Chris Wilson Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 We are near the end of old aluminium wiring to the local exchange, and broadband speeds are appalling, and when the kids are off school, and between 4.00 PM and and about 10.30 PM I get regular dropped connections to the exchange due to to, I presume, overloading of the bandwidth. Download speeds are not too bad, upload speeds to my hosted server, YouTube and the like are pitiful. I have rung BT a couple of times, but they are like turbo re-conditioners, and whatever is wrong it's YOUR fault, not theirs Are there any alternatives like satellite with upload as well as download ability? Anyone real world knowledge of anything, and real world costing? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny g Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Have you thoguht about going with someone like 3 on their Mobile Broadband, MiFi units? Depends on the signal in your area for 3, but might be worth a look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 We are near the end of old aluminium wiring to the local exchange, and broadband speeds are appalling, and when the kids are off school, and between 4.00 PM and and about 10.30 PM I get regular dropped connections to the exchange due to to, I presume, overloading of the bandwidth. Download speeds are not too bad, upload speeds to my hosted server, YouTube and the like are pitiful. I have rung BT a couple of times, but they are like turbo re-conditioners, and whatever is wrong it's YOUR fault, not theirs Are there any alternatives like satellite with upload as well as download ability? Anyone real world knowledge of anything, and real world costing? Thanks. Chris, I feel for you. One of the locations I look after for work is a remote farm estate in rural kent, a long way from the exchange and also on aluminium for the final leg. In fact, there is nothing wrong with using aluminium and its perfectly capable of a decent service, the problem lies at the trasition end, normally in a DP underground. Due to the chemical reaction that takes place when two different type of metals are joined, over a period of time oxidisation builds up and this is where noise statrs to occur and will stuff your connection, assuming it is a half decent connection at the exchange. Any BT/Openreach engineer who knows the area will have been to lots and lots of noise related calls due to this problem, the hard part is finding one who can be bothered to do anything about it. I now have a 'unofficial' contact at the exchange and what I do is call him first and tell him I am logging a fault report and then text him the ref number so he picks up the fault himself and it gets done properly. I found this guy after months of problems and loads of visits and charges levied by BT as 'customer equipment fault' and 'no fault found' as most Engineers like to do a drive by repair, anyhow this guy was sent on one occasion, found the fault, fixed it and it turned out he was into pheasant shooting and on the farm in question we breed for the shoot season so he was uber friendly and we struck up the relationship from there. However, as soon as the weather takes a change, the fault returns and we start to see a lousy throughput and have to call him, normally in Autumn, but sometimes also in Spring. He now knows wher the problems normally occur and does nothing more than remake the ali to copper connections. The old BT excuse of 'well you do already know that you are a long way from the exchange' thing tends to wear thin with me if the connection is good sometimes or has been in the past. But I have to deal with them on a daily basis and I know how difficult it can be. France Telecom are no better, hence why have time to write this as I have been sat in a basenment in Paris waiting for them to show up! You could go down the broadband over satelitte road, but its not cheap and most reasonably priced system still require a hard connection for uploads, if you go standalone satelitte the costs start to get really silly. 3g is probably the only other alternative, but if streaming is your thing then there will still be limitations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 I hear your pain Chris, we struggle to get 750kb-1mb with frequent drop-outs, and we're not even out in the sticks! Some interesting reading on the different lengths one guy has gone to for a decent connection... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/03/not_spot_diary/print.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/03/not_spot_no_longer/print.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David P Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 I find 3G a constant wind-up and should be regarded as a 'last resort' alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keener Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 I'm in a village about 2 miles from the exchange along a very old (20 odd years) copper connection. I get just under 2MB speed and, according to all my neighbours, I'm very lucky! As soon as the kids in the village get home from school speed is a total lottery. I bumped into an engineer who was working on a relay station near a barn where I walk my dog and got chatting about speeds etc. He said there's nothing any provider can do unless the copper wire from the exchange to the village is replaced. He said a new copper connection can carry much faster speeds but as they get older they get worse. He also said there's basically no way BT will replace the cable as the extra income it would generate from a small village like mine wouldn't make it worth their while. He said not to believe anything different but all the suppliers will tell you they can get better speeds - that's basically totally impossible unless the old wire is replaced. He said the only viable alternative at the moment is via the satelite route which, as someone says above, isn't cheap. It just depends how desperate you are for the speed I guess. However, if I can get everyone in the village to complain about their phones not working BT might do something but that would mean getting about 500 households to lie to BT - Hmmmm, probably not going to work is it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 At least I am not alone then When people say satellite is expensive, *HOW* expensive is it? These drop outs and speed reductions around this time are getting on my wick.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 At least I am not alone then When people say satellite is expensive, *HOW* expensive is it? These drop outs and speed reductions around this time are getting on my wick.... One example... http://www.avonlinebroadband.co.uk/packages_and_costs/ ...and a number of other resellers (they're all resellers through Avanti) http://www.avantiplc.com/partners/UK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted May 20, 2011 Author Share Posted May 20, 2011 The upload speed doesn't sound very good, how can I measure my current upload speed, is there a gizmo to do this? Thanks for the link, why aren't upload and download speeds the same with a satellite system? Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorin Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 The upload speed doesn't sound very good, how can I measure my current upload speed, is there a gizmo to do this? Thanks for the link, why aren't upload and download speeds the same with a satellite system? Cheers. http://speedtest.net/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calorus Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Uploads & download speeds are never equal (except for commercial-type SDSL connections) because the bandwidth has to be consistently allocated to one task or the other. And everyone downloads a lot whilst a few of us upload comparatively small amounts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 The upload speed doesn't sound very good, how can I measure my current upload speed, is there a gizmo to do this? Thanks for the link, why aren't upload and download speeds the same with a satellite system? Cheers. There are two types of system available, the most common only receives over the air, so, you retain a land connection to upload and also to send requests, your request is then processed and then the bird then transmits your requested data over the air and all the outgoing handshaking and error correction from your end is via your land connection. The other method relies only on a RF connection and at your end the dish will be capable of transmission too, uplinking your requests and uploads via RF direct to the satellite, this system is the expensive one as it involves RF transmission at microwave frequencies. Also, installation and initial set up is not possible by your run of the mill sky installer on this later method, which means installation costs are also higher..much. If you want more details, I can give you the name of a guy we have used in the past and he's ok and although an independent installer, he should be able to steer you to one of the providers he does work for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awisto Posted May 21, 2011 Share Posted May 21, 2011 No-one else chuckling at the title? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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