Thinking of Infinity

Hello - newbie to the forums here so please treat me gently!

I am tempted to order BT Infinity which is now available to my home, and I understand that because I am lucky enough to have the BT box right outside my house I should be able to get the maximum 40 Mbps download speed.

I am currently using O2 ADSL and getting speeds of 11 Mbps on average, so it would be a big jump for me to 40 Mbps and well worth doing.

However, as I want unlimited downloads that really narrows me down to BT only for this type of FTTC service, or wait for Sky's FTTC to arrive in April. All other providers seem to cap downloads, which destroys the object of fast broadband for streaming movies from Netflix, iTunes etc.

I am so very concerned at ordering from BT, because of their foreign call centres. I once had a nightmare time with Barclaycard's Indian call centre and never wish to repeat the experience! Can anyone reassure me that BT's call centres are reliable, don't just simply read from scripts, and will actually action a problem if you ring up to report one? What have peoples' experiences been on this?

Also is the Infinity service truly ok most of the time? I would be leaving a rock solid Internet connection with O2/BE so I am wary again of jumping into unnecessary problems.

Finally my BT Master socket is in the kitchen behind the microwave so obviously not suitable for a modem/router. However I understand that the BT Openreach engineer could if asked designate the BT installed extension point in the study upstairs as the "Master" instead for purposes of an Infinity installation?

Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks!

Edited by CarrieLaw (Thu 09-Feb-12 13:30:12)

Go for it!

Being so close to the Cabinet is going to give you awesome speed and you will benefit most from the speed increase coming in April (should get 80Mbps!).

I survived with a D/L speed of 1.5Mbps for years, being 3.5kM from the Exchange. Never looked back since I had Infinity installed and now getting around 32Mbps being 650M or so from the Cabinet.

Reliability wise, can't fault it in the 9-months since I had it, although the first Modem died almost immediately and was swapped out the following day.

Indian CC's are a pain, as I can never get my brain around their accent, but hopefully, you shouldn't need to use it.

The BT/OR Engineer can use a 'Data Extension Cable' up to 30-M in length between the Master Socket and Modem if that helps with the logistics of positioning. You probably realise the Modem and Router will both need a Mains Socket each.

Good Luck

I was reluctant to move from an O2 legacy package to Infinity and I have no regrets whatsoever. The only thing that is traffic managed is P2P downloading, this wasn't an issue for me, but if it's something you rely on it's still available outside their peak hours. Not to mention Newsgroups are completely uncapped. Streaming works well with both iPlayer HD content and YouTube content loading instantly without buffering even during peak times. I haven't noticed any slow down at all. One thing to bear in mind about Sky is that they have only announced a 40/2 product where as BT will give you 10 up.

Can't comment on their call centres as everything went smoothly with my order and I haven't yet had to call them for anything.

As for the master socket part, they tend to accommodate what you want them to do within reason. My master is nowhere near where the computers are in my house so the engineer decided to use the data extension set up which involved drilling through an internal wall and took about two hours. He even called on another engineer to give him a hand.

In reply to a post by mp90:

...As for the master socket part, they tend to accommodate what you want them to do within reason. My master is nowhere near where the computers are in my house so the engineer decided to use the data extension set up which involved drilling through an internal wall ...

Should have added as mp90 jogged my memory-

They too drilled through a thick wall (used to be the side of the house before a study was added, so it's a couple of bricks thick) and routed the Extension Cable around the Door Frame.

Thanks for your comments both of you - really helpful.

I'm a bit concerned about the data extension kit as I'm not keen on the idea of taking a cable up the skirting board at the side of the stairs from master socket in the kitchen to the BT extension point in the study upstairs, which would look very unsightly, But I'm sure BT engineers come across this problem all the time and find ways around it. Perhaps up the outside of the house?

Certainly from the comments you both make, Infinity does sound well worth it especially if there is going to be a speed bump to 80 Mbps soon too.

Decisions decisions ........ !

Is it an incoming cable from a pole, or underground?

