Internet Speed - An Actual Crisis

satriales wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:

satriales wrote:Most ISPs are just BT resellers anyway. By switching to someone else you're just adding a middle man.

Isn't BT the cabling infrastructure company and BT the broadband company two legally separate companies?

It's why it's possible for the middle man to be cheaper than BT, both are buying rights to use the infrastructure, but some companies can offer lower prices for whatever reason despite your post suggesting going to anyone else means complications.

All I know is that we used to supply business internet to some of our customers, but we were a reseller and the company we bought lines from was also a reseller for another company that bought direct from BT.
So when our customer has problems we had to report it to another company and wait for them to report to someone else who could use BT's portal to run tests. It was ridiculous, and simple things would take all day to get resolved.

In the end we did create our own portal for running basic line tests, and I expect most major ISPs have their own similar tools, but there are still certain things that couldn't be done without going to BT.

There are 2 BTs, there is BT OpenReach who run the cables, fibre, exchanges etc. and go to people.hoyses and what not and there is BT the internet and phone provider.

As the Cable infrastructure is BT OpenReach that is who you or your ISP have to do test with as it is their lines etc.

However it isn't their internet service yous re using as you go via your ISPs data center, DNS etc. It just runs over the BT OpenReach infrastructure.

BT (phone and internet) also runs over that infrastructure so in effect is the same as everyone else in that where is a fault they have to log it with OpenReach.

What about LLUs? Afaik linkups are actually rented from BT openreach exchanges a lot of the time or are simply resold Bt wholesale services (rebadged bt Internet).

This site lists the providers that actually operate their own networks this way, it may be surprising how few there are. https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/llu

That includes BT telecoms, sky, talktalk and virgin (broadband only). It used to be O2/BeUnlimited/Bulldog too but Sky bought them. (They were one of the best, actually if you were worried about BT secretly traffic shaping / throttling then as far as I can tell this still doesn't happen in the Sky/O2 network.)

That's in addition to Virgin which are still the only well known cable operator, which is different.

The trouble with BT is they are the largest provider and so in some places have the highest congestion next to Virgin I think, so they will manage this in different ways. I know virgin ADSL was particularly bad or maybe it was the block of flats sharing one measly connection or something gooseberry fool.

Yeah that is the sort of thing I was getting at. Another example is my parents shopped around recently and found cheapest internet for them was from John Lewis.
Buying internet from John Lewis means you are actually getting internet from Plusnet who then use BT's network. So there are many resellers and middle men, but the network is usually the same no matter who you go with.

After six years with BT broadband they finally set me a new home hub and upgraded me to fibre optic broadband but sadly since that my landline phone has stopped working, I am also finding it slower than before, last night I was watching iPlayer and Now TV and it never ever used to buffer or drop in quality but last night it did, I hope it’s just because it’s just been changed,

I was with bt for years up to 2016 and fancied a change and there prices were getting a bit much but never had any issues...Went with sky which were terrible for 4/5 months random disconnections, slow as gooseberry fool etc, towards the end of the 18 months they were great.

're joined bt and was bloody awful couldn't browse or stream, it's better now but still crawls sometimes, I think they're all terrible tbh.

RichardUK wrote:...I was watching iPlayer and Now TV and it never ever used to buffer or drop in quality but last night it did, I hope it’s just because it’s just been changed,

Yeah, whenever your broadband is changed the initial couple of days are a "settling down" period where they determine the optimum speed for your line.

I've been with BT on their Infinity service for about eight years now and it has been very reliable.

I've been with plusnet for about 10 months or so now and so far I've had no issues with it, though it took 3 days for it to start working once it was installed.

Tsunade wrote:I've been with plusnet for about 10 months or so now and so far I've had no issues with it, though it took 3 days for it to start working once it was installed.

I'm also with Plusnet. Pretty happy with them. Only time the service has gone down is when BT are strawberry floating about in the exchange. Don"t know how BT can get away with 30GB limits.

In the case of BB being resold, yes it's in the consumer interest if you're OK with BT's network performance, these companies will buy up contracts/certain number of connections/bandwidth in bulk from BT and resell it at a lower price with maybe less phone deals and different support, different router and so on, that's where the cost savings are to get the better price. BT are quite expensive so if you are happy with BT's service really you should just use Plusnet.

An update:

An engineer was due to turn up today. He didn't. Talktalk have no record of an engineer being allocated and, rather than apologise, began asking if I had unplugged the router, was it plugged into the master socket, can they carry out a line test etc etc. For the 3rd time in a week.

My internet speed has now become even worse - it was around 0.68Mbps at the time I created this topic, and now it's down to 0.22Mbps.

With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:
With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

You can get it from railway sidings like everybody else.

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:An update:

An engineer was due to turn up today. He didn't. Talktalk have no record of an engineer being allocated and, rather than apologise, began asking if I had unplugged the router, was it plugged into the master socket, can they carry out a line test etc etc. For the 3rd time in a week.

My internet speed has now become even worse - it was around 0.68Mbps at the time I created this topic, and now it's down to 0.22Mbps.

