switching broadband provider

[JTrader]

Hi

I am with virgin.net at the moment - who are awful IMO. it frequently disconnects then reconnects, becomes really slow etc. I have tried new modem & ADSL filter, and have had my BT cabling replaced recently & refitted with new cables.


has anyone switched BB provider, from an ISP that truly sucked, to an ISP that was a big improvement, without any work needing to be done on the BT line, or replacement hardware etc.?
If so, which ISP did you switch from & to?

Thanks a lot.

 

[zambuck]

Switched from BT giving 2Mb broadband costing 27 odd pounts to SKY giving upto 16 Mb unlimited line costing 10 pounds.....

....Easy switchover...some teething problems, but like rocket now....

Never disconnects and line never drops....

You have to be SKY customer though and must have a landline....

Broadband – Sky Packages

HTH

 

[timsk]

Hi

I am with virgin.net at the moment - who are awful IMO. it frequently disconnects then reconnects, becomes really slow etc. I have tried new modem & ADSL filter, and have had my BT cabling replaced recently & refitted with new cables.


has anyone switched BB provider, from an ISP that truly sucked, to an ISP that was a big improvement, without any work needing to be done on the BT line, or replacement hardware etc.?
If so, which ISP did you switch from & to?

Thanks a lot.

Hi JT,
Yes, I'm coming out of the back end of this very process myself. I've switched from Orange (who 'truly sucked') to IDnet. The pro' techie chap that set up my new machine said he'd not seen download speeds as fast. As an on the spot test, he downloaded an 8Mb file in 10 seconds. The package I've got from IDnet offers contention ratios much better than the ordinary 50:1 ratios provided as standard to domestic users. As for reliability and service - I have no complaints so far, but I've only been with them for 2 days! I like the fact that when I rang them up I got real people answering the phone AND they could answer all my questions. The hardest part in the whole process was extracting a MAC code out of Orange. They said they would e-mail it to me and didn't. When I phoned to complain they claimed they had already e-mailed it to me - but I never received it. After 5 days of pestering, they dictated it to me over the phone. Check out my earlier thread - I found the feedback invaluable:
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/int...s/27337-eclipse-isp-good-bad-indifferent.html
Good luck!
Tim.

 

[counter_violent]

Agree 100% Orange are worse than abysmal...will be switching after chrimbo probably to Zen...locally based and come top or near the top in lots of speed and reliability tests.

 

[gedward3]

I agree with Zambuck. Just switched over from Bulldog to Sky. Was getting 3MB as im far from the exchange but am now seeing speeds of up to 5.5MB with hardly any dropouts.

As a warning my switchover took nearly 4 weeks to change over as we had the Sky TV package as well. Just make sure they give you the correct dates at the beginning.

I was lucky as i had a wireless broadband to see me through on my laptop otherwise would have been in the internet cafe every day.

Switched from BT giving 2Mb broadband costing 27 odd pounts to SKY giving upto 16 Mb unlimited line costing 10 pounds.....

....Easy switchover...some teething problems, but like rocket now....

Never disconnects and line never drops....

You have to be SKY customer though and must have a landline....

Broadband – Sky Packages

HTH

 

[JTrader]

I agree with Zambuck. Just switched over from Bulldog to Sky. Was getting 3MB as im far from the exchange but am now seeing speeds of up to 5.5MB with hardly any dropouts.

As a warning my switchover took nearly 4 weeks to change over as we had the Sky TV package as well. Just make sure they give you the correct dates at the beginning.

I was lucky as i had a wireless broadband to see me through on my laptop otherwise would have been in the internet cafe every day.

dropouts - this is the correct word to describe my main problem with virgin.net. They happen daily, often more than 1 or 2 times.

 

[dcraig1]

dropouts - this is the correct word to describe my main problem with virgin.net. They happen daily, often more than 1 or 2 times.

Lots of factors could cause this and you may or may not be better off with another provider. Number one factor is your distance to the exchange.

