Talk Talk. Should I join?

baby_frogmella

macman wrote: »

If you want a cheaper service then move to TT-but there's no other reason to. Otherwise give OR time to solve the line problem (if that's what it is).
This pre-supposes that you have already carried out all the normal tests yourself?

Actually any LLU service is better than a BT (spit) ipstream based service. Based on OP's downstream attenuation (21db) he should get at least 18 meg sync on talktalk's LLU service, though he may find his attenuation increases by a few db when switching to ADS2+ (which is what talkTalk's up to 24 meg service is). Something to do with ADSL2+ using higher frequencies than ADSL1.

As for support, use their web support forums and you'll get top class support there...shock horror!:eek: If their web support staff (OCEs) believe there is a problem at BT's end, they'll quickly get in touch with OpenReach to resolve this.

I've been on talktalk's LLU service for 9 months now (no other LLU supplier at my exchange) and been very impressed. My line syncs at 17 meg, i get line speeds 24/7 with pings of around 15ms (great for gaming). Its also great for video streaming, VOIP, general web browsing etc. Sure they throttle P2P traffic but all other traffic runs at full speed 24/7 so its a great ISP if you don't dabble in P2P:p

asbokid

dinglebert wrote: »

My readings are

Uptime:2 days, 22:28:09
DSL Type:G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:448 / 8,128
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]:0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:12.0 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:11.0 / 21.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:23.0 / 9.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): T
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):2 / 206,648
CRC Errors (Up/Down):2 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):0 / 0

It shows my connection up for two days but I have frequent dropouts at my end.

Dinglebert: the more I look at your router statistics, the less sense they make..

You've had connection uptime of nearly three days, but in that time the statistics purportedly show that you haven't transmitted or received a single byte of data.

So what goes? Something is very wrong. Is your router just plain fscked? How are you connecting to the internet at the moment?

dinglebert

asbokid wrote: »

Dinglebert: the more I look at your router statistics, the less sense they make..

You've had connection uptime of nearly three days, but in that time the statistics purportedly show that you haven't transmitted or received a single byte of data.

So what goes? Something is very wrong. Is your router just plain fscked? How are you connecting to the internet at the moment?

From that router. I have tried another router plugged into the test socket but that made no difference to my speeds. I have just run bt speedtest and this is what I get

Download speedachieved during the test was - 57 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :8128 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 7150 Kbps

Thats even lower than normal usually is sits around 400-500 kbps. Getting very fed up now of this.

asbokid

If those router statistics are cut-and-paste, then there is something wrong with your router and/or the network configuration of your computer.

The poor connectivity problem lies in your house and not with PlusNet.

You cannot possibly have three days uptime and yet in that time have no data transferred. And yet that is what your router statistics purportedly show.

Best guess is that you are inadvertently connecting to someone else's wireless access point and are sucking off their bandwidth. In the meantime your router is laying idle, hence the lack of data transferred on it!

Go and check your internet connection, and the name of the wireless access point to which you are connected...

Originally Posted by dinglebert

My readings are

Uptime:2 days, 22:28:09
DSL Type:G.992.1 annex A
Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:448 / 8,128
Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [kB/kB]:0.00 / 0.00
Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]:12.0 / 19.5
Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]:11.0 / 21.0
SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]:23.0 / 9.0
Vendor ID (Local/Remote): T
Loss of Framing (Local/Remote):0 / 0
Loss of Signal (Local/Remote):0 / 0
Loss of Power (Local/Remote):0 / 0
Loss of Link (Remote):0
Error Seconds (Local/Remote):0 / 0
FEC Errors (Up/Down):2 / 206,648
CRC Errors (Up/Down):2 / 0
HEC Errors (Up/Down):0 / 0

dinglebert

asbokid wrote: »

If those router statistics are cut-and-paste, then there is something wrong with your router and/or the network configuration of your computer.

The poor connectivity problem lies in your house and not with PlusNet.

You cannot possibly have three days uptime and yet in that time have no data transferred. And yet that is what your router statistics purportedly show.

Best guess is that you are inadvertently connecting to someone else's wireless access point and are sucking off their bandwidth. In the meantime your router is laying idle, hence the lack of data transferred on it!

