mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Is there any way to find out EXACTLY what speed we would be getting if we moved to another broadband provider? All they say for example is up to 8MB which could mean we dont get anything like that at all which isn't good enough.
We pay £17.99 at the moment for a 1.1MB connection and its shocking when it comes to downloading things. It seems to vary from day to day too. Some days it has no trouble with youtube videos but others it struggles like crazy.
Its with Orange by default at the moment as we were with Freeserve originally many years ago and they've been bought out by various people over the years. The speed of it is really doing my tits in now. Orange broadband customer service is shit too. My stepdad rang up for the MAC code, they said they would email us it for some reason but they haven't and are were generally unhelpful. So going to have to ring again.
Any recommendations and advice appreciated. I just want quickish reliable broadband!
[Edited on 12-07-2010 by mwg]
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
User status: Offline
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all providers will pretty much give you the same speed as they use the same line.
I guess by the price you are paying and for the speed your in the sticks and there is no LLU so thats the best your probably going to get im afaird. Switching comapny though may allow you to get better speeds at better times etc
[Edited on 16-01-2010 by Toby]
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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I live in a small town.
We have had this price and speed since the day we got broadband which is years ago now. Never looked to change till now so I was hoping we could get quite a bit more for our money. Just dont want to sign up to one of these that says up to 8MB then in end up with exactly the same as we have.
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AlunJ
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Registered: 3rd Apr 07
Location: Newport
User status: Offline
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http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=26957
don't have to sign up to anything, but it'll tell you the max line speed, was shocked to find at my parent, which is pretty damn close to a big exchange and the max speed it only 6meg.
Always worth mentioning to orange that you'll be speaking to ofcom if they won't give you the mac code? They were a pain in the arse when we signed up to wanadoo broadband, were originally on freeserve dial up lol, and they were generally useless. 
[Edited on 16-01-2010 by AlunJ]
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Thanks Alun. They were arsey about giving it out and said they had to email it.
All just sounds like stalling tactics to me.
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AlunJ
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
Location: Newport
User status: Offline
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bunch of pricks they are, we went to upgrade to broadband when it changed over to wanadoo back in the days when 256k was brilliant lol after numerous phone calls they finally sent us out a modem for it etc, but do you think they bothered to get bt to upgrade the line? After numerous calls noone seemed to care the final straw came when they started charging us for the priviledge of broadband when we were still stuck on dialup. Cancelled the direct debit and told them to shove it up their arse  the new isp had everything sorted in a matter of days.
[Edited on 16-01-2010 by AlunJ]
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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So we never did get the MAC off them
I rang again today and they will not give it to me over the phone. Said they are sending it out in a letter that should be with us by the end of the next week...
We are 200 metres from the exchange and any sites I look at saying up to 8Meg download speed. We want to know exactly what we are getting, not "up to".
Who's the best broadband provider at the moment?
o2 can only provide their Access Package which is £22.50  so we aren't getting that.
BT will do Broadband and Phone for £27.99 a month which seems ok as Mum wants to keep the BT phone line.
Not sure who else to try.
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
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If you can't get LLU, the ISP's all use BT wholesale to provide the connection, so they'll all be mostly the same.
How fast it can go is dependant on your line/distance from the exchange.
See what speed you get if the router is plugged into the main BT socket with everything else unplugged.
Check http://www.samknows.com/old/broadband/checker2.php for estimated speed and to find out if you can get LLU.
I've just seen 200m from the exchange, something wrong then, try the main BT socket first.
[Edited on 26-06-2010 by John]
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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From the samknows.com site
quote:
The following services are available in your location:
BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT ADSL broadband availability
You are connected to the Grange-over-sands telephone exchange.
ADSL is available in your area
Your exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services
Your exchange should have ADSL2+ services installed by the 31st o March 2011
According to BT Wholesale, your phone line should be able to support a 8Mbps or greater ADSL connection via ADSL Max.
Standard ADSL RAG results
You can receive 2Mbps ADSL
You can receive 1Mbps ADSL
You can receive 512kbps ADSL
You can receive 256kbps ADS
You are approximately 235 metres from the exchange.
