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George.
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Well, that's my internet connection just come back. It went off at ten this morning and came back at twenty-five past. It's almost a daily thing, often off for a couple of hours or more. Wonder if, and when, they're going to do something about it. Plusnet, who I pay for my landline, make a lot of promises when I contact them but they have done for the last seven or eight years while doing nothing about it.

 

Any suggestions, apart from going satellite, on what could be done about this problem?

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Plusnet are awful. :(

T'net here is truly dire and Plusnet blame the little exchange run by two hamsters and a snail, with the odd pigeon popping by.

 

There are no plans to upgrade anything but meanwhile, back in the land of t'net.  But according to BBC News "Homes and businesses will have a legal right to demand faster broadband speed by 2020".... "Under the plan, broadband providers will face a legal requirement to provide this minimum standard to anyone requesting it, subject to a cost threshold."

 

I am not holding my breath tbh.

Interestingly, when our broadband died completely, I got a life!

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Two problems here. Plusnet are owned by British Telecom who deliver all landline signals, when the system is working around here. Also, although homes and businesses will have a legal right to moan and groan for a faster broadband speed, will they remain in contact with the rest of the world. My broadband speed is bearable - when it's working. Unfortunately, it isn't working for a goood period of time, on an almost daily basis. I would bet that this doesn't happen in Brae and certainly not in Lerwick where all the people that think they're important live.

 

Good on you for finding that no broadband could give you a life!!!

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  • 4 months later...

Some folk set up I notice setup things themselves, though I hear BT look like they are going to upgrade things around here in the next couple of years.

Related links, last one is useful for checking specific telephone exchange information:

https://b4rn.org.uk

https://availability.samknows.com/broadband

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That's interesting - thanks for the link.

 

When I put in my postcode, I received this information:
 

 
General Information
Exchange name: Walls Exchange code: NSWAL Location: Shetland Islands Scotland Postcode: ZE29PF Maps: Our map | Multimap | Streetmap Serves (approx): 266 residential premises 31 non-residential premises.
Broadband availability overview
ADSL:
Yes
SDSL:
No
LLU services:
No
Cable:
No
Wireless:
No
BT Wholesale information
ADSL status:
Enabled as of 10/08/2005
ADSL Max status:
Enabled as of 31/03/2006
SDSL status:
Not available
21CN WBC status:
Not available
FTTC status:
Not available
FTTP status:
Not available
Wireless broadband availability
Please use broadband checker section for Wireless availability
Cable Broadband Availability
Virgin Media:
Not available
LLU operator presence
Edge Telecom:
Not available
Entanet:
Not available
Fluency:
Not available
KC (Kingston):
Not available
Timico Partners:
Not available
Node4:
Not available
Orbital:
Not available
Origin Broadband:
Not available
Redcentric:
Not available
Rutland Telecom:
Not available
Sky:
Not available
Spectrum:
Not available
TalkTalk (CPW):
Not available
Vodafone:
Not available
WB Internet:
Not available
Zen Internet:
Not available
Ofcom Classification
Market 1
This exchange has BT Wholesale as the sole provider of broadband services.

 

 
 
Based on this information, does that mean our broadband is the very basic?  How do I find out if they are going to upgrade our broadband.  Sometimes snails are faster.  Ours is fairly awful.
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That's interesting - thanks for the link.

 

When I put in my postcode, I received this information:

 

 
 
 
 
Based on this information, does that mean our broadband is the very basic?  How do I find out if they are going to upgrade our broadband.  Sometimes snails are faster.  Ours is fairly awful.

 

 

The Walls exchange was upgraded to FTTC some time ago(its next to the Walls hall).

You are too far from it though to get the speed

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It's a pity 17070 doesn't tell us users our line length anymore, as that was a useful tool.

When your internet goes down, does it also for your nearest neighbours ?

If not, it might be a cable fault someplace.
(Though it could still be a cable fault, but further up the line!)

I find it works best if inside at least, your router is plumbed into your master phone socket, rather than via an extension socket.

Is your telephone line underground, or overhead ?

