Broadband no longer available

Broadband was enabled on my phone line in 2005 and has been used with reasonable reliability ever since until last month. We are a long way from the exchange but speed had gradually improved until, over the last few years, it averaged around 0.75Mbps.
Last month connection became erratic and then ceased altogether. 2 visits from Openreach have failed to resolve the problem and yesterday I received the following from Plusnet:

"I can see that Openreach eventually made it out to you on the 12th where it was confirmed that the distance to the exchange is why the line is not able to get a signal. When the order was placed we based the estimate on the information provided by Openreach which takes into account lines that are already connected to the cabinet and the average seen on the lines there. It doesn't have the capacity to apply individual estimates for a line and it's generally once a service goes live that we know what the line is actually capable of.

It is because of this very reason no provider can guarantee or promise how the line will perform.

Physically both Plusnet and Openreach can't do anything to improve this as the distance is something that can't be reduced. Your welcome to contact our Customer Options team on 0800 013 2632 to discuss your contract"

I'm not sure what to do. Any advice, please.

I may not acknowledge any replies immediately as I live 'in the sticks' and now have a 20 mile round trip to the local library for internet access.

Thank you
Billward

Hi Bill,

Yes get a grant if you can and get 2 way satellite installed.(depends where you are also) Or there are other alternatives such as http://notspotbroadband.com/grant-schemes/#146775725... that might be able to help you.

That's just one of many solutions that you may want to look into. Is mobile data viable at your location?

This article goes into it a bit from last year

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/09/governm...

This company do it from what I can tell.

https://www.satelliteinternet.co.uk/ - you can also call to see if you can get a free install. It does tend to be where areas care not reached by BT however this company clearly may be able to help you as they state

"No matter where your property is, if you can't currently get a broadband service running at a minimum speed of 2 Mbps, then a satellite connection may be a great solution for you. Because the whole of the UK already falls under our satellite service coverage, we can connect quite literally any premises within the UK to our fast and robust broadband service - and all our monthly packages run at up to 20 Mbps - within just a couple of weeks or so."

0.75 to 20mbps = Skateboard to Ferrari

Edited by deleted (Fri 16-Dec-16 13:38:45)

The trouble with satellite is relatively high cost, high latency, low data caps and very variable performance. Sometimes the ferrari is more of a tortoise. It may be better than nothing but it is not the panacea solution and is generally only a stop gap until something better comes along.

4G can have better overall performance but again is quite expensive for the amount of data that is generally included.

Have you just changed ISP to Plusnet? Is that when you lost connection or were you already with Plusnet and developed a fault? BT currently are not required to provide broadband so if they get to a point where the cost to fix is high then they will refuse and there is currently little you can do about it.

You may get better luck with an ISP like AAISP who are generally willing to put work in to getting you running - no guarantees.

In reply to a post by ian72:

The trouble with satellite is relatively high cost, high latency, low data caps and very variable performance. Sometimes the ferrari is more of a tortoise. It may be better than nothing but it is not the panacea solution and is generally only a stop gap until something better comes along.

4G can have better overall performance but again is quite expensive for the amount of data that is generally included.

I know this - but it might be the guys ONLY option in which cause it has to be more than a stop gap. I am sure if he could get 4G or 3G a 20 mile trip to the library would have been avoided, unless it's not been considered until now.

The key here is what was the downstream and upstream line attenuation, and which exchange is it...

Attenuation should be fairly constant, but unlikely you recall or know what it was back in 2005.

https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local should highlight most options for fixed wireless or a USC voucher as others are suggesting, but beyond any specific advice would need sharing of a postcode in private.

I don't get it. Your line has had a "signal" since 2005. Ok, the speed has dropped over time, but are they now actually saying it's dropped so low that a (reliable) signal is no longer possible? If so, why? Crosstalk/interference issues or just an excuse so they don't have to deal with supplying broadband to you anymore?

Even at 0.75Mbps, I would think your line would still support the old legacy 576kbps fixed rate ADSL service, which means there must still be a (usable) signal present. But I'm pretty sure it is no longer possible to order fixed rate ADSL as BTO canned those packages in favour of ADSL Max services - which, by the looks of things, has now rendered your line unusable (though I'm still not sure why).

As others have said, definitely give A&A a call an explain the situation. If they are willing to take you on, they will make it their mission to get you up and running again. If they fail, there is no charge!

http://aa.net.uk/broadband-trial.html

I'm assuming the OP changed ISP to Plusnet and that the change has destabilised the connection.

Why would a change of ISP destabilize the physical part of the connection? (the pair, joints, all the way back to the exchange, etc?). Why would Openreach issue that as an excuse to Plusnet, and why would Plusnet accept this excuse?

Sorry, something doesn't smell right. At all.

May be a connection going from LLU to standard ADSL which would result in the connection being physically moved between hardware. If Plusnet is a new ISP then they will just get a report from Openreach that the connection is not suitable and there have been other examples where they get that and don't do much more to resolve.

If they haven't changed ISP then it may be there has been some sort of repair in the network that might have affected joints in the cabling and caused the issue.