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Who is to blame for rubbish BB speeds?

Hi all,

Got a generic question here, no doubt affects many, but can't see much about it on the forums. Question relates to finding out which company or organisation is responsible for broadband line technology in the UK.

Scenario
  • I have live in Slough (don't be jealous!) and have been in this property for 10 years.
  • My line for 7 years was a whopping 512k.
  • One day I woke up to find it had grown into a lovely 2Mbps speed overnight. Imagine the joy!
  • Now 3 years later since getting 2Mbps I am growing a little tired of this slowwwwww internet.
  • BT tell me my line only supports 512k with no plans to improve. Even though I actually consistently get 2Mbps.
Even in the last three years we are all relying on the internet for so much more than we used to. Media files are getting bigger and bigger, and today I have no less than 5 wireless internet devices and yet more that use the network. I work from home, I manage 2 or 3 websites and quite frankly, I need faster!

Every time I call BT they say "there are currently no plans to upgrade your area". I live 4.5 miles from the local exchange (not good I appreciate), but all things considered... what CAN I do to speed things up?
  • Are there miracle signal booster products out there?
  • Can I lobby/petition to BT to do something? No one at BT can tell me who, they just state proudly to visit Sam Knows.
It's not like I'm halfway up a mountain here or nestled deep in the North England countryside. I am 20 miles West of London in a town of 120,000+ residents and some of the counrty's largest corporations. Really, why am I only getting 2Mbps, why are there no plans to improve this and does anyone have any ideas what I could do about it?

Happy to share any stats or info you might want and would appreciate any useful thoughts or comments. Cheers!
«1345

Comments

  • spike7451
    spike7451 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    frontman wrote: »
    Hi all,

    Got a generic question here, no doubt affects many, but can't see much about it on the forums. Question relates to finding out which company or organisation is responsible for broadband line technology in the UK.

    Scenario
    • I have live in Slough (don't be jealous!) and have been in this property for 10 years.
    • My line for 7 years was a whopping 512k.
    • One day I woke up to find it had grown into a lovely 2Mbps speed overnight. Imagine the joy!
    • Now 3 years later since getting 2Mbps I am growing a little tired of this slowwwwww internet.
    • BT tell me my line only supports 512k with no plans to improve. Even though I actually consistently get 2Mbps.
    Even in the last three years we are all relying on the internet for so much more than we used to. Media files are getting bigger and bigger, and today I have no less than 5 wireless internet devices and yet more that use the network. I work from home, I manage 2 or 3 websites and quite frankly, I need faster!

    Every time I call BT they say "there are currently no plans to upgrade your area". I live 4.5 miles from the local exchange (not good I appreciate), but all things considered... what CAN I do to speed things up?
    • Are there miracle signal booster products out there?
    • Can I lobby/petition to BT to do something? No one at BT can tell me who, they just state proudly to visit Sam Knows.
    It's not like I'm halfway up a mountain here or nestled deep in the North England countryside. I am 20 miles West of London in a town of 120,000+ residents and some of the counrty's largest corporations. Really, why am I only getting 2Mbps, why are there no plans to improve this and does anyone have any ideas what I could do about it?

    Happy to share any stats or info you might want and would appreciate any useful thoughts or comments. Cheers!

    • Are there miracle signal booster products out there? Not at the moment.
    • Can I lobby/petition to BT to do something? Nothing you can do except move closer to the exchange.Line speed is dependant on how far you are from the exchange & age/condition of external drop cable from PSTN exchang to your NTE5 plus type of extension used.
  • alanwsg
    alanwsg Posts: 794 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    Try virgin media maybe?
  • frontman
    frontman Posts: 36 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I totally understand the line distance issue and do factor that in, but why can I see ads for 20Mbps all over the media yet in the heart of the South East I'm trickling in at just 2! BT state in some calls that they have plans to upgrade excahnges to fibre optics by 2012 yet on the inectibale call transfer that follows moments later they then state there are no plans at all. My internet service (via Orange) still costs the same as everyone esle who's getting well above 2Mbps.

