Fed up ! ! ! !

I am constantly being told that my broadband is not fast enough, by the family, but we live out in the sticks and I am still on a rock solid 2mb "old style" line.

It seems to work well, but I am considering trying to get a faster service.

BT Broadband checker says I could be able to get up to 5mb.......

So, as updates to our many websites, 50+ is essential to me, could someone who uses Plusnet please Tracert the following site for me, which is one of ours....

Just so I know roughly where you are going and whether it will affect the day to day running of the stuff that I do !

www.sodburyhouse.com

Thanking you in advance..........

C:\Documents and Settings\Paul>tracert www.sodburyhouse.com

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms my.router [10.0.0.1]
2 25 ms 29 ms 24 ms lo0-plusnet.pcl-ag01.plus.net [195.166.128.27]
3 24 ms 24 ms 24 ms gi1-2-803.pcl-gw1.plus.net [84.92.5.57]
4 26 ms 24 ms 26 ms te2-2.pte-gw1.plus.net [212.159.0.186]
5 24 ms 24 ms 23 ms te2-4.pte-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.102]
6 28 ms 25 ms 24 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.225.21]
7 25 ms 24 ms 26 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.95.238]
8 27 ms 25 ms 25 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.95.226]
9 27 ms 24 ms 25 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 47 ms 64 ms 47 ms lo0-plusnet.ptn-ag2.plus.net [195.166.128.53]
3 49 ms 48 ms 56 ms ge0-0-0-204.ptn-gw02.plus.net [84.92.3.93]
4 47 ms 48 ms 47 ms te2-2.pte-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.106]
5 49 ms 48 ms 48 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.2
25.21]
6 49 ms 56 ms 49 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.238]
7 58 ms 49 ms 50 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.226]
8 49 ms 50 ms 49 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.

C:\Users\Bob>tracert www.sodburyhouse.com

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * 22 ms * 10.1.2.1
4 36 ms 37 ms 36 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.2
25.21]
5 29 ms 28 ms 29 ms gi2-1.thexcs1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.234]
6 30 ms 29 ms 29 ms gi0-24.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.222]
7 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.

Click Purple Cloud in my sig if the domains/web sites are hosted with Plusnet. Sample tracert's

C:\Users\Bob>tracert lizard.me.uk

Tracing route to lizard.me.uk [91.194.74.34]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 44 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 * * * Request timed out.
4 31 ms 28 ms 28 ms ae0-1234.rt2.the.uk.goscomb.net [195.66.224.226]

5 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms everycity-186.gw.goscomb.net [77.75.109.186]
6 29 ms 29 ms 28 ms httpd-dublin.purplecloud.com [91.194.74.34]

Trace complete.

C:\Users\Bob>tracert cricketcomputing.co.uk

Tracing route to cricketcomputing.co.uk [91.194.74.40]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 * * * Request timed out.
3 22 ms * * 10.1.2.1
4 32 ms 29 ms 28 ms ae0-1234.rt2.the.uk.goscomb.net [195.66.224.226]

5 31 ms 31 ms 31 ms everycity-186.gw.goscomb.net [77.75.109.186]
6 29 ms 29 ms 29 ms httpd-auckland.purplecloud.com [91.194.74.40]

Trace complete.

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 35 ms 33 ms 36 ms lo0-plusnet.pte-ag1.plus.net [195.166.128.64]
3 33 ms 34 ms 33 ms ge0-0-0-403.pte-gw2.plus.net [84.92.4.2]
4 34 ms 33 ms 34 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.2
25.21]
5 38 ms 34 ms 38 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.238]
6 34 ms 34 ms 35 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.226]
7 39 ms 38 ms 34 ms 77.75.194.21

Thank you one and all........

That was actually a very useful exercise and I thank you very much.

It shows me that things should actually improve latency and hop wise at least.

I have never frequented the Plusnet forum on here before, but are there any mega problems that I should be aware of at Plusnet?

So far I haven't seen anything unusual or problems that don't occur in ALL of the ISP forums on here, which leads me to believe that Plusnet are just as good, maybe even better than most?

This is not a bate for someone to come in and destroy the thread with flaming and arguments, just wanted to know what kind of "real life experience" people CURRENTLY have with Plusnet as their ISP..