Go and check your internet connection, and the name of the wireless access point to which you are connected...

I am absolutely definately connected to my own broadband and not anyone else. My router is active. the router report is clearly wrong as plusnet are showing my activity over past week a busy week as tomtom updated and I had a new capsule nearly 5gb game downloading as






Paid-for usage 1.44GB 589.57MB 761.19MB 1.06GB 365.57MB 5.15GB 484.46MB Free usage 1.3MB 1.29MB 6.79MB 88.3MB 318.19MB 717.66MB 6.28MB Total 1.44GB 590.86MB 767.98MB 1.15GB 683.75MB 5.87GB 490.74

espresso

asbokid wrote: »

If those router statistics are cut-and-paste, then there is something wrong with your router and/or the network configuration of your computer.

Firstly you are assuming that Uptime is the DSL connection time when it is the time that the router has been up since the last reboot.

Secondly although the Data Transferred is displayed as zero on that screen, if you look at the Internet Services screen on the router it will show the Data Transferred (Sent/Received) in GB.

.

asbokid

espresso wrote: »

Firstly you are assuming that Uptime is the DSL connection time when it is the time that the router has been up since the last reboot.

Secondly although the Data Transferred is displayed as zero on that screen, if you look at the Internet Services screen on the router it will show the Data Transferred (Sent/Received) in GB..

It must be very buggy firmware in the OP's router.

The router's report of "bandwidth" is also meaningless:

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:448 / 8,128

That cannot be the line sync rate. The router must be reporting the notional maximum bandwidth for (non-Premium) ADSL MAX. What use is that for diagnostics?

bod1467

When I was with Pipex on an ADSLMax connection I had 448 / 8188 sync speeds (as reported by my frog modem and also my Netgear DG834Gv1), so those stats look perfectly normal. And 0 data throughput is likely due to a router firmware bug. Also the uptime is typically since the last loss of sync, not reboot.

To the OP - it seems your issue is one of throughput, or local sync, not sync with your ISP. If BT Openreach investigate this then I would suspect it is highly likely that they'll find no fault with your BT line and so you'll be liable for a charge. So it'll be best to be 100% sure that everything is OK your side first.

What sort of download speed do you see if you try a variety of speed test tools? (speedtest.net, speed.io, etc.) What if you download a linux ISO such as Ubuntu? What download rate do you see?

Are you connected to your router by ethernet cable or wifi?

As to your original question - I have no experience of TalkTalk as an ISP other than reading their forums. It seems the forums are the only way anyone gets any form of sensible response if they have an issue. Telephone and email customer services seem a complete and utter waste of time.

dinglebert

My speeds are back to nearly normal this morning sitting at 4400 download. Having tested my line yesterday with talktalk its looks like my speed with them would be around the 11500 mark. Given its basically half my current price of £40 a month for phone and broadband I think I'm going to jump. May live to regret it though.

espresso

asbokid wrote: »

It must be very buggy firmware in the OP's router.

The router's report of "bandwidth" is also meaningless:

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]:448 / 8,128

That cannot be the line sync rate. The router must be reporting the notional maximum bandwidth for (non-Premium) ADSL MAX. What use is that for diagnostics?

Of course it is the line sync rate and this has already been confirmed by the BT speedtest result posted!

dinglebert wrote: »

From that router. I have tried another router plugged into the test socket but that made no difference to my speeds. I have just run bt speedtest and this is what I get

Download speedachieved during the test was - 57 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :8128 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 7150 Kbps

Thats even lower than normal usually is sits around 400-500 kbps. Getting very fed up now of this.

Try going here

Router stats are only useful to those who can understand the information displayed.

bod1467 wrote: »

When I was with Pipex on an ADSLMax connection I had 448 / 8188 sync speeds (as reported by my frog modem and also my Netgear DG834Gv1), so those stats look perfectly normal. And 0 data throughput is likely due to a router firmware bug. Also the uptime is typically since the last loss of sync, not reboot.

Agreed the stats are perfectly normal however the firmware on this router actually displays two uptime figures on different screens, since last reboot and since last line sync, giving additional useful information.

.