# Broadband



## Waka (26 May 2005)

OK all you computer whizz kids please help with the following:

At the moment I am using dial-up from my home computer and with listening to a lot of guys at work am thinking of going broadband.

My present set-up is through an internet provider that I pay the princely sum of 150GBP per year, on top of this I pay for the calls to the provider. I have been in contact with them and they are unable to supply broadband to my area.

Friends at work have suggested going through AOL where I would pay a monthly fee for the service but no phone calls.

I know there are a lot of broadband providers out there including BT, which ones do you recommend.

All help will be greatfully received.


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## Anonymous (26 May 2005)

I used NTl in old house and paid for TV, phone rental and broadband (512KBS) atabout £45 per month. I had to wait for an engineer ot come round and install it (badly).

now on BT with 2MBS and paying £24 a month for the broadband but I get loads of webspace to post my own website on and 10 email addresses. All of the pictures I have posted on the forum are linked to this BT webspace which makes it very easy for me.

BT have been fantastic, their support line was answered quickly when I initially contacted them to enquire about broadband (NTL had 3/4 hour wait 'on hold'), the kit was posted out when they said it would be. It was very easy to install (no engineer had to call round) and I have never had any issues at all.

Highly recommend BT but would not recommend NTL


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## beech1948 (26 May 2005)

Waka,

I have used BT for broadband ever since the service first came out. I now use a 2mbs line as a business user.....the contention is lower.....and tech support is free anfd fantastic. Cost is £29.99 p/m.

You can get this cheaper.

I would advise you to go straight to BT. Do not go to AOL..ugly site with loads of technical restictions. Try to find one of the web comparison sites which provide ba detailed analysis of broadband suppliers.

My choice of BT has been perfect...even the upgrade to 2mbs took only 3.5 minutes.

Alan


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## Gill (26 May 2005)

I'm on AOL broadband and tied in until June. After that, I'll be looking for another ISP. AOL provides unlimited internet access but it takes over your computer - there are far better services around, although practically all of my geeky friends have advised me to avoid BT and Tiscali. They seem to like Pipex.

Gill


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## DaveL (26 May 2005)

I am with BT, not had any major problems. The biggest disruption was the council digging up the wire when they renewed the pavement outside our house.  

If you want to look up lots of different ISPs with more info than you can shake a stick at go here.


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## RogerS (26 May 2005)

Waka

No-one has asked the obvious question...namely can you get broadband on your exchange? If you go to http://www.bt.com/broadband/bb_info.jsp and enter your phone number then you should know. If the answer is No then let me know as there is another website that I can dig out that tells you the expected date for enabling.

I do NOT like BT..I (and this view is shared by many others on the various fora) find BT support very iffy at the best of times. Interminable holds etc and often they get swamped. The performance has gradually got worse and worse.

I use Zen and MetroNet...both very good..I can recommend them both.

I agree with the others...avoid AOL like the plague.


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## amilford (26 May 2005)

Had no experience of BT for broadband but opposite experience to Tony with NTL.
When we moved into NTL area 5 years ago we had two phone lines from them and dialup internet was free (0800 number!). Then when they introduced broadband we went with that. Installation was fine - engineer who came put extra long cable on NTL side of modem as at time the front room was half demolished with extension being added, so longer cable was so we could put it where we wanted. (In the end it went under the floor below an access hatch in the oak floor we put down).
Had no real problems since. Recently did upgrade to 3MB (from 1.5) which costs nothing extra and took only time it took to click on the website and a few seconds while modem then reconnected. We get the occasional outage but not too much - and I use it all day everyday for work. (and then my son takes over in the evening!)
Agree wholeheatedly with Gill - avoid AOL like plague!

Hope you realise that with broadband you really should also have some sort of firewall? If not you are open to attack. Zonealarm is reportedly good and there is a free version. But perhaps you already know all about that?


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## RogerS (26 May 2005)

Good point, Amilford.

Waka..also I recommend you adopt the layered security approach and get the option for a router (Zen will provde you with one with all the information needed to set it up...very much point and click...if not , many of us can help you.) Advantage of a router (among many others) is that it effectively 'hides' your computer from the internet.

