swayzak
join:2007-04-28
le24ph
| Need to switch from cable to ADSL - advice please..
hi
I've been a happy ntl/Virgin customer for several years - great, reliable broadband connection.
However, I need to move & my new house doesn't have cable 
(although it is right on the edge of a suburb that does).
As I understand it, there are inevitable bandwidth sharing issues with ADSL which means the connection is not as consistent (in bandwidth terms) as cable.
Can anyone recommend me an ADSL ISP / package which would come nearest to replicating the 4MB service I have with Virgin ?
Do all providers use BT infrastructure ? If so, do they all provide similar quality of connection or are some more reliable than others ?
Given the close proximity to a cabled area, is there a way I can check whether Virgin plan to connect this street or do they never divulge this information ?
thanks
swayzak |
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AnonnonA
@co.uk | Try clicking on the ChetNet link above and ask them? |
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A J 121
Who Is Keyser Soze?
Premium
join:2001-01-15
UK
clubs:
 ·Be There
| reply to swayzak
First off, go here:
»www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php
Enter your exchange details in the box and click though till the page appears showing you the full details.
The box titled “Broadband availability overview” will tell you what types of broadband are available to you at the new house.
If it is true that you cannot get cable, then see if the exchange is LLU enabled.
If it is then look in the box titled “LLU operator presence” These are the ISP’s that “in most cases” will be able to offer you a cheaper option that “normal” ADSL. They may also be able to offer you faster speeds and no download limits.
The green circle and “yes” by the ADSL in the “Broadband availability overview” means that any UK ADSL broadband supplier should be able to give you broadband over the BT network.
A good place to investigate any ISP in the UK is here:
»www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html
The forums on the site will give you a view of what is happening with the ISP either good or bad
As to your statement “there are inevitable bandwidth sharing issues with ADSL which means the connection is not as consistent (in bandwidth terms) as cable.” All I can say is WHAT? You do know that Virgin manage/throttle their service to high heaven don’t you?
Just look at all the happy bunnies here:
»bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.ph···in_cable
So now to your next question:
“Can anyone recommend me an ADSL ISP / package which would come nearest to replicating the 4MB service I have with Virgin?”
So you want a slowish package that is throttled to death? LOL
Only kidding, No one can do this for you as everyone’s requirements for broadband are different. All end users will give different priorities to the following.
• Price
• Reliability
• Speed
• Customer Service
• Location of Customer Service (UK or India)This is especially true for Geordies because when both they, the customer and the CS operative both use English as their second language the call has been known to last for days. 
• Traffic Management
• Caps
• Latency
• Free Email Address
• Free Web Space
• Length of Contract
• Included Newsgroups
Etc. Etc.
Do all providers use BT infrastructure?
Not those (if there are any at your exchange) that are in the box titled “LLU operator presence” These ISP’s have their own equipment in the exchange.
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Be* unlimited
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
My home town » Congleton |
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swayzak
join:2007-04-28
le24ph
| Thanks
Yes - I got loads of useful stuff from Thinkbroadband forum.
Seems I have access to Be (amongst others) at my exchange (about 2 miles away) & they come highly recommended (although in parlous financial state apparantly).
»www.samknows.com/broadband/excha···=EMODDBY
Thinking of basic to mid package (£14 or £18). |
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A J 121
Who Is Keyser Soze?
Premium
join:2001-01-15
UK
clubs:
·Be There
| said by swayzak  :Thanks Seems I have access to Be (amongst others) at my exchange (about 2 miles away) & they come highly recommended Now I wonder which ISP I use 
said by swayzak :(although in parlous financial state apparantly). They have no financial worries at all, not sure where you got that from.
They are owned by the mobile company o2 who in turn are owned by Spanish Telco Telefónica S.A.
Do you have a phone contract with o2? If you do you can get the same package that Be* offer but for a lot less with o2 directly now.
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Be* unlimited
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
The great Cheshire town of » Congleton |
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swayzak
join:2007-04-28
le24ph | Ah - yes I do have basic O2 contract (from high street O2 store though, not online)
So I get the better Be deal through O2 ? Wonder if this applies to non online contracts ... ? |
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jessmca
join:2008-01-16
|  All ADSL providers don't use BT lines, Be, for instance use O2 lines and both offer good fast internet.
Be »www.top10-broadband.co.uk/be and O2 »www.top10-broadband.co.uk/o2 have great simple, speedy broadband packages- no fluffy extras - well liked if the reviews are anything to go by.
It seems to be the case that if you are looking for more complex packages with TV and VoIP calls- your broadband connection suffers- anybody else agree? |
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swayzak
join:2007-04-28
le24ph | thanks
So there are no differences between Be & O2 apart from price ?
Are the wireless routers the same (& user configurable re. level of security etc. ?) ? |
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A J 121
Who Is Keyser Soze?
Premium
join:2001-01-15
UK
clubs:
·Be There
edit:
January 21st, @04:58PM
| Both Be* and o2 use the same equipment at the exchange.
That is the reason that o2 bought Be* out in the first place, to get their hands on Be*'s LLU setup.
Both providers DO use BT’s lines “unlike what @jessmca said” It is a stipulation of both Be* and o2 that you have a BT line. The difference being that LLU suppliers use their own equipment inside BT’s exchange. BT still own the line from the exchange to your house.
A lot of people that had phone contracts with o2 migrated away from Be* due to the money saving that could be had with o2. At some point in the future I can see all of Be*'s customers being moved over to o2 for financial reasons. eg. CS all in one place.