Thanks again in advance......

One really good thing about Plusnet is that when things really go tits up (fortunately very rare nowadays) then the reps on their forums can usually sort it out fairly quickly.

I have already noticed that Plusnet has its own forums, but it is interesting to know that their reps take an ACTIIVE ROLE when things get tough !

Although you are "out in the sticks", what is your exchange?

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.



Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 24 ms 22 ms 83 ms telehouse-gw2-lo2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]
3 29 ms 23 ms 24 ms telehouse-gw3-g0-1-400.idnet.net [212.69.63.243]

4 24 ms 24 ms 24 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.2
25.21]
5 24 ms 25 ms 24 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.238]
6 25 ms 25 ms 25 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.226]
7 22 ms 24 ms 24 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.



Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 23 ms 41 ms 23 ms telehouse-gw2-lo2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]
3 26 ms 23 ms 23 ms telehouse-gw3-g0-1-400.idnet.net [212.69.63.243]

4 24 ms 23 ms 22 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.2
25.21]
5 26 ms 24 ms 24 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.238]
6 24 ms 25 ms 25 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.226]
7 25 ms 24 ms 25 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.


This was with Idnet though, for a comparison.

Also does your router give you any line stats like Line Attenuation and SNR/Margin. If yu post those we can then see what you may be able to get on ADSL Max (The BT figure is not very accurate). Also, your SNR/Margin figures are more important in determining your speed on ADSL Max.

Show you what difference being in Northern Ireland with interleaving switched on makes!
This is from a Sky connection, so probably not much use, but just to show you what difference each ISP's routing and your location can make. I still reach the site fast though, so difference can be minimal.

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 1 ms 2 ms 1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 63 ms 70 ms 63 ms cr0.nints.uk.easynet.net [87.87.251.228]
3 58 ms 60 ms 59 ms ip-87-87-167-161.easynet.co.uk [87.87.167.161]
4 73 ms 73 ms 73 ms be2.er10.thlon.ov.easynet.net [195.66.224.43]
5 82 ms 72 ms 73 ms ge-2-1-0.mpr1.lhr2.uk.above.net [195.66.224.76]

6 73 ms 73 ms 72 ms 213-152.240-2.PXu259.above.net [213.152.240.2]
7 82 ms 73 ms 74 ms gi2-1.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.246]
8 75 ms 73 ms 74 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.226]
9 74 ms 76 ms 74 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.

matt

In reply to:

---

Show you what difference being in Northern Ireland with interleaving switched on makes!

---

As was my result from above.

This one is from the West Coast of the Scottish Highlands, using a fixed speed 2Meg connection (fast path)
through a TG 585v7 router.

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 54 ms 99 ms 99 ms dsldevice.lan
2 34 ms 32 ms 35 ms rb4-lo1.core.global.net.uk [80.189.99.252]
3 41 ms 36 ms 33 ms rb2-ge0-3v405.core.global.net.uk [80.189.99.209]

4 35 ms 35 ms 38 ms po2.pte-gw1.plus.net [212.159.2.113]
5 38 ms 40 ms 41 ms te2-4.pte-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.102]
6 33 ms 38 ms 37 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.2
25.21]
7 36 ms 37 ms 40 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.9
5.238]
8 37 ms 42 ms 38 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.23
6.95.226]
9 39 ms 35 ms 36 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.

Edited by Apprentice (Thu 01-Jan-09 22:07:46)

From Southampton on an interleaved business connection:

Tracing route to sodburyhouse.com [77.75.194.21] over a maximum of 30 hops

1 31 ms 98 ms 99 ms 10.0.0.138
2 28 ms 27 ms 28 ms lo0-plusnet.ptn-ag2.plus.net [195.166.128.53]
3 25 ms 23 ms 23 ms ge0-0-0-204.ptn-gw02.plus.net [84.92.3.93]
4 24 ms 25 ms 24 ms te2-2.pte-gw2.plus.net [212.159.1.106]
5 24 ms 24 ms 27 ms fa2-0.thexcr1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [195.66.225.21]
6 24 ms 23 ms 25 ms gi2-2.thexcs2.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.95.238]
7 26 ms 23 ms 23 ms gi0-22.thexes4-1.thex.uk.provider-noc.net [87.236.95.226]
8 24 ms 23 ms 27 ms 77.75.194.21

Trace complete.

