ADSL24 FTTC

Hi Folks,

Early days for many in terms of FTTC - but I wonder if there are any ADSL24 FTTC users out there willing to share their experience here?

Would be particularly interested if the migration was from LLU (Easynet/SKY) and if any before/after results were taken.

Anyone know who ADSL24 use for their onward connectivity - used to be entanet some time ago... but times have changed and I've been out of the loop.

Any info welcome.

Hi,

One very happy ADSL24 FTTC camper here.

My migration was from Easynet, I was with UKOnline. totally seamless. The BT engineer had not done a non-BT provide before and was convinced one could not connect with the supplied modem as BT supplied a router to its customers. He was wrong. I have a ZyXEL NBG 4604 router bought from the ZyXEL Store for my network connectivity. It has a few rough edges, but nothing a bit of lateral thinking cannot conquer.

Onward connectivity is with Murphx, who with ADSL24, have been very good.

I *continually* have a download meter on display which is very useful for getting the feel of what is going on.

Once an change up package but not down I was told, in spite of the site saying otherwise when I ordered.

Happy to help further via PM is you require.

DrT

Edited by deleted (Tue 30-Nov-10 15:07:13)

And if you need any specific questions answering just ask

Which 'James' are you?

Tech support James or management James?

DrT

Management James, although I've been away from the office for a while. I'm back in Monday full time though.

As there are two of you, could you differentiate yourselves? In one of my tickets it turned out to be a source of confusion for myself AND ADSL24 tech support.

Hope you are well.

Cheers

DrT

Hi DrT,

There is only *one* james within ADSL24 - and that's myself. If you're talking about the tickets you raise through your My account page, then yes, that's me, as I am still very much involved with everything (rather than just sitting back and letting staff do all the work).

If you're talking about the James from the telephone support/helpline then that's likely to be a guy at our suppliers out-of-hours support team, not me

P.S. I'm a lot better thanks.

Good.

Gone onto PM due to a matter you raised here as OT.

DrT

Edited by deleted (Sun 05-Dec-10 12:15:39)

Any info welcome.

Obviously not welcome enough to return here

DrT

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Any info welcome.

Obviously not welcome enough to return here

DrT

Actually only a few minutes ago did I finally get my MAC from Sky (at the second time of asking) - and sign up with ADSL24.

Thanks for your input, it was appreciated.

What is your download meter?

Hi,

Netmeter from http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/. It is no longer supported by the original developer and has gome open source. The latest version is 1.1.4.1 from the forum or PM me.

Cheers

DrT

PS Pls feel free to PM if anything I can help with.

In reply to a post by Adsl24:

And if you need any specific questions answering just ask

I do James....
Do your FTTC products come with a static IP (and if not, how much extra per month)?

For me it looks to be down to three choices (each has its advantages & disadvantages)....
1. BT Infinity @ £27.99/month (advantages = cheap, free home hub, BT Vision, free wi-fi minutes; disadvantages = 18 month contract, doubts about FUP & throttling, no static IP).
2. ADSL24 Fibre 60 Pro @ £38.99/month (advantages = actual real customer service, not too worried about possible throttling, shorter 12 month contract; disadvantages = a bit pricey, higher allowances available elsewhere, need to buy my own cable router).
3. TitanADSL SurfHome Standard @ £39.99/month (advantages = 40GB higher peak time allowance for only £1 extra, free static IP; disadvantages = same as ADSL24).

I'm not against paying £40 a month (after all; we started off there in the early days of 512k ADSL) so it'll probably be a toss up between ADSL24 & Titan.
A free static IP might sway me towards ADSL24 (as I was with you guys before switching to BE LLU, and I know you give a good service), but the extra 40GB peak allowance (at Titan) for only £1 more is very tempting.

Hi,

Yes, static IP on all our Fibre packages by default.

Note that on our packages you get unlimited off-peak, so that's a lot of allowance potentially. Midnight-8am Mon-Fri and all weekend is off-peak therefore unlimited usage. So it's not just 60GB usage!

