Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Chunkers]

Hi!

Another question on broadband in the boonies...... 

I live near Tenbury Wells in the countryside in Worcestershire and have a fairly troublesome overhead line resulting in our net connection being 9Mb down and 1Mb up.  Our local exchange is FTTC enabled but I have followed the advice given that our line is likely to be slower if we 'upgrade' so we have stuck with ADSL 2+.

Now the kids are getting older this is proving inadequate and I want to know if I have any options to go faster.

A local business (obviously suffering similar issues) had BT install a dedicated optical fibre connection last year that runs straight past my house, I know this because they dug up my drive to install it and I watched them put it in.

Does this present me with any opportunities?  Could I pay to piggy back on their fibre?

I have no FTTP option according to Zen, my ISP.  I have looked at satellite and it looks like a non-starter for a variety of reasons.  Is my only other option to install a second telephone line and use a load balancing router of some kind to (hopefully) double my connection?

Cheers big ears!

Chunks

[Dray]

I live near Tenbury Wells in the countryside in Worcestershire and have a fairly troublesome overhead line resulting in our net connection being 9Mb down and 1Mb up.  Our local exchange is FTTC enabled but I have followed the advice given

Who gave the advice?

What does the BT Wholesale ADSL checker estimate for your connection? https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/adsl.htm

[Chunkers]

At the time I took quite a lot of advice on this from people on here and also from Zen, here is my latest ADSL checker output :



I am just a bit frustrated as we are quite a geeky family and escpecially now the kids are bigger we tend to be 'bandwidth constrained' a lot lately, lol

Moving house seems a bit drastic .....

Thanks for your reply!

Chunks

[Dray]

As you appear to be 800 metres from the cabinet, I think your only option is to upgrade to FTTC and see how it goes. After you've upgraded you'll be in a position to obtain line stats to give you a better idea of what's going on with your line.

[licquorice]

Does this present me with any opportunities?  Could I pay to piggy back on their fibre?

None whatsoever. Afraid not.

[Chunkers]

Does this present me with any opportunities?  Could I pay to piggy back on their fibre?

None whatsoever. Afraid not.

Oh well 

At least I know now.....

[Ronski]

As you appear to be 800 metres from the cabinet, I think your only option is to upgrade to FTTC and see how it goes. After you've upgraded you'll be in a position to obtain line stats to give you a better idea of what's going on with your line.

Actually it appears to be 1400 meters and aluminium - see the post below

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,16111.msg301846.html#msg301846

Might well still be worth a go, a second line might just be of better quality.

[gt94sss2]

If I was you I would risk the upgrade to FTTC or on a 2nd line - I find that generally the Openreach checker tends to be conservative in terms of the speed you would get.

However, I would not use Zen for two reasons:

a) I have the impression that they are not good with dealing with Openreach;
b) an ISP like BT will be willing to send you a 'boost' engineer within 28 days of installation who will check your line and change the pair if it will get you a faster speed. Most other ISPs don't offer this.

If you take advantage of the offers for new customers on BT Infinity + the cashback from sites like topcashback the net cost may even be less than what you currently pay.

If you try a dummy order on the BT Retail site what speed estimate does it give you?

[tickmike]

A local business had BT install a dedicated optical fibre connection last year that runs straight past my house,
Does this present me with any opportunities? 

If they are near ask them if they will sell you some bandwidth and use a radio link from them.

[tommy45]

If I was you I would risk the upgrade to FTTC or on a 2nd line - I find that generally the Openreach checker tends to be conservative in terms of the speed you would get.

However, I would not use Zen for two reasons:

a) I have the impression that they are not good with dealing with Openreach;
b) an ISP like BT will be willing to send you a 'boost' engineer within 28 days of installation who will check your line and change the pair if it will get you a faster speed. Most other ISPs don't offer this.

If you take advantage of the offers for new customers on BT Infinity + the cashback from sites like topcashback the net cost may even be less than what you currently pay.

If you try a dummy order on the BT Retail site what speed estimate does it give you?

And BT's overseas support is better,? Add to that BT don't offer static IP  charge insane amounts for line rental & calls , in part because of the cash backs and offers, having subsided this bs in the past i wouldn't recommend BT to my worst enemy

[gt94sss2]

In no way am I saying BT are the only option or the best option in all cases. What I intended to draw out in my previous post where reasons why I would not choose Zen for a FTTC line which might need an ISP to deal with/stand up to Openreach properly.

AFAIK only BT/Plusnet are taking advantage of boost appointments which Chunkers line might need.

Obviously everyone's requirements differ but most users don't need a static IP address (or can use DDNS) and it's quite easy to get hold of UK support at BT (plus they are trying to planning on bringing it all back anyway). As for line rental and calls - line rental at  Zen is almost the same as BT and their are plenty of alternatives for calls if you have a BT line.

Having used many ISPs in the past BT are nowhere as bad as they once used to be - though obviously they remain a mass market ISP rather than offering some of the features/advantages smaller ISPs can offer.

[Chunkers]

..edit ...
If you try a dummy order on the BT Retail site what speed estimate does it give you?

Here is a dummy BT order speed estimate (Plusnet is the same)



To be honest, I have been loyal to Zen for a long time and in general they have been good to us but recently we have been having more problems with their service going up and down and and their seeming unwillingness to accept even the possibility that the problems might exist within their network i.e. outside our house.  For this reason I am more open to trying someone else than I might have been in the past, I can always go back to Zen

Which would be the better choice to try and resolve issues with my line BT or Plusnet, presumably BT?

Once again, thanks for the all the advice guys ...

Chunks

[Dray]

Yes, BT is a good choice, especially with cashback etc.

[Chunkers]

I am giving them both (Plusnet and BT) a good look, having a static IP (as I currently do) would be quite a bonus to me which seems to favour Plusnet as BT don't seem to offer static IP at all (seems a bit odd?)

Chunks

[KIAB]

A local business (obviously suffering similar issues) had BT install a dedicated optical fibre connection last year that runs straight past my house, I know this because they dug up my drive to install it and I watched them put it in.

Chunks

No wayleave, if they wanted to dig up my drive to laid a fibre cable, I be demanding connection to it, as recompense.