Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => ISPs => Topic started by: snadge on October 09, 2023, 11:01:50 AM
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Hi everyone, hope you're all well... :cool:
I have been on BT's FTTP 900Mbps for 23 months now, It's up in November, 90% of the time it's been fine, however I don't like the price (£66) and the BT company (as a broadband retailer).
I am also willing to drop the speed to 500Mbps but no lower than that, I would like to stay at 900 if I could, but I am open to other options (mostly just for a change in ISPs)
Has anyone got any advice/suggestions for me, please?
many thanks in advance.
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For what it’s worth I’m on Cerebus 500/75 £60/m
Absolutely no issues.
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If you're willing to stay with BT, you will probably find their customer options team/retentions can offer you substantial discounts
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If you're willing to stay with BT, you will probably find their customer options team/retentions can offer you substantial discounts
Agreed - last time I re-contracted and their standard team weren't willing to negotiate I called back and said "leaving BT" to their voice recognition system and got through to someone you was much happier to do me a deal.
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For what it’s worth I’m on Cerebus 500/75 £60/m
Rather expensive for 500, most providers would be more like £45 or less.
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Maybe, I pay £55 for 55Mbps throughput... so maybe not :)
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Maybe, I pay £55 for 55Mbps throughput... so maybe not :)
Why I said "most" providers.
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Maybe, I pay £55 for 55Mbps throughput... so maybe not :)
In 2000, a BTopenworld 0.5Mbps ADSL connection was £39.99 IIRC, in todays money with inflation that is around £150 per Mbps (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator))
Based on the above, you could say £55 for 55Mbps is a bargain :)
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I remember paying £33.99 a month for 1Mbps in 2003.
Am paying £120 a month between Starlink and AAISP for around 350-400Mbps so not bad value really.
Looking forward to going full Gig for under £50 a month though... and then 2Gbps when I can. (Will likely take VM and something over OR if they do indeed show up)
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Looking forward to going full Gig for under £50 a month though...
TalkTalk Business had their 900 Full Fibre Business service including single static IP on offer for £31.95 last month, the 500 service was £29.95. Have to add VAT as quoted as business tariff.
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Hello again,
Thank you very much for all the replies and advice, it's much appreciated, I have had a look at them all, Talk-Talk I was wary of due to bad experiences by friends and family, but I know they picked up a bit as this was 10+ years ago, and if you used their forum for support it was reliable.
I will call BT retentions, see if they can match AQUISS (which I doubt very much they could) as they do 900 @ £27.50 a month for 6 months, then £55.00 a month thereafter on a 12-month contract, £0.00 activation / install – no router supplied, which forces me to buy one (which I wanted to do anyway), I'm impressed with Customer Support so far, as within 3 minutes they emailed a reply! — I've just got the list of suggested and recommended routers from their staff within 3 minutes of emailing them!
In my last few weeks now, so need to motivate haha…
I'd really appreciate some feedback on AQUISS if anyone has any, I've always known it's meant to be a great ISP always top of tables, yet I'm a bit worried why it's FTTP900 is so cheap but gets rave reviews??
Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate all the help! :cool:
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I'd really appreciate some feedback on AQUISS if anyone has any, I've always known it's meant to be a great ISP always top of tables, yet I'm a bit worried why it's FTTP900 is so cheap but gets rave reviews??
I've used Aquiss FTTP, no complaints. They are white labeling Entanet/CityFibre ISP. My understanding the half price discount is funded by 'marketing' budget from one of their suppliers, for new customers only. Aquiss don't supply a 'free' router. Other ISPs may offer a 'free' router, but obviously has to be paid for some how, in the monthly price maybe?
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I've used Aquiss FTTP, no complaints. They are white labeling Entanet/CityFibre ISP. My understanding the half price discount is funded by 'marketing' budget from one of their suppliers, for new customers only. Aquiss don't supply a 'free' router. Other ISPs may offer a 'free' router, but obviously has to be paid for some how, in the monthly price maybe?
yeah, I think you're right, the owner said he was willing to 'up' the price haha, as I enquired “is it unlimited or metered? as it's such a good deal?" he-he
I've signed up as BT could not match £41 a month (average for the 1st year) for 12 months (£55 a year after that - which is BT's 'starting' price) - I'm now paying BT almost £70 a month after 24 months because of CPI increases!, Aquiss has no yearly CPI increase!! the price stays the same, and no charges for 'upgrading' and just a small charge to downgrade, all done and dusted, all the reviews I read are raving, and most are long term users! (20 years etc) that says a lot!
for VDSL, Plusnet was the ISP of choice for me. Sky second place.
