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186
 
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 16/08/2008 14:10:25
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Here's a 'fun' one for y'all...
I went around to see my niece today. When I got there she was on the 'phone to the 'The Post Office' concerning her broadband. She has had a few problems with the phone line following a period of REALLY bad rain. A service engineer had called yesterday and repaired/replaced a lot of the exterior wiring. The phone is now better than it ever was but the 'net connection is still very bad. It's not just slow - it is intermittent to the point that such things as Skype are completely unusable due to 'dropout'.
I ran five or six different speed checks using the various sites available to do this and they all reported around the same speed. 125(ish)kps DL and around 320(ish)kps UL. I did the 'naughty thing' and, for a few minutes, hitched a ride on a neighbors system and, despite a very low signal level, immediately got 4 Meg DL and 360 kps UL.
I asked what the 'engineer' had told her - ready for this? - 'it's probably your own fault, you need to turn off your router for a while every few hours to let it re-set you know! But anyhow, I have reset it for you from here so you will see it speed up over the next 48 hours or so. It will be fine and I will call back in a few days just to make sure it has sorted it's self out.'
Just to have a comparison with the actuality, here is the claim from the Post Office web site:
High-speed broadband connection up to 8Mbps - Subject to availability. Top speeds may not be attainable and depend on a number of factors including distance from the exchange...
Allan.....
Edited for spelling! (surprise-surprise!)
Only nuts eat squirrels.....
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Pentium
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Pentium
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If something was reset at the exchange side (presumably as external wiring was cut and altered) then yes, it will improve as both ends work out SNR ratings and the like.
However, you are right in finding the engineers comment stupid. Routers can stay on for weeks on end and not have a single effect on speed, unless it is of a poor design in some respect (no idea what, but if it's a genuine note, then the router must be pretty sh**)
While the speed is a little poor, the more worrying thing is the dropouts. If service is not reliable, I would complain. Use
www.samknows.com
to find what other Broadband packages are out there and see user feedback/reputations of them. You can threaten to switch provider if they don't improve the service, and it's best to have a name that you realistically could switch to.
Disclaimer: Any advice I provide is only applicable in my reality and may need altering to fit yours There is no place like 127.0.0.1
Best Video Evar! UPDATED
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Santa Pig
Group: Moderators
Last Login: Yesterday @ 22:17:31
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| The technical side of the Post Office BB is run by BT. Unless you can get an unbundled deal (see samknows as FS says) it'll be using exactely the same lines and kit in the exchange.
The difference when my TalkTalk went unbundled was a speed increase of 5x.
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC 
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 16/08/2008 14:10:25
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Thanks to all who have contributed to the thread.
I have checked the availability of alternative suppliers - there ain't none! I mean, yeah, there are,
but since there is no LLU at the exchange, there are effectively no alternatives is a real sense.
Since the original post there has been contact from the ISP and i have to say, (I was there and handled the call) the attitude was different to the previous contact. The man that I spoke to seemed genuinely concerned and also willing to answer questions without sounding like he was talking down to a 3 year old.
Still looks like quite a long process though.
I wanna go home to the US and my cable modem! **sigh**
Allan.....
Only nuts eat squirrels.....
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186
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 16/08/2008 14:10:25
Posts: 6,
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WOAH! They seem to have sorted it... I got up today and decided to give it a go - no great hopes, I admit. It seemed to come up quite quickly so I tried the online speed checker that I had tried before and the line almost burst into flames! I suppose some of you are used to this but over 5 Meg was the reading where it had been around 130 K at best before. Theoretical max for this location is 6 Meg so, at a random time of day, I think, so far, it is looking good.
A result! Kudos to the Post Office finally.
Allan.....
Only nuts eat squirrels.....
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Santa Pig
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Looks like it was something in the exchange, but you'll never know
I dream of 6 megs...
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC
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Pentium
Group: Forum Members
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