Help With Broadband Provider

[SwaleSmith]

Just wondering, I am currently with tiscali 8mb broadband and my 12 month contract expires I am getting a good broadband speed in the region of 6mb which slows down a little at peak times as you expect.

I have head a bit about be* broadband being a good ISP, so I checked out ther website and they offer broadband package (be unlimited upto 24mb) but are qouting a max speed after there test for my line of 14mb!

Obviously I am aware that you rarely get the speeds they quote due to distances line quality etc (apparently I am 1km for the exchange) but 14 mb is a significantly higher quote than tiscali's 6 mb when I signed up, and is still quoting.

Gave them a quick call to see if they could confirm this but I spoke to someone who to be honest I didn't feel knew what they where talking about, just reading the computer in front of them, although she did say that we use ADSL2+ which is why our lines are faster....but isn't tiscali ADSL2+?

So my question is will be* really give me a faster broadband speed or is this just a little naughty trick to get you in?

I of course am talking internet through my phone line (adsl) as I don't have fibre optic broad band in my area yet

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks All!!!

 

[deathwish]

well bt's MSR for my line is 4.4mbps but i get a ip profile of 6mbps

in honesty i would go for the be offer as when i was with tiscali the connection was poor to say the least i use to get arround 2mbps

 

[Talonaer]

Tbh Be's service support is fantastic, unlimited bandwidth? **** yer. I only get 7mbps as im nearly 2km from exchange in north london , only 500m from another one but not the way theyre wierd. But frankly given all the other benefits its miles above any other provider. Reminds me of PlusNet before they went ****.

 

[nathan]

Another recommendation for be here. There really helpful, if you contact them to change your profile, they usually get it done with in 24 hours and send you a sms whens its done.

I sync at around 15mb 2km away from the exchange. Usually download at 1500kbs. Forums are nice too, post your stats in there and they'll reply with recommdations on how to get your speed up.

 

[chudley]

be is a great offer but they do" traffic shape" so it depends how much and when you use your connection.

 

[nathan]

be is a great offer but they do" traffic shape" so it depends how much and when you use your connection.

what makes you say they traffic shape? i havent heard any news that they do this. Would be nice to have a source for that.

 

[SwaleSmith]

I'm gonna switch to be* then whats the easiest way to switch from tiscali I have a phone service from them...which is stinking dear think I'm about 1 month off 12 months so is there an online cancelation service or do I have to speak with customer service :-/

p.s whats the difference bettween pro and unlimited packages ??? is pro worth the extra price if so why???

 

[llwyd]

Riiight if they are using ADSL2+ they will be utilising LLU at the exchange. This is cool if all goes well but a pita when a fault occurs. If you are on up to 8 now and arent syncing at 7.5 then dont go for up to 14. When on LLU there is no adaptive profile like on BT max, you have a set profile. If this profile is pushing too much down your line it will throw the SNR out (signal to noise ratio). What you tend to see is the SNR gets to between 3-7, meaning when the noise on the line moves by that amount of dB you will lose sync.

be* will not be using their own LLU equipment, it will be managed by someone like C&W. It is unlikely that they will disclose who their suppliers are but I would advise finding out before migrating and coming back here.

As for migrating you need to contact tiscali cancellations and get a MAC (migration authorization code) to give to be*. It takes 5 days to recieve if they stick to SLA and 7-10 working days for BT to initiate the changeover. A mac is valid for 30 days so to be safe, supply it to be* in 15. To avoid complications I suggest get tiscali to cancel your call package and move that back to BT now. THEN get your mac and give be* a bell.

PM me your postcode and landline no. (if youre happy to) and i'll look into it for you

 

[SwaleSmith]

Thanks llwyd ...PM Sent

 

[Talonaer]

be is a great offer but they do" traffic shape" so it depends how much and when you use your connection.

no they don't...you can personally choose to shape your traffic to one of 4 profiles, or just maintain a standard profile.

This is frankly..cant think of a word other than blind lie or slander, bit harsh, but tis just completely wrong im afraid.

 

[SwaleSmith]

Quick Update I now have a MAC code from tiscali...

So Looks like its gonna be be* broadband subject llwyd investigation

p.s I currently do not have fibre optic broadband in my area although BT seem to think it will come here within the next year will I automaticaly be boosted on fibre optic with Be* if it shoudl come?

And one other question before I sign up what about virgin media or other ISP's??? or is be* about the best ISP?

 

[llwyd]

Quick Update I now have a MAC code from tiscali...

