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Author Topic: Advice on fibre or not  (Read 7423 times)

animal47

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Advice on fibre or not
« on: July 14, 2015, 07:14:31 AM »

I originally had bt fibre and tbh it was awful, constantly dropping connections and I ended up having 4 new routers to try and solve the problem.
Couldn't get out of there quick enough when my contract ended so then went with talk talk again on fibre and although it was much much better it still wasn't perfect and for the last 6 months or so it again has been complete rubbish with constant dropouts even worse than bt was, luckily my contract is about to expire again and so I am desperate to move again.
Now I cannot make my mind up whether to try fibre again or just accept the fact that perhaps I just don't have a very reliable fibre connection. The last time I was on non fibre was with sky and tbh the service was 100% faultless and I used to get a reliable 10mb. That was a few years ago now though so not sure what they're speeds are like now and whether that sort of speed is enough for nowadays with constant movie streaming on several devices.
Is there anything I can do to ensure that I get a better fibre service or would I be best off just going back to non fibre, I am desperate not to be stuck in another awful unreliable contract again.
Any advice is much appreciated.


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Black Sheep

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2015, 07:35:26 AM »

Go for the fibre again, but request a 'Managed Install' (where an engineer visits the premises), as opposed to a 'self-install'. They may find something un-toward, that has historically been affecting your circuits performance ??
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roseway

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2015, 08:20:46 AM »

I agree with the above, but you don't have to act immediately. After your contract is complete you can continue to use your TT connection on a month by month basis without renewing the contract. From your potted history it looks as though the reason for the instability was never properly investigated - changing modem/routers is the least likely solution. It's far more likely to be something in your own wiring or in the connection between the cabinet and your home, and changing ISP will make no difference to a physical defect of this kind.

So I would spend some time diagnosing the cause of the problem. This will require some commitment on your part, but there's plenty of good help available here, and the end result is likely to be more useful.
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  Eric

animal47

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2015, 01:52:17 PM »

Something else that I should have mentioned is that I have a mate who is a bt engineer and who did the original installation. He was very critical of the earlier home hubs as they were so unreliable and kept giving me new ones. Perhaps it is about time I had him back to run some tests although if I remember correctly it was always perfect on his test equipment and tbh I don't really seem to have any trouble with the wired connection on my sky box.


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roseway

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2015, 02:17:01 PM »

Quote
I don't really seem to have any trouble with the wired connection on my sky box.

Are all the other devices connected by WiFi? If that's the case, then it's possible that your problem may be related to WiFi only. I suggest that you try using your main PC/laptop with a wired connection for a while, and see if you still get the dropouts. You could also look at your router's log to see if it's logging any DSL dropouts.
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  Eric

animal47

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2015, 03:55:01 PM »

That would be a problem as the pc is never used anymore, everyone in the house uses phones and tablets.
I have had a look at my router logs and don't see any dropouts logged or is there another term I should be looking for, sorry total dunce when it comes to these type of things.


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roseway

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2015, 04:23:38 PM »

The router log would probably say something like "Loss of sync" or "DSL connection lost". If there's nothing like that, then it's most probably a WiFi problem. A WiFi extender might be a solution, but this isn't an area I've much experience of, so hopefully someone else will follow this up.
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  Eric

animal47

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2015, 04:55:43 PM »

Well I can see absolutely nothing that would suggest any loss of signal so I guess in a way that's good news as it looks equipment related then rather than a line problem.


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JGO

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2015, 06:37:34 PM »

If there's nothing like that, then it's most probably a WiFi problem. A WiFi extender might be a solution, but this isn't an area I've much experience of, so hopefully someone else will follow this up.

An extender indeed MIGHT be a solution but quite possibly won't help.

 A wired connection has one simple path from end to end, but WiFi has an infinite sum of all possible paths summed in amplitude and phase, inevitably with nulls  which depend on the exact WiFi frequency so the frequency response can look like a cross section of the Alps in the cluttered environment inside a house.!  IT ISN'T A MAGIC CURE ALL ! 
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Weaver

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2015, 09:11:31 PM »

There are good isps out there who will simply get on with it and sort out any problems for you, but quality service isn't free unfortunately. It's your choice. You don't have to do everything yourself but the alternative is spending a little money, less than getting your car sorted out.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 11:01:08 AM by Weaver »
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mrpops2ko

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #10 on: July 15, 2015, 10:40:52 AM »

From the limited information provided it could be anything but if people are thinking its the wifi, you could try optimising that.

Are you in a high wifi usage area (i.e. many wireless routers), you can download apps on your phone / other programs to see what channels all those routers are on and try find a channel range that isn't populated - (this helps with interference) which could in turn help you.

if you have a large house or if the wifi range just isn't very good then you are going to have to look into an extender or another router. I personally use the ASUS N66U which i've found to be a very good 3rd party router. I use this in combination with the HG612 (this modem is very good and allows you to monitor all the stats so you can easily do proper diagnosis)

I don't rate the routers that you get from ISPs, usually with tons of devices streaming stuff they just end up crapping out.
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Weaver

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #11 on: July 15, 2015, 11:22:14 AM »

I've heard very good things about Ubiquiti 3-packs of wireless access points. I'm thinking about buying one of these packs (available from the aa.net.uk shop).

I use both

1. Zyxel access point (v expensive, dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz) and
2. TP-link 5GHz access points (cheap, also outdoors-friendly, supposedly, wouldn't risk it).
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Weaver

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #12 on: July 15, 2015, 11:26:52 AM »

If there are many wireless LANs (ie 2!!) surrounding you, then you must get a 5GHz wireless access point because there are loads of free channels in the 5GHz world and you won't have a problem with neighbours wrecking your life with interference. Pretty much everything apart from v ancient kit supports 5GHz now, and laptops can be upgraded with plug-in wireless NICs that go in the side.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 11:02:41 AM by Weaver »
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animal47

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #13 on: July 15, 2015, 02:46:38 PM »

Well I have just checked and there are 4 wireless connections with a strong signal close by.
I must admit I do like the sound of going with a 3rd party router as that is what I used to have with sky and it was faultless. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't actually know anything about 5 ghz access points or how I would go about getting one, I'm afraid I am just guilty of receiving an isp's router in the post and plugging it in every time, I certainly am willing to learn though.


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mrpops2ko

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Re: Advice on fibre or not
« Reply #14 on: July 15, 2015, 05:04:55 PM »

There's nothing special to 3rd party routers, just that they aren't limited to a budget of a couple of pence per router.

ASUS ones are ones I would personally recommend.

With 5GHz and 2.4 GHz (older / standard ones), its just a case of having 2 separate networks. My router allows you to have both running concurrently, so that it can support older devices. (My nexus 4 for example can log into the 5GHz network but is unable to send data through it for some reason).
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