In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

Sorry, I meant postcode.

Click on any speed bubble & you get the breakdown by ISP.

Thanks. I got there in the end!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Bear in mind that a high proportion of the general population will have home wiring issues and lose a lot of speed. They just don't know it should be better.

Good point.

My sppeed more than doubled by replacing an old router and relocating its position closer to the incoming telephone wiring.

I guess those figures on the map have to be treated with caution.

Thanks.

In reply to a post by reserved:

In reply to a post by Jelly_Tussle:

I do phone 0845, 0871 etc numbers; but only when I usually have to query something with a company or organisation that uses such numbers as their point of contact.

You can always try this site to get a geographic number which would be free or cheaper.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

In reply to a post by Jelly_Tussle:

I do phone 0845, 0871 etc numbers

0845 (& 0870) is usually included in the free inclusive calls of your call plan, but not 0871.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Changing the username and password is usually easy and takes a couple of minutes. Then, if you went to Plusnet, it takes about 15 minutes (the first time) to make the connection.

In reply to a post by vimto_girl:

Hi

You know you don't need fibre because you can do everything you need already! The speed test confirms this quantitatively - your line can manage over 13Mbps (Megabits per second) download, iplayer hd needs 3.5Mbps to stream, Netflix in HD about 7Mbps.

If you move to Plusnet, it's very easy to change the broadband username and password on your existing router. You can try it now - type in 192.168.1.1 in your web browser where you normally type a web address. Log in to the router's pages typing in admin as the username and password. Click on Quick Setup and there should be an entry for username and password which you can amend and save.

If you wish to use the Plusnet router, you don't have to reconfigure each wireless device, you can simply log into the router (similar process as above in principle) and change its wireless settings to match that of the TP-Link, then every device will connect as though nothing has changed.

OK

Well I tried to log into my router to see if is within my 'skill level' to change the username and password as suggested.

Well; I admit to being totally lost now!

There are these main menu's:

DEVICE INFO
QUICK SET UP
ADVANCED SET UP
WIRELESS
DIAGNOSATICS
MANAGEMENT

And these are the sub menu's:

DEVICE INFO

SUMMARY
WAN
STATISTICS
ROUTE
ARP
DHCP

QUICK SET UP

WAN CONFIGURATIONS

ADVANCED SET UP

LAYER 2 INTERFACE
WAN SERVICE
LAN
MAC CLONE
NAT
SECURITY
PARENTAL CONTROL
QUALITY OF SERVICE
ROUTING
DNS
DSL
UpnP
INTERFACE GROUPING
LAN PORTS
IPSec

WIRELESS

BASIC
SECURITY
MAC FILTER
WIRELESS BRIDGE
ADVANCED
STATION INFO

DIAGNOSTICS

pvc_quick_setup_Diagnostics

MANAGEMENT

SETTINGS
SYSTEM LOG
SNMP AGENT
TR-069 CLIENT
INTERNET TIME
ACCESS CONTROL
UPDATE SOFTWARE
REBOOT

Even looking at quick set up didn't reveal anything obvious to me.

Here's a screen shot of what I can see:

http://imageshack.com/a/img31/7946/n7u8.jpg

and

http://imageshack.com/a/img812/1191/r71d.jpg

I had to take two screenshots to show the whole page and even then the 'next' button at the bottom of the screen isn't shown.

Sorry folks; but I'm lost already! As I said; I'm a techno dunce.

Am I missing something obvious?

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by Jelly_Tussle:

I do phone 0845, 0871 etc numbers

0845 (& 0870) is usually included in the free inclusive calls of your call plan, but not 0871.

Thanks for the info.

I don't suppose there are any cheap or free ways of calling 0871 numbers?

On http://imageshack.com/a/img31/7946/n7u8.jpg

You would enter your new username and password in the PPP Username and PPP password box

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

On http://imageshack.com/a/img31/7946/n7u8.jpg

You would enter your new username and password in the PPP Username and PPP password box

Thank you very much.

This would be the new Username and Password as supplied to me by a new ISP?

I have no idea what PPP stands for; which rather confused me.

And I do not understand why the details of my current provider (BT) are not already in the box - it is blank.

Was not sure why they did not appear either, maybe a security measure, or just a bug in the page.

PPP - Point to Point Protocol
Used for creating a link between two locations on a network.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Was not sure why they did not appear either, maybe a security measure, or just a bug in the page.

PPP - Point to Point Protocol
Used for creating a link between two locations on a network.

Ok; thank you very much.

That gives me a bit more confidence about my ability to change the passwords if need be. I will contact BT and see what they can offer me. If they cannot give me enough to make me stay; I won't be quite so worried if I switch to Plusnet now.

On a more general point; it would seem that loyalty is not rewarded these days. It would seem that the most loyal customers end up with the worst deals whether we are talking about car insurance, car breakdown cover, gas and electricity suppliers.

Do people here (who I presume are more clued up than the average broadband customer) tend to stick with one ISP or shop around and move once their contract is up?

Cheers.