best internet provider -any advice please?

[Guest naillig]

Got to get it done soon-no emails and intermittent bb all day again today !

Customer service wanted to send an engineer out -switched computer off and router pulled all plugs out turned it all back on and it came on -BUT i shouldn''t have to be doing this 10+ times per day !!

 

Add to that -i cannot send any emails using tiscali on my ipad or iphone for some reason - BUT i can receive them ok !

[callumsgran]

Get onto Plusnet then, i've had no issues at all with them and i've been with them a year now so has my daughter with no problems

[Ford]

naillig, the probs you describe in your post #23/26 etc re router login sound more like a hardware/software/setup issue rather than the bband itself.? login box shld not keep appearing. maybe a wireless issue? what make router do you use? double check the router settings, and also whether the correct bband authentication details are correctly stored in the router. have you tried a reset of the router?

Edited February 2, 2011 by Ford
typ

[locutus]

Got to get it done soon-no emails and intermittent bb all day again today !

Customer service wanted to send an engineer out -switched computer off and router pulled all plugs out turned it all back on and it came on -BUT i shouldn''t have to be doing this 10+ times per day !!

That does sound like the symptoms of a very long phone line, and if BT are the only providers in your exchange that is unlikely to be resolved by going with a diferent supplier, as at the end of the day it will be the same BT broadband just re-branded to whoever you choose as a supplier.

 

 

Add to that -i cannot send any emails using tiscali on my ipad or iphone for some reason - BUT i can receive them ok !

That however sounds like the server that you send thrugh is not configured correctly. Talk to their tech support, or visit their "TalkTalk member forum" (google it) and see if they can resolve your problems there.

[Guest naillig]

Have spoken to Tech support numerous times - router has been switched on and off , configured , password reput in and it works for a while -then start again for no reason - if i ignore it about an hour later its fine again -if i am online and it does it -i just carry on browsing and a bit later the emails come down fine -its intermittent - its Talk Talks own router -they sent a new one about 2 months ago.

Their tech advice is telling me whats already been done !

 

I am about 5 miles from the exchange and the Bt customer service told me they will do me a option for unlimited for £10 per month and it will be faster and more stable (they wont say any different though to get the sale!)

They also think it may be capped as i am getting 1.5 and .66 upload.

I am paying £18 for this rubbish service from Tiscali and the only solution they keep telling me is it will be better after the migration -thats been ongloing for months now !!

 

Just to add -i have been trying to log in at TalkTalk/Tiscali to get access to the forums-and it wont accept me on there !!

It asks for my email and password -then tells me i am not logged in and to log in !!!

I cannot access my account either -due to guess ??? "migration "

It tells me i will be able to on the 25th Feb - yet i have had nothing at all through the post or email or phone telling me anything at all about this migration -except they are migrating !!!

What a bunch of incompetent ---------

Edited February 6, 2011 by naillig

[locutus]

Have spoken to Tech support numerous times - router has been switched on and off , configured , password reput in and it works for a while -then start again for no reason - if i ignore it about an hour later its fine again -if i am online and it does it -i just carry on browsing and a bit later the emails come down fine -its intermittent - its Talk Talks own router -they sent a new one about 2 months ago.

Their tech advice is telling me whats already been done !

 

I am about 5 miles from the exchange and the Bt customer service told me they will do me a option for unlimited for £10 per month and it will be faster and more stable (they wont say any different though to get the sale!)

They also think it may be capped as i am getting 1.5 and .66 upload. Those speeds sound about right for 5 miles from the exchange

I am paying £18 for this rubbish service from Tiscali and the only solution they keep telling me is it will be better after the migration -thats been ongloing for months now !!

 

Just to add -i have been trying to log in at TalkTalk/Tiscali to get access to the forums-and it wont accept me on there !!

It asks for my email and password -then tells me i am not logged in and to log in !!!

I cannot access my account either -due to guess ??? "migration "

It tells me i will be able to on the 25th Feb - yet i have had nothing at all through the post or email or phone telling me anything at all about this migration -except they are migrating !!!

