ISP recommendations and recent bargains

[charlesr]

Yeah, would love to, but they don't operate on my exchange.

I phoned Opal (who answered straight away which is different!) and they did a line test which was "inconclusive".

So I have to try a different filter and to use http://speedtester.bt.com/ at 4 different times of day. I tried a different filter and after the router had reconnected, my speedtest.net speed went up to 2.1Mb/s, so to rule out the filter I changed back again and after reconnection, speedtest.net went up to 6Mb/s (about max for my line). Hmm. Great. So nicely palming off the problem on me and now unable to prove there is a problem. Unsurprisingly my speedtester.bt.com result was fine. If this happens again, I'll be using that one straight away.

[wod]

take the front off the bt phone socket and plug the filter straight into the test socket and see what speed the line is through that.

you dont hear any noise when you answer the phone as you might have a line fault ?

[abigsmurf]

Yep, use the test port on the master socket, if you get much much higher speeds on that, there's some duff wiring in your house or there's something interfering (if you've got Sky, check to make sure that's connected to a filter)

[charlesr]

It's not hardware. It's Opal. Everything has been perfect here on Nildram for 5 years. The minute it switched over to Opal, it started going pants regularly and their traffic shaping is a joke. When it works it works great though. I guess they just sold all the Nildram hardware and routed all the Nildram customers across their existing network without worrying about the increase in load and are screwed because Nildram customers have become accustomed to doing things like streaming zune movies in HD.

And there is no official BT master socket. There's an old school connector block thing inside the front door from which new cabling goes to a socket in the lounge, done when I moved in. Essentially the filter IS plugged into the master socket.

[charlesr]

I'm seriously considering Zen Office now. It's £45+VAT for the same package I'm on now, but with priority in peak times. That's over double what I'm paying now though, but for peace of mind and to save you from hearing me moan all the time, it has to be worth it yeah?

Edit this morning:

[toythatkills]

Ordered plusnet phone and broadband and apparently bt can't come until January 21st to sort my phoneline. How is that in any way ****ing acceptable?

[Shozuki]

my net seems a bit slower then usual - normally closer to the 50MB mark, but overall im really happy with Virgin and hope the 100MB service will be as good...

[JP]

Ordered plusnet phone and broadband and apparently bt can't come until January 21st to sort my phoneline. How is that in any way ****ing acceptable?

If you've ordered through PlusNet BT won't be involved in the activation.

You're right though, that lead time makes no sense and doesn't seem to tie in with what should be available for you. PlusNet will be able to tell you exactly why it's taking them longer though and if they aren't looking for an OFCOM EOI fine they'll do it without mentioning any 3rd party companies.

[toythatkills]

They told me the delay was because that's the earliest bt openworld could come...

[JP]

Openreach are the company that controls networking for all ISPs. BT, like Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin, etc are companies thatrequest work from Openreach.

All ISPs have a binding obligation not mention competing ISPs unless they are part of specifically trained teams who are licensed to do this.

By telling potential customers that it's because of BT Openreach they are in breach of their license, cause customer confusion and earn themselves many thousands of pounds of fines each year.

ISPs really need to make their staff aware that they aren't permitted to call engineers BT Openreach. They are permitted to name them Openreach but good customer service really should entail taking ownership on behalf of their cutomers and being positive concerning what they can do to help.

It is quite possible that Openreach are registered MBORC at the moment due to the recent weather, if that is the case the option as to what work to do and when to do it is removed from them and it's mandated that they must restore essential services before standard customer orders.

As a customer your ISP can escalate the order with Openreach but only in life and death situations. You may not be required to offer proof but you need to decide whether your inconveniance of not having a line is more important that other people who may NEED a line.

I'm typing this as I walk home so please excuse any mistakes and I'll perhaps be able to explain better when at home.

[Lyris]

That actually IS what I'm paying for. So yay.

[MJ]

That actually IS what I'm paying for. So yay.

I take it your area hasn't had the increased upload speed work done yet then.

[charlesr]

"As of 1st February 2011 Opal will become TalkTalk Business"

lol. Can I expect another few weeks of ****ty connectivity then? Or is it just a rebranding?

Benefits are listed including:
Cost efficiencies through scale
Brand Strength

lol at both of those.

edit: seems to be just a rebrand. Phew.

[charlesr]

@FSW: Avoid all ISPs. They are all crooks. I used to get HD streaming on Zune on the 360 fine with Nildram, but now they are talktalk business and it gives me SD until after about 1pm. Super lame. It will happily let me torrent something at maxspeed at any time of the day though Useless.

I guess the answer is just go with the cheapest one that lets you have a monthly contract and then if it's pants, try the next one.

Mine right now is maxing out. Perhaps it's because I'm on "business" tariff so they prioritise me during the day. Who knows...

[GluedOnBeard]

I'm with Virgin and upgraded to 30mb last week, I am getting the full 30 and 1mb upload, happy days : ) Customer service was actually good too!! hock: