Connection problems

[artie]

You never miss the water till the well runs dry.

 

[Sandyn]

Have you checked the Ethernet cable isn't trapped under the leg of your chair. It stops the megabits getting along the cable.

 

[mikej460]

Good lord man are you on a dial up modem? That's appalling. Have you checked Virgin's network status for your area?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Square amp stuck in the wire.

 

[artie]

I'm on EE.
It's never good but mostly in the 6-7-8 mbps range.
Last couple of weeks it's been awful.
They have said if they can't fix it I can leave without penalty.
But would it do any good, no matter what company I go to, they all use the same wires.

Looking at 4g and satellite but everything has it's pitfalls.

 

[eezageeza]

We ditched our landline a few months ago (broadband from that was typically 3 - 4 mbps) and went 4G with Smarty (the budget arm of Three). So far, so good - Smarty is cheaper per month than our landline used to cost, and we get speeds in the low 20's mbps.

 

[artie]

We ditched our landline a few months ago (broadband from that was typically 3 - 4 mbps) and went 4G with Smarty (the budget arm of Three). So far, so good - Smarty is cheaper per month than our landline used to cost, and we get speeds in the low 20's mbps.

Thanks, that's good info.

3 signal around here is bad, any 4g signal is bad, but I've heard, it's possible to use 4g with an outside antenna which might work.

How many bars on your phone inside?

 

[artie]

Found out that FTTP has arrived on this road.

So in 8 days time I should be humming along at 36 mbps.

There's up to 1gbps available but don't reckon I need that much.

There's a cynical side of me wondering if asdl speed plummet and availability of fibre is just coincidence.

 

[eezageeza]

Thanks, that's good info.

3 signal around here is bad, any 4g signal is bad, but I've heard, it's possible to use 4g with an outside antenna which might work.

How many bars on your phone inside?

Yes, you can get external 4G aerials. We considered that as an upgrade, but tbh our requirements are pretty modest, and 20 mbps from the router is plenty!

There's a website (cellmapper.net) which shows all your local cell masts, and the areas covered by each company's cells from those masts - so you can see who has coverage over your house. In our case Smarty had the poorest cover (only 1 mast) while the likes of Vodaphone and O2 had several masts and cells, but were (of course!) quite a bit more expensive!

I'd say it was definately worth considering 4G vs FTTP - my guess is 4G will give you a good enough service, and will probably be cheaper.

 

[artie]

I have been struggling with awful to no internet since I posted this thread up until the 17th of this month.

My standard broadband is now running again at 8.5 mbps which is ample for my needs, if it runs.
Still no sign of the promised fibre.

Has anyone received compensation for poor service.

Bearing in mind, it's over two months since the fault developed, how much should I push for.

 

[MARK.B.]

Nothing less than 2 weeks all expenses paid in Barbados

 

[PDW125]

I have been struggling with awful to no internet since I posted this thread up until the 17th of this month.

My standard broadband is now running again at 8.5 mbps which is ample for my needs, if it runs.
Still no sign of the promised fibre.

Has anyone received compensation for poor service.

Bearing in mind, it's over two months since the fault developed, how much should I push for.

OK so you need to constantly check the router - the EE ones have a technical settings and technical log which records the issues and more importantly the recorded line speeds and jitter/noise.

Firstly - you need to call EE weekly. And be persistent. They will rob you off (especially offshore teams) using the “restart for me please” which does nothing. The only thing it does do is clear the technical log, so you lose all the history so download a copy to a PC or laptop before you do it !!

Secondly - most issues are not with the home router, they are OpenReach related. EE will want to send one of their engineers from Qube, and they will just do a quiet line check along with reset the box. Again, does nothing other than wipe the logs so before they do, save the logs.

Thirdly - keep a note of performance, and also noise on your line. Dial 17070 from your phone - preferably a cable phone plugged into the master socket - and it’s option 2. If you hear any hiss or noise then remove any splitter (assuming it’s not a type C master socket with the splitter built in) and see if you get the same. The splitters supplied are cheap and nasty and can cause issues so get another off eBay if you do have problems.

If you have a noisy line then it’s an Openreach issue to resolve. EE need to raise it with Openreach and they will give you the crap that if it’s not an Openreach problem then they will charge you £50 - if you’ve done all the above, it is never your issue.