So Looks like its gonna be be* broadband subject llwyd investigation

p.s I currently do not have fibre optic broadband in my area although BT seem to think it will come here within the next year will I automaticaly be boosted on fibre optic with Be* if it shoudl come?

And one other question before I sign up what about virgin media or other ISP's??? or is be* about the best ISP?

be* is the only isp at your exchange that actually offers ADSL2+ / LLU. When an isp takes over a line it rents the equipment at the exchange from BT and bt put a tag on it for them. With LLU, bt just rents a space at the exchange and the ISP provides their own equipment, so they SHOULD provide a cheaper service as theyre paying less to BT.

As theyre the only LLU isp at the exchange, all the other ISPs will, as far as performance goes, be exactly the same as each other as they will all be offering 8mb IPStream Max. The difference would be in the support, policies and T&Cs.

At your distance from the exchange it is unlikely you will get more than 9mb-ish at the test socket on ADSL2+, maybe around 11 at a push if your line is in a sensible state. If you went for 14mb and it caused instability (which is fairly unlikely in your case) then you would need your profile lowered.

If their support is good then go for it, just be sure to get them to tell you what they think your line should support on ADSL2+ with an actual availability check rather than a guesstimate.

If they mess you around feel free to PM me and i'll deal with them on your behalf. Same goes for anybody else on a non cable service. At the very least i'll get you 399 pounds to shut you up no questions asked

 

[SwaleSmith]

Thanks llwyd your a gent, very helpful gonna sign up for be* seems that everyone recommends them, the offer ADSL2+ and your not bound by a 12month contract.

So gonna give it a go if all goes well and i'm accepted I will post my results.

Cheers!!!

 

[nathan]

I'm gonna switch to be* then whats the easiest way to switch from tiscali I have a phone service from them...which is stinking dear think I'm about 1 month off 12 months so is there an online cancelation service or do I have to speak with customer service :-/

p.s whats the difference bettween pro and unlimited packages ??? is pro worth the extra price if so why???

the only difference im aware of is pro you can make use of a 2.5mb upload. Although this will slow your download a little.

 

[moogle]

the only difference im aware of is pro you can make use of a 2.5mb upload. Although this will slow your download a little.

Not sure if it makes a difference if you can't reach the max limit or not.

Anyway if you go Be* you'll definately get higher speeds. If you were to get the 8Mb package then you'd get around the same speeds as you did on Tiscali but on the higher packages the speed does increase. I was on Be* and was around 1km (by road) and 609m (direct) from the exchange.

When I was thinking of switching I was just calculating the worst speeds I could get by how far I was away from the exchange and the best and I predicted faster speeds than I was currently getting so it was worth it. I got around 14mb too.

I wanted a bit more faster so I bought a DG834GT router and flashed it with custom firmware so it could hold the line sync longer and permanently adjust the SNR. That plus a request to be put on fastpath gave me a speed of around 16mb+ so around 2.1mB/s in download speeds.

Plus the router is a bit better than the Speedtouch that comes by default

 

[SwaleSmith]

Went online yesterday and have gotta say Im very suprised...I am now getting a connection speed of around 13.3mb/sec which is a great improvemant over tiscali 8mb download speeds upto 1.2mb vs tiscalis 350kb or 450kb on off peak times occasionaly!!!

p.s Am on speed profile, with game profile setting on also!!!



Thanks for the help all!!!

 

[SwaleSmith]

I got a thompson TG585v7 am also around 1km from exchange, any ''speed mods'' that can be done?

Not sure if it makes a difference if you can't reach the max limit or not.

Anyway if you go Be* you'll definately get higher speeds. If you were to get the 8Mb package then you'd get around the same speeds as you did on Tiscali but on the higher packages the speed does increase. I was on Be* and was around 1km (by road) and 609m (direct) from the exchange.

When I was thinking of switching I was just calculating the worst speeds I could get by how far I was away from the exchange and the best and I predicted faster speeds than I was currently getting so it was worth it. I got around 14mb too.

I wanted a bit more faster so I bought a DG834GT router and flashed it with custom firmware so it could hold the line sync longer and permanently adjust the SNR. That plus a request to be put on fastpath gave me a speed of around 16mb+ so around 2.1mB/s in download speeds.

Plus the router is a bit better than the Speedtouch that comes by default

 

[moogle]

I got a thompson TG585v7 am also around 1km from exchange, any ''speed mods'' that can be done?

