BT Internet Broadband Service

[DaveB]

I'm baffled by all of this! I don't have cable in my area so infinity is a no-go for now but even so, being an Option4 customer (£30pm plus line rental) I'm also interested in how you get a free upgrade I've yet to see my 2mb BB increased (FOC) to 'up to whatever'.. something promised months ago so.. I wonder if I'm paying for Ian's Infinity setup instead Add on my ISDN2e line and I think I'm probably paying for a few folks upgrades.

Baffled of Berkshire

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

Does this mean anything to anyone ?

No!

My previous post has just about exhausted my knowledge of Broadband

Well, not quite ... A bit more about the Infinity product. (Knowledge gained from chatting to Openreach engineers over the last couple of months!). Our local exchange was upgraded to fibre a few months ago. The street cabinets are linked directly to the exchange and the fibre optic cable replaces the copper on that part of the system. There is no degradation of signal in the fibre optic cable so the 40Mbps signal leaving the exchange is still 40Mbps when it reaches the cabinet. If you're lucky enough to live near a cabinet you'll get nearly 40Mbps download.

The Infinity product guarantees a minimum of 20Mbps so even if your cabinet is fibre if the copper to your house is too long the signal degrades and if it degrades below 20Mbps BT can't offer you Infinity. So they've decided to call it something else (like 'new faster broadband' or something) but it's Infinity without the 20Mbps guarantee. I couldn't get Infinity because of my distance from the cabinet but when they decided to offer this lower speed fibre they emailed me to offer it at the same price as my existing Total Broadband Option 3 (which is the new Option 4!) of £28 per month. What they get is a new contract for 18 months. The HH3 and engineer install was free but postage on the Hub was £6 I think.

So when your local exchange is upgraded to fibre optic (FTTC) you should get an email inviting you to benefit from it. You can get info on the BT website about the exchange rollouts but remember distance from the cabinet (not the exchange) will decide your final speed.

BT Infinity info

But FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) is already being overtaken. The new product is FTTH - fibre to the home and this is already being trialled and rolled out. It means that the copper wire will be replaced all the way to the house and this will give 100Mbps download. I'll give you more info next time an Openreach engineer pops in

Ian

[Paul K]

I've just checked, and Cambridge Central wont get it till December 2012. So much for Silicon Fen. Even Tring gets it earlier than us.

Well anyway, BT reckons my sudden lower speed was because the line had been reset on the 16th November, which I knew about, and the 10-day stabilization period had come to an end on Sunday. So now, I am in a new period of 24 hours which will see my broadband speed settling down to its current 8.6 MB/s...allegedly. They are going to call back again at 7pm tomorrow.

Not much wiser of Cambridge.

[DaveB]

Thanks for the explanation Ian I'm going to be moving from the quiet tranquility of the 'Royal County' sometime next year to the even quieter tranquility of the West Midlands.. believe me it is quieter.. you can't quite see the back of beyond from the house but you know it's close I recently looked at the possibility of going Infinity there but having checked on the rollout page, there are no plans to roll it out! I've checked the possible BB speed and it gives the usual 3.something to 7.something with an average quoted speed of a little over 4mb. I did a line check last night with PlusNet and they quote an average of just over 5mb.. not bad for either considering it's locale.

There is just one small problem to overcome.. do I stay with BT at the new address, do I try PlusNet or TalkTalk.. both of which are offering great deals at the mo and without the 18month BT requirement or.. and this is the little tinker.. do I go Virgin?? Despite it being in the back of beyond, the entire area is wired up for cable and connection would require a line from just in front of the property to inside.. a few feet. Thing is, I hate the idea of having to 'pay again' for TV, as you do in effect with Sky and this is my problem. I can handle 4 or even 5mb BB as it's twice what I'm seeing now but there's no prospect of it getting any faster in the near or distant future unless I throw Mr Branson some cash and go Virgin Media. We shall see

Still confused of Berkshire

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

Hi Dave. That's typical - just when I find a guide to mountain bike rides in the Chilterns and plan to spend next summer at the Bull, you up sticks and move on

I can't imagine what you're going to do in the wilderness - charcoal burner?

Anyway, just had a check on Which? to see what conclusions their members come to in their BB provider review. The figures are taken from customer experience questionnaires. What's interesting is the providers that they say you should AVOID. They are TalkTalk, Orange, Supanet and AOL because these 4 have earned less than 40% in the overall customer score.

