Miles from exchange? Stuck with 512K max speed?

nemo183

Although there are loads of great deals that Martin mentions in his "Broadband Best Buys" section, if, like me, you live miles from your BT exchange, and have no access to cable, you may well be limited to a download/upload speed of 512k/256k.

I've recently changed from BT to https://www.adsl4less.co.uk when it became obvious that despite all the hype, I was stuck with this speed for the medium term. I now pay £14.99 a month for unlimited usage, although could reduce this to £11.99 if I accepted a 2GB download/month limit.

The transfer process was painless, and I've had no problems with service availability from my new supplier.

For what it's worth, I also decided to use an external email provider, so that should a better ADSL deal become available, I could easily switch without having to change my email address.

There are loads of options in this area. I decided on using https://www.mail.com because it was free, and had many choices of email address. I subsequently upgraded to one of their "premium services" - in my case just ads free, plus 100MB of storage - this cost around $24 per year, but they do sometimes have special deals. Again, they have been 100% reliable. However, I would not recommend their "Messenger" package - when launched, this concealed a version of "Zango", which is something we could all do without.

Anyway, sorry for what is becoming a ramble - how I long for faster speeds and better options!!!

mr_fishbulb

Put your tel number in the "Can I get broadband" box on this page:
http://www.bt.com/broadband/

It will tell you what speeds you should be able to get.

nemo183

mr_fishbulb wrote:

Put your tel number in the "Can I get broadband" box on this page:
http://www.bt.com/broadband/

It will tell you what speeds you should be able to get.

Thanks for the tip - sadly, it confirms that I'm stuck with 512/256 - but also will need a line check. I must admit, I don't really understand this since I'm in Kenley, and the exchange is in Purley, under 2 miles away......

mhendo

Just because you are only 2 miles away doesn't mean you line is only that long - it can sometimes be double the distance or more!

Can you get the line stats from your ADSL modem/router? The SNR/noise margin and the attenuation (expressed in dB).

GeoThermal

Just further to what mhendo says, the online checker can be inaccurate. Once you get BB installed you can run a diagnostic on the line via your router/BB modem. When you have the stats you can then get a better estimate of possible line speeds. If they are wildly different from BT's online checker there is a way to get it updated so that ISPs won't refuse you based on that.

piltonvet

i am also stuck with 512k /256k upload speeds due to line length.
is this the norm or will exchanges be making improvements so everyone gets a minimum of 1 mb in the near future.
just annoys me when you can get great deals on top speeds but you cant benefit from them due to line lenght etc.

bunking_off

mr_fishbulb wrote:

Put your tel number in the "Can I get broadband" box on this page:
http://www.bt.com/broadband/

It will tell you what speeds you should be able to get.

I'm a bit dubious with BT's figures. I've got two lines into my house, one that I use for home and the other that's used for business. One reports up to 1M, the other reports up to 2M. I honestly can't believe that the copper takes a different route back to the local exchange...

mrwibble

Check adslguide for some hints and tips - I would be in the same situation if NTL hadn't dug my road but at least I know I'm 4 miles from the exchange at the end of a long valley with telegraph poles ! Actually I'm about 2 miles from the neighbouring exchange but the M40 cuts in between.

Keep on trying as the limits are reviewed constantly and there are a few tricks regardless

scheming_gypsy

piltonvet wrote:

i am also stuck with 512k /256k upload speeds due to line length.
is this the norm or will exchanges be making improvements so everyone gets a minimum of 1 mb in the near future.

Yeah they do make changes, i used to be in the same boat with 512k but about 3 months ago it suddenly went up to 1mb.

peter_the_piper

bunking_off wrote:

I'm a bit dubious with BT's figures. I've got two lines into my house, one that I use for home and the other that's used for business. One reports up to 1M, the other reports up to 2M. I honestly can't believe that the copper takes a different route back to the local exchange...

I can agree with this, the line checker says I can only get 512 and I'm using a 2meg connection now at about 1885kps. My neighbour on a slightly longer line shows 2meg even when checked from my line.