How do I check line stats, and a few vague other questions

DIdnt want to go for BT but as I am in a small town and no LLU it was that or O2 access, shame also BT wanted £125 for reconnection but offered it free if I signed up with them.

First question is self explanitory, how do I check line stats as the broadband and phone line was turned on about 3pm today and I got 2 meg at first then shot to 4 meg then down to 1 meg then up to 6 meg(all by speedtests) and ping is around 150

The next question or actual query is that the engineer found it strange that the line needed reconnecting especially since there was a modern socket in bedroom and cabling running from it and vas very vague and wouldnt answer my queries and I heard him on phone mention about a fault on exchange on the line and it was actually active before he came, but what confused me more was he asked the other staff member on phone that shall he keep it connected to the pole as it is or make it direct to exchange as its about 400 metres away.

Any ideas on what he meant? as I am thinking if it didnt need connected then I will ring BT to cancel the broadband and complain.

Hi..

If you have the home hub you can use your browser to view the hub set up.
Go here for info on how to do this.
http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php#10

Check your ADSL Sync speed then use the BT Tester to see what your IP profile is.

Not sure what the other bit is about..
Did you previously have Broadband with someone else.. ? Have you just moved in ?
Not sure why you would want to cancel the broad though since you just got it though.

Just moved in, but was told that the only way to not get charged engineer fees would be to sign up for a 18 month phone and broadband contract which I didnt want to do as I prefer monthly and if theres problems I have no comeback so if BT were wrong and no engineer was needed then I will be unhappy as I have been wrongfully informed to get a contract I didnt want.

Speed seems good now and speedtest shows about 6 meg so hope it stays that way and hope its not the line or congestion.

Line state Connected
Connection time 0 days, 02:46:51
Downstream 8,128 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps

ADSL Settings
VPI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation G.992.1 Annex A
Latency type Fast
Noise margin (Down/Up) 10.8 dB / 30.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 11.8 dB / 4.5 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 12.4 dBm / 2.0 dBm

Edited by deleted (Thu 18-Mar-10 22:11:22)

There is a connection fee for a phone line, even if little or no physical work is needed.

By taking the 18 month contract, BT has spread this cost out over the 18 month period basically. Other phone providers can connect a phone line for £50 to £100, e.g. Madasafish

Even with BT Wholesale at the exchange you had a choice of many phone providers, via WLR and CPS, and broadband from any that resell the IPStream service. So why do you say it was BT or O2 access?

Ahh..
I see..
So you think that BT could have just reactivated the existing line without charge rather than charge a new install fee... now I understand.

Seems like you have a good line there though...
So unless there is LLU available to get faster speeds at the exchange (which I am assuming not with the Upstream speed at 448) and you want to move then you should have a good stable connection.

Looks like he wanted unlimited, see here.

A lot of downloads cos

... download stuff from Iplayer, reinstall Windows pretty much monthly and get updates and software, download homebrew, go on XBL and PSN, play World Of Warcraft etc

Re-installing Windows monthly looks extreme .

In which case I would say BT Total was a poor choice, their unlimited has download rates that get throttled down, and fair use policy runs out at around 100GB a month.

Unlimited is possible on BT Wholesale, the unpopular truth is that if you want quality you have to look at paying £35 and upwards.

Reinstalling Windows Monthly - I suggest they go and look at things like VMWare http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

Running Virtual Machines, then you build windows once, and through away the corrupt copy, reverting to the intial virtual machine.

I actually rarely if ever download that much, have never been hit with a FUP warning even when I was on O2 access twice last year, and Bethere/O2 ADSL2+ have never had warnings.

I download on average 2-5 gig of stuff from iplayer a month maybe less I get that from about 4-8 shows at 250 meg each, then the odd HQ thing about 400 meg 2-4 times a month, then download patches for games like world of warcraft which may be once every 2 months but is over 1 gig each time or so, then download homebrew games which can vary from 50 meg to about 1 gig but this is few and far between(and normally only when I cant find the download I put on dvd before)

Most of my downloading is because I know ADSL2+ wont FUP me used to always download latest versions of software and put them on dvd'r but as they were updated quite often just thought I would download new versions as they come out instead of saving and installing old versions.

Havent reinstalled Windows for about 7 weeks now trying to stop doing it often, again only did it so often because I knew I can get updates easily.

I notice the download rates are slow as just tried to download something by torrent and I was in pub 30 minutes ago for 2 hours and was getting about 40kB/s as its badly seeded and came home to get about 2kB/s

As a matter of interest is the off peak hours from midnight till when and is it still midnight at weekends?