Incredibly poor connection - need some alternatives.

leemonk

leemonk

leemonk

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Joined
13 Aug 2006
Posts
114
Hi,

I'm a little lost in what to do here. I have moved to a new flat for work and will be back and forth each week to home and the family, however the flat I'm in has an incredibly poor internet connection.

There is no Sky or cable and BT can only give me a guesstimate of 2meg average.

There seem to be a number of wifi spots near by and a dongle I bought works fairly well, but I think will be expensive.

I have an iPhone but can not tether to it as, apparently, I am on an old tariff with unlimited internet and data (or something to that effect).

What are my option? Should I just bite the bullett and connect with BT at 2megs or what?

Regards
 
Try Plus Net, you'll get the same speeds BT are quoting for less money.

Get the maximum you can from that 2mb by using a good quality filter, ensure your master socket is in good condition too.

An alternative would be a MiFi...
 
I'd have thought a stable 2 Mbit connection is preferrable to mobile internet, and probably a fair bit cheaper. If you are quoted 2 Mbit then it's likely your line is pretty long and in the region of 4-5km and will respond well to good internal wiring, good microfilter and a good modem chipset, such as maybe a Broadcom.

To give some hope I was quoted average 4.5Mbit with Sky ADSL2+ and have stabilised at 7.8Mbit so sometimes estimates can be quite conservative.
 
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The issue I have is that the property is rented so I can not make any changes to it.

I can't say I have heard of microfilters and I simply plan on using the modem/router that BT suppply me.

BT have assured me that no one else will give me the same speeds as them as they limit the quality to services other than BT.

If this is the case, then it sounds like BT is the best option....... but going from 40meg or so down to 2 is going to kill me :(
 
leemonk said:
The issue I have is that the property is rented so I can not make any changes to it.
Click to expand...

You can remove extensions temporarily and use the main socket only.

leemonk said:
I can't say I have heard of microfilters and I simply plan on using the modem/router that BT suppply me.
Click to expand...

A microfilter is a small device that splits the broadband and voice frequencies so you don't get broadband interference in the voice and vice versa. When these things go bad they can bring your broadband to its knees. A good quality filter will make your broadband more stable and can give a slight speed increase. Not using a microfilter where required can drop 40-50% of your speed.

leemonk said:
BT have assured me that no one else will give me the same speeds as them as they limit the quality to services other than BT.
Click to expand...

Sales pitch only and is actually illegal for BT to say that as they have to provide identical services to all ISP. I'm actually surprised they told you that. Very naughty.

It is true that some ISPs buy limited bandwidth and then try to cram too many customers into that bandwidth, thereby causing issues. BT Broadband do, however, have a bit of a reputation for excessive traffic shaping and management.

Still no matter who you go with your topline speed will/should be the same with each ISP as they use the same managed infrstructure ie. BT Wholesale over a BT Openreach line.

leemonk said:
If this is the case, then it sounds like BT is the best option....... but going from 40meg or so down to 2 is going to kill me :(
Click to expand...

Maybe FTTC/VDSL/Infinity will be rolling out eventually.
 
Thanks for the detailed breakdown. I'll have a look at what other services are available in that case.

I assume if the actual quality of the service is the same then it's just a cost issue?

BT say they will supply me a HUB (in the post - no installation), would this, or any other HUB, contain the microfilter? or is that something I can buy separately?

If I have to get it separately or a better one, can you please recommend one for me to look at?

Another thing I'd like to pick your brains on as you have been so helpful so far is this BT openreach (or whatever they call it now). I understand that it forms part of their 'roaming' network and allows public ussage of private networks (in a secured roundabout way). How would this impact on my service in the flat if others were using it and vice versa, what would the quality be for me if I was out and a bout (unlikely with a PC though :)).

Regards
 
BT supply a homehub which is basically a rebranded adsl router. I'm not sure if they are considered any good. It will come with 2 or 3 microfilters.

I got a XF-1e microfilter from ADSL Nation for about £10 and it's keeping my slightly noisy line stable whereas the rubbish ones Sky sent me failed to so.

Are all the little plug in filters made equal?
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No they are not all equal. Microfilters are quite simple and consist of a few electronic components. It is the grade and confugration of these components that make the difference.

http://www.adslnation.com/support/filters.php

The Sky one I took apart had only a few capacitors and resistors.
 
Well...... on the back of the recommendations I have just ordered one........

Out of interest, is this what BT's infinity runs on? ie was thinking of ordering my parents one just for the hell of it.

Regards

Lee
 
I think Infinity is installed with a pre-filtered faceplate so microfilters are not needed. This may change in future if they start doing wires only installs like they do now for ADSL/ADSL2+.
 
Tealc said:
No they are not all equal. Microfilters are quite simple and consist of a few electronic components. It is the grade and confugration of these components that make the difference.

http://www.adslnation.com/support/filters.php

The Sky one I took apart had only a few capacitors and resistors.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, my folks live way out in the sticks and get a poor poor BT ADSL service, nothing else available. Using old/cheap micro filters and a 20 year old BT master socket (a 20 year old master socket isn't that bad per-see, but it doesn't have that special front panel connector in it?(I need to do more research!)

Looking to spend a bit of love on it when I'm back there using the connection soon!
 
for email and browsing a stable 2 meg is fine.

a lot of content services will let you download and play later (ie bbc iplayer desktop)

online gaming will be fine - the onyl issue is when they send out updates and you jump on the pc for a quick play and it take 2 houts to downlaod a patch
 
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