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Author Topic: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please  (Read 3890 times)

IBeAdam

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #15 on: September 07, 2020, 07:52:12 AM »

I’m using the AAISP VPN to negate weird stuff (technical term) on EEs network and also to give me a proper external IP address.

Also running Speedtest-tracker to monitor things every hour (on the half hour). Screen shot attached. Note the first speed increase is when I went from Three to EE and the second is when I moved the router upstairs. Ping also much lower on EE.

I’m hopeful that as the local 4G tower appears to be mainly aimed at users of the motorway the peak congestion may not be too bad. We’ll see. Those high figures from EE are peak Saturday evening and Sunday. Btw fixed line still broken anyway!
« Last Edit: September 07, 2020, 08:06:00 AM by IBeAdam »
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #16 on: September 07, 2020, 08:32:32 AM »

Three seems to be having a good-ish day.
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IBeAdam

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #17 on: September 11, 2020, 11:08:21 AM »

A month now my internet has been down! Not sure what BT/OpenReach/AAISP are doing, but no resolution appears to be in sight. Last I heard the “lift and shift” in the cabinet failed because they couldn’t find a working connection.

In the meantime my 4G connection is still performing well. At least 50/25 and often faster.
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #18 on: September 11, 2020, 12:29:23 PM »

A month now my internet has been down! Not sure what BT/OpenReach/AAISP are doing, but no resolution appears to be in sight. Last I heard the “lift and shift” in the cabinet failed because they couldn’t find a working connection.

In the meantime my 4G connection is still performing well. At least 50/25 and often faster.

 :no: :no: :no:

I'm more puzzled that AA didn't offer you a 4G dongle as a temporary fix.
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IBeAdam

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #19 on: September 11, 2020, 12:55:06 PM »

:no: :no: :no:

I'm more puzzled that AA didn't offer you a 4G dongle as a temporary fix.
I didn’t even realise they do that sort of thing.

I’m disappointed to be honest. They’re very pleasant and clearly hugely technically competent but haven’t always answered my emailed questions and bottom line is 4 weeks without internet, at a time I’m going through redundancy, trying to do job interviews etc so an internet connection is rather a necessity.
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burakkucat

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #20 on: September 11, 2020, 04:38:30 PM »

I’m disappointed to be honest. They’re very pleasant and clearly hugely technically competent but haven’t always answered my emailed questions and bottom line is 4 weeks without internet, at a time I’m going through redundancy, trying to do job interviews etc so an internet connection is rather a necessity.

I would recommend that you tell them exactly the above and ask that the service restoration be expedited. Make it be known that the service supply contract will be terminated and all payments made for the non-existent service will be recovered.

We also have a forum member who is an A&A employee. I would strongly recommend that you send a PM to andrew-AAISP to draw his attention to this thread and, thus, your plight.
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Weaver

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #21 on: September 12, 2020, 03:16:02 PM »

I can imagine you are disappointed, rightly so. AA aren’t perfect, but then I suspect no one is.

That suggestion of Burakkucat’s will work. When I’m trying to get something done with them, if no one understands what I’m going on about then as a last result I just drop a line to RevK, the director.

You may already be familiar with this, but note that you can chat to staff and other users live on IRC. That’s an excellent way of getting handholding fast. See
    https://www.aa.net.uk/etc/live-chat/
    https://support.aa.net.uk/IRC
« Last Edit: September 12, 2020, 03:22:31 PM by Weaver »
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Chrysalis

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #22 on: September 12, 2020, 04:25:43 PM »

When AA went down last weekend, I carried on with the game I was playing on 4g for an hour and it worked fine, the game uses voip as well and there was no voip issues.

I think there will be a point where wireless broadband becomes the only broadband solution for many households as the advancement is very impressive.
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Weaver

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #23 on: September 12, 2020, 10:08:00 PM »

I hear what Chrys is saying, but I think wireless will hit a wall, for another techno analogy: just as single CPU cores are doing now. Also there will always be the problem that wireless is a shared medium, with all the resultant unpredictability of it. If you have a greedy neighbour appearing suddenly and never going away, then you are stuffed, but you’re still paying the same amount for a fraction of the service you used to enjoy. That’s why I would never be interested apart from in conjunction with something fixed; I want something that I can rely on, and I’m interested in the worst possible case. Business users I would think should be using fibre, which has enormous potential for future-proof growth, especially if ducted I suppose. I don’t know if very wideband fibre has problems associated with it, but I’m assuming it’s fair to say that the growth potential is practically unlimited at the moment for the foreseeable future at least.
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #24 on: September 12, 2020, 11:42:57 PM »

We've already hit a wall, its why 5G is largely focused on micro-cells but its hard to say if the pandemic is going to throw a spanner in the works here if people continue to work from home.

