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[lcl00]

Another potential option is Air Fibre, based in Lurgan (I think). I'm not sure if they've got coverage up as far as Kilrea yet.

http://airfibrenet.com/

They don't have a phone number listed on the website, but I *think* it is 028 3844 0038.

Might be cheaper and easier to obtain than a wireless link from your neighbours.

By any chance are you in Moneydig?

Yes, I'm in Moneydig. You familiar with the area?

Will look at airfibre, had never heard of it before in truth.

Aye, I live with a fella who grew up in Moneydig, so I've got a rough idea of the area.  You're a right distance from anywhere urban, but it's all on the flat so you might be lucky with AirFibre.  Avoid Bluebox (Northwest Electronics) like the plague though - it's terrible.

Small world! Yes, as you say, far enough from anywhere urban. I dropped AirFibre an email, so will see what they come back with. Not hopeful that they've come this far yet, but you never know.

Had a near enough miss with BlueBox. Had an engineer come to the house to see if it was available, but apparently we are just too far away. Some of the stories heard from others have made us realise that they would have been a bad idea!

Aye, it is!  You likely know him.  All you ones up there know each other.  He lived in Moneydig itself... which probably isn't even big enough to be called a hamlet!

I also checked the link attached and there are improvements pencilled in for my postcode by Dec 2017. Let's hope those improvements involve fibre availability!!

You can see the first evidence of this here in NI - where BT are putting in FTTP where FTTC isn't sufficient.

Of course, a prompt to your local AM or council can't do any harm either 

From what I have been able to establish, the Northern Ireland Broadband Improvement Project (NIBIP) was only supposed to run up until December 2015 (it's a little delayed with some cabs with dates in February/March 2016.  There's a further programme that runs to the end of 2017, and is, as far as I know FTTP only.  Don't quote me on that particular one though.  If you're interested I can contact the one name I know in DETI and ask for further clarification.

[mr_s81]

I also checked the link attached and there are improvements pencilled in for my postcode by Dec 2017. Let's hope those improvements involve fibre availability!!

You can see the first evidence of this here in NI - where BT are putting in FTTP where FTTC isn't sufficient.

Of course, a prompt to your local AM or council can't do any harm either

Thanks, now that is interesting.

Came across this thanks to one of the links a previous poster directed me towards - https://www.detini.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/deti/SRP-postcode-table.pdf

My BT51 postcode is mentioned for improvements by Dec 2017, although I don't see anywhere specific as to what these improvements would be.

[mr_s81]

lcl00 - Would you mind checking with your DETI contact to see if they can give any further info? If I thought FTTP was coming in the next couple of years, I guess I could try and persevere with the current rubbish 1mb ADSL speeds!

I also contacted AirFibre and they have got back to me to say they are planning work in the area in April / May time, so this may be another alternative option as a stopgap until FTTC / FTTP eventually comes this way.

As for Moneydig, as you quite rightly say, everyone knows about everyone else. We've only been here a couple of years, but it is a great place to live if it weren't for the obvious broadband restrictions! 

[mr_s81]

I also checked the link attached and there are improvements pencilled in for my postcode by Dec 2017. Let's hope those improvements involve fibre availability!!

You can see the first evidence of this here in NI - where BT are putting in FTTP where FTTC isn't sufficient.

Of course, a prompt to your local AM or council can't do any harm either

Thanks - that is interesting. I wonder if phase 2 is to roll out FTTP where FTTC was not available previously. 

[tickmike]

If you know either of them, you could consider setting up a point-to-point wireless link (if there is line of sight) to share their Fibre feed and maybe halve their cost if they agree...

I guess this may be an option. Depends primarily if they would be agreeable, and then the inevitable hardware and setup costs.

https://www.ubnt.com/products/

[mr_s81]

Hi all. Just an update on this, should it be of benefit to anyone in the future. I've had a very knowledgable BT engineer over yesterday afternoon and again this morning and after upgrading a number of things on the line, there appears to be a considerable improvement! The one thing that remedied the unstable noise margin was a new D side pairing at the cabinet (I think that's what he called, you more knowledgable peeps can correct me if I'm mistaken!) Immediately this led to a considerable increase in speeds and a nice steady SNY margin graph! This also improved attenuation of 69.5dB to 67.5 on the downstream which was most beneficial!

He suggested that I stick with a 9dB profile given the length of the line. I have tweaked this via the modem and I'm currently synced at a 7dB margin with a connection speed of 1778 kpbs. I will leave it at this and see how it fares over the next few days. Throughput is around 1.5 mb so much better than the 0.9 that I had previously. He says as with anything broadband, this may last for a long time or may only last a few days but kindly left his number should a problem arise again in the near future.

Hopefully I won't have to go out hunting with an am radio after all, but we'll see! 

Thanks everything for your input, it was all greatly appreciated. Let's hope these improved connection speeds last! 

[burakkucat]

I've had a very knowledgable BT engineer over yesterday afternoon and again this morning and after upgrading a number of things on the line, there appears to be a considerable improvement!

Clearly one of Black Sheep's flock! 

The one thing that remedied the unstable noise margin was a new D side pairing at the cabinet (I think that's what he called, you more knowledgable peeps can correct me if I'm mistaken!)

I suspect that he swapped over your D-side pair with a spare at the PCP and DP, so your circuit is now using a different metallic pathway.

[mr_s81]

I've had a very knowledgable BT engineer over yesterday afternoon and again this morning and after upgrading a number of things on the line, there appears to be a considerable improvement!

Clearly one of Black Sheep's flock! 

The one thing that remedied the unstable noise margin was a new D side pairing at the cabinet (I think that's what he called, you more knowledgable peeps can correct me if I'm mistaken!)

I suspect that he swapped over your D-side pair with a spare at the PCP and DP, so your circuit is now using a different metallic pathway.

I suspect you are right burakkucat! I bow to your superior knowledge of these things! 

What is the benefit of a different metallic pathway then?

[burakkucat]

The difference is that between a good and a poor performing pair. 

There might be some physical damage or defective joints in the poorly performing pair. He would have checked each of the unused pairs between the cabinet & the distribution point and then just selected the one that was likely to be a "good performer". Checking for DC resistive match for both legs, checking the AC balance, etc.