One thing worth checking is what your line is actually capable of - BT helpfully publish this using their line check application. If you are getting 8mb but the line is capable of 30-40mb then you have another line to the argument.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Openreach will start with replacing the master box normally but their engineers can see line faults for the past 3 months and see your speeds so will have a good idea where the problem is. I ended up with an exchange issue, a local cabinet issue, the street connection replaced (a waterproof connector full of water…) and finally the physical cable from the street to the house all being done by Openreach when they finally sent a senior fault engineer. He was with me for over 3 hours and admitted that we had wasted 3 months chasing a problem that was entirely theirs. EE gave us 2 months line rental as compensation but I had to fight for that.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a friend (who does this for a living) replace all my internal mid '70s telephone wiring. My speed went from 1mbps to 28mbps instantly.

 

[artie]

OK so you need to constantly check the router - the EE ones have a technical settings and technical log which records the issues and more importantly the recorded line speeds and jitter/noise.

Firstly - you need to call EE weekly. And be persistent. They will rob you off (especially offshore teams) using the “restart for me please” which does nothing. The only thing it does do is clear the technical log, so you lose all the history so download a copy to a PC or laptop before you do it !!

Secondly - most issues are not with the home router, they are OpenReach related. EE will want to send one of their engineers from Qube, and they will just do a quiet line check along with reset the box. Again, does nothing other than wipe the logs so before they do, save the logs.

Thirdly - keep a note of performance, and also noise on your line. Dial 17070 from your phone - preferably a cable phone plugged into the master socket - and it’s option 2. If you hear any hiss or noise then remove any splitter (assuming it’s not a type C master socket with the splitter built in) and see if you get the same. The splitters supplied are cheap and nasty and can cause issues so get another off eBay if you do have problems.

If you have a noisy line then it’s an Openreach issue to resolve. EE need to raise it with Openreach and they will give you the rubbish that if it’s not an Openreach problem then they will charge you £50 - if you’ve done all the above, it is never your issue.

One thing worth checking is what your line is actually capable of - BT helpfully publish this using their line check application. If you are getting 8mb but the line is capable of 30-40mb then you have another line to the argument.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Openreach will start with replacing the master box normally but their engineers can see line faults for the past 3 months and see your speeds so will have a good idea where the problem is. I ended up with an exchange issue, a local cabinet issue, the street connection replaced (a waterproof connector full of water…) and finally the physical cable from the street to the house all being done by Openreach when they finally sent a senior fault engineer. He was with me for over 3 hours and admitted that we had wasted 3 months chasing a problem that was entirely theirs. EE gave us 2 months line rental as compensation but I had to fight for that.

Thank you for that very informative post.
8.5 is higher than average, they say it's a 10mbps line but I guess you don't ever get the max.
Frankly 8.5 does everything I need. I wonder was it a coincidence that my line went bad just as the fibre cables were strung up.
Glad you got two free months, think I'll push for three and see what happens.

 

[flying haggis]

The good thing about FTTP is it is rock solid, if you order a 100 service it s waht you get and if you order 200 you get 200

this is mine

 

[Spectric]

We are waiting for full fibre but have been told it may be some time because there are more important areas to do first, says a lot about this so called leveling up policy.

 

[Superduner]

We (in France, admittedly) went from 40 Mbps to the promised 400mbps when fttp came in a year ago. Since then it's crept up to 520 Mbps as measured on my Eero mesh system.
I don't really notice much of a difference in day to day stuff. Web browsing might be a bit quicker, but not much. Downloads of "stuff", has improved, but certainly not by 10x.
Given that there's quite a bit in the house that is internet connected, I suppose that the fact that it's all working properly, as is WhatsApp, Skype and internet radio with no buffering is a plus.

 

[NewbieRaf]

FTTP is the way to go but if for some reason if you cannot get it for a while I highly recommend moving ISP to Andrew’s and Arnold as they exist purely for keeping OpenPoo on the straight and narrow. Back in the day I was over 3km from my exchange and my copper line was just really bad. AA persistent to diagnose and stabilise the line and getting openpoo involved where needed. They are more expensive than your EEs etc but with every penny. Hope this helps

 

[artie]

We are waiting for full fibre but have been told it may be some time because there are more important areas to do first, says a lot about this so called leveling up policy.

I'm out in the sticks around two miles from the nearest village(cabinet), so I was pleasantly surprised to see the fibre cables going up. They have now given me a date in July for installation.

 

[artie]

FTTP is the way to go but if for some reason if you cannot get it for a while I highly recommend moving ISP to Andrew’s and Arnold as they exist purely for keeping OpenPoo on the straight and narrow. Back in the day I was over 3km from my exchange and my copper line was just really bad. AA persistent to diagnose and stabilise the line and getting openpoo involved where needed. They are more expensive than your EEs etc but with every penny. Hope this helps

I searched for them, they seem like a competent outfit. If I'd known two months ago they might have helped.