Also thoroughly recommend Zone Alarm.

Roger


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## wizer (26 May 2005)

I can highly reccomend Nildram, Zen and EFH

EFH Broadband is only 9.99 a month and is a good basic package.

In My Experience I'd suggest you stay away from BT, AOL, Tiscalli, Tesco, etc, etc 

NTL is a good solution if you want a package including Phone, TV and Internet.


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## beech1948 (26 May 2005)

Just to reiterate that the top players have been there for years.

Ignore AOL, Tesco etc.

The top list is probably:-

Pipex, Demon ( THUS now I recall) and BT. ALL of the rest have some problems...broadband speed or poor service or confusion marketing or etc` etc.

I do not agree with those who slag BT off. My Business 500, now Business 2000 has been totally reliable, easy to use, fast and simple to install.

BT tech assistance has been pretty damn good. And I work in IT for a living so know what a pile of rubbish most support services are.

The retail part of the BT broadband may well be different. The business bit is I think from BT Wholesale and they operate almost like a separate company within BT..own call centre, broadband tech support etc etc.

NTL are interesting. Customer service is completely absent. Tech service a bit patchy, delivery of service is patchy. people tend to either get a "good" install which lasts for years or complete S**t. Doesn't seem much middle ground. NTL are great with complaints...you can get them to refund or provide free service for many months by complaining loudly.


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## OLD (26 May 2005)

There are deals on broadband according to the amount you down load i am with plusnet £14.99/ month for 1 gig running at 1 meg (20 times faster than dial up ) each extra gig is £1. have a look here.http://www.plus.net/index.html


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## Waka (26 May 2005)

All

Thanks for all the useful information, I wasn't aware there were so many providers.



Roger":30ddzns9 said:


> No-one has asked the obvious question...namely can you get broadband on your exchange?



Roger I checked the exchange and it is geared to give up to 2mbps

I have browsed the sites that you al mentioned and am still no closer to deciding, they all seem to offer a comparable service, although I do like the metronet and the Zen because they offer e-mail services as standards.

Another question spring to mind, what do you all think of the best speed to go for?

In the meantime Iwill keep browing.

Once again thanks for the responses.


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## gav (26 May 2005)

Hi,

Have had broadband from the early days and until recently I was with Zen. But they aren't the cheapest.

A number of friends have moved over the last few months to e7even and I have done the same a few weeks ago.

1Meg service 10 pounds a month plus 50 connection fee, unlimited downloads, email addreses, webspace etc. You do have to pay a year in advance. Seems a good price to me and so far we've all found it reliable.

As regards what speed to get I think this very much depends on what you do. I've not noticed a huge differnece in performance between 512k and 1meg.

Gav


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## Chris Knight (26 May 2005)

Waka,
After checking you can actually get broadband, check with the review sites like http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/

There are others...

Like so many things of this sort you will get lots of conflicting advice but one piece I will give is DON'T TOUCH AOL WITH A 110 FOOT BARGEPOLE!!!!!

IS THAT CLEAR????????

As Gill says, they take over your computer and so badly you practically need to buy a new one to get rid of them.


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## Charley (26 May 2005)

We're with AOL, mum likes it and as mum and dad pay the bill I can't complain.

As a company AOL are awful and as Gill mentions their software takes over your computer. However I can't fault the connection or the speed. I don't actually have the AOL software on on my computers thanks to the LAN.

If I could choose which provider to go with, pipex would be top of the list...


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## llangatwgnedd (26 May 2005)

Hi Waka
one thing you should be asking when having quotes from these companys 

"whats my cap"

Mine is 3gig with ntl

Cheers


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## wizer (26 May 2005)

if youyr currently on broadband, its unlikely youy will ever use up even the minimum limit imposed by an isp. I am, however, against capping broadband.


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## DaveL (26 May 2005)

If you are not a heavy user then having a cap can improve your speed of access, let me try to explain. 
I have a 512k BT ADSL link, thats the maximin speed that the download should run at, but the contention ratio for BT home users is 50:1, that means in simple terms BT have a 512k pipe out of the exchange for very 50 users connected to it. All 50 of these users are trying to grab a share of the same bandwidth, now most of the time I do not use 512k and BT are relying on that , for all 50 users to get some of the bandwidth. Now if 3 or 4 of these users start downloading very large files all of the time, they grab most of the bandwidth, everyone else gets a much slower service. If there is a cap these high usage users hit the cap and their links are throttled, allowing the rest of the users a better service. 

