Help with Broadband

[Sash]

Right, my internet is somewhat pissing me off...

Its slow... v..e...r....y slow, i.e to watch a 45 min program on 4od took nearly 2 hours...
Opening some internet pages takes forever, opening threads with pics on here is pointless, can go away make a cuppa and come back and it still be downloading the pics!

So... I want to change service provider, curently with Plusnet, who IMO are useless

Want to keep it as cheap as possible i.e not £60p/m just on the internet. We're about 2.5 miles from the exchange (if that makes a difference these days...)
There are currently 2x stand alone PC's and 3 possibly 4 laptops (Wi-Fi) being used at peak.

Possibly consider a phone package as well, depends if it's cheaper than what I currently pay.

Can anyone help me!

 

[Malachi]

IIRC, Plusnet are owned by BT who are, in general, awful. What speeds are you getting at the moment?

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/ This might help give you an idea of what you can get for your money.

I generally hear good things about BE Broadband (http://www.bethere.co.uk), and their prices seem quite reasonable. If you can get cable broadband (i.e. Virgin) maybe consider that? Although they do cap speeds at peak times. It gets cheaper if you have a Virgin mobile/landline etc.

 

[Sash]

Cant get cable where I am, as for speeds I'm not too sure what we're actually getting, it makes dial up look good at times.

 

[realnumber 1]

I never had a problem with sky broadbad and it's cheap if you already have sky tv.

 

[Malachi]

Use www.speedtest.net to find out what speed you're getting (speeds will probably be worse at peak times).

Then type your number into BT/another ISP's site, to find out what the maximum is you can get.

I usually get ~3mb, even though BE/BT/TalkTalk say my maximum is 6mb. Having said that, it depends on lots of factors such as line noise, time of day etc.

 

[Sash]

Im pretty sure this is rather pants... someone will confirm it...

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Yup. It is .. you know what you have to do !

 

[Sash]

Yes dear... will go speak with next door tonight.

o2 seem pretty good, anyone had any problems with them as a provider?

 

[BRUN]

unless you can get cable dont most of the providers use BT anyway, therefore the speed is likely to be the same ?

 

[Will.]

Yes dear... will go speak with next door tonight.

o2 seem pretty good, anyone had any problems with them as a provider?

I have o2 and my connection is crap But I'm on that access broadband thing which means I get the s**t connection due to where I live.

 

[Glenn182]

Yes dear... will go speak with next door tonight.

o2 seem pretty good, anyone had any problems with them as a provider?

Been thinking about changing gto o2 myself, as talktalk are s**t.

Been offered 6 moths free & £5 discount per month due to having an o2 mobile for years

 

[Sash]

according to Plusnet's website, we're not even getting the minimum speed So gonna call them and argue like hell!

 

[sn00p]

according to Plusnet's website, we're not even getting the minimum speed So gonna call them and argue like hell!

Good luck with that one, you're still well within the limits that ofcom prescribe for a broadband connection. Remember they market broadband as "Up to...".

What would be more interesting to know is your line stats, your router will be able to show them. Try http://192.168.0.1 (most likley that's the router address) and then login and find your connection statistics, you'll be wanting to show noise margin and attenuation. If you post those figures we'll be able to tell you (most likely) whether it's your line or plusnet.

 

[Malachi]

Maximum speed depends on distance from the exchange too. Use http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search to find your local exchange, then you can figure out how far you are from it. Its not always a straight line distance though.

I'm living in a small village in Essex atm, and my local exchange is a good distance away

On a side note, I take it you've connected microfilters to all telephone sockets in the house?

Edit: That speed isn't *that* bad btw... my Dad's house in London has been getting 0.2mb/s for the past 3 weeks. TalkTalk are bloody useless.

 

[Gally]

I can't believ eyou think Plusnet are bad, must be your area hun.

Plusnet are easily the best company i've been with. I've never had a problem with them in 18 months now. If I want anything I phone up and they sort it. The way they deal with things is better than any other company i've seen.

You can actually go online and se the internal emails that they have passed around regarding your request.

