Thread

Let me tell you a story about my internet connection, don’t worry it is short.

Back in 2005 we decided to get broadband, so wee looked around for a little while. We found a great deal with Phones4You (Homecall), so we signed up. Brilliant, it worked like a treat no problems customer service was excellent. Then in late 2006 they get taken over by Pipex, which was ok to start with, the service continued to be good, the only real change was who the bill was coming from. Mid 2007 where thing really went wrong, Pipex where taken over by Tiscali. Though still trading under Pipex, the connection has gone from excellent to bad to worse, with it recently cutting out daily, when I need it. When we now call customer services we have to go through a long automated process before talking to a person that could not care less that we were having problems. When we ask if other people are experiencing the same problems they say they cant answer. when we come off the phone from them it suddenly works perfectly for 10mins then cuts out again.

One other problem we have had with them is the DNS servers do not know every site, and randomly cut out. To get around these cut out I have to use a proxy in china which is slow. Sometime also without the proxy I can get on the CI forums but not Google or other websites.

NEVER use Tiscali.

Has anyone else had problems like this?

you think they’re bad? try BT, utter rubbish, traffic shaping, deep packet inspection, bandwidth throttling, the lot..

We worked out one reason yester day why they may be cutting out the net after 5ish. this is probaly because Tiscali have blocked access to the BBC iplayer service, due to bandwidth issues. I don’t even use BBC iplayer. They should not be peanilising cutomers who use the1r service for genuine reasons / people who dont use the iplayer service.

I have no need to use BBC iplayyer because I have Sky+ with remote record, so i dont miss any shows anyway.

I have only one thing to say.

Virginmedia - 20mb - Bloody brilliant.

We have Sky so I dont reley wont to go Cable. We were thinking of TalkTalk.

Let me know what you think?

Talk Talk are also in my opinion rubbish.

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter who the company is, they all have to run over BT lines and there is your problem. BT are rubbish so all that use their kit is also rubbish.

If i was moving house and i found out that i could not get cable in that area then i wouldn’t move. Simple as that.

Did i mention that my 20mb (not just me, anyone with the 20mb) with virgin is being upgraded to 50mb for free in the next month?

BT infrastructure sucks big time.

I may have to look into Virgin, TalkTalk do not un over BT lines they transfer all of our lines over to there equipment, it is all down to lack of bandwidth.

If they’re not cable they run over the BT infrastructure. They may have their own kit in the exchange but i doubt you noticed talk talk putting a big pole outside your house and running some cables from it did you?

if they have undundled your exchange then Be (https://www.bethere.co.uk/) are one of the best to go with imo, if they have yet to unbundle your exchange the Zen are really good imo (but pricey)

if they have undundled your exchange then Be (https://www.bethere.co.uk/) are one of the best to go with imo, if they have yet to unbundle your exchange the Zen are really good imo (but pricey)

I looked at BE the other day, it looks good and they are in my exchange, but there is no point paying for 24mb when the max my line can get is around 6mbs, according to my belkin router.

@audiopleb: They haven’t but, the line is connect to there equipment at there end. but still it is all down to the amount of bandwidth you can shove down a cable and how much they can transfer between the exchange, my house and the server im looking for!

If youre getting 6Mbps on ADSL Max then the Be ADSL2 service should get you quite a decent speed.

Cool 😊! At the moment we on receive half a meg, due to Pipex wont offer the upto 8mb to us unless we rejoin.

if you happen to know your line stats (advanced area in the router somewhere) and distance from exchange (i think you can get that from samknows.com) then you can get a really rough guestimate on what your speed will be using http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.htm specifically the adsl2+ results

if you happen to know your line stats (advanced area in the router somewhere) and distance from exchange (i think you can get that from samknows.com) then you can get a really rough guestimate on what your speed will be using http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/max_speed_calc.htm specifically the adsl2+ results

According to your bottom link:
* I am 1.56km away from the exchange
* I can get dsl max of 8128kbs
* I can get adsl2 max of 19872kbs
* I can get a throuput of 17587kbs

I’m about to try Sam Knows.

Some True Line Stats:

For Telephone No:    ************
Postcode:    *** ***
  Phone & Postcode search OK
 
BT Exchange Information
Exchange: Orpington.    BT Code: LSORP
Location: Chislehurst Road,    BR6 0DB.
  ADSL enabled :    March 31, 2000
  dsl Max enabled:    March 31, 2006
  SDSL enabled :    Enabled
  21CN due :    no info
Distance:-    Direct:        1.81 km
        (appx)*    By Road:    2.25 km
BT Line Speed Estimation   Other Broadband Technology & LLU Providers

    Fixed ADSL:    2048 kbps   (2 Mb)
  DSL Max :    4500 kbps   (4.5 Mb)

Important: The above figures are an estimate based on information obtained from the BTw database.
DSLmax speeds are best guess based on the surrounding area and cannot take into effect individual line conditions which may effect the result such as the type of equipment you use or other issues which may affect the Signal to Noise Ratio.

You may also be interested in Max dsl speed calculator
 
The vast majority of UK ISPs use BTs exchange equipment to supply their broadband, for those ISPs you should use the information on the left.
The following is a list of providers offering an alternative service to BT Wholesale based broadband in your area.

  AOL   Available  
  Be*    Available   28.02.07
  C&W;/Bulldog   Available   15.03.05
  Edge Telecom   Not available  
  Homechoice   Available   15.06.05
  Lumison   Not available  
  NewNet   Not available  
  Node4   Not available  
  O2   Available   28.02.07
  Orange   Not available  
  Pipex   Not available  
  Smallworld   Not available  
  Sky   Available   03.06.04
  TalkTalk   Available  
  Tiscali   Available   01.12.06
  UK Online   Available   03.06.04
  WB Internet   Not available  
  Zen   Not available  
           
Cable        
  Virgin Media   Available  
  Smallworld Media   Not available  
           
Wireless        
  LTT Broadband   Not available  
  Now Wireless   Not available  
RAG Test Results

  Fixed:    1Mbps and 2Mbps available
  radsl:    512Kbps and 256Kbps available
  MAX:    ADSL Max is available
  SDSL:    1 Mbps available
  TPON:    TPON/Fibre not recorded
  Check:    The check identified another service on your line which may prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection. Examples are : Existing adsl connection, DACs, LLU, TPON

  adsl 1 linecode : GGEC
  dslmax linecode: GEGEGEC
  sdsl linecode: 1111GGGRZZZZEEEE