A bit confused about 24MB services

Mana

Mana

Mana

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Hi there,

I was just wondering if i could get a bit of clarification about 24mb services. Am i right in thinking that for my line to be able to support 24mb my local exchange has to be upgraded to adsl2+?

My town is southend-on-sea and i did a quick google for an adsl2+ exchange checker and put my number in and the following results popped up:

Search for an ADSL2+ exchange date-

Southend Town (EASND)
East
London North West
Live Now

So apparently adsl2+ was available in my area.

I then phoned up my isp (fast.co.uk) and they said that my exchange was indeed upgraded to adsl2+. He then started talking about "21CN." Is this the term given for the nationwide rollout adsl2+ upgrades to exchanges. The support guy stated that this was being bulk rolled out right now and that they were getting updates from bt for when exchanges were active. He said that my area should be fully ready to go by October but that there were delays expected cos bt were just being bt :P.

This got me a bit confused as he said my exchange supports adsl2+ and the checker said it was live in my area. But then he said something about October.

I told him that my router currently only supports 8mb max and it has been great as my download speeds are roughly 720kb/s at present. I asked him if i should upgrade to an adsl2+ router right as if the exchange was ready would i be able to experience 24mb speeds right away (he said that i wouldnt have to upgrade any package, i would be upgraded naturally).

The support guy stated that i should hold off for a bit and monitor my router's downstream rate connection and if it went up i should go ahead and get a new modern router...

I just checked:

ADSL Modem
Connection Status CONNECTED
Downstream Rate 7392 Kbps
Upstream Rate 832 Kbps

I think its been like that ever since i joined fast.co.uk and its pretty near the max 8mb so i have no way of knowing if its ready or not.

Help, so confused :confused:. Should i upgrade my router now?
 
Router is an ASUS AAM 6000EV and its ancient :). I bought it about 7 years ago. Sadly it doesnt have any options to display attenuation or snr.
 
If its about 7 years old it is likely that it will only support ADSL so an up to 8mbit sync is to be expected.

Go buy a new router that says it supports ADSL2+ (something with a Broadcom chipset for the modem would be my choice, e.g. Netgear, Zyxel some DrayTek models).

As you say your exchange has already been enabled for BT's 21CN network you just need to wait for your ISP to migrate you over to the new platform, the time scale for this though will depend on them and BT - if they said October to finish moving everyone you may as well just wait until then to upgrade your router.
 
Mana said:
He then started talking about "21CN." Is this the term given for the nationwide rollout adsl2+ upgrades to exchanges.
Click to expand...
21st Century Network is the name given to a major project improving BT's infrastructure, part of which involves the introduction of Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT's ADSL2+ product.

Incidentally your exchange info shows it's enabled for O2/Be and Sky/Easynet. So you've had access to ADSL2+ services which are cheaper and have more generous usage allowances than anything you'll get via BT for over a year. Think about switching.
 
Just checked out your exchange on Samknows - you can get O2 / Be which is an LLU service, you might also want to consider switching over to them as it will likely be better / cheaper or both than something provided off the back of BT's wholesale network.

They use ADSL2+ so if you're already getting a very good MAX sync of close to 8Mbit you will probably see close to 20Mbit from ADSL2+
 
wij said:
If its about 7 years old it is likely that it will only support ADSL so an up to 8mbit sync is to be expected.

Go buy a new router that says it supports ADSL2+ (something with a Broadcom chipset for the modem would be my choice, e.g. Netgear, Zyxel some DrayTek models).

As you say your exchange has already been enabled for BT's 21CN network you just need to wait for your ISP to migrate you over to the new platform, the time scale for this though will depend on them and BT - if they said October to finish moving everyone you may as well just wait until then to upgrade your router.
Click to expand...

thanks for your reply, on the 3rd of september my internet cut out and i checked my mail and i had received the following:

"We are pleased to confirm that yur boradband account with us is now in the process of being transferred to our new broadband platform, in preparation for teh new "up tp" 25Mbps broadband service coming in 2009/2010." it went on to say that on the 3rd of sept i would have to change my username and password which i did and service resumed normally.


So i guess i am on the new platform but am not sure if 24mbps is enabled yet and i guess i wont know til i upgrade the router like you said.


You suggested some brands, could you give me some nice models so i can google and check some reviews if its not too much trouble.

Thanks in advance.
 
Daegan said:
21st Century Network is the name given to a major project improving BT's infrastructure, part of which involves the introduction of Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT's ADSL2+ product.

Incidentally your exchange info shows it's enabled for O2/Be and Sky/Easynet. So you've had access to ADSL2+ services which are cheaper and have more generous usage allowances than anything you'll get via BT for over a year. Think about switching.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. I think i will stick with Fast isp as although i am paying a little bit more, i like the fact that my i can get through to their customer support first time and not be directed to india. They say that they will be moving to adsl2+ in the next month or so, so ill get ill stick it out and just upgrade my router in the meantime. I am also a gamer and i get low pings with them so far.
 
Linksys by Cisco WAG54G2-UK 54Mbps Wireless-G ADSL2 + Router/Modem

or if you want more future proofing

Linksys by Cisco WAG160N-UK 300Mbps Wireless N ADSL2+ Modem/Router
 
If you're on the new ADSL2+ / 21CN platform you should be able to get higher speeds.

I just googled your existing modem and according to the ASUS website it supports ADSL2/2+ - if it's very old though you might need to do a firmware update to enable this.

If you want a simple router you can do a lot worse than something like a Netgear DN834G, or some of the newer 802.11n models if you want faster wifi.

DrayTek are expensive (£200+ for one with wifi) but have a very full feature set aimed at SMB users - you'd know if you needed them.

Netgear DG834G - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-017-NG&groupid=46&catid=1451&subcat=1454

DrayTek 2820N - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-023-DK&groupid=46&catid=1452&subcat=
 
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