icId=34239

With my new Android Tablet I've programmed my BT internet address and password and it just picks up any BT internet Router within receiving distance and connects me to the web.

P.S. I have never, nor do I now, work for, or receive remunerations, from BT!

[Guest]

It depends heavily on location.

Different providers give widely differing results depending on distance from exchange and the local exchange's performance.

I live 3 miles from Horning exchange, and my Talktalk speed is 1 mb, so it's pretty poor. My neighbours (both sides) use BT broadband, which is a tad faster here, but keeps dropping out on them.

Funny thing is, Talktalk uses the same copper cables back to the same exchange !

[Jim]

One of my customers uses Talk Talk and compared with BT, they experience quite a bit of dropout. One site is south of Norwich and the other is east of Reading. When the line drops out, someone has to attend site to reboot the router (Netgear DGN 2200) which is a real nuisance when it happens out of hours.

We are now fitting our own "router rebooter" device that uses old fashioned technology to dis and reconnect the 12 volt supply to the router.

[mbird]

Another vote for BT. I know they have their detractors, but we've not had a problem with them and since upgrading to BT Infinity have seen our connection speed increase from 1.5Mbs to 70Mbs! Our upload speed has also gone from 0.5Mbs to 18Mbs...

[Guest]

One of my customers uses Talk Talk and compared with BT, they experience quite a bit of dropout. One site is south of Norwich and the other is east of Reading.

That does show how much it varies then, even when comparing the same provider.

I leave my router on 24/7, and the Talktalk broadband connection stays "up" for months on end, whereas the neighbours' BT Broadband drops out daily, needing a reboot of their router.

When anyone lives in an "uncabled" rural area, and the only phone lines are BT, I can't see how another provider's speed will vary greatly, since it's exactly the same cable infrastructure back to the exchange, and then it's dependent on the same Broadband service speed to the exchange, the only difference being who owns the rack that switches it.

If BT "knobbled" any Broadband links that they leased out to people like Talktalk, surely that would be either illegal, or something they could boast about ?

I've got every incentive to not be a "BT detractor", I was in their employ for over 27 years (hence my dial), and I always found their approach to engineering matters was very professional.

[BroadAmbition]

I used to be with TalkTalk - they were terrible both with service reliability and customer service was worse if that's possible.

Now back with BT - No problems whatsoever

[Hockham Admiral]

I used to be with TalkTalk - they were terrible both with service reliability and customer service was worse if that's possible. Now back with BT - No problems whatsoever

Ditto TT!

And I leave my BT router on permanently (well, for the last 2 years) and it's never dropped out!

[Guest]

I used to be with TalkTalk - they were terrible both with service reliability and customer service was worse if that's possible.

Now back with BT - No problems whatsoever

I certainly agree with the customer service problem with Talktalk, their's is the worst I have ever experienced.

Good job that's only been twice in 7 years ! (the first being with their predecessor, Tiscali)

[jillR]

much praise for BT

ive only had problems since orange became EE and perhaps its just a glitch

just had an anoying couple of weeks with the router needing re booting now and then and slow speeds but yesterday i just couldn't keep connected

i phoned EE and they got me to tweek something so maybe it will be better now

jill

[jillR]

it just picks up any BT internet Router within receiving distance and connects me to the web.

ive wondered about that

what happens if some one comes alongside and connects to your router and downloads illegal stuff are you liable and does it affect

a fair use agreement if your use goes over the limmit due to someone else ?

[Guest]

The firmware issues with certain models of BT router are also well documented, let alone the differences between different flavours of pro networking kit.

Yes, another factor that can cloud the issue.

One ISP will often appear less reliable than another because the supplied routers vary so much in quality and firmware version.

I've never used the cheapo router that came with Tiscali broadband several years ago.

I tried a BT Voyager 2100 first, then moved on to an SBC which originally had the BT Pro Hub firmware (BT2700HGV), but which I replaced with their own firmware. This improved it dramatically, like increasing the Wifi range to about three times the distance.

[ranworthbreeze]

Hello,

We are with Internet Central, but they like most use the BT network, there is issues using BT they in the past seem to be poor at responce other than lines that are on Redcare (alarm use) and the adsl modems they provide have been very low tech. The homehub they provide is useless.

When all area's have got "Fibre to the cabinet" (the box at the end of the road) then no matter who your provider is the speed will improve, that is of course if you pay the extra amount for the service.

Regards

Alan

[w44nty]

I have Sky,never had an issue,mind you it comes via the BT lines

[woodwose]

Jill. People using BT routers as hotspots do not use the broadband allowance of the owner and do not use their account either so if they download something not so nice it is down to them and not to the owner of the hotspot. The owner of the router has priority in using the internet over hotspot users. By allowing people to share your connection you get access to 4 million hotspots. I often use them and I have even used one at Sydney airport so they all over the world as well as in the UK.