The contention ratio is better on BT business accounts (20:1), but you pay more for them. 

Its not quit as simple as putting bigger pipes in, there is always a limit on the bandwidth at some point in the system, every time one bottle neck is upgraded to carry more traffic, another shows up or just like on the M25 more traffic turns up.


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## llangatwgnedd (26 May 2005)

> its unlikely youy will ever use up even the minimum limit imposed by an isp



Two weeks into my upgraded cable bb I exceded my cap and the sods or isp spanked my bottom and put me to stand in the corner for 24hrs on 56k 


Or 8) for public school pupils


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## RogerS (27 May 2005)

Waka

BT Business ...yes, OK but BT retail sucks. This really highlights the main factor IMHO...there is no such thing as a free lunch..you get what you pay for. The lower cost deals have to cut corners somewhere...IMHO..it's better to pay a little extra and go for someone like Zen BUT at the lower 1MBps rate...that will be more than enough speed for you I reckon..

DaveL is spot on. Caps are A GOOD THING and stop the greedy lot from messing up internet access for the majority. If you're not going to host your own website or play games over the internet or copy illegal downloads from peer-to-peer sites such as a bootleg copy of the latest Starwars movie then even 512kb will be good for you.

Roger


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## Anonymous (27 May 2005)

Waka":l6pn5qlv said:


> , although I do like the metronet and the Zen because they offer e-mail services as standards.
> 
> Another question spring to mind, what do you all think of the best speed to go for?
> 
> ...



BT provide 5 or 10 free email accounts with their connection

Don't worry too much about the speed. 1MBPS or higher will be enough and suppliers seem to regualraly upgrade for free to stay competetitve. 
I used 512K for years before BT upgraded to 2MBPS, I don't notice any difference except when downloading video clips - which I don't really do very often.


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## Philly (27 May 2005)

Video clips Tony??
Is that woodworking videos or something else?? :lol: 
(Like music videos, before someone says anything :wink: )
NaughtyPhilly


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## Waka (27 May 2005)

All
Thanks for the info, i have spent a long tome going through various providers websites, sent out a qustionnaire to a number of them for further information and had some interesting responses.

My choice is to go with Zen, I hope i won't regret this, I'' let you all know the outcome.


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## RogerS (27 May 2005)

Waka

Good choice!

if you can stump up for the difference in price then go for this as well rather than just the modem

http://www.zen.co.uk/products/body_products.asp?ProdId=118700

Any problems just shout

Roger


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## Waka (27 May 2005)

Roger":oapg1c93 said:


> if you can stump up for the difference in price then go for this as well rather than just the modem



Roger I went for the DG843. Just been speaking to the man at Zen and placed the order, I have to say out of all the providers I have e-mailed/spoken too today this guy has been the most helpful.

That means he gets my business.

Thaks all again for helping me understand the world of the magic box.


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## Shady (28 May 2005)

A bit 'after the event', but for any other 'ponderers', I'm with Pipex, and rate them pretty highly. They're a bit like the Ronseal ads - not much to say about them, because they just 'do what it says on the tin'. Reliable, good support, mid range on price.


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## Anonymous (28 Jun 2005)

Charley":2h5ea36i said:


> We're with AOL, mum likes it and as mum and dad pay the bill I can't complain.
> 
> As a company AOL are awful and as Gill mentions their software takes over your computer. However I can't fault the connection or the speed. I don't actually have the AOL software on on my computers thanks to the LAN.
> 
> If I could choose which provider to go with, pipex would be top of the list...



Resurrecting this one, just curious why you think AOL as a company are awful for broadband Charley?