When I do a broadband speed test we get there or there abouts 1.1Mbps which is what we are meant to get on our current package that we've had for years. But I'm sure we must be able to get more if we switch provider as it was around 8 years ago when we first got the 1.1 connection!
[Edited on 26-06-2010 by mwg]
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John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
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That close to the exchange with ADSL Max you should be getting 8meg.
Nothing there about LLU so everything comes from BT, probably not the best download speeds from most of them.
If you care changing ISP anyway just pick one, not got any recommendations really, any I've been with in the past couple of years start off good then quickly go crap.
If the speed hasn't improved complain to the new ISP and they should follow it up.
If you've got a really really old router from freeserve it might not even support ADSL Max which means a maximum speed of 2meg and the 1.1 wouldn't be that bad.
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John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
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I'm too slow
You should be able to get 8meg if you change provider yes.
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Might give BT a try with the broadband and call package then. They say up to 8Mbps and we'd get a new router with it too so that'd clear up any issues at our side of things if it didn't get any faster.
Cheers John. Just have to wait and see if this MAC turns up. I dont understand why they couldn't just give it to me there and then over the phone!
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John
Member
Registered: 30th Jun 03
User status: Offline
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They are arses about that now, have to provide it within 5 days legally, normally quicker than that.
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Got the MAC so rang BT up just now and we've got unlimited broadband and calls starting on 12th July with that nice hub and hub phone.
Hopefully I can watch the higher quality sopcast links now too as we should get around 8Mbps  Its going to be faster than 1.1Mbps either way!
The whole thing has worked out about £5 cheaper than what we were paying for our calls and broadband too which is a bonus.
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dannymccann
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 06
Location: Doddington, Lincolnshire
User status: Offline
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I hate BT, you think Orange customer services is shit, wait and see.
As has been said, you are in the same position as me, shit ADSL based on old phoneline technology means you get the same speed whatever the provider, should just go with whoever is cheapest, which is TalkTalk I believe, line rental, calls and broadband for £18 a month.
And dont be taken in by the Hub thing, it might look pretty but it *was* (2 years ago) a useless piece of shit, as was the phone.
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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My cousins got the same set up and he hasn't had any problems with the hub.
We will get faster than the current 1.1Mb that we have at the moment.
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AlunJ
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
Location: Newport
User status: Offline
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I was told I would get... 6meg when I signed up... i'm pushing 1.5meg
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Have to see what we get
For some reason they said our speed might go up and down for the first few days. Dont know how true that is or why it might be thats just what the lass on the phone said 
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AlunJ
Member
Registered: 3rd Apr 07
Location: Newport
User status: Offline
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yeah they sort of "test" out the capability of the line to see what speed it can carry without difficulty, I forget the technical term - think it's possibly "training" or something? I'm sure mine only fluctuated between 1mb and 1.5mb
[Edited on 04-07-2010 by AlunJ]
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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I mainly want the extra speed for watching Premier League and Spanish League football on. So as long as its all up to speed by the middle of August I'll be happy
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Got connected about 10 mins ago. Already at 3.6Mbps its saying through my PS3 speed check and just done a speed check on a website and its come back with the same. So its already faster than what we had and it might go up yet.
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SetH
Member
Registered: 15th Jul 01
User status: Offline
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How old is your house? Do you have a BT openworld logo on the master socket in your house?
If you have an older socket it will have 2 bell wires in (used for old bell ring type phones). This causes interference and can massively affect speed.
Also do you have any telephone extension cables anywhere? These can also carry the bellwires.
I was getting 500-700k and could not work out why. After removing both bellwires in the master socket I know get 2 meg.
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Welsh Dan
Member
Registered: 23rd Mar 00
User status: Offline
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You can get a free BT speed improver thingy, that does what Seth just said
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25075&s_cid=btb_FURL_accelerator
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mwg
Member
Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
User status: Offline
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Yeah seen those. Will see what speed we are at in 10 days time before we do. Its already a lot faster than it was just by changing to BT.
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SetH
Member
Registered: 15th Jul 01
User status: Offline
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those front plates do the job but also very sneaky marketing.
You literally only have to remove the 2 bell wires which is a piece of piss and costs nothing.
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