 

[Mot!]

Plusnet's new packages and throttling are a joke, any streamed video is throttled to the point that you may as well not bother, particularly in the evening. That's why I left them.

I moved over to o2 before they introduced their throttling and I receive line speed 24/7, regardless of what media I'm accessing. I wouldn't bother moving over now though TBH.

I'd opt for Be* if I was moving ISP now..

 

[welshname]

Yes dear... will go speak with next door tonight.

o2 seem pretty good, anyone had any problems with them as a provider?

o2 is actually provided by BE. they are great, we use them in work (we can get cable now though so ill be getting that come the end of the contract)

you get a discount with o2 if you are with them for your mobile (just get a PAYG)

 

[Sash]

Good luck with that one, you're still well within the limits that ofcom prescribe for a broadband connection. Remember they market broadband as "Up to...".

What would be more interesting to know is your line stats, your router will be able to show them. Try http://192.168.0.1 (most likley that's the router address) and then login and find your connection statistics, you'll be wanting to show noise margin and attenuation. If you post those figures we'll be able to tell you (most likely) whether it's your line or plusnet.

Connection Speed 2144 kbps 448 kbps Line Attenuation 47 db 15.5 db
plus net's site say that the exchange has been upgraded to ADSL2+ (whatever that is) and i'm only 2.5 miles from the exchange.

 

[T3gav]

Anyone but talk talk utter shite, my connection was 300kb least i have 1.2 meg with bt lol.

 

[welshname]

 

[Soot1e]

Your line is probably keeping download speeds slow so whatever CP you go with there won't be much difference. Call your CP 1st. for help and insist on an engineer visit.

 

[Sash]

Things seem to be worse...

Whats the "ping"aspect do?

 

[bmit]

With the sync speed you posted 2144 you should be getting around 1.8 download speed . Plusnet will be shaping your traffic at peak times too . A provider like be or newnet would be better providing they are in your exchange . Also check if there are any providers offering llu service from ur exchange.

Also check your sync speed on sam knows too see what you should expect to get. If its much more than the 2144 your getting it could indicate problems with the line

Ping is the time is takes to send data to and from your router to he server

 

[Wilkeh]

Things seem to be worse...

Whats the "ping"aspect do?

It's the time it takes to send data from your PC to a host then back to you again, a round trip. 299ms is crazy high. It should be 30-40ms. The lower it is the better it is for gaming etc.

 

[Wilkeh]

I live out in the sticks and mine is pretty OKish. Not brilliant mind.

 

[Malachi]

You live in the sticks and you get that?! I'm getting 1.4mb down here in Essex. At my Dad's house in London I was getting 3.5mb >_>

NEED CABLE/FIBRE.

 

[Wilkeh]

You live in the sticks and you get that?! I'm getting 1.4mb down here in Essex. At my Dad's house in London I was getting 3.5mb >_>

NEED CABLE/FIBRE.

Lol. Yea mate, I live in a little village next to Alton Towers. I must be quite close to the exchange!

 

[Wilkeh]

Lol! Check out my works internet!

 

[Rob_]

Currently with virgin but am in process of upgrading to the 30mb package

 

[Rob_]

Now on 30mb service

Virgin are shite, never hit the speeds do they

 

[conneh]

Virgin are awfull.

Why roll out 30mb when they can barely provide the majority of their customers with decent speeds in the first place.

Check out http://www.swbroadband.co.uk/

 

[SC03OTT]

Do you have a source to back that up, or it it just based on your own experience? All the people I know with VM get the advertised speed.

 

[BRUN]

all the people i know on VM get the paid for speed too, its all the other providers that are s**t cos they dont have a proper network like VM do

 

[Malachi]

All the people I know with VM get the advertised speed.

This is what I've heard too. The only downside is the traffic shaping/speed throttling that occurs if you download too much in peak times.

 

[sn00p]

Now on 30mb service

Virgin are s**te, never hit the speeds do they

Good stuff

And here's the traffic graph of a download using our VM 50 Mb/s connection....