hypochondriac Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Just joined BT and the speed is awful, truly terrible so that I can hardly browse the internet at all. I have spent ages on the phone and basically the bloke said to me that because I am so far from the exchange, I'm not going to get a much better speed. My question is which ISP should I go to to ensure that I have a half decent speed? I don't need anything amazing, just good, fast, decent and reliable internet. My postcode is SO15 5BZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 If you're able to spend some money - go with Titan ADSL. They host Entanet and they truly are the dogs boll@cks. Otherwise I've used both O2 and Demon in the past who both run uncapped broadband at reasonable costs. I've never experienced anyone faster than Titan though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 If the issue is the connection to the exchange then you can go with whoever you want mate, it wont make a blind bit of difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesaint sfc Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Have you only just moved there or something? Have you not had experience with previous broadband suppliers that is faster than what BT are shoving up their line to you at the moment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 You can get Be Broadband. They are TRUELY uncapped (ive done over 1TB in a month), and they have an ADSL2+ connection to your home, that said, if the copper wire distance/quality is still ****, it wont matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastleighSoulBoy Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 I think that when you contact an ISP with a view to signing up with them they can ping you ans see what speeds you could get. Although I always thought, maybe wrongly?, that using a landline limits you by the distance from the exchange? So whichever ISP you choose would probably not be that distinct an improvement? **EDIT** Thanks to his Bajesty for confirming my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minty Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php Put your postcode in, it suggests a line speed of 4.5Mbs is possible... I would suggest asking neighbours who they are with and if they have different results. Possibly get them to run a test at speedtest.net and compare. I wouldn't be surprised if BT are telling you that it's the distance to the exchange to keep you from switching, but it's impossible to know without looking at other ISP results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 BT internet are very good - that's who i'm with. The BT home hub is a great modem. Do you have this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Minty. Those line checkers are bogus. They work by calculating the distance from postcode to exchange as the crow flies. In actuality, it's always far more than that, since the pstn cabling laid down never goes direct to the exchange and could by all illogical reason go completely around town before arriving at his exchange. The only real way to know is to get a BT engineer our to test the line to get them to perform a complete line test their end, they should do this for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 It's always a combination of a) your distance and b) your line attenuation (quality of line). The first thing you should do is locate your houses master BT socket (itll be the only one that's not square, ill have an additional small rectangle piece of plastic on the bottom), take off the face plate, disconnect the internal house wiring to the point, then plug your modem into the master socket directly behind the faceplate. Reboot your router then check your speed. When I first got ADSL2+ I was getting 5.5mb, I did the above steps, I now get 12mb, the internal wiring was bleeding static onto the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minty Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 I'll try that myself, ta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 23 June, 2009 Author Share Posted 23 June, 2009 http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php Put your postcode in, it suggests a line speed of 4.5Mbs is possible... I would suggest asking neighbours who they are with and if they have different results. Possibly get them to run a test at speedtest.net and compare. I wouldn't be surprised if BT are telling you that it's the distance to the exchange to keep you from switching, but it's impossible to know without looking at other ISP results. Cheers. That's sort of what I was thinking. I've had problems for ages, I can't believe how badly set up it all is. I apparently had a download speed of 512kbps yesterday but when I signed up last week was told I would get 2mbps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 23 June, 2009 Author Share Posted 23 June, 2009 BT internet are very good - that's who i'm with. The BT home hub is a great modem. Do you have this? I do. I actually think it is broken. The wireless was not working for a few hours at a time. I really need an engineer or something to have a look around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyLove Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 If you can choose O2. They are the UK's best broadband provider. (But only if they can use their equipent). If your an 02 customer as well you can get 8mb for less than £8 a month or 20mb for less than £15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 23 June, 2009 Author Share Posted 23 June, 2009 Cheers everyone. I'll try your advice Baj as soon as I get a minute to myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Block 18 Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 BT internet are very good - that's who i'm with. The BT home hub is a great modem. Do you have this? We had that, nothing but problems, best thing I ever did was switch to Sky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastleighSoulBoy Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 We had that, nothing but problems, best thing I ever did was switch to Sky. +1! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzo Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 If the distance from the exchange is the issue, then a cable provider such as Virgin Media may be the answer for you. I've never used Virgin, so can't vouch for reliability/speeds etc, but from what I gather the cabling they use negates these kinds of issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1976_Child Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 O2 broadband is excellent. They use ADSL2 which is twice as fast as ADSL (standard). Customer service is excellent as well. Go with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole Posted 23 June, 2009 Share Posted 23 June, 2009 If the distance from the exchange is the issue, then a cable provider such as Virgin Media may be the answer for you. I've never used Virgin, so can't vouch for reliability/speeds etc, but from what I gather the cabling they use negates these kinds of issues. Virgins customer support is a nightmare. Avoid them like the plague. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 25 June, 2009 Share Posted 25 June, 2009 If the distance from the exchange is the issue, then a cable provider such as Virgin Media may be the answer for you. I've never used Virgin, so can't vouch for reliability/speeds etc, but from what I gather the cabling they use negates these kinds of issues. This is the most important and sensible suggestion (one i always forget as i dont live in a cabled area). If you want to bypass any copper issues on your line, then use Virgins lovely fibre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Nice Posted 25 June, 2009 Share Posted 25 June, 2009 Fibre would be the solution but most of Southampton has not got it, yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evo Posted 28 June, 2009 Share Posted 28 June, 2009 Might be that the equipment at the exchange is in the "line testing" stage. When the RADSL kit is first connected to a line it will experiment with the line speed and noise margins over a period of up to 7 days. It will try and work out the fastest stable speed the line can support. Until then, it will disconnect from time to time and the speed will vary until it settles down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecuk268 Posted 28 June, 2009 Share Posted 28 June, 2009 Fibre would be the solution but most of Southampton has not got it, yet. Basically, the west of the Avenue has Virgin fibre. They intend to do the rest of Southampton but won't give any timescales. I've been with them for years (telephone, TV and broadband) and have had very few problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now