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## Anonymous (3 Jul 2005)

Hi guys just joined and only just been able to read all your comments out there about BT. Well I was a BT Telephone engineer for over 35 years befor I retired and I would just like to say one thing and it is they have been in the communication game for a very long time and yes they do have problems from time to time but they also have the know how on how to put things right although some times it might take ages but they get there in the end. Better the devil you know than those you don't o and bye the way they have just recently won a very big M.O.D contract


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## Newbie_Neil (4 Jul 2005)

Hi Jimmy

Welcome to the forum.



jimmy":370hn87k said:


> Hi guys just joined and only just been able to read all your comments out there about BT. Well I was a BT Telephone engineer for over 35 years befor I retired and I would just like to say one thing and it is they have been in the communication game for a very long time and yes they do have problems from time to time but they also have the know how on how to put things right although some times it might take ages but they get there in the end.



You might like to have a look at this adsl site and select message boards on the left. It'll show you what people think about all of the ISP's.

www.adslguide.org



jimmy":370hn87k said:


> Better the devil you know than those you don't o and bye the way they have just recently won a very big M.O.D contract



Business is where they make the money and, iirc, isn't that dealt with by a separate company?

Cheers
Neil


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## Anonymous (4 Jul 2005)

Glad I retired when I did. (5years now) Its far less agro playing with bits of wood ( when head ferret is not around) than climbing poles and trying to fix phones. It was always my fault that the weather was bad and lines came down, ( Anglesey is in the middle of the Irish Sea ) at least thats is what it felt like sometimes. Out in all weathers like the postmen power people and so on.


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## Anonymous (6 Jul 2005)

The huge amounts of faults that all the ISPs customers are currently seeing are BECAUSE of BT. Had they made their 1mb and 2mb products rate adaptive, then broadband for end users like all of us would be much improved.

VERY broadly speaking, the further you are from your local BT exchange the more noise you get on your line. The more noise, the more 'trouble' the higher broadband frequency has to get to you, so intermittenent drops in connection, no connection at all etc. If your product is rate adaptive (like BTs 500 products, 512 broadband), then you buy 1mb, but if you are long way from exchange, the product can rate adapt itself to less than 1mb, you get slightly slower speed, but you GET broadband as the product has down rated itself to your noise margin to let you get service.

As I say, VERY roughly speaking....

Lets face it, other than cable or LLU (local loop unbundle) companies, pretty much everyone just resells BTs IP stream or datastream products and your broadband HAS to come down metalic pairs that are either owned by, rented from or originally laid down, by BT.

If you have a problem with your broadband, its generally not your ISPs fault, its the network provider that provides that broadband service thats at fault or its the spyware, firewall etc. thats on your PC. It can be your ISPs client software as well (quick nod to AOL there) but even in the AOL case, their software tells you its been disconnected, you probably get the same disconnection from any other ISP, its just they dont have their own client software shouting at you thats its been disconnected, it disconnects while youre reading a web page, then reconnects, by the time you are ready to move on, its reconnected again and you never new. perception difference there.

Sadly, resellers (ISPs) dont have 'much' of a choice at the moment, its BT, small cable coverage or nothing. The future is changing though, Local Loop Unbundling will change all this, as ISPs can run their own networks and have their own equipment in BTs exchanges. More choice for the consumer, always a good thing.

</rant>


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## Anonymous (6 Jul 2005)

I agree with BigL, but also look at the ISPs back connection to the net. Pipex area tier one provider (the highest type of connection) as are BT but NTL I believe are tier two or three and use caching to make up for the short fall.

http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ gives you the best idea. I've only been a Pipex customer for 15 years but would say they are excellent. BT wholesale is great, but have had problems with retail.


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## Anonymous (8 Jul 2005)

BT Wholesale are great!?

Have to disagree 

They are not yet really fully ready to provide wholesale services ro resellers, systems and processes are not robust enough, but they are working through that I guess.

Everyone wants to be a tier one 

In generally, once you have your broadband and it works, its pretty much there for good, until BT try and respeed you and double your speed, either for retail customers or for other ISP customers, planning rules incorrectly set and non rate adaptive products means you might be resped to a speed that you cant actually get with any stability.

But my connections been up here for weeks now with out any problems...


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## tim (8 Jul 2005)

Okay - I've read this post with interest because we can get broadband from next week - Hurrah. We live in the back of beyond with no cable options - so BT is our only line provider.