Hopefully this will be my new home for FTTP, BT was good, I have to admit, only twice in 2 years did it degrade to 600 (High Radial Count) - once i had to call (45 minute wait) to get it sorted and was done within 24 hours, the 2nd time it was auto-sorted within days!! = so hats off to BT, I just fancy something a bit more 'technical' now... you seem to get more technical data with them.
I used to be with an Entanet re-seller years back, cant remember its name, but it was good, it had usage limits but the 24Mbit speed was always there, I remember the term "lighting candles" as 'adding bandwidth'.
Anyway It's good to hear from another Aquiss user with another positive review, the 2-3 negative ones I found I deduced from the convo/remarks that the issue was the customer's lack of knowledge, not the service itself.
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Hi everyone, hope you're all well... :cool:
I have been on BT's FTTP 900Mbps for 23 months now, It's up in November, 90% of the time it's been fine, however I don't like the price (£66) and the BT company (as a broadband retailer).
I am also willing to drop the speed to 500Mbps but no lower than that, I would like to stay at 900 if I could, but I am open to other options (mostly just for a change in ISPs)
Has anyone got any advice/suggestions for me, please?
many thanks in advance.
My brother and my sis in law have BT 1000/110 for 24 months but was phoned BT to say they are leaving them because of price they are paying £67 a month as BT told them how about staying with them for two more years with the same FTTP 1000/110 for half price £37 a month for 2 years as they finally agreed on it. That's what they told me last week when I visit them. I told them they are lucky indeed as I am paying SoGEA 80/20 @ £35 a month.
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Have a looksie at Vodafone. Was sent a screenshot showing them selling gigabit over Openreach for less than £40 a month.
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Yeah Vodafone is the cheapest I've seen. If I weren't on social tariff on Three, I'd have been mighty tempted to get it as a backup. Although I do prefer the idea of not having the backup on the same fibre (though no idea if Three still follow the same route so may be as likely to hit backhoe issues).
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The best most can do other than mobile masts which may well use CityFibre or VMO2 ducts is CityFibre + Openreach/PIA altnet.
I would be, however if I get another CSP on the front of the house Mrs T will begin seriously investigating ways to get my life insurance to pay out.
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The masts are in an interesting position as I know the Vodafone/O2 mast has its own ducting heading off towards the exchange. It could go the majority of the way back to the exchange without mixing with my fibre bundle as its the opposite side of the road that at some point my bundle must cross to get to the exchange, but that probably doesn't happen until much closer to the exchange as its a reasonably straight run of ducting down that main road for miles.
The Three masts are slightly different, the nearest one only appeared after VM fibred the area and its unclear if VM come up the street the same way as FTTP does, or goes down the main road. Given its the opposite side of the road to Voda, its likely the former. Plus I didn't see VM laying their own fibre, just ducts to connect OR to their cabinets, so its possible they are just leasing OR back to the exchange anyway?
I did try to figure out the route the E side bundle takes back to the exchange once, but its complicated as its all ducted and seems to run through the local park. I'd probably have to figure out what the estate looked like in the 60s to get an idea if that is actually how they did it. Plus of course the fibre might take a different route as those ducts are more likely to have failed and be water logged now.
I'd love to see an actual map of the fibre routes, but I'd imagine that's quite sensitive information.
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@ ADSLMAX - that's brilliant for them, to be 100% honest, I just wanted to be right off the “BT Bandwagon” – it felt like I was on a 'Government run' ISP!
Anyway,
I'm off to Aquiss FTTP900 on the 8/11/23 for £41 a month (first 12 months), £55 after that with no yearly CPI increase, I've got my new router to set up, I got the TP-Link Archer 73 (https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax73/) on offer with £75 off!, I opted for that over the 72, as it was the same price with the offer, and has a Broadcom 43684 SoC, a 1.5Ghz Tri-Core CPU with 6×6 MU-MIMO long external antennas with OFDMA and Beam forming.