Our setup fee is £5 cheaper and we only charge £1.20 per extra GB rather than £1.49 although of course the VAT increase in January will be the same for all

Cheers

Edited by deleted (Mon 13-Dec-10 15:39:41)

With our Fibre packages we have already taken into account the VAT increase in Jan and no price increases will be made on our Fibre packages and with off peak starting at 11pm in the evening 1 hour earlier during week days with unlimited usage off peak and weekends.

Edited by deleted (Mon 13-Dec-10 15:50:06)

In reply to a post by Adsl24:

Hi,

Yes, static IP on all our Fibre packages by default.

Note that on our packages you get unlimited off-peak, so that's a lot of allowance potentially. Midnight-8am Mon-Fri and all weekend is off-peak therefore unlimited usage. So it's not just 60GB usage!

Our setup fee is £5 cheaper and we only charge £1.20 per extra GB rather than £1.49 although of course the VAT increase in January will be the same for all

Cheers

Nice to see you are answering questions from potential customers on this forum. Shame you stopped answering questions from your existing customers on the ADSL24 forum. Your last post there was 20/07/2010.

Another BIG plus is that ADSL 24's tech support is in the UK, that of BT Infinity is in India.

DrT

Midnight-8am Mon-Fri and

Thought it was from 2200hrs for home products and 20:00 hrs for pro...or was I lucky to get in quick before some change ?

DrT

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Another BIG plus is that ADSL 24's tech support is in the UK, that of BT Infinity is in India.

DrT

I thought the BT Infinity tech support was based in Newcastle?

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Midnight-8am Mon-Fri and

Thought it was from 2200hrs for home products and 20:00 hrs for pro...or was I lucky to get in quick before some change ?

DrT

It's a shame it isn't still 10pm, as midnight is a little awkward.
The start of off-peak being midnight will require my PC to be regularly switched on overnight just to do a few downloads.
The 11pm [start of off-peak with Titan] may be the main factor which pushes me towards them and away from ADSL24 (and the extra 40GB peak allowance for about £1).
With an 11pm start to off-peak, I'll be able to do some downloads then switch the PC off for the night (saving about 2kWh each day) as I'd be able to download more than 12GB before midnight each night (should I need or want to).

Effectively the £40/month Titan product is nearly equivalent to the £50/month ADSL24 product (apart from the Titan product has 10GB more peak allowance and an extra hour off-peak each night).
So unless Titan are likely to give a poorer performance (e.g. if they throttle more) it's looking to be a no-brainer.

The basic 30GB package (ADSL24) is out of the question as I do a fair bit of home working (via a VPN to the office, which has a 10Mbps leased line) and I don't think 30GB peak allowance will be enough.

I would be interested in knowing details of the FUP from both providers because one (or both) will be no use if there's something daft like a 100GB FUP. I can't seem to find details of a fibre specific FUP on either site (and I can't believe an old ADSL/ADSL2+ FUP would apply to fibre).

also note, you dont NEED a cable router, as you can connect your BT supplied modem directly into the PC and create a PPPoE connection

In reply to a post by tuff:

you can connect your BT supplied modem directly into the PC and create a PPPoE connection

Indeed; but of little use when I've several wi-fi devices, audio & video streaming equipment, a PC, two laptops, two PS3s, an Xbox360 and three original Xboxes all competing for the same internet connection.

Fortunately I don't think I'll need to go out and buy a cable router. I have a Hawking H2WR54G Dual-WAN router with two Ethernet WAN ports which should do the trick.
I bought it a while back when BT lied and said I'd only be able to get 1.5Mbps (which is too low for my needs) and I thought I'd need a cheap way of combining two ADSL connections.

In reply to a post by undecidedadrian:

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Another BIG plus is that ADSL 24's tech support is in the UK, that of BT Infinity is in India.

I thought the BT Infinity tech support was based in Newcastle?

Maybe so.. but "Infinity" is BT Retail's product, not ADSL24's

Matt

Note that if the wireless on that Hawking is only 54Mb (G) then you'll stuggle to get above 30Mb (ish) on FTTC over wireless. A wireless-n router is definitely needed on FTTC if you are SYNCing >30Mb

Thanks James but fortunately the wireless devices are two phones, a Kindle and a laptop I use to VPN into the 10Mbps leased line at our office, none of which will need more than about 10Mbps.
Everything which is speed-critical is wired Ethernet (1Gbps between the main PC and my media server, 100Mbps everywhere else).

