Broadband speed

[Twerto]

I would investigate more, I know you are further from the exchange than i was in Aith but i cant see how an extra 500m or so would create such a drop, i got anythign from 3 - 5mb

[khitajrah]

I would investigate more, I know you are further from the exchange than i was in Aith but i cant see how an extra 500m or so would create such a drop, i got anythign from 3 - 5mb

 

We sometimes get speeds like that, and then it drops down to something terrible like this. My partner has been on the phone with them countless times, but nothing ever comes of it. O2 says they are working on improving their connection speeds but.... ergh.

[Pooks]

Could be worth checking things like your filters or phone cables in case you have a dodgy one.

[khitajrah]

As far as I am aware they have been checked. My fella is my tech support and he deals with those sorts of thing.

[Pooks]

Having a look at what your router has to say could narrow down the problem. If it is connecting to the exchange at a decent rate with little noise then it could be a problem with the PC itself.

[TeeAyBee]

I'd also check your router. If the line is noisy some routers over react to the line conditions and negotiate a much lower line speed. I had a NetGear router which did just that and ended up with a 512Mbps service. After some research I found that a speedtouch router was more robust (maybe a bit deafer ) and was better at coping with the poor or variable line conditions. I now get between 1.5 and 3mbps dependent on the phase of the moon, wind conditions and if the chicken sacrifice is acceptable to the great god telly-comm.

 

Still pretty poor compared to connections enjoyed by others but better than it was bearing in mind the 3 miles to the exchange. Not too bad for RADSL.

[unlinkedstudent]

^^ When I was in London I was with Talktalk. I joined the Talktalk forums and discovered that when people were experiencing low speeds/poor connections, the Moderators on the TT Forums would look into the matter and resolve the problems. This was despite the fact that people had suffered for months/years and had got no joy from TT Customer Services/Helplines.

 

The Moderators asked the person to send them a pm with their phone number, equipment, etc., told them what print-out to do and then "tweaked" at their end or told the user to change X setting. In most cases, this solved the problem.

 

Perhaps your ISP has a similar forum?

[khitajrah]

Thanks, I shall pass all this info onto my Tech Support when he returns from work.

[killingpingu]

The, um, 'Tech Support' has come back from work....

 

It's not the router or our computers, we get 6Mb from the exchange in Bixter which is what we should be getting. The problem lies with O2 Access. They introduced a new traffic management policy towards the end of last year but I don't think they know what they are doing. I've spoken to them numerous times and basically they've told me that they're prioritising so as to increase bandwidth for web browsing, streaming and p2p, in that order. However, they don't seem to have gotten it quite right. For example, more often than not we will get 5Mb on p2p, around 1.5Mb streaming and under 1Mb for browsing.

 

What I understand from the O2 forums and other sources on the net, is that the O2 Access package relies on BT as the final link from the exchange to the home router. BT charge O2 for the bandwidth used which means O2 doesn't want you to use too much bandwidth, hence the 'traffic management'. On the other hand, O2 (and other providers) also offer LLU packages. Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) means that BT have allowed other companies to install their own quipment at the local exchanges, so these other companies have full control over the lines from their servers all the way to your house. With these LLU packages the traffic management isn't so severe and hence the speeds you'll get will be much higher.

 

The problem with Shetland is that as of yet no company has installed their own equipment at the local exchanges which means BT has a monopoly from your house to the local exchange, regardless of which company you use.

 

We were with BT for a while but discovered that their 'Unlimited' bundle had a limit and they punished you by heavily capping you for a month, no warnings given. Not to mention that you were expected to learn a forgein lanuage before contacting customer services and even then you wouldn't dare say anything technical to them in fear of nudging them out of their comfort zones. This inevitably pushed their reset button and forced them back to the beginning of their telephone script, something which has given me numerous grey hairs. So we switched to O2 Access. At the start everthing was perfect, but then as I mentioned they introduced the 'traffic management'. They tell us they're upgrading soon, but the words 'trust' and 'ISP' don't sit well together.

 

Hopefully one day we will all have a decent connection. Untill then it's a matter of choosing the lesser of several evils.

[hairyian]

The, um, 'Tech Support' has come back from work....

 

What I understand from the O2 forums and other sources on the net, is that the O2 Access package relies on BT as the final link from the exchange to the home router. BT charge O2 for the bandwidth used which matter of choosing the lesser of several evils.

 

Nope. BTWholesale charge for bandwidth all the way between you and O2.

O2 don't buy enough bandwidth to deliver a half decent service.

THe O2 price points means that it would be impossible to make a profit if their customers wanted to use the service. Hence the performance you are experiencing.

 

Do you want cheap or do you want bandwidth? That is the customer choice.

[JordanKZ]

^

 

At £17.50 a month (that's with a discount for using o2 as my phones network) o2 is one of the more expensive residential ISP's going.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations in regards to an ISP where I can get an unlimited connection without caps? o2 were one of the few companies remaining.

[ArabiaTerra]

^^^ I don't know about unlimited but I get a 40Gb limit with TalkTalk's standard package for £10/month. Phone and line rental on top brings it up to about £25-£30/month all in depending on how many calls I make.

[hairyian]

^

 

At £17.50 a month (that's with a discount for using o2 as my phones network) o2 is one of the more expensive residential ISP's going.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations in regards to an ISP where I can get an unlimited connection without caps? o2 were one of the few companies remaining.

 

O2 probably won't go bust because they have effectively stopped 'unlimited'. Others, well they already have! many customers of the former AOL UK and Tiscali UK are getting some very unwelcome letters telling them to pay a more realistic price or find another ISP.

 

Using BT Wholesale, perhaps others, 'unlimited' is only financially viable if charging 3 figure sums.

Some companies cross subsiide broadband from reveue from other services such as line rental / call charges, mobile phone charges or TV deals. Nearly all these companies treat their broadband as a Cinderella part of the package.

[Skunnered]

Have you looked at PlusNet?

[sga]

I've been with BT for a few years now for both the phone and broadband. I cant really fault them with their service but I do think it is far too expensive. When you add up the line rental, broadband and all the rest it comes to over £70 a month. I see that the Post Office are offering a phone and broadband package for only £25 a month and that includes line rental.

 

I was wondering if anyone here has the Post Office package and if it was any use. I read a few poor reviews on the net but would like to see what the service is like here in Shetland. If anyone can recommend any other provider that would be great too.

 

I would like a package with unlimited downloads and a fast connection, I'm getting about 6Mb with BT which I'm happy with. I need something thats always going to work too, I use the internet a lot for gaming and my wife uses the connection to work from home. So yeh, basicaly fast, reliable and cheap.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.