BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

So today when the flypast went over (I'm in the flight path), soon as the jets went past, internet lost connection. It resynced at exactly what it's normally at, so not a problem.

It's usually perfectly stable, so can something like that, cause enough temporary noise for a desync or just coincidence?

Not a problem, just curious :).
 
KIA said:
You get what you pay for.

http://www.zen.co.uk/home-office/
http://www.aa.net.uk/broadband.html
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Sorry, but you don't have to pay through the nose to get a normal installation/broadband/customer service(as I've pointed out before).

I'm with Plusnet and have used them on and off since dial-up days(have also used Zen). The product is reliable, speeds match my profile, customer service is helpful and UK based, the only thing they don't currently offer is IPv6(under trial). Of course like every ISP dealing with hundreds of thousands of customers there will be some situations that could be handled better but the norm is decent service.
 
philip2009 said:
Sorry, but you don't have to pay through the nose to get a normal installation/broadband/customer service(as I've pointed out before).

I'm with Plusnet and have used them on and off since dial-up days(have also used Zen). The product is reliable, speeds match my profile, customer service is helpful and UK based, the only thing they don't currently offer is IPv6(under trial). Of course like every ISP dealing with hundreds of thousands of customers there will be some situations that could be handled better but the norm is decent service.
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I keep saying the same thing, it just isnt worth paying a premium for the commodity which is simply wholesale bandwidth in this day and age. I have been on the other side of the fence, i paid a fortune to Eclipse internet (one of the most expensive consumer isp's going :p) for years. I am now with Talktalk paying almost nothing. Yes the phone assistance doesnt even compare, but really how often do you ever need to call an ISP? The actual bandwidth i utilize is (obviously) identical.
 
philip2009 said:
Sorry, but you don't have to pay through the nose to get a normal installation/broadband/customer service(as I've pointed out before).

I'm with Plusnet and have used them on and off since dial-up days(have also used Zen). The product is reliable, speeds match my profile, customer service is helpful and UK based, the only thing they don't currently offer is IPv6(under trial). Of course like every ISP dealing with hundreds of thousands of customers there will be some situations that could be handled better but the norm is decent service.
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Nobody has to pay through the nose for a better service.

Zen's FTTC option is very competitively priced if one wants a service without traffic shaping (£5 extra per month on PN), internal profiling and BTW.
 
Zen Unlimited Fibre 2(equivalent to my Plusnet package) is listed as £30+£15.44 line rental. I pay £21.49 to Plusnet for broadband only(what's the broadband only price for Zen?) and £10/month for line rental to the Post office - and they don't traffic shape/rate-limit. So over a year that adds up to around £170. Let's not get into A&A which, using Home::1, would cost me £60/month+rental(?).
 
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philip2009 said:
Zen Unlimited Fibre 2(equivalent to my Plusnet package) is listed as £30+£15.44 line rental. I pay £21.49 to Plusnet for broadband only(what's the broadband only price for Zen?) and £10/month for line rental to the Post office - and they don't traffic shape/rate-limit. So over a year that adds up to around £170. Let's not get into A&A which, using Home::1, would cost me £60/month.
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Which Plusnet broadband package are you on?

If ADSL then you are paying more than if you had both BB and phone with Plusnet.. :confused:
 
philip2009 said:
Zen Unlimited Fibre 2(equivalent to my Plusnet package) is listed as £30+£15.44 line rental. I pay £21.49 to Plusnet for broadband only(what's the broadband only price for Zen?) and £10/month for line rental to the Post office - and they don't traffic shape/rate-limit. So over a year that adds up to around £170. Let's not get into A&A which, using Home::1, would cost me £60/month+rental(?).
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You might have a point if they were identical services.
 
KIA said:
You might have a point if they were identical services.
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Your initial point was you are likely to get bad service unless you pay more, that was a sweeping generalisation. Your second point was that you don't really have to pay much more(somewhat contradicting your first), that was inaccurate as well.
 
What many people don't realise or seem to overlook is you are likely (not always) going to get a better service with the large ISPs (BT, PlusNet.etc) because they have a larger user base and therefore a larger pool of bandwidth (Since the contention ratio system was removed).
Obviously in some places it doesn't make a difference but in most it does.

Also BT.etc are not that bad if you know the right channels to go down if you need to contact support.

The only things really varying are Traffic Shaping and Support, the latter isn't a problem if your line is fine and works.
 
philip2009 said:
Your initial point was you are likely to get bad service unless you pay more, that was a sweeping generalisation. Your second point was that you don't really have to pay much more(somewhat contradicting your first), that was inaccurate as well.
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He could have a decent customer service experience if he's willing to pay for a better provider.

The extra amount per month isn't very significant, given how many benefits it is likely to bring.

The bargain basement providers will always have flaws. Something has to give.
 
