Broadband

[Ballymore]

We are in the unfortunate area of Caithness that only has a broadband speed of about 1MB and we are also last on the phone line. When the phone rings our broadband disconnects and it can take literally hours for it to reconnect :(

Does anyone else have this problem? If you had, how did you solve the problem?

Any suggestions on a good business broadband provider are welcome!

[Phill]

Try this in the tech thread, you may get more detailed help there.
The BB disconnect sounds like a fault. I would check your wiring on extensions etc. after the master socket. An easy check is to take the faceplate off and connect a phone that your confident is fault free and the router, then try calling your number and see if the fault still exists.

[Ballymore]

Thanks Phill - will try that :)

[kosacid]

sounds like your filter it hast to be on the main line, before any phone extensions or that or your rougher will fail when some one rings, you prob have a phone that's not filtered

[jacko]

Did nt think anyone in Wick would be that low on download speed. Has to be something wrong there .
Just done a speed check and im still getting 18 mb . im with Bt . Same since a good few month s now .
You should contact your broadband provider about that. ??

[Bobinovich]

I've had numerous clients with your disconnection problem and agree with Kosacid that you've got either duff filter(s), multiple filters in series, or a line not filtered at all - remember that even non-phone devices connected to your line, such as Sky (which use it for box office, etc.), should be filtered. When your connection is reset (every time your phone rings) the router has to re-establish the signal with the exchange and takes time to settle down, so once you get that problem resolved your line speed should become more stable over the next few days.

I also agree that, if you're within Wick or not too far away, you shouldn't be anything like as low as 1Mb. Once the phone line enters your house do you have a long extension cable to your router? Ideally it should be connected to the first phone box to ensure the best speed, however this often isn't possible if you need the router to be in a particular room, but the generally lower quality wiring of an extension cable will reduce the signal thus the speed of your connection.

[Ballymore]

Thank you all for your advice.
The computer is connected to the first phone box on a short line on it's own and all 4 filters are good. We don't have Sky or X-Box live.
Spoke to our phone/broadband provider who says the problem is the distance to the exchange. We may be only 2 miles from Wick but unfortunately our phone line goes via Haster in a roundabout way and is about 6 - 7 miles long and also old. Unfortunately we are last on the line, which was put in over 50 years ago, and that when more and more use their internet and phones the line becomes weaker as it reaches our house.
They think the best solution is to put in a new cable but that will cost quite a bit. But thanks anyway for all your advice :)

[Alrock]

Don't believe everything your ISP tells you... Was getting atrociously slow speeds with AOL (more akin to a 512kb speeds), spent a month & about 25 hours on the phone to them to try & sort it out, all they could do was blame the line & the exchange, ditched them, went with AAISP (http://www.aa.net.uk/) & immediately had pretty much full 8 meg speed.