I would think there's a strong chance I'd sync at or close to the full 40Mbps. The cabinet is 150 metres direct distance and 210 metres by road (and the BT checker estimates 33Mbps).
In time I may switch to an 'N' cable router but for now I think the Hawking will suffice (the saving helps pay for the connection fee).

Office pro peak is 8am to 8pm.

ADSL24 does not have an FUP that will affect me. I have done some SERIOUS off peak downloading. Unlimited means that AFAICT.

Re: BT Infinity tech support. If it is in the UK, I'd be surprised. My understanding is that even the operators are now in India.

DrT

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Re: BT Infinity tech support. If it is in the UK, I'd be surprised.

The consensus seems to be it is in Newcastle. Which: undefined.

In reply to a post by nahwiseup:

In reply to a post by DrTeeth:

Any info welcome.

Obviously not welcome enough to return here

DrT

Actually only a few minutes ago did I finally get my MAC from Sky (at the second time of asking) - and sign up with ADSL24.

Thanks for your input, it was appreciated.

What is your download meter?

Just thought I'd post back that I'm now live with ADSL24 today.

Speed test:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1116869778.png

My latency to the likes of BBC has dropped from low 30 ms to low 20 ms.

I can see this post has since gone other directions, but anyone interested in my journey - so far so good.

Support has been prompt and appreciated so far.

I'm so envious of you people that can get FTTC, being on ADSL1 makes me feel like im in the stone ages!

When considering the various FTTC providers I found myself leaning towards the ADSL24 30 Pro package as a good mix between speed (10Mbps up), limits (30GB / Unlimited @ night) and price. My exchange went live a little while ago, so I decided to go for it.

I then did the usual boring bits; rang my current provider (Be*) and requested my MAC code, put that into the ADSL24 ordering system with a few card / address details and voila! I then got to choose a date for the BT engineer to visit, I chose February the 18th 1pm - 6pm. Great, sorted (or so I thought), so I rang up Be* and told them the cancellation date (18th). All set.

Then I received the "normal" e-mails from ADSL24 upon joining them (on the 9th of Feb):

"Dear Sxxxx Xxxxxxx,

We are pleased to advise you that your order has now been submitted. We will usually have a further update within 24-48 hours containing information such as your activation date, username and other details..."

Great, looks like it's gone through ok. Then I receive this on the 10th of Feb:

"Dear Sxxxx Xxxxxx,

We are pleased to advise you that your order is now being processed.
The estimated activation date of this order is 18th Feb 2011."

Fantastic, so far I've got the date I want, I'm £80~ lighter (install + first month) and no issues! Then, on the 14th of Feb I got this:

"Dear Sxx Mxxxxxxx,

We are pleased to advise you that your order now has a committed activation date.
The confirmed activation date of this order is 18th Feb 2011."

Again, great! So I promptly went and booked the afternoon off work.

Now, on the 18th, I get home at 12:30pm and await the BT engineer's arrival, but at 3:40pm I've not heard a whisper, so I call ADSL24. I asked if the engineer's visit was still definitely on for today, and was told that yes, it was. They also said that they would get in touch with the provisioning service to see if they could get an estimated time of arrival for me; great!

Then the phone rang and I was told it was bad news, uh oh. The customer service rep. (CSR from now on!) told me that there was a mix-up in their system and that the date for the visit was actually the 24th of February (a Thursday). I said that I wasn't particularly happy about this, as I've had to take a half-day off work as holiday and that the date they have given instead is a day I can't do (I can only take off Friday afternoons).

The CSR then said that they would adjust my first bill so that instead of me paying from the 18th, I would be paying from the 24th when the line actually goes live. I was like, "of course you are, why would I be paying for it until it is activated!?". I said that I wasn't happy with the level of service that I had received so far and as a result was thinking of just cancelling the whole thing and going with a different provider. To which I was told "Oh well it'll take even longer to get online then, and BT have 'committed' to installing it now, so if you cancel you will be subject to a charge of roughly £100, plus the non-refundable install fee of £49.99" I was like "WHHHHATTTTT!?".

