Can only get 1mb broadband - alternatives?

[Brand86]

I've just moved into a new house, and although the connection from the box to my house is good, from the exchange to the box is awful as the cables haven't been upgraded. As a result, the fastest connection I can get via BT is about 1mb! I've met my MP about this and hopefully BT upgrade in the next year or so, but I can't survive like this!

Does anyone know what the alternatives are? I've heard of satellite internet but as I play a lot of of online games, I heard this wasn't great as you have a high ping? There are also boxes which have 4G connections and you can tether from, but the most they seem to do is 20gb a month which isn't much at all.

Any other suggestions?

p.s. something like Relish would be a good option, but only available in Central London it seems?
https://www1.relish.net/athome

Cheers
Tom.

 

[Addicted]

Cable if you can get it, otherwise a wireless dongle - but they are generally crap.

Was checking connection stuff not a requirement for you during the house move?

Not really much you can do imo.

 

[DannyR]

You can buy proper 4G routers that you pop a sim in and get 4 Ethernet ports. Gaming doesn't use much usage IIRC only when downloading files and updates, but nowadays 20gb can be done in 1/3 of a game!

Satellite broadband is crap, ping times are not great.

 

[Chapppers11]

Tethering laptops through a phone was useful for me when I didn't have any internet, not good enough for gaming though.

 

[Brand86]

It was a new house so sort of assumed the developer had contacted BT and they would have laid new cables from the exchange when constructing. Sadly not though!

Danny - which 4g wireless routers are available? Think this is the sort of thing Relish were offering, but we can't get it in our area.

 

[jenic]

It's worth looking into Fibre to the mast (FTTM), I have a friend in Lancashire who has it through a company called Boundless but there are a number of companies offering such a service now I believe in other areas.

 

[DannyR]

It was a new house so sort of assumed the developer had contacted BT and they would have laid new cables from the exchange when constructing. Sadly not though!

Danny - which 4g wireless routers are available? Think this is the sort of thing Relish were offering, but we can't get it in our area.

We use the Proroute ones, but after a quick google there are a lot around now. Worth upgrading to a proper external aerial though.

 

[JonnyK]

It's worth looking into Fibre to the mast (FTTM), I have a friend in Lancashire who has it through a company called Boundless but there are a number of companies offering such a service now I believe in other areas.

It's just satellite broadband, if any online gaming is to be enjoyable, I would avoid, it would actually be better on 1mb copper broadband due to the ping times/latency of the wireless connection being useless.

 

[Chrisgti6]

No wireless internet options in your area?

Near where I live we have this company (W3Z) who can provide internet wirelessly to your home. Various packages (none cheap!) You're looking at £40 a month for an unlimited 10mbps connection.

 

[JonnyK]

No wireless internet options in your area?

Near where I live we have this company (W3Z) who can provide internet wirelessly to your home. Various packages (none cheap!) You're looking at £40 a month for an unlimited 10mbps connection.

OP has said he plays online games, so wireless internet is a poor choice. Ignore the peak speeds, it's the latency that is important for gaming.

 

[Chrisgti6]

OP has said he plays online games, so wireless internet is a poor choice. Ignore the peak speeds, it's the latency that is important for gaming.

I'm certainly not saying it's the best idea, however it would be better than sattelite, and possibly better that the current connection?

 

[Gus]

As said see if Virgin Media serve your road: http://store.virginmedia.com/discover/broadband.html
Virgin broadband is properly quick and I would never go back to ADSL .

 

[JonnyK]

I'm certainly not saying it's the best idea, however it would be better than sattelite, and possibly better that the current connection?

satellite/wireless - tomato/tomato

 

[Chrisgti6]

satellite/wireless - tomato/tomato

You do realise that satellite and wireless broadband are different things don't you?

 

[DannyR]

The wireless one is usually a fibre connection then pinged across small aerials, usually via churches. You then have a little aerial and your own router. Good idea, but rare to see.

One of my customers actually came up with the idea a while back!

 

[JonnyK]

still suffers from latency issues. Hence the tomato/tomato comment.

 

[DannyR]

No it doesn't. I saw ping times of 80ms.

Satellite is between 300-1000ms depending on atmosphere/clouds/weather etc...

 

[Chrisgti6]

The wireless one is usually a fibre connection then pinged across small aerials, usually via churches. You then have a little aerial and your own router. Good idea, but rare to see.

One of my customers actually came up with the idea a while back!

Must have been a very long time ago, the company near me have been around for years!

Edit: since 2003

 

[Gus]

Will just leave this here.... I pay for 100mb

 

[rctempire]

Will just leave this here.... I pay for 100mb

Very nice.

