DD_Arthur Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Dear Chaps, At last, after years of waiting, I appear to be eligible for superfast fibre broadband. This is quite exciting as my local internet speeds have until now depended on whether its raining outside or the wind is blowing in the "wrong" direction - I kid you not!! I'd like to get this right first time and not end up getting a poor deal from a less than fantastic provider soooo......who do you use and what has been your experience with them? I'm slightly wary of going back to BT - not least because one of my brothers has worked for them for 45 years and he says BT are shit! Any advice gratefully received Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 27, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 27, 2017 Plusnet are part of BT FWIW. As an ex-BT engineering-type person myself, how 'super' superfast broadband is very much depends on how far you are from the roadside box because that's how much copper is your line and that will slow your connection. Standard BT Infinity is 40Mb/s (megabits not megabytes) at the cab but every metre of copper after that will reduce the speed. Unfortunately, any broadband provider using Openreach's fibre/copper network suffers with the same problem. Virgin are slightly different because they have their own fibre network but this is not available in all areas (Virgin Broadband in non-virgin-fibre areas still uses Openreach's network) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted March 27, 2017 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted March 27, 2017 Hey Nick, I have 300m of copper between me and the junction box at the end of our close. Is that excessive, as in enough to slow things down appreciably ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 I think mine is about the same distance and seems OK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 27, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 27, 2017 Depends Mick, I thought you were on Virgin fibre?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 How do you rate the service your ISP is giving you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 27, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 27, 2017 www.speedtest.net will give you up and downstream speeds as well as rating your connection against the UK and Global averages. Although if you're asking how I rate my ISP (Sky), their bog standard broadband is pretty crap really. That said they're moving me onto their superfast fibre doodad shortly (after I remonstrated with them at considerable length) so we shall see. I have used BT and Virgin before for standard broadband and BT have been hands down the best for hardware and service. Mick - 300m is quite a way so if you're getting say 20Mb/s at the cab I could easily imagine that being reduced by 25% or more by the time it gets to you. This is all guesswork by the way so don't quote me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted March 27, 2017 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted March 27, 2017 If virgin have installed fibre in these parts it will only be to the junction box I assume ? It doesn't come all the way to my place. I pay for "up to" 200 Mb and Ookla speed test sometimes tells me I am getting 220 Mb download mid day. The chap on the phone said I could go for the top package which is "up to" 300Mb with Virgin. Arthur, I have never changed my ISP , in fact I was with NTL before they became Virgin . 90% of the time they have been great but when there is a problem it is a right pain to resolve on the phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 27, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 27, 2017 I think if you're getting those speeds, you're probablty on Virgin fibre. I don't think you can get those speeds via BT. If that's the case you probably have a cable running from the house underground to the main cable duct in the street. Virgin's big problem is 'contention' i.e. how many connections are going down the main fibre. When there's few people on then you'll have good speeds because you are allocated a bigger share of the available bandwidth but as the load increases (in the evenings for example) your connection will slow down because the available bandwidth doesn't increase and it's being shared between more people. BT connections have the same problem but not so much. Then again you can't get those speeds with BT either so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 Hmmm....BT guarantee me a minimum of 50mb. That sounds really good when your getting 1.9mb/s on a wet Tuesday night. Tempting..... I see Micks got the biggest cable 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 28, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 28, 2017 12 hours ago, DD_Arthur said: Hmmm....BT guarantee me a minimum of 50mb. That sounds really good when your getting 1.9mb/s on a wet Tuesday night. Tempting..... Having done some more reading up, BT are offering an 80Mb/s deal so I suspect that's what they're putting you on here. It's quite good that they're talking about a minimum speed too. 12 hours ago, DD_Arthur said: I see Micks got the biggest cable cable envy Arthur? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 23 hours ago, Jabo said: Having done some more reading up, BT are offering an 80Mb/s deal so I suspect that's what they're putting you on here. It's quite good that they're talking about a minimum speed too. cable envy Arthur? Yep, it's 'gonna be BT. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly. They're saying April tenth will be the big day. Cable envy? Dunno. Haven't got to grips with my cable yet but BT tell me that, for the first month, it will go "up and down - this is normal" sounds interesting!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 29, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 29, 2017 Cable envy? Dunno. Haven't got to grips with my cable yet but BT tell me that, for the first month, it will go "up and down - this is normal" sounds interesting!!!Yeah, it is normal for connection speed to fluctuate a bit to start with as the router works out how fast it can send and recieve data. This is one reason why it's essential to keep your router powered on and connected at all times. The exchange will periodically send a signal to the router to check the line. The router will respond to the signal so the exchange equipment knows everything is OK. If the exchange doesn't get a reply because the router is unplugged (for example) it will assume that there is a problem with the line and will set a slower transfer rate in an effort to fix it. It takes several days of continuous operation for the transfer rate to go back up.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted March 29, 2017 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted March 29, 2017 Arthur, Had another great conversation with a chap from Virgin today, only half an hour this time. I have almost no idea what he said other than some apologies and something about sending binary packets to my new "superhub3.0" to improve my connection during peak demand times ? It's also possible that he said that I should "buy many rackets" which would "improve my serve"..... I'm really not sure : ( Good luck mate ; ) Nick, I hope to test things this evening with FT if he is about. I installed Sid's GTX970 today so I am, perhaps foolishly, hoping that the graphics card/ super hub optimisation combo might make a difference ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 29, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 29, 2017 Optimism! That's the ticket - I can be online tonight if I can be of any further assistance old chap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted March 30, 2017 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted March 30, 2017 Unfortunately I was lied to. Ping was still over 100 all evening and download reached an all time low of 11Mb. Rang Virgin again while the evening speed problem was evident. This time they could see how slow things were for themselves. All of a sudden there was a recognised "power outage" in my area apparently ? I asked if this had been the case since Christmas but no one had bothered to mention it to me. I then got a "ticket" number for my complaint and told that a manager would ring me in the next 48 hours. Arthur, you can see how much fun you can have with Virgin ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 30, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 30, 2017 I've heard about this 'power outage' issue before. It's just their go-to response when customers complain. All b******s I'm afraid. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 According to the i newspaper Virgin has the fewest complaints Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted March 30, 2017 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted March 30, 2017 News papers are always right of course ; ) lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 This is my connection right now, weather dry, winds light southwesterly. Pretty good result. Er...slower than 80% of UK? Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Better ping than Mick though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 35 minutes ago, Crash said: Better ping than Mick though Astonishingly, yes! I bet no virgins ring him in the next 48 hours either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted March 31, 2017 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted March 31, 2017 Now I have ping envy ! I see the time of that test Arthur, what do you get at 8.30 pm m8? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted March 31, 2017 2. Administrators Share Posted March 31, 2017 Ha Arthur you think you've got problems - my d/l is sub 4Mb/s ALL the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 On your phone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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