Its never going to be practical to have high-speed 5G to every home, unless its fed from a fixed-line service, in which case its really no different to WiFi.

A best-case scenario for a perfect 5G connection will already be surpassed by FTTP and that is WAY more efficient due to latency being predictable due to the characteristic of fibre, vs wireless where you need a ton of leeway due to the constantly fluctuating interference/deflections.

Early reports are that TDMA is doing sweet sod all to improve WiFi performance and the further the signal has to travel, the more you are fighting physics.  Short of quantum tunneling, I can't see radio ever replacing fixed lines if you want a reliable, consistently performing service.
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IBeAdam

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #25 on: September 13, 2020, 09:49:54 AM »

I want something that I can rely on, and I’m interested in the worst possible case.
The problem is this isn’t FTTC, at least not for a large number of people.

In my case FTTP or alternatives are a long, long way off. Our FTTC connection worked ok for a number of years, but almost a year ago now (!) I started getting problems with daily drops. It took 6+ months of jumping through hoops to prove it wasn’t my equipment, which included a considerable expense and time replacing routers, switches, phones, filters, etc etc. Finally I was told to just live with the issue, as it wasn’t that bad! I moved to AAISP and went through further diagnostics (fair enough) for another 3+ months and finally I was with an isp who was prepared to get BT out, however they don’t have any more sway with them than any other and so while the issue was tracked to faulty cabling up the pole, BT won’t prioritise actually fixing it. Then of course, a month ago I lost all connection, due to a different issue apparently in the DSLAM.

In the meantime I’ve been using a 4G router, been getting twice the down speed and 25 times the up, decent pings and no downtime!
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Chrysalis

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #26 on: September 15, 2020, 11:52:17 AM »

My comment is based on the spots which look to be not getting FTTP, the government is only driven to fulfill rural areas, so urban and suburban areas without FTTP, the future for those people might be wireless for speeds faster than FTTC.
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IBeAdam

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #27 on: September 22, 2020, 05:10:41 PM »

An update.

My totally broken 26/2 FTTC line was finally fixed Sunday after 5 weeks down. It’s still going to be unreliable though as an ongoing intermittent fault has been traced to a degraded cable from ground to pole, but BT aren’t prioritising fixing it. It took almost 12 months to get that far.

I’ve been monitoring 4G initially intended as a backup. On average I get 50/20, peaking at 90/30 overnight. Lowest is around 26/15. Pings in the low 20’s. No down time at all in the last month.

The 4G has been reliable at a critical time for me - going through redundancy and trying to attend virtual interviews. Plus an autistic son trying to access online learning resources, while attempting to deal with all this change. It was a terrible time for my wired connection to be down, but BT/OpenReach didn’t care.

I have therefore ceased my FTTC line and am going 4G only. I am using the AAISP L2TP VPN to give me a fixed IP and bypass CGNAT.

Monthly savings will be in the region of £20/month and I get some additional data I can gift too.
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burakkucat

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #28 on: September 22, 2020, 05:53:23 PM »

Thank you for the update.

You have clearly found a viable Internet access mode for your family's situation. Hopefully it will continue to serve you well.
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Move from FTTC to 4G - sanity check please
« Reply #29 on: September 22, 2020, 08:43:48 PM »

The 4G has been reliable at a critical time for me - going through redundancy and trying to attend virtual interviews. Plus an autistic son trying to access online learning resources, while attempting to deal with all this change. It was a terrible time for my wired connection to be down, but BT/OpenReach didn’t care.

Aren't Openreach obliged to prioritise vulnerable people and would your son not qualify as such?  Although I can appreciate why you've given up on trying to get the line properly fixed at this point.

I do hope your 4G remains as reliable as it is now, around here on a bad day the latency becomes 2000ms under load so a very different scenario but they are supposedly upgrading the tower this week.
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