Fault at exchange, Openreach won't look til mid July!

Foxy_Snob

macman wrote: »

Try putting in your street address instead of the postcode, i.e. Smith Street, Anytown. Then if it picks up the street, you can enter the house number.
Then try with this one:
If not a problem suggest you post your exchange name and postcode.
Can your immediate neighbours get ADSL broadband, if so what sort of speeds?

Thank you

Ok. Samknows finds my street and produces it on the map when I put in my postcode, but when I click on the map it gives me the error I posted above. Same happens when I try it with my street name.

dslchecker.bt tells me that: "

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial check on your postcode indicates that it is VERY UNLIKELY you will be able to receive fixed 512Kbps or 256Kbps broadband service due to the very long length of your telephone line. However, your order will be accepted if you still wish to order. An engineer may need to visit who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.
Our check also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 1Mbps."

My exchange is K******, and postcode **** ***.

There are problems in my area with BB. It's an ex military base, and only been civillian for 6 or 7 years. I currently use a USB dongle, which is sufficient for browsing and email etc, but not much more. My neighbours have various, some have satellite, some have dongles, some have adsl. Nobody really has a great service from what I can gather...

macman

Correct, the data does not appear to work for your postcode or the surrounding area.
Given that BT predict a maximum of 1Mbps ADSL I am surprised that Virgin National , using exacty the same network as BT, are predicting 1.5Mbps. On what basis?
Try the speed checker on the Plusnet site and see what that gives you.

Owain_Moneysaver

penrhyn wrote: »

A further problem is that BT's workers are revolting

I've always found the engineers pleasant enough :rotfl:

david39

I would have thought that as Virgin are failing to supply you with the service they promised within a reasonable time, you could up and go to some other provider.

Then the problem would seem to be that, given the difficulties you list in your area, you may not find an alternative.

It might be worth suggesting to Virgin, in a polite but firm manner, that you are looking to cancel your contract on the grounds that they are not fulfilling their side of it.

Owain_Moneysaver

Foxy_Snob wrote: »

There are problems in my area with BB. It's an ex military base, and only been civillian for 6 or 7 years. ... Nobody really has a great service from what I can gather...

Might be worth seeing if you can club together and get your own leased line service installed, with perhaps wireless access to local houses. At least you could get decent access to a community centre or similar. If you have about 100+ houses willing to pay some money up front then options become available.

Lyddington and Rutland Telecom - their FAQ includes "a 40Mbps single-cabinet solution ... £25,000 & £50,000. For a community of 500 premises that is just £100 each! ...typically viable for us, providing we get 50-100 customers per cabinet, at £30/month including line rental, fast broadband, free calls and local service & support."

Foxy_Snob

macman wrote: »

Correct, the data does not appear to work for your postcode or the surrounding area.
Given that BT predict a maximum of 1Mbps ADSL I am surprised that Virgin National , using exacty the same network as BT, are predicting 1.5Mbps. On what basis?
Try the speed checker on the Plusnet site and see what that gives you.

On what basis? Well, it was the sales dept who predicted this, so I would imagine that it isn't strictly accurate... Particularly now I've started this threat and learned a bit more! I did query at the time how they could provide a better service than BT when they'd be using BT's equipment... Was told that since I didn't have a line (didn't at that point, but have had previously), they'd put one in and could therefore offer a faster service. No idea whether this is true, or not.

Plusnet also suggest 1Mb.

macman

Foxy_Snob wrote: »

On what basis? Well, it was the sales dept who predicted this, so I would imagine that it isn't strictly accurate... Particularly now I've started this threat and learned a bit more! I did query at the time how they could provide a better service than BT when they'd be using BT's equipment... Was told that since I didn't have a line (didn't at that point, but have had previously), they'd put one in and could therefore offer a faster service. No idea whether this is true, or not.

Plusnet also suggest 1Mb.

Given the other data, 1MBps sound realistic. VM were basically talking c**blers. Their service is a resold BT Wholesale service and you will get exactly the same speeds as any other provider on your non-LLU exchange.

Foxy_Snob

david39 wrote: »

I would have thought that as Virgin are failing to supply you with the service they promised within a reasonable time, you could up and go to some other provider.

Then the problem would seem to be that, given the difficulties you list in your area, you may not find an alternative.

It might be worth suggesting to Virgin, in a polite but firm manner, that you are looking to cancel your contract on the grounds that they are not fulfilling their side of it.

Yes, I can do that. They've been quite good really, and said that the phone line won't be charged until everything's up and running (though this might be to do with the fact that their records show that the phone isn't workign either - despite me telling them that it is!). They've also said that compensation will be forthcoming for the inconvenience once we know how long the inconveniece lasted ie, when it's all sorted.

As you say though, there isn't really an alternative. So I can hang out til July, and hopefully receive a slowish service which is workable, or carry on with my mobile dongle, which will not be sufficient to work from home. (Which is the whole point of getting the BB!) Or, I could move. Which is a lot of effort, but sort of appealing now :rotfl:

Foxy_Snob

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Might be worth seeing if you can club together and get your own leased line service installed, with perhaps wireless access to local houses. At least you could get decent access to a community centre or similar. If you have about 100+ houses willing to pay some money up front then options become available.

Lyddington and Rutland Telecom - their FAQ includes "a 40Mbps single-cabinet solution ... £25,000 & £50,000. For a community of 500 premises that is just £100 each! ...typically viable for us, providing we get 50-100 customers per cabinet, at £30/month including line rental, fast broadband, free calls and local service & support."

I will look into this.... Thank you

macman

Personaly I would cancel the bb and go with a decent provider such as Plusnet (£12.99 on a Market 1 exchange). More chance of getting them to sort it out sooner with Openreach than VM.