Broadband Speeds In Willowbank...

[Gizmo]

K...is there anyone here who lives in Willowbank and has broadband?, i am just wondering what kind of connection speeds you are getting cos' i am having some serious problems and arguements with Virgin.Net at the moment, it's 10 days after my connection was activated and my "actual" speed is currently around 220kbps and my IP Profile is set at 250 (using BT Speedtester) Virgin say my max line rate has been set at 576kbps by BT as this is the max speed my line can handle, even though my connection says i am connected at 5.3Mbps

They are talking a load of old tosh, on my first day of service i was getting Peer to Peer download speeds of over 300kbps, which nose dived to around a 100kbps after about 6 hours and then went down to around 30kbps, Windows updates also only download at around 20kbps

I used to live in Macleod Road and had broadband with another provider and had a 4meg connection so i cant see there being much difference in the connection rates for the whole of the Hillhead area.....but try telling that to Virgin.

So whats everyone else getting? if i knew a few connection speeds for others in the same street i would have something to put to Virgin cos at the moment they just aint listening.

Cheers

[Metalattakk]

I'm presuming that by 'Virgin.Net' you mean that you are on Virgin Media ADSL Max.

Checking the www.thinkbroadband.com forums, there are people saying that the Virgin Media ADSL service is very temperamental at best, with severe traffic-shaping being reported.

Have a look here for some guidance:
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=virgin_adsl

My advice to get round this (if this is indeed the problem) would be to simply migrate. I do hope you haven't signed up on a 12 month contract. :~(

[Gizmo]

Yeah i have signed up for a 12 month contract, but to be honest with you I'm past caring if they charge me the 50 quid for leaving, can you recommend a good all round provider?, preferably one that doesn't throttle p2p downloads.

Cheers

[Metalattakk]

Well, if you want consistent high speeds, with no bandwidth throttling at all then you'll have to be prepared to fork out a fair bit for it. Some of the business packages are close to what you want.

However, if you want a good, honest, local (and by that I mean based in the UK with no outsourced call-centres!) steady and reliable ISP, then I'd recommend one of the Entanet re-sellers.

I'm with UKFSN (http://www.ukfsn.org/) myself, and although they are small (2-man company) they offer personal man-to-man support over email and 'phone (I even got a response from them at 2.50am about my webspace once) and they operate a different kind of traffic-shaping than the usual culprits.

They have a tool (ALT) that slows everyone's connection down equally when their peak-time activity is predicted.

Now that sounds not so good until you realise that the lowest speed that they throttle down to is 2M/bps. And recently with the addition of more centrals, they have hardly had to use their ALT much at all.

All this for the princely sum of £19.99 per month, with a rolling 1 month contract.

As I say though, any of the Entanet re-sellers would do, as they are all basically providing the same thing.

Check this post (http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=which_isp&Number=3062509&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=) out for some recommendations.

[NickInTheNorth]

I would reluctantly recomend BT.

I hate them with a passion, but where there is no effective competition I have found them to be the most consistent and reliable provider.

I am fully aware of local loop unbundling etc but the simple fact is when you contract with a third party using BT local infrastructure you open a whole can of worms. Whenever there is a problem you will find that the company you have selected will blame BT for all the problems, and if you can get to speak to the responsible department within BT they will blame your provider, and it just goes round and round and round with no real resolution.

BT are not the best ISP in the UK - far from it, but they are most certainly nowhere near the bottom of the heap either.

It's not the service you get when things are running smoothly that counts, it's how well problems get resolved. If the problem is BT infrastructure then you tend to get a quicker resolution with the direct service - hmmmmmm I wonder why :D

[Bobinovich]

I'm with Nick on this - BT control the lines and exchanges up here so if you want to talk to the organ grinder, rather than one of his monkeys, you're best sticking with BT. Yes they're more expensive than most but one call (once you've found the right department to contact) is usually sufficient to resolve a problem.

[Gizmo]

Thanks guys, i woke up this morning to an improved 2.2mbps connection, maybe all my complaining paid off, but Virgin had their chance and blew it, after 15mins on hold i got through to their cancellation dept and requested a MAC key and the cancellation of my account, i still have to put up with them for a 30 day period but after that it's adios amigos...i have wasted way too much of my time on them, i have looked into it and will probably go with either UKFSN or ADSL24, they seem to have everything i need.

Cheers

[duncan1969]

been on aol for years no trouble yet

[badger]

I'm with Nick on this - BT control the lines and exchanges up here so if you want to talk to the organ grinder, rather than one of his monkeys, you're best sticking with BT. Yes they're more expensive than most but one call (once you've found the right department to contact) is usually sufficient to resolve a problem.

Oh please tell me how to find the right department when something goes wrong. I usually give up when I find I'm getting stock answers and the person the other end is reading from a script. Just occasionally I've spoken to someone who understands but it's only by luck and persistence.

[engiebenjy]

I'm with Nick on this - BT control the lines and exchanges up here so if you want to talk to the organ grinder, rather than one of his monkeys, you're best sticking with BT. Yes they're more expensive than most but one call (once you've found the right department to contact) is usually sufficient to resolve a problem.


the problem is that under OFCOM deregulation laws etc BT Broadband is treated exactly the same as any other ISP when it comes to BT Wholesale (who actually own the lines). If you are with another ISP, then BT cannot raise a fault on your behalf otherwise they are in direct breach of OFCOM regulations. It was all about giving everybody a level playing field, rather than BT Broadband getting preference. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't realise that this is the case, and certainly a lot of ISPs dont either. I am with BT Broadband. Yes, they are expensive. Yes, they can be frustrating, but from what I have heard they are not nearly as bad as some of the ISPs who only charge £9.99 a month for a super duper package.

[hotrod4]

If your using "peer to peer" software that can slow you down.
It is a little known fact that the ports you are using can "send" info to the exchange which can cause BT to "throttle" your speed.

I found a way round this by installing a certain bit torrent client which scrambles the data sent through the ports and allows me mega fast downloads(except for the "busy2 times that we all have to put up with)

just for the record I am on BT(shows 8.3mb connection ,cos i'm very near to exchange) and have no download limit and currently download between 100-150 gig a month(sometimes alot more lol) with no problems.