Compared to the BT SH2 which is a 250Mhz dual-core SoC, with basic 3×3 internal antennas, it should be great in comparison – also the SH2 has only 4 x 5Ghz channels to choose from which is very poor.
I've noticed a lot of latency lag (LAN) at tea time with BT too, always tea-time.
I can't wait to move, Martin has been great, though (IMO) the lack of a dedicated forum is a big 'hurt' to his business, a 'dedicated' forum is where Aquiss users could help each other and help take the load off him, as he seems to be doing it all by himself. Yeah, you can go to any forum and ask, but not everyone knows even what a forum is! Or, where to ask? Which one?
All ISPs tend to have their own dedicated “community” – heck even if it didn't have paid staff, at least noob's could 'puddle together' in a place they are familiar with (by being told about it when signing up), and experienced forum users can help resolve, all without Martin getting involved. This is something that have concerned other Aquiss customers, it doesn't worry me as I know where to ask, but “Joe Bloggs” wouldn't have a clue.
I think it would also help attract more customers.
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@snadge
Good for you, I don't blame you at all. I know Martin from Aquiss, he seem nice guy and great smaller isp business. Let us know how it goes. Good luck and you got the good excellent router TP-Link Archer 73 - good choice! ;)
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Thanks ADLSMAX - I'm impressed with the Archer73 so far, 'MAC changes' I spotted, and loads more for me to investigate yet, I got the router the other day, but I just opened it today, and have spent this morning setting it up, at first I set it up for Aquiss, but then thought, nah…these should work on my BT too – so a quick 'start page' search, and 2 minutes later I got it up and running on my BT until the switchover, in which I just have to change the login data, at worst reset router and re-do it.
Still not the channel choices like I had on Zyxell (full spectrum range), still got the basic 4 to choose from on the 5Ghz (all used), which has pee'd me off a bit, because 5Ghz is choked here and the 'radar' ones don't seem to work with my TV, which (for “£2000” has a crapy 100Mbit LAN) – no good for me, I need 200+ and USB-to-ETH gadgets don't work for me.
anyway it works good so far, I can't wait to be switched.
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Which Archer73, v1 or v2?
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dont know? why would it matter??
I just read loads of articles that said it was a good router - brand new just a few weeks ago = still sealed, so likely v2, but cant say for sure
go on depress me... whats worse about one to the other
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you can find the label under the router if it was v1 or v2. I think v2 are better latest hardware.
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It's an AR73 v2, I wonder what the differences are? — I chose this over the AR72, cos I've always found Broadcom (over 72's Intel) to give the best connectivity and throughput, and it had 3 cores instead of two, and once being £175 (now £99) I thought it would be a great router – but seems the Wi-Fi woes I'm now having are either due to my TV's compatibility, or, the router is too close, or…. More likely, the whole neighbourhood has signed up to FTTP and will have router set at default to use max Wi-Fi bandwidth, they should have a tutorial; about it all during set up, for those who don't know why their Wi-Fi is cutting out, and what they can do to keep it within their own walls - for the most part - like power strength, shrinking channels to make room for neighbours and such.
I have not enabled MU-MIMO (doesn't work on 5Ghz only, needs both 5 and 2.4) – I can get JUST over 200Mbps on the TV on 5Ghz “AC mixed” on "40/80" only – I can't have the full 20/40/80/180 MU-MIMO 'whack'— I even tried lowering its power too 'medium' to see if that helps as its just 4 inches (ca. 10 cm) from the back of the TV, in the higher mode my mobile would MAX out at 350 (it's ceiling) but the Netflix speed-tester says FAILED! Opposite mode, I'm happy enough, just a bit angry that they can't advertise something as 54000Mbps when in true reality it can not get anywhere near that speed – those figures are without overheads. and as if the antenna were almost touching each other, and are compatible (setup) devices that allow them to put these numbers (il)legally on the box.
