8MB in the sticks

[Keith]

I am with Wanadoo, I went on their site on Monday to see if >2MB was available out here in the sticks and yes sirree the online checker thingy said.

A free upgrade as well so I clicked on the appropriate boxes and bingo this morning I have 8128KB download and 448KB upload speeds

Blooming marvellous :) so well worth checking with your ISP

[GreyGhost]

That's an excellent result.

Several of my clients here in London having the 8meg upgrade from what is now pretty much standard 2megs has actually slowed their connection down to below 512K, simply because they are too far from the exchange or the contention ratio is to great. It takes 5 days (alledgedly) for a BT engineer to visit the exchange and reduce the speed back to 2 megs and only after some persuasion.
In one case (according to ADSL guide .org) the speeed was reduced to 208kb down and 24kb up. Spectacular loss. Speed reduced back to 2megs and hey presto, 1.9 down and 356 up.

[Keith]

Yes they do have all sorts of disclaimers re contention and download speeds in relation to distance from the exchange, my exchange, well little shed thing is about 400 yds away but all the phone lines are on overhead poles, none of this new fangled underground stuff!

my router is reporting 8128KB download and 448KB upload speeds and having just downloaded a 50MB file I saw around a 600KB download speed

Will see what I get tonight when all the natives come back home :)

[GreyGhost]

Yes they do have all sorts of disclaimers re contention and download speeds in relation to distance from the exchange, my exchange, well little shed thing is about 400 yds away but all the phone lines are on overhead poles, none of this new fangled underground stuff!

my router is reporting 8128KB download and 448KB upload speeds and having just downloaded a 50MB file I saw around a 600KB download speed

Will see what I get tonight when all the natives come back home :)

I was under the impression that you were the only native in your immediate area :)
Unlikeley to change much until contention goes above 60% then it will take a significant hit. Even then with the Exchange (:rofl:) so close it may not affect you at all.

[BMC123]

I had an interesting problem with my 8Mb connection.. caused by my stupid ISP... when i got the new connection we were told it would take 4 or 5 days for the line to "settle down" (their words) :rolleyes: to see what speed I could get at a steady rate. During this time, I downloaded a bit too much and as a result got put onto a "slower server" for naughty people.
fine, except i had signed up to, and was paying for, an unlimited service. :mad:
I complained, and was told it would be sorted but my speeds never went back up again, despite many calls to both BT and my provider.
I then asked BT if they could "reset" my line back to its testing phase (my isp said that would not work) and lo and behold 3 days later all back to normal. 2 months of slow internet, not my fault and the isp still refuses to refund me for those 2 months. So I guess when my contract is up i am going elsewhere...

[GreyGhost]

I had an interesting problem with my 8Mb connection.. caused by my stupid ISP... when i got the new connection we were told it would take 4 or 5 days for the line to "settle down" (their words) :rolleyes: to see what speed I could get at a steady rate. During this time, I downloaded a bit too much and as a result got put onto a "slower server" for naughty people.
fine, except i had signed up to, and was paying for, an unlimited service. :mad:
I complained, and was told it would be sorted but my speeds never went back up again, despite many calls to both BT and my provider.
I then asked BT if they could "reset" my line back to its testing phase (my isp said that would not work) and lo and behold 3 days later all back to normal. 2 months of slow internet, not my fault and the isp still refuses to refund me for those 2 months. So I guess when my contract is up i am going elsewhere...

They broke their contract to supply whatever it is they quoted. If want to walk away I would say you have every right to do so without penalty.
The only issue is that you cannot order a new ADSL on the same line without disconnecting the old one first. So you would be without for approx 10-15 days while the new one is setup, even though there is nothing to be done at the exchange.

[BMC123]

Funny thing is, i get the impression i am not alone as they sent us an email telling us we could all leave if we wanted too without any penalty... just email and get a MAC code. but, at the moment the service is fine, and I am not downloading much more than 40 gb's a month anyway, another problem is they host my website as part of the deal, and I would lose that if I left. I am watching closely to see if something better comes up, but nothing so far (apart from BT's home hub thing) and since they dropped their badly handled "fair usage policy" everything has run smoothly (touch wood) My only other option over here is AOL :eek:

[Simon]

An interestin note.. If you have Sky Digitial TV, then you can sign up for their broadband service. Rates do vary, but they did seem very good value for money the last time I checked.

Worth a look if you have got/planning to get Sky Digital.

:)

[BMC123]

I have sky digital, so I checked back when they started advertising, of course where I live is in the 65% of the UK that does not qualify for the 16Mb "max" service, and the "connect" service is (after you add in the "connection" fee) only a few pounds less than I pay now, and they won't host my website and emails for free. If you are in the 35% "area" it does look like good value, but like any other ISP outside that they lease the lines from BT so no advantage really. (for me anyway) :lol:

[salop75]

I had an interesting problem with my 8Mb connection.. caused by my stupid ISP... when i got the new connection we were told it would take 4 or 5 days for the line to "settle down" (their words) :rolleyes: to see what speed I could get at a steady rate. During this time, I downloaded a bit too much and as a result got put onto a "slower server" for naughty people.
fine, except i had signed up to, and was paying for, an unlimited service. :mad:
I complained, and was told it would be sorted but my speeds never went back up again, despite many calls to both BT and my provider.
I then asked BT if they could "reset" my line back to its testing phase (my isp said that would not work) and lo and behold 3 days later all back to normal. 2 months of slow internet, not my fault and the isp still refuses to refund me for those 2 months. So I guess when my contract is up i am going elsewhere...