Hey,

Moved from O2 (3.5 megs solid for 2 years!). Now get 37.5 megs solid on ethernet.

Don't care about P2P. I also use older machines on wireless g cards and get 20 megs or so with them.

My master was in the lounge. Relocated it for me to the kitchen (!!!), no problems at all. Just ask nicely and they seem to have been told to do whatever they can - well, they DO want your Money for 18 months.

As for India. Well, I have had occassion to call them. If you are firm about what you want, and you have done all the right things FIRST - like do speed tests on ethernet using the BT speedtester, re-booted everything etc- then I found they got someone onto the case PDQ.

The only real issue was that the call centre does not usually have the up to date info about ongoing Broadband problems which may actually be affecting you (as in my case!). So, they send an engineer, and the problem has fixed itself. And there was no easy way to stop the engineer from coming (no charge, but a waste of his time really).

What is probably better is, that if there is a problem, use the BTcare forum, and send a message to the forums mods via their special form. They are UK based folk who can get the ball rolling if it's a genuine fault. So, there is a 2nd way to get to a problem if need be. Found this out myself the slow way, as you will see from a few of my posts!). And of course, HERE.

But, in general I would say it's a brilliant service - and I have the 10 megs upload package, and believe me, this DOES may a huge difference to the way you work.

O2 did a great job (LLU), and gave me 3.5-4 megs on a 59db line (managing a 3.5db noise margin). When Orange via BT's DLM tried, I got 135k-160k for weeks on end (I mean K !!). So, the line was long and was not going to be happy using the BT DLM system, hence the rubbish speeds. Now, well - this is now ...

http://speedtest.net/result/1757115127.png

Cheers,

Rob

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Is it an incoming cable from a pole, or underground?

It's a modern house built ten years ago, so the main BT cable comes in at the front of the house from underground. There is a white plastic cover covering the cable feed in from the ground to about 2 feet up the front of the house. From there it feeds straight to the kitchen, where the master socket is.

Looking at your useful website! My main socket appears to be an NTE-5 if that helps? Certainly has a lower part which is removable. All other sockets in the house - hallway, main bedroom and study upstairs - are the normal style ones.

The reason I want the router in the study is that I prefer an ethernet connection from the router direct to my main computer and my printer and the Time Capsule all of which are in the study. I have a complete network going from there to various other parts of the house via ethernet Homeplugs where possible, with the addition of wifi for the iPhones and iPad. If the router gets sited in the kitchen, I'm pretty sure there would be interference from the microwave.

Edited by CarrieLaw (Thu 09-Feb-12 15:50:57)

In reply to a post by RobFlet:

What is probably better is, that if there is a problem, use the BTcare forum, and send a message to the forums mods via their special form. They are UK based folk who can get the ball rolling if it's a genuine fault. So, there is a 2nd way to get to a problem if need be. Found this out myself the slow way, as you will see from a few of my posts!). And of course, HERE.

Thanks Rob, that certainly sounds a much better idea than trying to cope with an Indian call centre. I love India, I've visited regularly, love the people, and after a couple of days there easily get tuned in to the accent. But on the telephone from the UK it's a very different story, and I find it immensely difficult to understand what they are saying sadly. That and refusing to deviate from scripts even if the script isn't appropriate, which can be really annoying.

Edited by CarrieLaw (Thu 09-Feb-12 15:39:17)

It's a modern house built ten years ago, so the main BT cable comes in at the front of the house from underground. There is a white plastic cover covering the cable feed in from the ground to about 2 feet up the front of the house. From there it feeds straight to the kitchen, where the master socket is.

Doesn't sound good.

It is quite doubtful that the master socket could be swapped to the study using the existing internal wiring, which if that has already been replaced by the house-owner, using CAT5, it sometimes can be.

I think the engineer's do have an external grade Data Extension Cable but I'm not sure. If they have, then you may be able to get the master itself resited to the study and the kitchen one made into an extension.

Is the kitchen one required for a phone, and how many other extensions are connected though? Are they wired to the back of the faceplate of the kitchen one?