I remember someone I knew had trouble with their overhead line having a crack in it, and when it was windy or raining, their line would go all crackly.
(The first time BT came out to check, they didn't check the actual physical overhead cable and declared it fine! be warned, they can charge you £180 if they find no fault!)
(Second time, they came when it was raining, and could hear the crackle, then they checked the actual physical line, and lo and behold, a fault!)

I remember one time my own line had three separate different faults on it !
(Fingers crossed, been ok so far where I am, underground lines by the looks of it.)

I wonder how much it would cost to have BT extend to another exchange nearer to you..
(Possibility exists to bandy together with neighbours and run your own fibre cable, or maybe setup a wireless link.)
(I'd be thinking, can I run a cable across that field to the nearest person I know with decent speeds..)

There are also other issues that can cause problems with your internet connection, such as Windows sucking up all available bandwidth for updates.. (There are tools now to turn that off, though most of the time you can turn that off in Windows itself, someplace..)

Or possibly a virus infection. (Got antivirus ?)
 

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Nearest neigbour with internet is about 1/2 mile away so no idea.  I think not.

Internet/phone cable is underground to the door.
Router is plumbed direct into master socket.  It is a "proper" socket too so no microfilters needed.  No extension sockets.

We live in the middle of the scattald with few neighbours.  Possibly, after us, only 5 houses on the line and before us, not that many. I haven't counted.
Virus?  Good idea - will run ClamXAV
All Macs in this house.

But thank you for your suggestions. Appreciated.

 

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Your welcome.
 

Up here I notice we tend to have very little upload capacity, it can get swamped easily, so if you have something uploading all the time, that could cause issues like apparent dropped connections.

(I notice for example that crypto-currency miners tend to be quite bandwidth hungry.)

Someone I know had such an issue with their phone backing up their photo collection via their Wifi to router link and swamping their very limited broadband connection, causing it to drop all the time, as it was it would have taken weeks to upload all their pictures at the slow speed they had available.

If you have other internet enabled devices, they too can cause this kind of issue, such as TV, internet TV set top boxes.

For example, if mum wants to watch something on BBC Catchup, I have to make sure I'm not using the internet, or there isn't enough bandwidth to go around !

Yep, proper socket here too, the nice BT man put one in a couple of years ago.

If more than one computer in a household, ideally you want to run a different antivirus on each one, or at least two different types, so if one misses a virus, the other might spot it.

I remember ClamXAV on server PC's, it didn't active scan web access or files, you had to tell it when to scan.  If that is the case with the Mac version, I'd highly recommend an active scanner that keeps an eye on your browser, and email, as those tend to be easy ways in for things.

That and USB port devices..

I don't have anything in particular to recommend for Mac's, or know how many free antivirus examples exist out there to try.
(I know on PC, it can be quite difficult to find a well behaved antivirus package, Norton for example, is very troublesome to get working nicely..)


Even routers these days can catch a virus !

Or TV's..

Mobile phones are another possible risk area as well, recommend antivirus scan/install on those too.

When your connection next goes down, if you can log into your router and see if your connection really is down, or get some idea of what traffic might be going or coming.

If mine goes down, I like to check with a neigbour too, to get some idea of where the issue may be.

(Another way to get to know your neighbour !)

 

Problem solving these kind of issues can be quite a lengthy issue..

 

And you don't always find anything you can do to make things better, but sometimes you do. :-)

 

I tend to be a problem solver.

Other issues effecting broadband can be a particular landline phone also connected, (Sometimes you exceed the REN number with too many phones, as such I find you can have 3 maybe 4 ringing, and everything can still work ok, even if you have half a dozen phones plugged in.) or a neighbour pigging backing on your wifi connection for free. :-)

If you are have BT internet, there is an option to share your router wifi for this purpose to other BT customers, as such you may want to turn that off, if folk are using it and using up half your bandwidth !
 

I think the older routes this was on by default, and newer ones its off by default..
(If its on, you can use other BT wifi hotspots, if off, you can't from what I recall.)

I've limited experience of Mac's myself.
 

Edited by Nigel Bridgman-Elliot
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  • 9 months later...

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