Having looked at Waka's (sorry Whaka's) requirements, I think that they seem similar to my own and had a look at the forums etc recommended but I'm afraid that my eyes glazed over immediately.

I have to say that I am tempted to go with BT for all the reasons that BigLouie outlined and also because of ease and continuity.

What I still really don't understand is the whole router thing. Ideally it would be great if we can use a wireless connection for my wife's laptop as well as a normal link for my desktop. I already have ZoneAlarm Firewall installed along with Symantec antivirus software (but not XP2 yet). Probably looking for a 1MB speed at least as a start point.

Can someone give me a brief heads up on the router stuff and also a view on my thoughts/ choices. I really am not techy mainly through lack of interest in the details but want to make sure that I am being sold or am choosing the most appropriate set up.

Thanks

T


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## RogerS (8 Jul 2005)

Tim

If you can bear to wait a little I can come over and set you up (and look at your workshop at the same time :lol: )

I still rate Zen. We have had/currently have four providers for satellite or broadband.

BT - the first - reliability iffy. Customer support iffy...always busy..understaffed? They change things without telling you.

MetroNet - OK but not used it that much

Avonline satellite Broadband - OK'ish but now we've dropped it as we have Zen and very pleased with them. 

I'm noit sure if I've got your normal email address but I can send you through one of their newsletters...give you a flavour of their quality

Roger

Roger


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## Waka (8 Jul 2005)

Tim":21ikmw5u said:


> Having looked at Waka's (sorry Whaka's) requirements,



Now see your not up to speed, not more than 5 minutes ago I reverted (with Charlies help) of reverting back to Waka.

Got to go along with what Roger says regarding Zen.

Like yourself it was all new to me, so I started by contacting all the providers that were recommended, some i never got a response from , some didn't really asnswer the questions I posed and Zen was the only one that satisfied the criteria i set down.

They were preparred to discuss all the options when it came to Router/Modem and did not push the expensive versions that they sell, they even sent some extra filters that I needed for free. I know these are not expensive but its the thought that counts.

When I had plugged everything in (didn't really know what I was doing) i gave their helpline a cal and the nice chap at the end took me through the set up and after about 10 mins I was rocking and rolling with both internet and e-mail.

It would certainly be my reccommendation.

The real Waka


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## tim (8 Jul 2005)

Waka":3hh75wol said:


> Now see your not up to speed, not more than 5 minutes ago I reverted (with Charlies help) of reverting back to Waka.



That's quite a lot of reverting!

I will give Zen a call and see where we get to.

Roger - thanks for your offer - I may well take you up on it but depends on what you mean by 'a little time'. My wife is pushing for this so that she can work more from home, which I am all in favour of. As an aside, she should have been in Tavistock Sq yesterday for a conference but decided not to go at the last minute because of too much work. Feeling very lucky today.

Thanks for all your help guys.

Cheers

Tim


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## Chris Knight (8 Jul 2005)

Tim,
The wireless router thing is a doddle. You need a gadget called a "router with adsl modem" to plug into the phone line - it also needs to be plugged into a power line - and you need a wireless adapter for each PC. The laptop may already have one built in, depending how old it is.

For a desktop machine I recommend a USB wireless adapter that can be plugged into any USB port- no external power needed. You can get ones that fix inside the case but then if the signal is weak you have limited options for repositioning the PC compared to the gadget on the end of a USB connection wire.

That is it. BT do a suitable box for the phone line (they call it a "Wireless ADSL Router" - it is the BT Voyager 2100 - see here http://www.webuser.co.uk/products/BT_Vo ... 5-213.html ) at about £85 from PC World etc. the other things run about £25 or so. Setup with the BT box is extremely simple, takes about 30 seconds. You may see lots of similar boxes by Belkin - they can have issues with some broadband supppliers that prevent them working. Mine was replaced FOC by Belkin with a superior model to the one I bought for this reason. So I can't really recommend them to a broadband novice who might not recognise there is a problem with the router

Signal strength can be an issue depending on walls, metal in the house etc


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## RogerS (8 Jul 2005)

Tim

You'll need some time to get your order in and your line provisioned. This ius all sorted out by the supplier you choose (or should be :twisted: ).