Other things might include your house phone wiring, make/model of ADSL filters used, make/model of ADSL modem/router, quality of the phone line to the exchange. Even things likes joins in the phone wiring between wires of different gauge can cause problems due to impedance mismatch. It is a real can of worms.

I'm 4 KM from the DSLAM at the exchange and I get quite a lot of problems. I'd rather slam my finger in a car door than ring up the ISP tech support again - they are that bad. The installation was a shambles, the tech support was/is a shambles and to make the picture complete, the billing system is a shambles - I keep getting bills for services I never signed up for.

On a practical note, you should be able to connect to your modem with a browser. They are often on address 192.168.1.1 or 10.1.1.1. The address is often on the label on the bottom of the modem. You can then have a look at the ADSL stats. In particular the signal to noise ratio (SNR) should preferably be something like 8db or better. Your modem may also have error counts for the ADSL link (eg CRC errors, framing errors). If these are getting up to the thousands or much worse, the line quality is not so good. You can also look at the line attenuation which generally depends on the distance from the exchange. As I said I have some problems and mine is 44db, so you should look for a figure less than this.

I know it a real pain, but at least you will some info to pressure the ISP tech support into doing something. Good luck. As I said, it can be a real can of worms.

 

[JTrader]

Lots of factors could cause this and you may or may not be better off with another provider. Number one factor is your distance to the exchange.

Other things might include your house phone wiring, make/model of ADSL filters used, make/model of ADSL modem/router, quality of the phone line to the exchange. Even things likes joins in the phone wiring between wires of different gauge can cause problems due to impedance mismatch. It is a real can of worms.

I'm 4 KM from the DSLAM at the exchange and I get quite a lot of problems. I'd rather slam my finger in a car door than ring up the ISP tech support again - they are that bad. The installation was a shambles, the tech support was/is a shambles and to make the picture complete, the billing system is a shambles - I keep getting bills for services I never signed up for.

On a practical note, you should be able to connect to your modem with a browser. They are often on address 192.168.1.1 or 10.1.1.1. The address is often on the label on the bottom of the modem. You can then have a look at the ADSL stats. In particular the signal to noise ratio (SNR) should preferably be something like 8db or better. Your modem may also have error counts for the ADSL link (eg CRC errors, framing errors). If these are getting up to the thousands or much worse, the line quality is not so good. You can also look at the line attenuation which generally depends on the distance from the exchange. As I said I have some problems and mine is 44db, so you should look for a figure less than this.

I know it a real pain, but at least you will some info to pressure the ISP tech support into doing something. Good luck. As I said, it can be a real can of worms.

Cheers.
Can of worms it is!

I'm trying yet another (freebie) modem & adsl filter since last night, and so far, it has been better. No drop-outs as of yet. Still to early to tell though. The upload & download speeds are pretty much what i expect for the service i subscribed to (1mb), infact download sometimes read at 1.3mb on speedtest.
ping is around 60-159 ms.

 

[dcraig1]

Cheers.
Can of worms it is!

I'm trying yet another (freebie) modem & adsl filter since last night, and so far, it has been better. No drop-outs as of yet. Still to early to tell though. The upload & download speeds are pretty much what i expect for the service i subscribed to (1mb), infact download sometimes read at 1.3mb on speedtest.

Yes, I've been through no fewer than 4 modems so far. The best was a Siemans. It's also the cheapest and probably amongst the cheapest you can buy.

 

[JTrader]

Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test

just ran another test using the London server -
ping 97 ms
upload 113 kb
download 1015 kb

its surprsing how poor upload speeds are....

I live a few miles from the exchange, hence the 1mb service. I had 8mb but was only getting around 3mb download - which felt just as slow as my previous 1mb service, & cost more, so i switched back. My BT line now only supports 2mb max unfortunately, for some strange reason, whereas 11 months ago, BT said it would support 8mb.

