Poor speed - luck of the draw

I've had poor BT line broadband speeds since day one - a connection rate of
just above 2500 kbps (not stable) and actual throughput speeds less than
that.

HD streaming video is a no no, multiple computers (more than one) accessing
the internet slows the connection to ISDN speeds and large files take hours
to download.

There have been technical problems (disconnections) because of the quality
of the underground cable - it isn't wired in a duct and replacement would
involve some ground work. Why the muppets didn't install ducting in respect
of copper cable is beyond me. I have been told that it is too expensive to
replace the cable.

I'm paying the same line rental and broadband subscription as other people
who are enjoying 8 mbps and above connection speeds.

There must be many people in the same situation. Yet I don't see any move on
the part of BT to upgrade old network. Rather all of the investment in
broadband seems to be on making already working parts of the network work
faster: cabinet side hardware and so on.

Short of switching to Virgin (which in my area can't even provide caller
display but does provide fast broadband) is there anything I can do to
improve the connection speed?

Would requesting a second line thus forcing BT to repair the underground
cable in respect of the existing faulty second line (?) help?

Gareth wrote:
> I've had poor BT line broadband speeds since day one - a connection rate
> of just above 2500 kbps (not stable) and actual throughput speeds less
> than that.
>
> HD streaming video is a no no, multiple computers (more than one)
> accessing the internet slows the connection to ISDN speeds and large
> files take hours to download.
>
> There have been technical problems (disconnections) because of the
> quality of the underground cable - it isn't wired in a duct and
> replacement would involve some ground work. Why the muppets didn't
> install ducting in respect of copper cable is beyond me. I have been
> told that it is too expensive to replace the cable.
>
> I'm paying the same line rental and broadband subscription as other
> people who are enjoying 8 mbps and above connection speeds.
>
> There must be many people in the same situation. Yet I don't see any
> move on the part of BT to upgrade old network. Rather all of the
> investment in broadband seems to be on making already working parts of
> the network work faster: cabinet side hardware and so on.
>
> Short of switching to Virgin (which in my area can't even provide caller
> display but does provide fast broadband) is there anything I can do to
> improve the connection speed?
>
> Would requesting a second line thus forcing BT to repair the underground
> cable in respect of the existing faulty second line (?) help?
>
>
>

Well as you probably know, we couldn't even get broadband at all at one
site..

Reduced to 48K modem.

Unless you are very unlucky, you should be able to detune the system -
or BT will do it for you, - to achieve stability at about 1.5Mbps or so.

Which is enough to stream TV over, if not HD.



>
>

Mark wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:23:27 +0000, Andy Champ <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote:
>
>
>> You should worry. I get 1920k. Over aluminium cable. And there's no
>> alternative to ADSL - no Virgin here.
>>
>> Comes of living in the middle of nowhere. The edge of town of 50,000
>> people in the home counties.
>
> Not really in the middle of nowhere IMHO. Unlike the scottish
> highlands maybe.
>
>> And yet if you look at some of the figures, at least we have _some_
>> broadband!.
>
> Our broadband speed seems to be declining gradually. I guess all
> those electrons are wearing out the cable.

I wonder why BT don't use ADSL repeaters. They exist..effectively they
take the ADSL and replicate the strength, so line lengths can
essentially 'halve'

Mark wrote:
> On Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:55:02 +0000, The Natural Philosopher
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Mark wrote:
>>> On Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:23:27 +0000, Andy Champ <(E-Mail Removed)>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> You should worry. I get 1920k. Over aluminium cable. And there's no
>>>> alternative to ADSL - no Virgin here.
>>>>
>>>> Comes of living in the middle of nowhere. The edge of town of 50,000
>>>> people in the home counties.
>>> Not really in the middle of nowhere IMHO. Unlike the scottish
>>> highlands maybe.
>>>
>>>> And yet if you look at some of the figures, at least we have _some_
>>>> broadband!.
>>> Our broadband speed seems to be declining gradually. I guess all
>>> those electrons are wearing out the cable.
>> I wonder why BT don't use ADSL repeaters. They exist..effectively they
>> take the ADSL and replicate the strength, so line lengths can
>> essentially 'halve'
>
> That would improve things. But this would cost them so it won't be
> done.

at 50 quid a customer plus installation? They run of 'ring' power IIRC.


If it means they get broadband TO a customer where otherwise they would
not, I would have said its a no brainer.

But that probably describes BT's management anyway ;-)