Recommended providers are these: Zen 84%, Be 81%, Eclipse 77%, Utility Warehouse 75%, O2 75%, Greenbee 75%, Plusnet 72%

Others: Sky 56%, Virgin 55%, BT 48%.

Notes. Zen is very expensive. Virgin is fast and quite reliable but customer service is crap. I think I'd probably go Virgin if I could get cable here. If it's fast and reliable I shouldn't need to speak to people very often BT is ahead of the others with Infinity at 'reasonable' prices. Fast fibre costs £45 with Zen without line rental and you have to buy your own router!

Ian

[DaveB]

VMT for that Ian Actually, I was thinking about you and your Which? membership yesterday while looking at their site trying to see what sort of SatNav I should go for. We're having it as a 'combined' christmas present.. well, that's the plan (not mine I might add)

Sri about the scheduling re the pub mate. We love it here but too many things aren't going our way.. trade for one.. so we have to make the break before we become insolvent. No idea what the heck I'm going to do yet.. don't really care as long as I get something to pay the bills of which there will be a few. We're buying my sisters half of mom and dad's house so we're walking out of a job and into a mortgage. Uncertain times my friend but you gotta do what you gotta do

Much food for thought re broadband and very useful it is too. Narrowed down a bit now.. do I stick with BT (the line in the Midlands is still active though not BB).. try PlusNet (their current offer ends in a few days time!) or go with the flow and try Virgin At least I know I won't be going TalkTalk now

ATB
DaveB

[Tomliner]

Hi Dave. That's typical - just when I find a guide to mountain bike rides in the Chilterns and plan to spend next summer at the Bull, you up sticks and move on

Ian perhaps Dave found out you were coming!
Seriously sorry to hear of your problems Dave,I really hope things work out for you.Life must be really hard in the pub trade right now.I read that pubs are closing down every week which is sad when the pub is such an integral part of British life.EricT

[speedbird591]

Ian perhaps Dave found out you were coming!

Oh yes, Eric. He certainly would have done a runner - which is why I was keeping quiet about it. Still - I'm sure there are some nice mountain bike trails in the Midlands. Where did you say it was again, Dave?

Dave - did you decide on a satnav? I don't know if you're a Which? member but if not you can't access all the test results on their site. But if you want me to have a look on your behalf give me an idea of your price range and I can pick out a few of their best buys for you to consider.

Ian

[DaveB]

Hello Ian

If you have Google Earth (and I'll be surprised if you don't!) go to 52 38 03.58N 1 58 36.05W .. go to street view (or whatever it's called) and pan round until you see the silver Skoda Fabia aka 'The Brooklands Flyer' aka 'The Czech Roller' That's dad's old car (my new car) and it will be nice to have it parked 'where it should be' again Zoom back out to down view and you can see the massive openess just around the corner. I used to cycle from there to Cannock Chase as a kid though I'll not be doing it now DM doesn't live far away.. just to the east of Cannock at Heath Hayes. He's actually been to the house before.. he picked me up from there when we went up to Manchester for ZuluKilo's official opening day at the AVP

No mate.. not decided on a Satnav yet. I've looked at what seems like hundreds and can't choose Up to around £150 should be enough I think. I've seen lifetime map updates on certain models (Garmin) which would be nice though not imperative. Not interested in European maps.. the UK will do fine Much appreciate the offer

ATB
DaveB

[speedbird591]

That looks really, really nice, Dave and isn't it wonderful that you can keep your Dad's house in the family? It looks like a fantastic place to live - you're close to the motorway network to go in any direction and that open country to the north is superb. Can you ride a mountain bike on Wood Common? It looks absolutely ideal and Cannock Chase is one of the mountain bike meccas in the UK. Let me know when you're ready and I'll give you some advice on your new wheels

I've had a look at the satnav best buys - there are dozens of them and they're nearly all TomTom or Garmins. But the best of the best buys (75%) actually comes in around your target price, which is handy. It's the TomTom Via Live 120 available from Amazon for £152 TomTom 120
Next down is the Garmin Nuvi 205WT 72% (which I've got!) reduced at Amazon from £150 to £91!!! Garmin Nuvi
and one more for luck: Garmin Nuvi 1492 72% also cheapest at Amazon reduced from £199 to £120 Nuvi 1492

Let me know if you want more suggestions.

Ian