I've been with BT now for 2 months with my shiny new 80/20 (get 77.5 / 18.5 ) in reality. Not a single problem so far unlike the perpetual nightmare I had with the standard ADSL service from Sky.

I've not noticed any particular traffic shaping using newsgroups for example. So happy camper here. I have heard some bad stories about dealing with Indian support which BT have outsourced to. But no cause to call them so far!
 
Got my infinity today after 2 weeks of being left disconnected and 5 weeks+ end to end order time. Pathetic service but so far so good for speed: 68 Down 17 up 15ms ping
 
KIA said:
Nobody has to pay through the nose for a better service.

Zen's FTTC option is very competitively priced if one wants a service without traffic shaping (£5 extra per month on PN), internal profiling and BTW.
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Why is traffic shaping bad? Doesn't it mean that more latency-sensitive things like online gaming get prioritised over things like peer-to-peer? (that's good as far as I'm concerned).
 
I've been having trouble with my FTTC Infinity 2, getting speeds of around 45mbps when estimated 75-ish. I've had this problem over a year but just thought it is what it is and that was it. I wasn't happy at all with it but just felt it was so much better than my previous speeds I should just get on with it.

Over the past few weeks I've found sites not loading, saying offline, basically 1/10 times I visit a site, it will just sit there 'loading' until it times out. I even have this problem with the HOMEHUB manager settings at times which is bizarre. Sounds to me like perhaps a faulty homehub 3 to be honest, but thought I'd ring BT just to discuss this and see what is said. I got through to a guy who agreed it was wrong and said I am STILL down on their records to be having estimated speeds of over 70mpbs so something must be up. I was given a number to ring for the broadband technical help. I was told to do the usual activities such as turn off wireless and reset the home hub and modems. I am already using a wired connection so knew the wireless isn't the issue, I went to reset my homehub and do a speed test as asked. When I returned to the phone I realised the BT customer service worker had HUNG UP.

I rang back absolutely seething and got through to someone else who had me doing the same. After I had done all the resets and tests they asked me to do (with same slow speeds as a result), they agreed I should be dealt with by the service monitoring team. I was told they'd be in contact within 24 hours. Well it's been 24 hours, I've still not heard from them.

I feel utterly helpless in this situation. I hate this method of dealing with a company, you are totally at their mercy, you have no control over trying to resolve the issues and just have to depend on whether or not they bother to get back to you or not. Yet here I am still continuing to pay the monthly fee. What should I do here?
 
Well great post.....I was jut going to ask you guys what do you think about the support BT have ...LOL
I know its massive company therefore from amount of ppl connected there will be always more unhappy customers then lets say ENTANET but the experience most of you have is really that bad? Maybe PLUS net then?

I am torn between Plusnet/BT as the current company is great in therm of support ( yet still they can't guarantee that the problems on the supplier side would be solved quick-BTOR) but the charges of 25 quid +VATfor fiber with a monthly usage of 50GB is a little bit excessive for me (probably wont achieve that every moth but still prefer not to worry.
Another thing that with the current one I have to buy a router with WAn - 100quid ish on top wheres BT (better)Plusnet (just enough) supply one.

When it comes to Duderooni - I am not exactly sure but they are not providing service you sign up for therefore maybe there is a way to get a some sort of refund and cancel contract and move elsewhere? Not sure
 
email the top bloke, i bet you get a reply within a few hours

[email protected]




Duderooni said:
I've been having trouble with my FTTC Infinity 2, getting speeds of around 45mbps when estimated 75-ish. I've had this problem over a year but just thought it is what it is and that was it. I wasn't happy at all with it but just felt it was so much better than my previous speeds I should just get on with it.

Over the past few weeks I've found sites not loading, saying offline, basically 1/10 times I visit a site, it will just sit there 'loading' until it times out. I even have this problem with the HOMEHUB manager settings at times which is bizarre. Sounds to me like perhaps a faulty homehub 3 to be honest, but thought I'd ring BT just to discuss this and see what is said. I got through to a guy who agreed it was wrong and said I am STILL down on their records to be having estimated speeds of over 70mpbs so something must be up. I was given a number to ring for the broadband technical help. I was told to do the usual activities such as turn off wireless and reset the home hub and modems. I am already using a wired connection so knew the wireless isn't the issue, I went to reset my homehub and do a speed test as asked. When I returned to the phone I realised the BT customer service worker had HUNG UP.

I rang back absolutely seething and got through to someone else who had me doing the same. After I had done all the resets and tests they asked me to do (with same slow speeds as a result), they agreed I should be dealt with by the service monitoring team. I was told they'd be in contact within 24 hours. Well it's been 24 hours, I've still not heard from them.

I feel utterly helpless in this situation. I hate this method of dealing with a company, you are totally at their mercy, you have no control over trying to resolve the issues and just have to depend on whether or not they bother to get back to you or not. Yet here I am still continuing to pay the monthly fee. What should I do here?
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