Nigel

Ludham

[Jim]

On the subject of broadband, has anyone got experience of a device called BT I PLate? I've never heard of this pice of kit before and BT claim that it can speed up your connection by as much as 1.5Mb. They do emphasise however, that it can make no difference at all. I think their study was based on 36,000 lines

[Guest]

The change to the phone wiring by fitting an I plate is very simple actually, and the same result can be achieved by simply disconnecting one wire, with no need to buy anything.

Although telephone wiring from the house to the exchange is just two wires, when it enters a house and runs to multiple sockets it traditionally splits into three wires.

This dates back to when phones had "pulse dialing", before "tone dialing" that we have now. Pulse dialing needed the third wire to avoid "bell tinkle while dialing".

Even when BT went over to the modern sockets, enabling people to arrange their own internal wiring and buy phones from any supplier, they retained the three wire system because many people still had pulse dialing and bell sets.

This third wire is unnecessary in 99% of phones now, because we now use tone dialing and electronic ringers, which only need the two "A and B" wires.

The I plate just isolates the third "bell" wire, so to achieve the same effect you just need to open the master socket, and disconnect the wire going to connection three, and is usually the orange one with white stripes. It can usually just be pulled out of the idc gripper.

The reason that it sometimes improves broadband performance is because this third "bell" wire can act as an aerial to the very high frequency broadband signal, interfering with the digital signal on it.

There's a number of web pages giving out the same information, like this one:

http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/top-stori ... s-stockist

.

[Jim]

Thanks for that Strowie. I didn't realise it was just to isolate the bell wire so it will make no difference to one of my problem sites as it is only a two wire connection.

The broadband there is still provided by BT and was never fast from day one. The router stats show download at 220Kbts and upload at 770. We have done a "quiet line" test which was all ok so it has been passed to BT as a potential fault.

[Boaters]

We live on the outskirts and are possibly the last few house before open country so I would imagine the end of our line.We are with BT and get 16mps with no problems in 18 months with connection or speed.we have new BT hub due to lightening strike which hit the Close,interesting the cable melted close by and they put in poles to 6 houses as we heard underground cable was to expensive We have tablets as well as laptop and often pick up ours and the neighbours hotspot.Question as we have gone over our ten GB limit several times what would stop you using the hotspot for downloading large files ? Especially when the Grandkids are here both using the web for music ,videos etc. We are in North Norfolk and a mile from the exchange.

[Hockham Admiral]

Question as we have gone over our ten GB limit several times what would stop you using the hotspot for downloading large files ? Especially when the Grandkids are here both using the web for music ,videos etc.

I had just that problem with Granddaughter last Summer, Diane.

I rang up BT and asked them how much it would cost to go "Unlimited" but the (very) helpful lady suggested I opted for their 40GB package.

The problem here was that we were on 24/7 free calls anywhere in UK including 0870 and 0845 numbers. So she just invented a package for me which gave me both 24/7 + 40GB AND dropped the price by a few pence!

[Guest]

Thanks for that Strowie. I didn't realise it was just to isolate the bell wire so it will make no difference to one of my problem sites as it is only a two wire connection.

The broadband there is still provided by BT and was never fast from day one. The router stats show download at 220Kbts and upload at 770. We have done a "quiet line" test which was all ok so it has been passed to BT as a potential fault.

Did you mean the stats the other way round ?

With asynchronous (ADSL), the download should be at least four times faster than the upload, as with normal private use most of the data is coming down to you from the web.

I'm three miles from the exchange, and my Broadband speed has hovered around the 1.1mb (download) speed for several years now, with Tiscali/Taltalk, using BT lines. My neighbours are on BT Broadband, and get about 1.4mb, but they suffer daily dropouts, so that puts me off switching to them, (plus my all in deal with TT is still about £5 a month cheaper).

[Jim]

That is what the router stats show for that site which as you say is nomally reversed

We only use the Netgear DGN2200 router for CCTV because the port forwarding is easy to to, we have remote access and out DVR supplier support them. On all other sites, the broadband performance is as you would expect ie 512 upload and 10Mb download. It could be the router has a fault, maybe the line or even the single device that is attatched to the router.

[Boaters]

Tried my hotspot and it is giving over3mbps this evening if it stays connected .i will try and see if it can handle You Tube and BBC Catch Up which we can stream direct to the TV and if it works at that speed.

[quo vadis]

mine seems ok but I am with Nokia or is it Nikon cant remember