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Still not the channel choices like I had on Zyxell (full spectrum range), still got the basic 4 to choose from on the 5Ghz (all used), which has pee'd me off a bit, because 5Ghz is choked here and the 'radar' ones don't seem to work with my TV, which (for “£2000” has a crapy 100Mbit LAN) – no good for me, I need 200+ and USB-to-ETH gadgets don't work for me.
TVs have 100Mbit LAN as their video decoders are designed for streaming services so do not support more than this. What's your use case exactly for needing a link faster than their video decoders support?
I have not enabled MU-MIMO (doesn't work on 5Ghz only, needs both 5 and 2.4
MU-MIMO is to be able to service more than one client at the same time on the same radio. The different radios have zero interaction with each other.
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Hi Alex,
I have some ultra-high bitrate 4K video (master compression only), that can go over that 95Mbps limit for a little, which causes it to pause for a short while, every 10–20 seconds - as on video 'over DLNA', it doesn't seem to buffer much, if at all?, almost as if it's streaming directly, rather than buffering during the “quieter parts”, I know because I've tested the LAN with a 65Mbps and 75Mbps “averaged” 4K video, and it kept pausing on big camera action. But on Wi-Fi when it works, it's perfect.
Now for Wi-Fi, the Netflix App on my TV has a good speed test, I can manage to get 265Mbps over it on the TV's Wi-Fi, now, and before - (I am now starting to think that speed may be the limit of the TV, as my mobile hits 350 maxed out!) But every week or two, sometimes days in-between (on the BT Smart Hub 2 anyway) it completely drops in speed to 8-15Mbps or so on the TV (even Netflix or Disney suddenly goes from 4k to SD), or, the connection drops off completely, until I change the SSID and the Password, TV only for connection drops, I have never tested the mobiles speed when this happened, I will eventually if it happens again on this TP-Link AR73, but, my mobile has never needed reconnecting with a new SSID and Password, so the TV obviously has 'some' Wi-Fi issues!
I thought it was because neighbours were overpowering the signal over my TV, the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands (available to me) are all choked, using an app that shows you them all being used on my mobile phone (even the radar ones are!), and now after using two routers, it's obvious the TV Wi-Fi is also poor with issues allowing neighbours or something else to affect it, but when it works, it's faster than LAN.
I also wondered if the router being “too-close” to (right behind) the TV, might have been an issue?, EMI/RFI interference from all the TV's electrics etc??
Anyway, news… I've switched to Aquiss today and all is well with the connectivity and the AR73, speed is 900/110, ping is up 3ms to 13ms, but that is nothing. It's up and running and see how we go?.
Switching was flawless and setting up was so easy my mother could do it haha - even BT messed up and had my 'leave date' as 30/10/23 instead of 8/11/23 (End of Contract date = leaving nothing to pay) and Martin sorted it out instantly!. I'm very happy to be back on my own router, a smaller, "less-known" ISP (making it unique, more reliable - a real “techies ISP” as I've done before with re-sellers) and not using a supplied 'crappy' unit! on the biggest known ISP in the UK (no offence intended to those who do, which I doubt is many on here he-he)
cheers.
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I have some ultra-high bitrate 4K video (master compression only), that can go over that 95Mbps limit for a little
Like I said, TVs use hardware decoders designed primarily for streaming services so if you are using something that high a bitrate its out-of-spec with what the TV was designed to handle. You're lucky its playing at all.
I'm curious, what specific TV is it?
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Hi Alex,
It's the LG B8 OLED from 2018 bought in 2019 new, reduced from £2000 to £1200 on the advice of users on AV-forums (to wait).
The codecs on the TV and the CPU to decode them are fine, I know, because when I was on Plusnet VDSL using my ZyXELL router on 5Ghz (or using USB stick to test), I never had one issue with the biggest file I have, mind the router was on the other side of the room here, where the copper NTE is, now the new PON NTE is behind my TV (again making me think is it because It's TOO CLOSE to the TV? - I might try to reduce the power output as it optional).
So, it's actually just Wi-Fi - to - TV connectivity that has costant Tx/Rx speed 'connection rate' changes and dropouts (seen on the real time monitor feature, even dropped to '0' and 'off' whilst watching it!), so it seems like other peoples channels are "noising mine out", or, as I say It's too close, and if It's that, I will have to try to move it, but I can't get it far from the TV.
