UK Online FAQ :: UK Online :: think broadband

All the work of Aekeron, many thanks.

Sadoldman updates by Icarus

A compilation of most of the frequently asked questions seen on this board.

If you have further information to be added to this post, please PM Aekeron and he'll do his best to insert typos/spelling and grammar errors before he updates this post.

THIS FAQ IS UNOFFICIAL

This post covers the most common questions asked by people thinking of moving across to UKO. Questions such as:

Referrals

UKOnline have a referral system and details are available on their site but I would refer you to the ADSL Guide rules and Here

What speed am I going to get on the 8mbit service?

This depends on many things. It's rare to get the full 8mbit, but with a half-decent phone line and a good router/(phone)wires setup, people routinely hit ~6.5-7.5mbit. The most important things when trying to guess the kind of speed you'll get are "line length" and "line stats".

Line length can be found by putting in your details here and clicking on "locality". Note that this is only 'straight line length' from the exchange and the actual length of the line can and will be a fair bit higher (typically 1/3rd or more). A (very very) rough indication of what line length can mean:

<1km - Very good, as close to the full 8mbit as you're going to get
1-2km - Decent, you're looking at 6.5 mbit with luck
2-3km - Bearable, 3.5-5 mbit
4km+ -

You're not likely to get much above 3mbit on this sorry

If you’re synced at a different speeds, e.g. ADSL2+., linky to try Link provided by Guest-_Again 27/11/05

It must be noted that line length is FAR LESS important than your line stats. See below

Line stats...well..read about those in the What are line stats? topic.

When will my exchange be activated for UKO?

The latest exchange information can be found Here

If your exchange isn’t listed there, try out the LLU exchange list, which is linked to in the post mentioned above.Failing that you can try UKO’s line checker or ring them up.

What are line stats?

Your line stats take the form of numbers indicating the quality and signal strength on your phone line. Interference from other electrical devices, aluminium cabling and magic pixies can all cause these stats to be affected for the worst.

The two stats we’re interested in are SNR (both upstream and downstream) and attenuation. SNR is the most important of these two.

Looking at SNR, you need to maintain a rating of above 6 at all times in order to guarantee a stable connection. Looking at your SNR whilst on your current 512k, 1 mbit or 2mbit connection, you’re probably seeing something along the lines of 25-35. This is about average at these speeds. The problem is that at increase by 2mbit your connection’s speed, you will generally see a 6-8db drop in SNR. So, assuming I’m on 2mbit with an SNR of 30:

Increasing my connection to
4mbit we’d see a drop to 22db
6mbit further drop to 14db
8mbit further drop to 6db – possibly unstable connection

It's quite common for SNR to get slightly worse during evening/peak times. Keep this in mind if your SNR is borderline and/or your connection seems to become a little more 'shoddy' at that time.

Most routers (and failing that helping, UKO themselves) are capable of ‘training’ your connection to a slower, more stable speed.

A lot of people have found that the Actiontec router from UKO has provided a more stable connection at high speeds (above 2mbit) when compared to some older routers. If you’re running old hardware, be aware that it might not be able to cope with the sheer speed of 8mbit

or the more ‘dicey’ line conditions.

If you have the actiontec router, d3fin3d's guide on how to get your line stats from it can be found here.

Tweaking your phone wires for UKO.

As the section on line stats mentions, interference on your phone line is a bad thing for your adsl connection. Running extension cables, extra phones and long leads between your modem and your BT socket can all cause problems.

The most optimal setup is using a “filtered faceplate” on your main master phone socket. This basically combines a microfilter with the phone socket and the installation of it generally involves you cleaning up the wires at said socket, double the gain

Try to run less wire in the form of extensions and make sure every extension point has a microfilter attached to it. Use as small as possible wire going from the phone line to your modem/router and try not to leave everything close to the microwave.

Update from "c_j":

The best signal in the house is in the "test socket", behind the BT master socket faceplate; connecting here is the equivalent of using a filtered faceplate. If you see signal quality problems there, there's nothing you (or UKO) can do to improve it except switch to a slower service.

Tweaking your computer for UKO (advanced).*(but very easy to do / undo)

This assumes you have some understanding of the way TCP/IP works but even if you don’t, you can follow the steps to try and improve your connection.

A good post on the subject can be found
here Thanks to Guest-Again.

My new 8mbit line keeps disconnecting or I'm having connection problems!

This could quite well be because your line is trying to connect at too high a speed for it to support. Check out your router/modem’s configuration application/page and look for “uncorrected CRC errors” or similar. If that number is very high then your line is probably being strained too far. Try ringing UKO and asking them to cap the line at a lower speed.