What a bunch of incompetent --------- So you've tried to register with their members forum and it's not allowed you to? If you search around that site there is a help section, where they can manually give you an account

 

Best of luck. Keep us informed

[Guest naillig]

The mail thing is my main problem .

Think i may just take up BT offer of £10 unlimited .

I was looking at faceplates to im prove things but my socket is too old and not suitable.

Also told better filters may help -not the ones you get with router .

Bt did tell me i may get a bit better speed -up to 4mb.

 

Plusnet worry me as they dont have a techline to ring or so i was told -if you have a problem its all done by ticket -what happens if you can;t get online to see the ticket ?

[Ford]

naiilig

there should be a 'reset' switch at the back of the router. has this been tried?

just a long shot. if using internet explorer browser check under Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections that it is set to 'never dial a connection' (or greyed out). also try the 'set up' option.

as locutus says, at 5 miles distance you'll prob only get around 2mb speed.

as they say there is some kind of 'migration' issue going on, perhaps that is the prob at their end? maybe the 'old' bband is still in place as well, perhaps causing some kind of 'conflict'!? but migration from one bband to another shouldn't take 3 weeks.

Edited February 6, 2011 by Ford

[Guest naillig]

naiilig

there should be a 'reset' switch at the back of the router. has this been tried?

just a long shot. if using internet explorer browser check under Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections that it is set to 'never dial a connection' (or greyed out). also try the 'set up' option.

as locutus says, at 5 miles distance you'll prob only get around 2mb speed.

as they say there is some kind of 'migration' issue going on, perhaps that is the prob at their end? maybe the 'old' bband is still in place as well, perhaps causing some kind of 'conflict'!? but migration from one bband to another shouldn't take 3 weeks.

 

Thanks -tried all that -no joy -its gone off on one again and cant get my emails tonight !

Tiscali./Talktalk migration has been going on for months !!!!!

Thats all the answers i get -why i can''t access my bill online , can''t get onto my account online and having all these problems with my internet and mail -for months they have been telling me the migration is almost done and it will be finished in October. November , December, Jaunuary and now middle of February - just one shambles and am leaving as fast as i can .!!!!!!

[locutus]

The mail thing is my main problem .

Think i may just take up BT offer of £10 unlimited .

I was looking at faceplates to im prove things but my socket is too old and not suitable.

Also told better filters may help -not the ones you get with router .

Bt did tell me i may get a bit better speed -up to 4mb. was that part of the sales department by any chance?

 

Plusnet worry me as they dont have a techline to ring or so i was told -if you have a problem its all done by ticket -what happens if you can;t get online to see the ticket ? That wouldn't surprise me, as it's actually BT's hardware all Plus.net can do is contact BT on your behalf... and the repairs department is not customer facing

 

Here is a graph that shows what speeds you can expect :-

 

Now, 5 miles = 8000m so by rights you are lucky to get any internet at all. (trust me I know how you feel, I'm in the exact same boat!!)

[Ford]

locutus

that graph is from an australian site! is it the same in the uk?

naillig, check your estimated speed on the bt bband line checker?

[Guest naillig]

Have done .

All say 1 - 1.5mb.

[locutus]

It is the same Ford. I originally had the same image from a British site (although the colour scheme was different), I just googled to find that one.

 

Naillig, that's what I expected... The team you spoke to were mainly interested in signing you up to get their commission.

 

What needs to happen is BT need to get their butts into gear and introduce FTTC to the furthest green cabinets 1st, so the people with the slowest speeds would get improvements 1st... As it stands BT reckon 2012... personally I think 2014-2015. This will give everyone the fastest speeds as it's the same system that Virgin Media use.

 

P.S. I get between 500k and 950k on my home broadband. I do get around 2 meg broadband from my mobile phone if I use that as a dongle! For just surfing, or if my internet drops connection, my mobile connection is very useful, and although not great as a replacement because of the cost, it does complement my internet well.