 

[Mayfly]

Sorry, I haven't really got time to get into this - but you should bear in mind that most cases, the ISPs’ will have nobled the kit they’ll have supplied you with and that you’ll have to ensure that you’ve got the most up-to-date firmware for your router. (Also, making sure that it’s compatible with your operating system, of course – say, if you’re running Vista.) The reason I’m saying this is because I’m with Tiscali (very cheap deal with free calls thrown in) at the moment and they supplied me with a Speedtouch S585v6 router; which is fine but there’s little you can do with it with the software supplied on Tiscali’s installation CD’; so IMO it was essential for me to get to get the complete set of software direct from Thompson, which costs £3.00, i.e. you pay for the postage: http://www.speedtouchonline.com/cd61res.asp? - if I was going to be able to do anything sensible with the router.

I agree with other’s comments about customer service and technical support (why can’t the IPSs’ liven up the scripts (jockey “you give good ****?, user “Eh?”) and make the experience a whole lot less painful!

HTH

Cheers

Mayfly

 

[gedward3]

The other good thing with Sky is they have what i think is an unofficial forum whereby you can ask any questions and get some really good help just like this site.

You can usually look through the previous posts to find the answer.

My PC didnt have the ethernet drivers to be able to run broadband and i didnt even have a clue after talking to Sky direct. But i had a look on the site and the drivers were there to download to my laptop and then just transfer over.

SkyUser - The Unofficial Help and Support Forum for everything Sky!

dropouts - this is the correct word to describe my main problem with virgin.net. They happen daily, often more than 1 or 2 times.

 

[JTrader]

dropouts - this is the correct word to describe my main problem with virgin.net. They happen daily, often more than 1 or 2 times.

Just had another drop-out. New modem, filter, & updated drivers of little help maybe.

Drop-outs seem to occur most when the PC/ internet connection have been running for a long time i.e. 3+ hours. I know it happens as metatrader signals the drop-out & re-connection with a noise.
Once it starts to drop, i can disconnect my internet connection in the system tray, and then re-connect to the web, but on re-connection it often stalls/hangs etc. from here. Refreshing the desk-top makes no difference.
Then the only solution seems to be restarting the PC & re-connecting to the net.

 

[purplekiwi]

Just a thought jtrader - have you checked the network card on your pc? I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a fault in the network card - replacing it solved the problem. Otherwise I have found virgin to be an excellent provider and customer service second to none.

 

[JTrader]

I don't have a network card. It is a USB modem and a normal BB connection to a BT line with only one computer connected to it.

 

[zambuck]

I don't have a network card. It is a USB modem and a normal BB connection to a BT line with only one computer connected to it.

....It is best to use network card with a router....USB is also OK but running it off LAN is the best route to take for broadband...

 

[fibonelli]

Just had another drop-out. New modem, filter, & updated drivers of little help maybe.

Drop-outs seem to occur most when the PC/ internet connection have been running for a long time i.e. 3+ hours. I know it happens as metatrader signals the drop-out & re-connection with a noise.
Once it starts to drop, i can disconnect my internet connection in the system tray, and then re-connect to the web, but on re-connection it often stalls/hangs etc. from here. Refreshing the desk-top makes no difference.
Then the only solution seems to be restarting the PC & re-connecting to the net.

yep, Virgin media is verging on the ridiculous.

Lost my connection at 9.30pm last night only regained 30 mins ago. Apparently they've introduced a premium rate helpline number! wtf

Regular interruptions, no wonder I have internet radio on to warn me

 

[JTrader]

ISP's have u by the balls - 12 month contracts etc. & u only know if they r any good once u r connected.

 

[JTrader]

ISPreview UK - Independent Internet Service Provider Information Source
A useful list of ISP's, contract periods, speeds, prices etc.

 

[JTrader]

yep, Virgin media is verging on the ridiculous.

Lost my connection at 9.30pm last night only regained 30 mins ago. Apparently they've introduced a premium rate helpline number! wtf

Regular interruptions, no wonder I have internet radio on to warn me

Is it internet radio signalling problems with your BB, or is it IR causing problems with your BB - that is what i am not sure of??