Who is to blame for rubbish BB speeds?

kwikbreaks

Actually my line is currently longer than half a mile as I live in a village - it's over a mile long so I can only get 12Mbps most of the time. I will be moving into town next month though and the estimated speed for that line is 17Mbps.

Here's a link to an article about the BT FTTC project..
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/news/bt-to-roll-out-ftthfttc-to-10-million-homes-by-2012-401.html

It's a lot more likely that you could benefit than I will so see if you can confirm that you won't.

ComplexP

You know, as a general answer to 'Who is to blame for rubbish BB speeds?' I think it is often down to the end user.

I'm not saying that this is the case here, in fact I'm fairly sure it isn't and the main culprit is that loooong line you have. But I never cease to be amazed by the number of people who are clueless about how to set up their wiring and computers and end up gimping their own speeds.

Perhaps it's a good thing: If everyone suddenly got their act together overnight the resulting strain on the ISPs would probably cause most of them to fall over

frontman

Kwik - This is the project one BT staff member told me about, then was denied moments later by another BT staff member.

I'd like to thank you all for your inputs, but it seems at the moment bar tweaking some internal settings on my existing setup theres little I can do to petition or complain about the current service.

As a related topic I was planning to upgrade my router to aid with some in-house media streaming. Current unit is Linksys WAG354G, 54Mbps unit.

Might be a dumb question, but can I buy just an N spec router and still have wireless internet, or do I need a gateway/router for this?? Cant seem to find any N gateway/routers, got a bit confused in the end!

ComplexP - You are probably right!!

ComplexP

Heh, thanks

I'm fairly certain one of the Belkin Wireless N routers would work pretty much the same as your current one but give a maximum transfer speed of 300MBits instead of 54MBits.

About £50 on Amazon at the moment I think.

Also, keep in mind that you may need a Wireless N dongle/reciever on each of the machines linked as well. Someone else may be able to confirm this.

penrhyn

You could sign up for the fttc/ftth trial with Sky.

http://skyhispeedbb.com/

You have to take a Sky TV package to participate though.

frontman

penrhyn wrote: »

You could sign up for the fttc/ftth trial with Sky.

http://skyhispeedbb.com/

You have to take a Sky TV package to participate though.

Great plan! I have registered. If the forums still here in 2035 and I can get a decent connection speed I will let you know how I get on!! haha...

ComplexP

That sounds like another version of the ADSL2+ technology that did squat for me. These companies can talk about 'up to 20MBits' and 'up to 40MBits' all they like but until something is done about the miles and miles of aluminium wires linking us to the exchanges we're going to be stuck with what we have.

frontman

ComplexP wrote: »

That sounds like another version of the ADSL2+ technology that did squat for me. These companies can talk about 'up to 20MBits' and 'up to 40MBits' all they like but until something is done about the miles and miles of aluminium wires linking us to the exchanges we're going to be stuck with what we have.

I think the point of the trial though is that they are rolling out to customers who are now on upgraded exchanges using fibre optics, hence they are likely to get those speeds. I however am connected to Pigeon Optics, a well known technology acquired from the middle ages which Henry VIII commissioned in order to email his divorce lawyers.

ComplexP

All of the exchanges are served by fiber optics; it's the last few miles to our homes where it goes wrong. That Sky thing isn't cable broadband (and therefore not fiber optics) because it talks about 'upgrading your phone socket' whatever that means.

My local exchange is ADSL2+ and I am on the 'up to 20MBit' service but because I'm miles from the exchange I still only get 4MBits. I was getting 3.5MBits on the old ADSL Max service where I was 'up to 8MBits' so I'm a bit sceptical.

I'd like to be proved wrong though because then there may be hope for us all.

frontman

Er.... I knew that!! lol...

No, ok fair enough, I just got the impression it was working on an exchange by exchange basis, with Slough presumably somewhere slightly below more high priority places like Little Willow by the Stream etc.