At which point I asked to speak to a manager, to which I was told there were none there (again, how!?) and that if I wanted to talk to someone about compensation, I should e-mail customer services. Pardon!? E-Mail? What, the thing you need a working internet connection to use!? Fuming at this point I said forget it, I'll call again tomorrow or on Monday to speak to a manager to cancel this thing.

So, so far ADSL24 have given me misinformation on numerous occasions and when I asked if I could cancel the whole thing, they threatened me with a £150 cancellation charge. All I can say is avoid ADSL24 at all costs. I'm thinking of going to the small claims court on Monday if they refuse to refund my installation charge and first months subscription.

Update 5pm 18/02: I've also now just realised that to remove your direct debit details from their system, you have to raise a ticket to get it removed, not just delete the details yourself. So I'm waiting on a CSR to action this, as I do not want ADSL24 having free-reign on my bank account.

Mistakes do happen unfortunately. Why not take the afternoon off and just go with it. Looks like the cheaper, less stressful option.

No real need to cross-post...

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Mistakes do happen unfortunately. Why not take the afternoon off and just go with it. Looks like the cheaper, less stressful option.

No real need to cross-post...

Sorry, I posted in Fibre first, then thought that some people in here might also want to know...?

Mistakes do happen I appreciate that, but to compensate their mess-up, they offer to not make me pay for the days that I won't be using their service anyway!? That's simply ridiculous.

Also, I found out now that it was definitely a fault at their end, because deep within my control panel it's showing the 24th as the activation date and that was posted on there on the 14th of Feb, the same day they sent me an e-mail confirming the 18th of Feb (as such I had no reason to check online).

Yeah, but you risk sinking into an abyss of uncertainty just to punish them for a mistake. You can always migrate after the contracted period when everything is up and running.

I'm not sure everyone is hanging on your every word...

Just wanted to say a big thanks to James and his team so far, after a slight delay he has worked hard to accommodate and answer all my questions and has has kept me informed all of the way so far.


Edit: Even got a personal phone call from the man himself. Most impressed so far!!
Looking forward now to the installation next week.

Steve

Edited by stevepressman (Fri 18-Mar-11 13:43:49)

In reply to a post by Adsl24:

Note that on our packages you get unlimited off-peak, so that's a lot of allowance potentially. Midnight-8am Mon-Fri and all weekend is off-peak therefore unlimited usage. So it's not just 60GB usage!

I take it this is still the case? As that is what it says on your website.

Yet whatever i do today it is counted towards my limit. I just downloaded a couple of games via Steam as its 'off peak' and wont count to my limit..

Next thing i know i get an email saying i am about to hit my limit.... Now i have 1gb to last me the rest of the month.....

Your CS guy said call back on Monday!

LOL worthy service so far from ADSL24...... :/


Please explain?

So call back on Monday and get it sorted.

Calm down, you will get more out of people without the attitude.

DrT

What happens if i run out of usage before then? I have less than a Gb left now...

Sorry but the first guy i called really didn't know anything, he didn't even know that the weekend was unlimited. That frankly [censored] me off.

Edited by Cruncher (Sat 21-May-11 23:00:59)

Ok, little update, seems that none of my off peak usage is being counted as off peak. Not after midnight or weekends....

I can confirm usage certainly should not be counted during the weekend so first thing I'll get on to the programming team to resolve this. It's likely to just be an incorrect profile on the suppliers systems, which makes it ignore the off-peak usage. Simple fix, but the team I need to speak to are not in on Sunday's.

Rest assured I'll get it sorted.

Thanks

Same problem likely - so it will be fixed in the morning.

Nice one James, usage has been reset, but still no reply to my support ticket...

Sorry that's my fault as I took the ticket over and was spending my time getting the problem sorted. Apologies!

Update:

Sorry for the late reply, i've been rather busy of late.

Anyway, yes there was a 'system error' regarding my usage, which is now fixed. ADSL24 reset my usage for this month, So, I guess if i was a download [censored] i could hammer it as i have another 30Gb to last til the end of the month. But i aint.

Seems my support ticket was also victim to another 'system error' But again that has now been fixed.


So credit where credits due i guess.