Its not strictly the ISPs fault as such, yes i work for an ISP but im not trying to defend all ISPs outright. The ISPs who purchase their DSL via BT wholesale are somewhat limited in the way they can support customers due to the contractual obligations with BT :(

I work in a small team who all remote work so we rely on our DSL, a colleague was upgraded to 8mb over a weekend and as he was away he decided to turn of his router, which turned out to be a mistake, as when the line came backup the BT DSLAM had nothing to sync against and defaulted to around 160K and stayed like that for several weeks :) until BT advised disconnecting the router to allow the DSLAM to reset. Why would you set the DSLAMs to do this when the older 2MB services used to be rock solid? who knows, could be the BT equipment/software or as i suspect it could be a more aggressive re-sync policy on the DSLAMs to disguise the fact that the exchanges haven't had their backhaul capacity increased.

John

[salop75]

I am with Wanadoo, I went on their site on Monday to see if >2MB was available out here in the sticks and yes sirree the online checker thingy said.

A free upgrade as well so I clicked on the appropriate boxes and bingo this morning I have 8128KB download and 448KB upload speeds

Blooming marvellous :) so well worth checking with your ISP

Keith,

Do you really get 8128Kb download speeds? Is you DSL modem syncing at 8Mb or is the software/stack just reporting 8Mb? Just curious as in my experience you have to literaly be next door to your local exchange to get rates above 6Mb.


John

[Tatts]

Thank goodness for Cable. Watching a 5Gb ISO of 'clipart' download at a steady 10Mb is quite satisfying, and addictive. 1160GB downloaded in the past 3 months.:eek:

[GreyGhost]

Thank goodness for Cable. Watching a 5Gb ISO of 'clipart' download at a steady 10Mb is quite satisfying, and addictive. 1160GB downloaded in the past 3 months.:eek:

Best I get is 9.4Mb, can't complain too much though :)

[Keith]

Hi John, interesting post, I always turn everything off at night so will keep an eye on speeds, cheers

[BMC123]

It was their fault. they were the ones that put me on a restricted service during the testing phase, (a bit like your colleague turning his router off) and it was me that asked for the line to be reset, not them. that's not the only problem I had with them however, over the past few months I have had no problems at all with my speeds or service :o

[Ti Rich]

Don't start me on this one!

I live 8 miles from the centre of Birmingham in a dense populas area.

Have been with BT for years but as i am "at the end of the exchange" got 512KB max. Upgraded to home hub with a promise of 1.5MB Max, still geting 430K actual - pathetic!!!

I live on a new estate (with no cable). My Brother in law lives 200m away and enjoys 8MB on cable.........:rant:

[GreyGhost]

Don't start me on this one!

I live 8 miles from the centre of Birmingham in a dense populas area.

Have been with BT for years but as i am "at the end of the exchange" got 512KB max. Upgraded to home hub with a promise of 1.5MB Max, still geting 430K actual - pathetic!!!

I live on a new estate (with no cable). My Brother in law lives 200m away and enjoys 8MB on cable.........:rant:

Ever thought about a wireless link to your brother inlaws connection. ? You will need a booster to cover the 200Metres

[Ti Rich]

Ever thought about a wireless link to your brother inlaws connection. ? You will need a booster to cover the 200Metres

Yes many many times!!!

Do they work OK and over what range?

[GreyGhost]

Yes many many times!!!

Do they work OK and over what range?

Approx 250 ft line of site using 802 11G 54Mb per sec. This is very variable depending on situation. can be as little as 30 feet inside a building or less if there is a lot of steel in the construction causing reflections of the signal. So booster aerials preferably directional will be required to get you the full distance. These are the sort of antenna that you would require.
http://www.wirelesspro.co.uk/default.php?cPath=1_2

I would advise speaking to them and preferably someone that has installed this type of equipment before any kind of purchase, please remember that this type of equipment needs line of site to work efficiently.

[Ti Rich]

Ah, no direct line of site and it may be 300m so I guess it's not an option.

But thanks anyway!

[GreyGhost]

Ah, no direct line of site and it may be 300m so I guess it's not an option.

But thanks anyway!

Easily 300 metres with the right kit, you are after all only broadcasting and receiving a radio signal. Line of site is for the low end solutions. You could possibly share the connection with a few of your neighbours to keep costs down.
This is the sort of setup used in small villages, usually with one main client on a sattelite link then radio to local clients. Only difference is the Broadband is supplied by land line.
Have a chat with the company they may have a solution for you, nothing ventured, nothing gained.