There sure are Swale, first off visit BeForums and an in there goto the Be & O2 Box Chat forum and find out which version of the DMT tool you need for your router. When you got that and you can login to it you can enable advanced settings which will allow you to adjust your SNR. You can search the forums on how to change your SNR. When you change it with the DMT tool it's not permanent so if you reboot the router it loses those settings and you gotta connect again. With a Netgear router and custom firmware it saves that setting so you never have to re-set it if you reboot the router.

It's not recommended to mess around with it until a week after because there's something called DLM (Dynamic Line Monitoring) running on your line for the first week to see and adjust the line depending on how stable it is.

After that week has passed you can goto your members area and make a ticket requesting fastpath. This will turn interleaving off for you and if your line is stable it'll increase your sync speed and decrease your pings. If your line was previously unstable it might make it worse. It's always been fine for me.

Anyway when you adjust the SNR, the lower it is the faster you will sync, but you trade off stability and sync errors for speed so don't go crazy setting it to low low levels for the fastest speeds because it's not worth it if you're going to be resyncing every 5 minutes.

I'd recommende getting a Netgear DG834GT or DG834N (If you require the more powerful wireless) and using custom firmware with it. When I was on Be* I could run on 0.1dB SNR (that's highly unstable ) but the line would be held by the router for quite some time and for browsing and downloading was perfect.

Because the SNR adjustment is a percentage of your base SNR, if you get Be* to change your default profile to 3dB, you'll sync faster and you can adjust the speed to a faster setting.

Anyway there are loads of DG834GT's being sold at the moment, you can even grab one on eBay. Even the Sky branded versions work, they're all better than the speedtouches because they don't resync on the connection as much and have that permanent SNR alteration.

I've waffled on but if you're confused about anything just ask me I'll explain in more detail :wavey:

 

[SwaleSmith]

sound intresting so I will leave it a week and then start to fiddle

I guess the most sensible thing to do would be to have a fiddle with my be* thomson router if all goes well and i get a gain I shoudl invest in a DG83FGT router.

There sure are Swale, first off visit BeForums and an in there goto the Be & O2 Box Chat forum and find out which version of the DMT tool you need for your router. When you got that and you can login to it you can enable advanced settings which will allow you to adjust your SNR. You can search the forums on how to change your SNR. When you change it with the DMT tool it's not permanent so if you reboot the router it loses those settings and you gotta connect again. With a Netgear router and custom firmware it saves that setting so you never have to re-set it if you reboot the router.

It's not recommended to mess around with it until a week after because there's something called DLM (Dynamic Line Monitoring) running on your line for the first week to see and adjust the line depending on how stable it is.

After that week has passed you can goto your members area and make a ticket requesting fastpath. This will turn interleaving off for you and if your line is stable it'll increase your sync speed and decrease your pings. If your line was previously unstable it might make it worse. It's always been fine for me.

Anyway when you adjust the SNR, the lower it is the faster you will sync, but you trade off stability and sync errors for speed so don't go crazy setting it to low low levels for the fastest speeds because it's not worth it if you're going to be resyncing every 5 minutes.

I'd recommende getting a Netgear DG834GT or DG834N (If you require the more powerful wireless) and using custom firmware with it. When I was on Be* I could run on 0.1dB SNR (that's highly unstable ) but the line would be held by the router for quite some time and for browsing and downloading was perfect.

Because the SNR adjustment is a percentage of your base SNR, if you get Be* to change your default profile to 3dB, you'll sync faster and you can adjust the speed to a faster setting.

Anyway there are loads of DG834GT's being sold at the moment, you can even grab one on eBay. Even the Sky branded versions work, they're all better than the speedtouches because they don't resync on the connection as much and have that permanent SNR alteration.

I've waffled on but if you're confused about anything just ask me I'll explain in more detail :wavey:

 

[llwyd]

dont get the GT, i deal with them all day in work and i really dont like them, they really need to be upgraded to the max and everything set to manual to work smoothly. the N class ones are alright. most linksys routers are re-shelled netgears so beware there too on price. i would go for a vigor router tbh

as for DLM, that was something used on adsl max and ran for 10 days, during that training period you would see some crazy behaviour. LLU providers dont tend to use that, although be* might be a special case.

if youre gaming i would leave interleaving on, we used to get so many gamers finding out how to disable it then ringing moaning about packet loss making online gaming impossible. and a lot of them were on good quality lines syncd at spot on 7.6, low noise and good profiles

as for the SNR, moogle nailed it, lowering is the way you want to go but exerise caution and run pathpings and traceroutes until the cows come home. do it under heavy load to spot issues