I only got passed 1Mbit in the past two months. They finally upgraded to FTTC.
2 years was a long time with 1Mbit in my house.
So sad when waiting 10 minutes for a video when it was 3 minutes long.

 

[JonnyK]

No it doesn't. I saw ping times of 80ms.

Satellite is between 300-1000ms depending on atmosphere/clouds/weather etc...

and is an 80ms ping supposed to be good? l

Optical just posted a ping of 15 and I have just done a speedtest and got a ping of 10. So yes. It's got a worse latency.

maybe you mis-understood my comments.. I am saying wireless and satellite both have worse latency when compared to a wired ADSL/VDSL connection. The difference between the latency of one versus the other, I'm not bothered about in all honesty.

 

[DannyR]

Must have been a very long time ago, the company near me have been around for years!

Edit: since 2003

It was a longtime ago, nearly 20 years I think.

and is an 80ms ping supposed to be good? l

Optical just posted a ping of 15 and I have just done a speedtest and got a ping of 10. So yes. It's got a worse latency.

maybe you mis-understood my comments.. I am saying wireless and satellite both have worse latency when compared to a wired ADSL/VDSL connection. The difference between the latency of one versus the other, I'm not bothered about in all honesty.

It's good considering I see some ADSL lines at 150 when they are in a remote destination.

My VDSL will get 20/25 but 1mb with a ping of 50ms over 15/20mb and an 80ms ping it's really a no brainer!

 

[Chrisgti6]

Will just leave this here.... I pay for 100mb

Well if that's the game we are playing..........

lol

I would like better upload though, I max out on upload far more often than download.

 

[sn00p]

Well if that's the game we are playing..........

Hai, joining in the VM speed test game.

....Waiting for Player 3 to join.

 

[DannyR]

Why is the upload so poor with virgin?

 

[charltjr]

A lot of suppliers seem to be going that way now, 40 down 2 up is getting common on the cheaper BT-based fibre services.

Fine for streaming etc but if you use cloud storage or P2P services it blows. It saves them money and they can still advertise the high headline download speeds.

 

[charltjr]

I feel your pain BTW OP, my ADSL here is only about 1Mb and I was used to fibre. I had to wait for the local cabinet to be upgraded before I got an order slot for fibre, took three months.

Still, it's OK now.

I remember the days when 256kB seemed like light speed, how things change

In all seriousness I'd keep your ADSL line for gaming as you're unlikely to beat it for consistent latency with any mobile or satellite provision. Three used to be a good option for tethering, their One Plan was unlimited data with tethering and it was pretty quick but they've stopped doing it now.

 

[sn00p]

Why is the upload so poor with virgin?

Because web traffic is generally asymmetric (hence ADSL), 150/150 would be pretty pointless to 99.9% of people.

You mainly consume.

 

[Brand86]

Thanks for the advice. I can't get Virgin either unfortunately, but have registered my interest in the hope they lay some more cables down my road.
Internet connection sounds OK but quite expensive for £40? The 4G option sounds good but don't think anyone offers this where I live.
I used about 5GB watching Twitch streams on Friday night alone

 

[Cookie]

Move

 

[Chrisgti6]

On the last 2 houses i've bought - Internet speeds were high on the list of priorities! it went like this:-

Detached
Garage
Driveway
Virgin Media

If it didn't have the above - I didn't view it!

 

[JonnyK]

I do the same. When I had rented or bought somewhere, I check availability of fibre!

 

[Brand86]

As it was a brand new house I didn't think to check as assumed it would all be sorted. Obviously not!
We keep emailing Virgin to register our interest so hopefully happens in the not so distant future

 

[H182]

If you can get wireless from a decent provider it shouldn't be too bad. We had it at a couple of sites in the lakes and got a 40ms ping, good enough for gaming.

Pings on 4g wouldn't be great, and they're not stable enough for a 24/7 connection IMO.

I'd rather stick with the 1mb line than satellite, we have a few of them and the speed is terrible.

 

[Brand86]

Do you have any recommendations for the wireless option, is that different to 4G connections then? I thought they were the same thing

 

[DannyR]

It will be a local thing so will need to look in local publications.

It is different to 4G and different to satellite

 

[Chrisgti6]

It will be a local thing so will need to look in local publications.

It is different to 4G and different to satellite

But it's the same as a tomato, yeah?

 

[DannyR]

No it's a tomato!

 

[Chrisgti6]

Do you have any recommendations for the wireless option, is that different to 4G connections then? I thought they were the same thing

Where abouts are you in Herts? I'll have a dig around see if I can find any providers

 

[Brand86]

I'm in Leverstock Green, which is between Hemel and St Albans mate. Postcode, if you need it, is HP2 4GW.

Thanks for your help