Now, it's been one day of full use of the AR73 on Aquiss, last night (a few times - not normal in one night when it was on BT's hub?) and this morning I've had TV connectivity issues again, not 100% sure on this, but the TV doesn't seem to like it when OFDMA or MU-MIMO is on (but will try it a few times on different channels, only tried it once - needs time for full testing), so, I've had more issues with the Wi-Fi on this new router, I think I need to get it positioned correctly, and the channels rechecked, and manually assigning a channel, instead of using AUTO in the hope it does a better job than sticking to one! - hopefully i can find one that isnt used or weak and use that,
So I have an array of tests to perform, which i will do over the next few weeks getting 'settled in'.
The Internet is perfectly fine from Aquiss.
EDIT: Im loving the features im finding in the router, it has Line Bonding, VPN, MAC changes, tons of security features, and loads of other stuff I've yet to try (and find) - only issue is the colours, you cant see some of the buttons, the GUI colour is bad and text is hard to read, otherwise its brilliant!
cheers
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I also wondered if the router being “too-close” to (right behind) the TV, might have been an issue?, EMI/RFI interference from all the TV's electrics etc??
That is well known to cause WiFi issues
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Doesn't that LG TV have a LAN connection? I'd be using that rather than Wi-Fi if it's near the router.
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Doesn't that LG TV have a LAN connection? I'd be using that rather than Wi-Fi if it's near the router.
Re-read the thread, they want to stream content that peaks at higher than 100Mbit.
It's the LG B8 OLED from 2018 bought in 2019 new, reduced from £2000 to £1200 on the advice of users on AV-forums (to wait).
A quick Googling:
So I purchased an Anker USB 3.0 to Gig Ethernet adapter (Model A7610) - plugged it into the USB 2.0 Port on the TV, turned on the TV and it worked first time ! :D
Ethernet connection is now 1 Gig, but of course as the TV only has USB 2.0 - an nperf/fast.com speedtest is only getting 170 Mbps down - but that is still a significant improvement over 100Mbps Ethernet which only gets about 94 Mbps on the same speedtest.
Interestingly, you have to turn OFF both the wifi and ethernet (disable the port/unplug) for it to work - but everything works just fine thus far.
Personally, I just use a ShieldTV for high bitrate content.
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That is well known to cause WiFi issues
Hi gt94sss2 ,
I'm sure 99.9% this is it — because as soon as PON was installed, this was when it all started! (routers behind the TV!), this morning it seemed to get slightly better Tx/Rx rates (to the TV) when all ariels are just vertical, and, the router is pushed away (3 inches / 7.5 cm) back — that's all I can do until I get it put about 3 feet (0.91 m) away (all I can do) on top of my unit, but it should be enough. I'll be playing with Tx power output and channel and antenna manipulation.
Also, it will take it away from right next to my big living room window (a known bad spot for Wi-Fi routers) further protecting it from the neighbours Wi-Fi.
Hey Alex, the router is BRILLIANT - I will be starting a post on it soon, to see if there are any other TP-LINK Archer 7x users that may have advice?
the stuff available is brilliant, and for almost half price! - it uses 6% CPU and 26% RAM during use.
EDIT: I Tried the USB3.0 route, got a good one, and it only gave me 115Mbps, was going to get another to see if a different brand would work, as everyone else with my TV is getting 250-300Mbps on LAN over USB...I didn't on that one, and it wasn't a 'cheap' one either! — I would actually like my Wi-Fi completely off and use data only on my mob, as I get 20GB and never go over 1GB..! — so, think I will re-try that route!
EDIT2: deffo gonna 're-try' USB-TO-LAN because just now at '455 Tx / 867 Rx', Disney+ went from 15Mbps (4K) to 4Mbps (SD)... for 7-8 seconds before jumping back to 4K, whilst I was watching a 4K episode! - I've spent hours this morning moving antennas and the router about at the back of the TV lol... just going to leave until I get another USB 3 device, and if that one still doesnt get me at least 150Mbps then I will have to move the router.
cheers
Edited for wrong name and extra info
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...to add further, I'm definitely going to have to make some drastic changes to its location, settings, and antennas for testing purposes, and the USB-to-LAN route (again). - now. Im sitting watching while I have the post open.