Typically it's around 4-5 days after your exchange is enabled but you need to have your order in their queue well beforehand.

When is your exchange supposed to be bb enabled?

Roger


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## RogerS (8 Jul 2005)

Chris

Sorry to be pedantic but if Tim orders exactly what you say 'router with adsl modem' then he won't be able to communicate wirelessly! He needs a wireless router with ADSL modem.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the router guys are constantly rushing out new products...often ahead of the QA curve...and so one man's LinkSys/D-Link/Belkin/Netgear/whatever manufacturer that he swears by could turn witha different model/rev spec to be another man's pile of poo. It all depends where they are on the development cycle vis a vis whether it works as it says on the tin or needs rebooting every few hours :twisted:


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## Chris Knight (8 Jul 2005)

Roger, 
You are right of course - it's hard to find an accurate and succinct description that makes sense to someone who has no knowledge of the subject.

I also agree about the "curve". Too often one is at the bleeding edge and acting unwittingly as a beta tester for some manufacturer who has nicely worked out that a few court cases are cheaper by far than a full blown testing progamme. Still, I sympathise with them, by the time an in-house programme had worked out the bugs, the gadget would be fit only for the Science Museum!


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## Anonymous (8 Jul 2005)

if you are far away from the exchange, you might only be able to get 512 broadband, alot of ISPs sell this as their lowest product AOL Silver for example, Wanadoo (soon to become Orange have a low level entry product at 512 too)

What out for this if you want routers, home network or multiple computers connected, the lowest rated and cheapest products will often have the ability for home networking with wireless routers and multiple devices disabled.

Check what the highest speed you can get is, if you are in the back of beyond, you might only be able to get 512 on a long line.


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## Anonymous (8 Jul 2005)

Sorry, secondpost in the space of 5 minutes.

On the wireless router side of things, I have a Netgear DG834GT running on a 1Mb AOL connection. My line noise margin thingie is 43db which is right on the border for me to get 2mb, so I am 1mb, but well within limits for 1mb, hence no line faults, intermitent or otherwise.

Its been up for hours and hours, absolutely fantastic piece of kit. Doesnt seem to get too hot, which is sometimes a problem, looks more like an ipod than a router, which pleases the wife and the wireless has been faultless, reaches all round the house and into the garden.

I did have a Linksys WAG54G, worked great for a while, but the wireless went berserk after a later firmware update, so I binned it (firmware is the operating system loaded onto the router btw)

All said, love this Netgear router and its been QA'd to death by AOL, who wont rate ANYTHING as supported unless its been tested thoroughly (home networking is a nightmare for ISPs to support at the best of time, never mind if you havent tested at least one of two bits of kit and decided to support them)

I use a Belkin wireless card in my PC, which works a treat and always has.

Remember to get the router into the master phone socket in the house, thats the first socket that gets the metalic pair once they come into your house, mines in the loft, which i great as it means the wireless signal covers all of the house. And dont forget to put a filter onto every phone socket that has a device on it, and I wouldnt suggest having more than 3 other devices plugged into your home phone system. (If youve got SKY pluged into the phones, dont forget to filter that too!)

Shouldnt really comment on an ISP really, wouldn't be impartial enough 

However, Zen, Pipex, Nildram I have heard good things about. I use AOL.


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## tim (9 Jul 2005)

Thanks for the info so far. 

Some background info: The house we live in is old and has thick stone walls. Its is long c 20m and the master box is in our bedroom at one end and the office is at the other end. Currently there is the standard phone cable run under the floors connecting this room to the master box. It isn't an option to replace this cable since iti was done before carpets were laid etc. For a wireless signal to make it from the master to the office, a signal wouldl have to travel through 4 walls (2 brick and 2 stud). 

I know I am being ignorant but does a new box have to be put in (the one we currently have is newish - 4 years old). Would I be better running a new cable around the outside of the house and bringing it into the study? WIll the wireless signal make it that far or am I better running the router off the slave in the study?

We aren't that far from the exchange (c 1/2 mile) so i don't know what the long line criteria are.

I don't have a prob throwing money at the problems but if there are things that I could do to save labour costs like rerouting wiring then I would like to do so.