With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

If you've had lots of rain in your area it could be a cabinet or cable has become flooded which is why suddenly you have low speeds.

Regarding mobile data, the best you'll probably get is Three mobile. Most of their bundles will let you tether your mobile connection too. I pay £15 a month for unlimited calls, unlimited messages, unlimited data and 30GB tethering.

BID0 wrote:

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:An update:

An engineer was due to turn up today. He didn't. Talktalk have no record of an engineer being allocated and, rather than apologise, began asking if I had unplugged the router, was it plugged into the master socket, can they carry out a line test etc etc. For the 3rd time in a week.

My internet speed has now become even worse - it was around 0.68Mbps at the time I created this topic, and now it's down to 0.22Mbps.

With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

If you've had lots of rain in your area it could be a cabinet or cable has become flooded which is why suddenly you have low speeds.

Regarding mobile data, the best you'll probably get is Three mobile. Most of their bundles will let you tether your mobile connection too. I pay £15 a month for unlimited calls, unlimited messages, unlimited data and 30GB tethering.

Cor, that is a good deal. Our internet speed - when it is actually working - is so underwhelming that I exclusively use 4G on my mobile and frequently tether it if the kids are online/watching Youtube etc. Might be time to switch...

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:

BID0 wrote:

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:An update:

An engineer was due to turn up today. He didn't. Talktalk have no record of an engineer being allocated and, rather than apologise, began asking if I had unplugged the router, was it plugged into the master socket, can they carry out a line test etc etc. For the 3rd time in a week.

My internet speed has now become even worse - it was around 0.68Mbps at the time I created this topic, and now it's down to 0.22Mbps.

With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

If you've had lots of rain in your area it could be a cabinet or cable has become flooded which is why suddenly you have low speeds.

Regarding mobile data, the best you'll probably get is Three mobile. Most of their bundles will let you tether your mobile connection too. I pay £15 a month for unlimited calls, unlimited messages, unlimited data and 30GB tethering.

Cor, that is a good deal. Our internet speed - when it is actually working - is so underwhelming that I exclusively use 4G on my mobile and frequently tether it if the kids are online/watching Youtube etc. Might be time to switch...

You can buy 4G routers that you plug a SIM into and it produces WiFi and Ethernet like a normal router. That paired with GiffGaff gigabags or whatever they are called would work nicely.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Unlock ... =4g+router

Errkal wrote:

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:

BID0 wrote:

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:An update:

An engineer was due to turn up today. He didn't. Talktalk have no record of an engineer being allocated and, rather than apologise, began asking if I had unplugged the router, was it plugged into the master socket, can they carry out a line test etc etc. For the 3rd time in a week.

My internet speed has now become even worse - it was around 0.68Mbps at the time I created this topic, and now it's down to 0.22Mbps.

With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

If you've had lots of rain in your area it could be a cabinet or cable has become flooded which is why suddenly you have low speeds.

Regarding mobile data, the best you'll probably get is Three mobile. Most of their bundles will let you tether your mobile connection too. I pay £15 a month for unlimited calls, unlimited messages, unlimited data and 30GB tethering.

Cor, that is a good deal. Our internet speed - when it is actually working - is so underwhelming that I exclusively use 4G on my mobile and frequently tether it if the kids are online/watching Youtube etc. Might be time to switch...

You can buy 4G routers that you plug a SIM into and it produces WiFi and Ethernet like a normal router. That paired with GiffGaff gigabags or whatever they are called would work nicely.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Unlock ... =4g+router

Ooh, cracking find! This might just fit the bill nicely. Thanks for the tips, guys.

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:An update:

An engineer was due to turn up today. He didn't. Talktalk have no record of an engineer being allocated and, rather than apologise, began asking if I had unplugged the router, was it plugged into the master socket, can they carry out a line test etc etc. For the 3rd time in a week.

My internet speed has now become even worse - it was around 0.68Mbps at the time I created this topic, and now it's down to 0.22Mbps.

With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

Come to think of it I think I had TalkTalk when my internet speed dropped. The denying that an engineer was booked also rings bells for me. Be interested to know the outcome of this story.

For porn, binoculars and spy on your neighbors.

I spent something like £75 on mobile data when my internet went down for 2 months, before I finally got openreach to come (which was my delay mostly). Hope you get it sorted soon.

My mobile data usage is really low, I’m on pay as you go and buy a data pack every month but each month now I buy a smaller one, it renews on the 10th and up to yet I have not even used 1gb and I have 6gb, I think it’s due to most places where there are houses or buissiness I connect automatically to BT Wi-fi, I think next month I will drop to 3gb

Johnny Jalfrezi wrote:With my mobile data now all but used-up, I'm currently faced with the prospect of having to buy a pornographic magazine. Can anyone recommend a good one?

If you're really lucky, you might find one in a hedge, though these days that's become a lot less common because, well, internet.

Is there no BT WiFi network about you can use you get unlimited access with BT so you could that if someone else in the area has BT.