    I once called Virgin who said they didn't cover this area. Yet.
  • frontman
    frontman Posts: 36 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Just confirmed Virgin dont have fibre optic in this area, but hey, I can still bet UPTO 20Mb broadband down my phone line!! Yah... right ;)
  • penrhyn
    penrhyn Posts: 15,215 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 25 January 2010 at 6:23PM
    Hello OP, care to post your router statistics?

    North of Watford gap and getting over 7Mbps ;)
    That gum you like is coming back in style.
  • frontman
    frontman Posts: 36 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I would be pleased to. Would you be kind enough to confirm exactly what stats you refer to? I assume you mean connect speeds etc?
  • kwikbreaks
    kwikbreaks Posts: 9,187 Forumite
    He means the ADSL connection statistics which your router should show you (but not all do) - http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php

    I don't doubt that they will show you have a long phone line. The only way to fix that is to move house to one nearer a phone exchange.

    The phone network was designed to support voice and it does that adequately. Technology has been developed which allows the voice network to also support data but imperfectly. There are newer technologies that were designed for data but installing them costs money and anybody investing would naturally expect a decent return on their investment. As the priority of most people seems to be cheap getting that return is by no means certain so there is no mad scramble to make the investment.
  • iniltous
    iniltous Posts: 3,482 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 25 January 2010 at 9:36PM
    I presume you have done all you can as far as making your own wiring as adsl friendly as possible, if you have any extension sockets removing the bell wire (at the master socket as well as the extn socket), router plugged into master socket etc...although I would estimate I'm a similar distance from my exchange as you are from yours and I sync at about 2.8meg and get a throughput of about 2.5meg so I doubt if there is any big increases to be had
  • frontman
    frontman Posts: 36 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    edited 25 January 2010 at 10:17PM
    Ok here are the stats. These are all new to me so please do tell what they all mean ;)

    ADSL Line Type ADSL2+
    ADSL Line Coding ADSL
    Line Coding INTERLEAVED
    Line Attenuation (Down):58 (Up):34
    Noise Margin (Down):13 (Up):19
    Total Output Power (Down):0 (Up):0
    Current State DownStr: 1463(K) UpStr: 604(K)
    undefined UP
    FEC(FAST) (Near):0 (Far):0
    FEC(INTERL) (Near):171 (Far):586120
    CRC(FAST) (Near):0 (Far):0
    undefined (Near):3 (Far):1287
    HEC(FAST) (Near):0 (Far):0
    HEC(FAST) (Near):2 (Far):0
    Showtime last(sec) 9442
    ADSL FW Version 0.54
    ADSL Board Type Annex A

    Iniltous - I cant confess to have done the things you talk of, again they are news to me. Bell wires? Master socket? I'm afraid I dont know what this means.
  • spike7451
    spike7451 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    frontman wrote: »
    Ok here are the stats. These are all new to me so please do tell what they all mean ;)

    ADSL Line Type ADSL2+
    ADSL Line Coding ADSL
    Line Coding INTERLEAVED
    Line Attenuation (Down):58 (Up):34
    Noise Margin (Down):13 (Up):19
    Total Output Power (Down):0 (Up):0
    Current State DownStr: 1463(K) UpStr: 604(K)
    undefined UP
    FEC(FAST) (Near):0 (Far):0
    FEC(INTERL) (Near):171 (Far):586120
    CRC(FAST) (Near):0 (Far):0
    undefined (Near):3 (Far):1287
    HEC(FAST) (Near):0 (Far):0
    HEC(FAST) (Near):2 (Far):0
    Showtime last(sec) 9442
    ADSL FW Version 0.54
    ADSL Board Type Annex A

    Iniltous - I cant confess to have done the things you talk of, again they are news to me. Bell wires? Master socket? I'm afraid I dont know what this means.

    This is your NTE5,See the block at the bottom with the orange & blue wires?
    Remove the orange ones.(3 &4)
    iplate_1.jpg
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