Because I'm now having all sorts of problems with LAN and Wi-Fi on the TV too, it doesn't like both being connected at the same time (that never used to happen, it would say “connected to internet” on both), but it doesn't aggregate them together, it uses one or the other.
I was just watching a Disney+ episode over Wi-Fi, that kept dropping from 4K to SD, then 10–20 seconds later back to 4K. 4K from Disney is a mere 15Mbps and SD is a mere 4Mbps — all over 5Ghz Wi-Fi, and it can't manage that?
I hope I get a USB-to-LAN that gets me 200Mbps+, as MANY others with the LG B8 55" set were getting 250-300Mbps over a theoretical 480Mbps link rate with these USB3 devices on a USB2 port, as I say the one I got only got 115Mbps, a 20Mbps increase only, I think that 150-200MMbps is all I would need for headroom. Then I can disable Wi-Fi completely. (more secure).
....and whilst typing now, it's reconnected to Wi-Fi (it says for Wi-Fi "connected to the internet") and it says the LAN (after plugged in for 20 minutes) now says "No Internet Via Ethernet"..? Strange when BT's router it would say BOTH were "connected to the internet".
5 minutes later NO INTERNET VIA Wi-Fi OR LAN..
Then, 2 minutes later, Wi-Fi = "CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET"
During all of which I've never touched the thing.
aaaagghh hahaha - I have to get it shifted, and get back onto Amazon for a USB-to-LAN device...again. lol
cheers
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I'd honestly look for a USB 2.0 to Gigabit ethernet adapter, you know its going to be within the current rating then. Although I think the key is it has be a driverless adapter for the TV to support it using the generic USB Ethernet driver.
Actually, that also means the USB to 2.5Gbit Realtek adapters probably work too. If I can find mine I will check it on my C8.
So apparently not, which is strange as it worked before it was officially supported on Linux.
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I'd honestly look for a USB 2.0 to Gigabit ethernet adapter, you know its going to be within the current rating then. Although I think the key is it has be a driverless adapter for the TV to support it using the generic USB Ethernet driver.
Actually, that also means the USB to 2.5Gbit Realtek adapters probably work too. If I can find mine I will check it on my C8.
So apparently not, which is strange as it worked before it was officially supported on Linux.
well, I thought I would first 're-try' the good one I got on this new TP-Link router - low and behold, 310Mbps on the Netflix test! - got a 75Mbps 4K "averaged" video playing smoothly with no issues, brill, Wi-Fi is getting turned off, it's just an entry point! mobile data will do for now.
I assumed it was a TV limit, seems it was something to do with routers?
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To those who get this on Aquiss and have set PPPoE at 1492 in their Windows TCP/IP Stack, be sure to change it from 1480 (default) to 1492 in the router, I noticed whilst speed tests were fine, download speeds themselves were 'iffy', luckily a quick search found the issue, mismatched MTU's - soon as I changed it the problem went away
so yeah these TP-Link Archer series seem to have 1480 MTU by default.
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Shame there is no online MAC system anymore.
I requested a PAC on EE when my last contract expired, and within 20 minutes a retention dude rang me and gave me a pretty good deal. All without me doing any kind of reaching out, just one click of a button.
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To those who get this on Aquiss and have set PPPoE at 1492 in their Windows TCP/IP Stack, be sure to change it from 1480 (default) to 1492 in the router,
Nobody changes the MTU settings in Windows any more and neither should you. I'm sure you have been given this advice a couple times already.
The OS can adjust this on the fly and picking a fixed MTU will do nothing but cause issues.
so yeah these TP-Link Archer series seem to have 1480 MTU by default.
I've never owned a TP-Link that wasn't set to 1500 MTU by default (which is 1492 on PPPoE).
You should reset whatever you changed with TCP/IP in Windows to default settings and you likely will find the TP-Link behaving normally again.
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Agreed, generally you only need to make sure the router settings are correct and possibly change any game consoles, but PCs should not need anything changing from default.