Edited February 8, 2011 by locutus

[Guest naillig]

Well, as there isn''t much choice in a not good area, then -it looks like it will be BT - everyone else round here have them without too many problems .

[Ford]

..........-it looks like it will be BT - everyone else round here have them without too many problems .

 

sounds like maybe the best way forward? although, technically re the actual bband connection (rather than line management, limits etc), it shouldn't make much difference which 'provider' you go for as they all would use the same bt DSLAM equipment at the exchange, as you say that's all that's available at your exchange?

Edited February 8, 2011 by Ford
typ

[scouserat]

I really wouldn't recommend Sky Connect.

 

We were looking at other providers as the contract with BT was up and we rang Sky up only to be told that they couldn't offer us the unlimited as it wasn't in our exchange as we're rural as well, but they could give us Sky Connect. We had a think about it and we got with them a couple of weeks back and of an evening (5pm - midnight) and weekends (all weekend) they do throttle the download speeds. Last weekend it was taking literally 3 or 4 minutes to download a single webpage, and I couldn't even log onto World of Warcraft. When I investigated and ran a speed test I found out we were getting between 8 and 20Kbps (for reference, dial-up is 56Kbps). I rang tech support, who said I needed to reset the router (already done), blamed the extension cable to router (even though I'd actually plugged it straight into the master socket), said I must be missing a microfilter (all microfilters were in place), blamed the distance from the exchange (we're actually relatively close to it and the estimated speed from Sky was 3.5Mbps) and then said we must have an 'old style faceplate' on our master socket (which wasn't the case because BT sent an engineer out due to a phone problem in December). Strangely though, as soon as I mentioned that they were in breach of contract by not providing us with a service as they'd advertised it and asked for my MAC code so I could sign up to TalkTalk, they suddenly realised there was a 'problem' with our phone line. They said they'd raise an incident with the techies (apparently they can't look at it directly with Sky Connect so how did they know this?) and to keep an eye on things over the next 48 hours. Speeds of an evening have improved a bit - we're now around the 1Mbps range - yet on the downside the connection periodically drops (about once every 15 minutes) which has made online gaming a nightmare as they all require a stable net connection to transfer data back to the servers. At the weekend my wife and I just catch up on the stuff we've got on Sky+.

 

The bottom line though is avoid Sky Connect.

[locutus]

Another spanner ion the works, BT throttle aswell LOL

[scouserat]

Another spanner ion the works, BT throttle aswell LOL

 

I knew BT throttled (I could tell when I downloaded Linux ISOs over P2P of an evening), but at least online gaming wasn't a problem and the connection was relatively stable LOL. It was just a shame they were so expensive.

[Ford]

i have clarified my last post which meant re the actual 'connection' rather than any 'throttling' etc.

Edited February 8, 2011 by Ford

[Guest naillig]

After reading through this -it seems they all have problems !

I suppose its just go with the cheapest and put up with it !?

 

I rang O2 -wanted £26 just for BB

Be just dont do anything in this area they said !

[Ford]

as you said, 10£ unlimited from bt isn't too bad at all. and, as you say, others in your area work ok with bt!..?

imo

Edited February 9, 2011 by Ford
typ/edit

[Guest naillig]

Thanks-only BT and plusnet to choose from -both got as bad reviews as each other !

So, BT being cheapest -will try them .

I did get an email saying if i wasn''t happy with things i could cancel without penalty -but i bet thats not as easy as they make it seem !!!!

[locutus]

I never thaught I'd hear "BT cheapest" in a seriouse sentence before! Are you sure?

[callumsgran]

Hmm sounds a bit fishy to me i think it's only cheaper for so many months isn't it?

Also what length contract are you tied in for?

Plusnet is only 12 months or sometimes none at all

[Guest naillig]

Its £10 for 18month contract for unlimited BB.

I have email confirming price for the duration of the 18 months.

Plusnet is £18 for 16gb and 12 months .

If you go the no contract -you have connection fee £25 + £45 router and postage.