Broadband advice wanted

phdwho

I am completely fed up with Talk Talk. (Who isn't?) But i'm uncertain how broadband really works, so would appreciate some guidance.

If I switch, do i have to go without internet access for a time? If so how long?

On their basic package we're getting 5.2 mbps down and less than 1 up. I'm not an expert on speeds at all but to me this is painfully slow. Even dialup would scoff at this. What can I reasonably expect rom a basic package does anyone know? TT claims 7 is about average (which is what it was a couple of weeks ago after they sent us a new router following me complaining). They say if I want more I gotta pony up more. I'm not encouraged to do so, but can I expect better from anyone else? I don't need the worlds best service. We do have the means in terms of the infrastructure.

Thanks

The_Fat_Controller

You are 100's of times faster than dialup, don't be daft !
If you are on basic ADSL, then the length of your line to the exchange is the factor that mostly determines your speed and if there is no fault, changing providers will not change your speed.
The maximum upload speed IS 1 Mbps on ADSL.
If Fibre to the Cabinet is available, then speeds are determined by the distance from home to cabinet and with TalkTalk, deals for that service should be only very marginally more expensive than ADSL.
Go to the likes of the uSwitch site and see what is available for your address, note the best price from TT and call them and see if they will match the price.

Neil_Jones

phdwho said:

I am completely fed up with Talk Talk. (Who isn't?) But i'm uncertain how broadband really works, so would appreciate some guidance.

If I switch, do i have to go without internet access for a time? If so how long?

On their basic package we're getting 5.2 mbps down and less than 1 up. I'm not an expert on speeds at all but to me this is painfully slow. Even dialup would scoff at this. What can I reasonably expect rom a basic package does anyone know? TT claims 7 is about average (which is what it was a couple of weeks ago after they sent us a new router following me complaining). They say if I want more I gotta pony up more. I'm not encouraged to do so, but can I expect better from anyone else? I don't need the worlds best service. We do have the means in terms of the infrastructure.

Thanks

If you switch provider normally your downtime is about 20 minutes, most of which would consist of you swapping the router over on changeover day.

The speed of your internet depends more on your line and its distance from the exchange, which is not something you can control, since its probably safe to assume its been there for many many years.  Not guaranteed you'd get better speed on another provider.  Look at a fibre connection instead, up to eight times faster for not much more than most ADSL packages.

JJ_Egan

OP why are you fed up with TT . What is the actual problem as its pointless moving if its not TT at fault .

phdwho

JJ_Egan said:

OP why are you fed up with TT . What is the actual problem as its pointless moving if its not TT at fault .

Because they offer a rubbish service with frequent outages

JJ_Egan

But  the supply comes down the same Open Reach cabling .

Frequent outages suggest a probable  cable fault that moves to the next ISP .

What have TT said when you complained ??

Has your new router helped .

phdwho

We're currently getting 2.1mbps, the new router is a better model but that's about it. The service is rubbish. These speeds, adsl or not, are a joke

Croft12

Have you done all the usual things like connecting to the master socket?

matelodave

Changing to another supplier is no guarantee of a better service. Depending on where you live virtually every provider, except Virgin use the BT OpenReach infrastructure so unless you can establish whether you can get a fibre based product if it's available you mat be stuck with what you've got The limitation is down to the type of connection you have - or are prepared to pay for. So jumping ship to another provider may not give you any better performance and it may even be worse.

Generally the options are basic ADSL or Fibre to the Cabinet or even in some places Fibre to the Premises. They are all different, have different speeds and will have different costs, but you'll only get better speeds if the infrastructure is there to provide it. You need to do your homework to see what is available before chucking the teddy out of the pram and signing up for another long term contract and finding that it's no better.

An alternative is now being offered by Three and EE for a 4g modem which uses the mobile data network, but again that is only as good as the service that is available at your location, so may be better or it may be worse, it also may not be quite as reliable.

Acer321

phdwho said:

...the new router is a better model but that's about it.

Try a different router and see if it's any better. You don't always have to use an ISP's supplied router, I've been using the same D-Link DSL-320B for the last three ISP's and my speed is about 5Mbps with Origin Broadband. The fact is that speed does vary from one ISP to another, because after being with Plusnet for six years and getting 7Mbps just before I left, I noticed a drop in speed when I joined Origin and even after the connection stabilised I have never got those two missing megabits back.

I should have mentioned that I am using a wired modem connection and not Wi-Fi. See if you can temporarily use an ethernet cable with the wi-fi switched off and see if your speed is any better - if you're using wi-fi, that is?

iniltous

Migration to another provider is usually ‘quick’, lose sync with old company, remove their router, and connect new company’s router, wait, should resync to new provider a short time later.
No reason at all for TT to suggest that paying them more money will improve speed , unless you are on ADSL and VDSL/FTTC is available.
It’s unclear if you are on ADSL or VDSL, if VDSL (FTTC ) and your line is fault free, it may be all your line is capable of , and  moving to a higher speed tier will achieve no improvement.

Obviously , if you have a line fault that is impacting your speed, then it’s upto your provider to get their supplier ( Openreach ) involved.....I’m always surprised when posters defend an ISP saying ‘well it’s probably Openreach and nothing to do with the ISP’, the fact is no ‘consumer’ pays OR anything, they don’t have a contract with OR, but with the ISP, it’s upto the ISP to involve OR if that’s what is needed.
TBH, if you haven’t already done so, you need to check what speed you should expect at your address, and if you are ADSL, and FTTC is available , and can provider a significant speed increase, then upgrading to it ( with a new ISP or the existing one ) could be done for probably little more than you currently pay.