I am not sure what routers Be* and o2 are giving out now (check Thinkbroadband out) but when o2 started they were using the exact same router as Be*. They just had different firmware and settings installed.
Be* have used the following:
Speedtouch 716
Speedtouch 780 (WL)
Speedtouch 585
I have this one from them »www.speedtouch.co.uk/products/De···ctID=528
There was a problem last year with most of the Thomson routers having a big security hole in them. This could be fixed however by the customer by following details in the Be* members forums. (You can only access these forums if you are a customer so I cannot give you a link) Be* also did an over the air upgrade to all the routers so that people that were unaware of the issue or were less technically minded were secured too.
EDIT
As you have an o2 contract you could get their Standard "up to 8meg" Package for only £7.50 a month by the looks of it
»broadband.o2.co.uk/ This seems like a very good deal for you to me.
--
Be* unlimited
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
The great Cheshire town of » Congleton |
|
A J 121
Who Is Keyser Soze?
Premium
join:2001-01-15
UK
clubs:
·Be There
| You could also try this out "for a very rough estimate" of what you may get speed wise:
»www.dslzoneuk.net/checker.php
For me it says:
Your line is capable of 6 Mbps or above.
Here were my stats when I was on Be* Unlimited:
Modulation: G.992.5 Annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,321 / 24,574
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [KB/KB]: 37.00 / 122.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.0 / 15.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 10.0 / 22.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 7.0 / 1.5
Here are my stats for Be* Pro:
Modulation:G.992.5 Annex M US 56
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:2,468 / 22,558
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [GB/GB]:5.32 / 2.38
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:13.0 / 18.0
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:10.5 / 23.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:3.5 / 1.5
You lose a bit of your dowload speed on Pro due to the gain in upload speed
So the above sites guess of 6 Mbps or above was right but its bottom end guess seems a little low.
Plus I have fastpath enabled on my line.
What is Fastpath?
From the Be* FAQ’s
Fastpath is just a different way in which the data is transmitted over your telephone line, which is most suited to telephone lines with a low attenuation figure, and a low noise factor.
Because there is no error correction unless the telephone line connection is very good it will almost certainly be unstable, and cause disconnections and stalling.
The advantages of fastpath, if you have a suitable connection, is it offers lower latency and faster ping times which for online gamers is important. Speeds "can" also improve.
I have also tweaked my line with the DMT tool.
From Be*’s FAQ’s again:
The DMT tool is a very powerful program, that can either be one of the most useful or one that can cause the most problems with a connection, depending on how it is used.
The DMT tool will allow you to alter your downstream SN Margin on the bebox.
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Be* unlimited
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
The great Cheshire town of » Congleton |
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swayzak
join:2007-04-28
le24ph
| Fantastic info - thanks !
So it appears that maybe Be has the edge technically-wise ?
But the overall cost-benefit equation appears to favour O2 for me.
Guess I'll sign up for a year and see how it goes.
Incidently, I want to setup a good basic broadband service for my (ex)partner in our current house (get rid of Virgin)
I was thinking of just getting a basic BT package (to keep it simple) - are they OK ? |
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A J 121
Who Is Keyser Soze?
Premium
join:2001-01-15
UK
clubs:
·Be There
| If you sign up before the end of January you can try o2’s 100 day money back guarantee.
If your move is going to be after this I would ring up o2 now and explain the situation. Just give them some bull that you should have moved into the property before the end of January but someone further up the chain is slowing things down.
Tell them that you are keen to sign up to their package as you are very happy with them as a company with regard to your phone contract. Ask them if they would allow you to qualify for the 100 day money back guarantee as a good will gesture even if the move is after the cut off date.
Like I said before o2’s product does seem very good. You do however mention one downside, the 12 month contract. With Be* it is only 3 months but if you can get the 100 day guarantee mentioned above it may not be a problem because if things are going to go wrong 99% of the time they are evident in the first week of sign up. It is at this time that you can judge just how good the customer service of an ISP really is.
As to BT’s package, I cannot say. I was with them for the first few years of broadband here in the UK, starting with the ADSL trials in 2000. I only left them due to another ISP offering a better all-round deal. Back then their service was very reliable with the only downside being customer service.
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Be* unlimited
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
The great Cheshire town of » Congleton |
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swayzak
join:2007-04-28
le24ph | thanks again |
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davelister
join:2000-11-29
SK6
| reply to swayzak
I was with Virgin NTL C&W Nynex always using broadband top tier connection but as from September last year I decided they were taking me for a mug, as speeds had become a joke to say nothing of the customer support if you could call it that. I moved to ADSL2+ BETHERE. The customer support is second to none. The installation was a breeze, I was informed by text when my line went live. I've had one unplaned outage which was quickly rectified again i was informed as to progress by text.
If your local exchange is equipped for ADSL2+ I would recommend BETHERE.
My speed tests.
»/testhistory/251411/6563e
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A J 121
Who Is Keyser Soze?
Premium
join:2001-01-15
UK
clubs:
·Be There
| »/testhistory/287608/a8295
More smiles that you! |
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nemo1966
join:2005-11-15
England
| reply to swayzak
For UK ADSL equipment I'd recommend the BT Voyager 2110.
Rock solid, wireless (with very strong signal). I've tried many and this one simply rocks for UK ADSL.
BTW if using ADSL try and get yourself an original BT filter/faceplace, the quality is second to none. Fitting one usually increases signal quality. However they are getting rare and even BT only fit them to "premier" customers who have bad signals.... it usually fixes them!
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