Sorry for not knowing enough about these things  

Cheers

Tim


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## Anonymous (9 Jul 2005)

1/2 a mile is very close Tim. SO you 'shouldnt' have a problem with that side of things. Unless there are faults with the local cabling to your property.

The in house side of things sounds a tad more challenging, only by virtue of the fact that the cable under the floor you talked about, has been there a long time. But really that shouldnt cause you any issues. The wireless signals can have problems with thick stone walls, I have a pre war house and all the walls are stone (rather than stud) and the wireless can struggle in one room that has 3 walls to travel though, plus a suspended floor. I'm not really up on the wireless side of things, I presume its the same principles as a radio signal and radiates outwards in a circle from the source. Therefore I presume that buying some form of directional aerial could help if you have issues.

Long extensions from the master socket to the modem or router that is trying to get connection, only really come into play when you are on the border of being a long line, as the test would say, 'OK, you are on the edge, but we'll try for a connection' when you add another 20 meters of cable that might make the difference. All slightly theoretical as there are so many factors that can cause connection issues.

It sounds like you are close to the exchange, with only one run of cable to where you want the connection to be made. I wouldn't have 'thought' you would have a problem.

Best to order, you will have 14 days cooling off period once it arrives. If you have problems when it arrives, send me a message, only to happy to help.

AT LAST! A subject I can help other people on the forum with rather than constantly asking for help with my woodworking!!


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## Chris Knight (9 Jul 2005)

Tim,
Since you are so close to the exchange (I live close to an exchange but the one I am connected to is actually miles away so obvious proximity is sometimes misleading!) the signal to noise ratio should be very good which is a great place to start!

Ideally you should connect the router to where the line comes into the house (ie your first box) but I think it is not actually vital so you can probably run a wireless router from the connection in your study with no problem.

Wireless signals can be very variable even when the bits of kit don't move and depend on the weather amongst other things! It is very hard to predict. If you have a mate close by who can bring his router over (plus the wireless adapter for the PC and actually try it on your computer, that would be the best thing to know if you will have signal problems.

Others here seem better qualified to give more definitive answers so it's worth hanging on for another reply or two, or going to one of the many networking forums. Your new ISP will prbably have a reasonably knowledgable forum too.


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## tim (9 Jul 2005)

Big louie, 

Thanks for your help. The cable under the floor has only been there c 4years. What I still don't understand is what of the existing setup ie master socket, cables and slave sockets actually need to be changed. 

Cheers

Tim


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## RogerS (9 Jul 2005)

Tim

offers still open...I've go wireless routers/cards/normal routers, you name it. ...if you can tell me when you're going to be connected then i can bring the kit over and we can try things out.

Roger


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## tim (10 Jul 2005)

Thanks for everyone's help. 

Roger, I will take up your offer if I may. 

BB enable date is 15th but obviously its going to be a few days after that that it will be useable. BT have moved the availability date three times so far - 6th, 13th, 15th!

Cheers

Tim


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## RogerS (10 Jul 2005)

Tim

You'll need to place your order ahead of that date so that you get provisioned asap. Once you place the order they (your ISP) take care of everything else and monitor when the exchange actually gets enabled etc. (Well, that's the way Zen does it...I simply cannot fault them). You get told when your line will be up and running (at last you get told the day if not the hour  )

Roger


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## Anonymous (11 Jul 2005)

4 years ago for the cable will be fine I am sure..

just make sure that once you get an email from your ISP to say that your line has been provisioned, that you get the box from them with the modem and all the filters.

When that arrives, stick a filter onto every piece of kit thats connected to your phone network etc.

If you are using the router, keep the modem safe for a back up.

You wont need to change any sockets at all, its all self-install, just filters then plug the router in.

You can get faults and they are difficult to predict, but rare. For example you might be in the footprint of a large radio mast, and because of that BT may have put an Radio frequency filter on your master socket to stop interference on your phone. this kills broadband, so it wont work from the start. They dont tell you, you just have to work it out. Thats why BT are SO great! NOT!

Its fairly straight forward and soudns like someone going to come round and help you out, youre lucky.

If you need anything jjust send me a message, i can find out what the problem is from here.


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