So my internet is preeeeeeeety bad...

Tebz

Tebz

Tebz

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Joined
11 Sep 2009
Posts
19
And I was wondering how to improve save just buying a new internet service on a faster network, and I have been informed (rightly or wrongly) that buying a new router (mines 5-6 years old) would dramtically improve things.

First off, do you think that would actually help at all? Because if it won't do anything then I wont bother buying a new one.

Secondly, how much should I be spending? I only want to run a couple of PC's and a PS3 through it, so I dont suppose ill need the most expensive gimzos going.

Also, do new routers run on a 'new wireless protocol?' Im not sure what that is exactly, but if they do, will I need to change anything on my computer? Or will everything work as it is?

Thanks for your help guys, I pay for 8Mbs internet connection, and I get around 4-6 during the day, and then 1-2 a peak times, due to my geographical location i'm led to believe, if thats of any significance.


Thanks to any replies! :)
 
I'd call those speeds acceptable, max i ever get is 0.75 with the norm being 0.5. I believe i'm paying for 8MBps.

As for new routers, transfer speed is rarely a considerable factor but it's worth looking into, if it's older than Wireless G. Wireless N is the newest, being recently approved but there's nothing wrong with G and it's still a huge step up from B. If you only have a B adapter on your computer then that will need changing. Depends entirely on what you current setup actually is.
 
Hmm not too sure, I'd need to check tomorrow. THey're okay, but they're erratic, so they will fluctuate by 6Mbs in the space of 5 minutes, and when that sings you out of Playstation network mid game, then well, thats pretty annoying. I just want a more stable connection really and was hoping the router could go some way to doing that. Do you know of any other way of improving it other than getting a faster service provider?
 
If your connection is stable during the day that suggests there's nothing wrong with the router, and getting on for 6mb during the day suggests you're not placed too badly geographically.

Slowdowns in the evening probably point to congestion and oversubscription on the part of your ISP. But without knowing who they are or any indication of how your line is performing (line stats, read the broadband sticky) there's not a lot that can be said.
 
My provider is Virgin, and we pay for 8mbs. My ping is usually around 50-75, my packet rate is 100% most of the time, and the jitter is usually below 10.
 
btw ive just had 50mb installed and rarely get over 30mb. They blamed my equipment, but I can't figure out what ive got that is bottlenecking it.
 
Sorry about those internet stas, I appreciate they weren't exactly what you were after, but I cant for the life of my work out how I can see my own Noise stats and those kind of things. Ill have a read up now :)
 
Knowing it's Virgin ADSL (not cable @ laffs83) makes any stats pretty irrelevant, it's a rubbish service.
 
So you guys are saying its a rubbish service, which is good, because that confirms my suspicions, but what would you recommend instead? Are there any particularly outstanding providers? O2 look good on all the graphs, but is that just for Central London? I am confused.


With regard to the internet stats, we have a D link router G604T wireless, and when i go on the Modem thingymajig with all settings and what not, I cant seem to find any stats? (I went in that Kitz website, but it directed me back to the modem information, and didnt say how to access the sats)
 
Virgin's ADSL service is abysmal.

With O2 make sure you're on their LLU product as "O2 Access" is generally pretty poor and probably no better than what you currently have (going on the vast amount of posts on here in recent weeks).

Out of the ISP's reselling BT's wholesale service the only ones that I've ever found to be consistently high quality are Zen and AAISP, though you pay a premium for their service as they don't over subscribe their network, but Zen come in at £35/month for 50Gb of data but as the saying goes you pay your money and take your choices.

If you live in Central London you should have loads of LLU options available, I'd probably look at Be/O2 LLU first, then after that C&W have a good reputation (adsl24 resell this, as do other places like Xilo).

Sky via LLU are fairly good too, though you'll need a Sky TV package.
 
billysielu said:
All internet companies lie. You never get what you pay for.
Click to expand...
Selling 'up-to' services isn't a lie. And besides many customers get a lot more than they pay for, for instance any heavy user on an unlimited service is effectively being subsidised by other users.
 
I live in the exact opposite to Central London lol. So basically, SKY are good, if you have TV as well, and ZEN are good too? Will changing make a big difference, or am I doomed to 2mbs forever, and im wasting my time?
 
Tebz said:
I live in the exact opposite to Central London lol. So basically, SKY are good, if you have TV as well, and ZEN are good too? Will changing make a big difference, or am I doomed to 2mbs forever, and im wasting my time?
Click to expand...

Well if your line is stable and is synced at circa 6Mbit then you should see around that most of the time (typically less because of the way BT profile the lines), so any other factors resulting in a substantially lower speed will quite likely be down to your ISP - and I'd point the finger squarely at Virgin in this case given you say the major slowdown typically occurs at peak hours.

Perhaps follow some of the instructions in the sticky, go to Samknows and post a link to your exchange page so people can advise you which providers might be best out of the options available to you.

If you can only get DSL via the BTW network (i.e. no LLU providers) then yes Zen are probably one of the best you're going to find but you need to be prepared to pay for the higher quality of service.
 
also fast.co.uk (non llu ) are very good, but again u will be paying a lot more due to the quality.
 
The router does make a difference on ADSL speeds.

I upgraded from a 5 year old Zyxel Prestige 660HW to a new Netgear DGN2000 and on a long line on LLU ADSL2+ I went from 1.5Mbit/s to 2.8Mbit/s just from the router change.

This was less than 2 weeks ago so I speak from recent experience :)
 
Change of router is probably something worth doing anyway even if you do eventually change ISP. It can certainly improve your synch speed and allow you to have your SNR margin dropped whilst hanging on to the connection. Although, given the problems you describe, I'm inclined to think you are just seeing the typical slowdown/throttling that most ISPs do to just about everyone. You pays your money....
 
tbz_ck,

The Netgear has a much better chipset compared the ZyXEL,so that's another reason why the sync may have jumped :)

Matt
 
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