A common problem with UKO is the shoddy DNS servers. If you’re having problems accessing certain webpages but the rest of your connection is flying, it’s probably this. Try a google search for “alternative DNS server” and specify in your router config (or windows networking config) to use one of those.

My new 8mbit line seems to only be connected at 512kbit!

A very common problem with new 8mbit lines. Ring up tech support and tell them that it’s connected at the lower speed. They will sort out whatever it is they need to do and you should be up and running at your proper speed in no time at all

To give you an idea of just how quickly, one person was at full speed in 20 minutes.

Problems with WorldPay (UKO's payment service).

Due to capacity problems with UKOs/Easynet’s useage of WorldPay, you will sometimes receive emails claiming that WorldPay has failed to take your monthly payment. It will appear as though your card was declined or similar. This is generally nothing to worry about as they will simply try again every day for a few days. The request actually hasn’t left WorldPay’s accounts so don’t worry about your bank giving you lots of black marks for things.

One person reported a more serious problem with this and was actually charged 3 times for one month. They eventually got this sorted, but if you want to be extra careful, contact WorldPay/UKO if you receive a failed payment email.

Contact phone numbers at UKO.

General phone number: 0845 333 3322 (different options for tech support, CS, etc)
*insert other phone numbers here*

Does UKO have a news server?

Nope :/ UKOnline provided a news server at one point, but it was withdrawn. You can still ping/etc the server (news.ukonline.co.uk), but you can't login or get access to any of it's hosted content. Perhaps this will change in the future but for now, it's public or subscription-based usenet groups for you (Info courtesy of seaviewuk100)

How do I find out what pipe I am on? (IPStream only)

There are many methods, but the simplest I've found is to use the "tracert" command.

Steps:

1) Click on your windows start menu
2) Click on "Run"
3) Type "cmd" and press return
4) In the new box that appears, type "tracert jolt.co.uk" and press return
5) You will get input that looks something like this:

Target Name: www.jolt.co.uk
IP: 82.133.85.65
Date/Time: 14/04/2005 13:12:14

1 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms 0 ms dslmodem.domain.actdsltmp [192.168.0.1]
2 18 ms 17 ms 16 ms 16 ms dr3.bllon.uk.easynet.net [212.134.11.137]
3 17 ms 28 ms 18 ms 18 ms ge-2-0-0.46.br1.bllon.uk.easynet.net [82.109.182.130]
4 21 ms 16 ms 18 ms 28 ms ge0-0-0-0.br1.tclon.uk.easynet.net [195.172.211.202]
5 20 ms 27 ms 21 ms 17 ms ge0-0-0-0.er0.tclon.uk.easynet.net [195.40.4.70]
6 24 ms 23 ms 21 ms 20 ms lon1-10.nildram.net [195.66.226.59]
7 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms 19 ms [84.12.225.130]
8 18 ms 18 ms 20 ms 21 ms jolt-gw.nildram.net [195.149.20.126]
9 17 ms 19 ms 18 ms 20 ms www.jolt.co.uk [82.133.85.65]

6) The text in bold is the 'good stuff'. "dr3.bllon.uk.easynet.net" signifies that you're on "dr3".

There are 7 pipes as at the time of writing and you are randomly assigned to a pipe each time that you reconnect your adsl. In the past, some pipes have provided a better QoS than others so if you're having speed issues, you can try reconnecting and seeing if being assigned to a new pipe helps.

IPStream (ips) and Local-loop unbundled (LLU) - what do they mean?

IPStream (IPS) is the method of providing broadband that most current ISPs use. BT provide the connection in most respects. This method of connection allows the use of MAC codes (if you decide to migrate to another provider). There's a lot more to it than this of course, but check google/adslguide for a more detailed description UKO deliver 512kbit and 2mbit connections over this system, and for a higher price than the LLU connections.

Local-loop unbundled (LLU) is the method used by some providers (one of the most famous being Bulldog) to provide services without relying on the BT infrastructure (at least, not their network backbone). There are two flavours of LLU; the one used by UKO means that you keep the voice part of your BT phone line. Bulldog (for instance), use a method where your line is completely seperated - meaning that you no longer pay BT anything, but instead rent a line from Bulldog. Once again, much more to it, but this is enough for a dodgy little faq. This is the method UKO uses to provide the cheaper and/or higher speed services it offers: 512kbit, 2mbit and 8mbit.

Originally compiled by Aekeron on 01/06/2005 using the posts of lots of users of this very forum.

Link added 27/11/05 revised07/12/05
Edit. Info on forum Rep removed.20/12/05

Icarus

Edited by Sadoldman (Tue 20-Dec-05 17:47:39)