BT INFINITY...and beyond?

Gatser

Fed up with constant Internet drop-outs by our TALK TALK service, and the pathetic 1+Mb downloads we get (supposed to be "upto 8Mb")

So.... seriously considering BT INFINITY, as we have seen the lovely new green cabinet only 60 metres down the road!
Infinity BB & unltd phones/rental should cost £38/month.

Any views/ feedback on this service please?

macman

1MB is 'up to 8MB'. If that's the maximum your line can support due to distance or quality, then you are getting the service you paid for.
The drop outs could be caused by a no. of things. What tests have you done-changed your ADSL filters?
Suggest you post your router stats (testing from the BT test socket behind the master socket split faceplate) so that someone can advise better.
BT Infinity is a premium service at a premium price.

kwikbreaks

I wouldn't class BB + anytime calls at ~ £25 over the standard line rental price as expensive for a service that should deliver at least 30 times faster than your current download and I think has 10 Mbps upstream.

If you can get it and can afford it ditch TalkTalk. I think Infinity also includes a free phone line install which you may need as you are moving from TalkTalk who will probably have unbundled the line. I think the Infinity install will automatically bypass any internal wiring problems there may be as your extensions will be isolated by the new kit.

Go for it.

I pay £35 for 50Mbps cable but that doesn't include a phone line or calls so I also have Vonage VOIP (£5.99 for free UK geographic calls and gives you a "normal" phone number - I transferred my old landline number). I'd say that the two products are pretty well matched on price and performance.

MrsTinks

100% agree with macman - however I did change over to BT infinity from talktalk/tiscali because of physical distance to the exchange from our house. Like you we got about 1-1.5meg speeds and that was all the line could support and it dropped regularly. Purely down to the cable length and quality - none of which TT can do anything about.
It's a lot more expensive definitely but we now have between 20 and 30 meg down which is awesome. Bear in mind that the more the cabinets fill up the more crosstalk you will get and you will get drops in speed too... at the moment the price is worth it to us though.

Gatser

macman wrote: »

1MB is 'up to 8MB'.

Durrrr..... Well I never!!

(Do you work for Talk Talk ?)

macman

Sigh...No I don't. And explaining the basic laws of physics doesn't make me an apologist for them either.
The official definition of broadband is any service over 256Kbps, by that definition you are getting the service you contracted for. No-one gets 8MBps on ADSL, it's a theoretical maximum.
I repeat, if 1Mbps is all that your ADSL line can support, that's all you will get-it doesn't matter which ISP you use on that line. Your line speed is dependent primarily on distance from the exchange and condition of the line-neither of which are within the remit of TT.
You don't seem to have done very much to see if you can get better speeds out of your existing connection, which is why I suggested you post your router stats, and then check your internal wiring/extensions to see if that is where the problem might be. 9 times out of 10 people complain on here about their speeds, and it transpires that the problem is not with their ISP.
If there is no other problem present, then the only way you'll get better speeds is to switch to FTTC or cable.

kwikbreaks

Although macman is 100% correct it's only fair to point out that very few people manage to improve their speed by more than 1Mbps unless there is something glaringly wrong like missing filters - yes they can go faulty but in years on boards discussing ADSL issues I can't actually recall anybody ever fixing their issue by simply changing a filter.

That said good quality filters will work better than eBay specials and if there is no alternate service available careful attention to internal wiring can certainly be beneficial.

With a 1Mbps current service and availability of affordable if not bargain basement 30-40Mbps I personally wouldn't hesitate to upgrade.

instaunt

Gatser wrote: »

So.... seriously considering BT INFINITY, as we have seen the lovely new green cabinet only 60 metres down the road!

Now that's the right attitude. I'd be excited to see a new cabinet too! Unlike The Scots in Dundee!

Yolina

I've just put my order in for Infinity today , given my distance from the exchange I'm usually stuck on no more than 500Kbps, though I've had very occasionally a surge of speed at 1Mbps... the line check on Infinity is giving me 26Mbps so it's a no brainer really. Install date should be 20th May. I went for the limited 40GB/month (should be plenty given my current usage) with weekend calls only which is £18 per month plus line rental rather than the unlimited Infinity/anytime calls as the maths stack up better for me that way:

- currently I am paying £17.65 per month (£12.65 line rental + £5 for BB)

- I can make Infinity/line rental work out at £23.34 per month over the life of the contract (18 months): £120 for one year line rental in advance + £75.9 for the remaining 6 months (not sure if that can be paid in advance too later when the 12 months I've already paid are up!) + £270 for infinity (3 months free offer) + £5 for hub delivery (grrrrr if the engineer is bringing the modem, why can't he bring the hub too...) -£50 Quidco cashback (as I am a new broadband customer, cashback is apparently applicable despite me already using BT for calls)

Edit: now I just hope that the engineer does turn up on the agreed date and that nothing goes wrong

Gatser

Yolina wrote: »

Install date should be 20th May.

Edit: now I just hope that the engineer does turn up on the agreed date and that nothing goes wrong

Thanks for all the feedback.
I feel that we have to try it.... this constant rebooting of router is driving us crazy.

Please keep me updated on how installation goes on 20th ... Good Luck! :T

AHAR

I see Plusnet are now offering fibre broadband. My dad will be glad to hear it's now available where he lives as he's been stuck on 512kbps for years.