Ian

@Roberto

It is Clacton on Sea (Main Exchange)

@ Peter

Yup, the first router on the line, goes something like this.............

Connection Speed 2304 kbps 288 kbps
Line Attenuation 41.0 db 23.0 db
Noise Margin 27.8 db 24.0 db

Done a BT Test and it says that I should be able to get between 4.5 and 5mb download speeds

There is a second router hardwired via Cat5e on to the main router which goes into another area of the house to extend the WiFi capabilities etc...... but the stats for that one don't matter really for this.

Well checking your exchange from the other post you can get Sky LLU if you have or would like Sky TV, or UKOnline if not.

If you plug these stats into this fairly reliable estimator you get a forecast of 8Mbps on normal ADSL Max - where you have a choice of four well-known ISPs (on these forums) at the moment or Sky/UKOnline possibly 9Mbps.

My choice would be O2 Access - get someone in the family to have an O2 monthly or PAYG mobile and you are at £17.13pm., (subject on PAYG to a £10 topup every 3 months).

Otherwise IDNet or Zen. Newnet would also give you good speeds but probably not enough allowance at a sensible price.

This is what O2 said when I asked their website to check my line..........

You can get O2 Home Broadband Access

We've estimated that your maximum download speed is 5 meg. This is based on information BT gave us about your BT line. You're outside the network area that O2 Broadband covers, but all is not lost. We can offer you our O2 Home Broadband Access package. Actual download speeds depend on different things, like the distance between your telephone exchange and your home, or the quality of your BT line. We'll work with what's there and always give you the fastest speed we can, depending on your chosen package. Even then, your broadband speed might vary from time to time.

I really don't want anything to do with sky, I have found their "Customer Services" to be apalling in the past, so see no reason why their support should be any different for their broadband packages.

Which leaves me with Zen and IDnet to choose from?
IS THAT RIGHT?

Becuase I have read UKonline's FUP and they won't even mention what they consider to be fair usage, so knowing what you download is irrelivent if you don't know how much you can download !

Because I have not moved providers very much at all, since you could get on the web from home (although I sent my first email in 1976) I have no real in depth knowledge of what is out there...........

Edited by TrevorSP (Fri 02-Jan-09 17:08:01)

In reply to:

---

Which leaves me with Zen and IDnet to choose from?
IS THAT RIGHT?

---

No - Wrong!

All ADSL Max ISPs have only got BT's line length database and speed estimator to go on, and they would be foolish to use any other although it is well known that it is often way out. IDNet and Zen will see the same data as O2.

The crucial bit, which also applies to all, is "Actual download speeds depend on different things, like the distance between your telephone exchange and your home, or the quality of your BT line. We'll work with what's there and always give you the fastest speed we can, depending on your chosen package".

That is the whole point about ADSL Max. In terms of the connection between you and the exchange, (the sync speed or connection speed or data rate - depending on what your router wants to call it), it goes as fast as possible on any particular line at any given time. As a regular poster's sig used to say, (I can't remember who and haven't seen it for a while), it goes as fast as it can and doesn't look at the estimator first.

If you look at the graph on this page you will see it agrees pretty well with what the other one says about ADSL2+, and about 6Mbps for ADSL Max. Bear in mind that is an ISP site so they won't want to forecast too high! So I think you can assume 6-8Mbps connection, then a thing called the IP Profile comes into play, see this table. So you should get 5-7Mbps actual maximum download. Isn't that what O2 taking a conservative viewpoint said?

And as I say, the same is universal.

My reason for the list I gave was that all those give you consistently high speeds (barring faults anywhere) within your profile. Others in the well-known ISPs have various forms of speed-limiting at various times of the day and week as they do not have sufficient kit to cope with peak demands.

O2 is top of my list because:

- although it is a 12-month minimum term there is a 30-day money-back guarantee at the start, and they have recently upgraded to cope with their rapid growth, so it should be a while before significant problems occur. It is almost certain that some slow-downs will happen in a few months, depending on further growth and BT WBC roll-out and what plans they have made wrt WBC - we have no information - and I would be pretty certain they will already be planning to deal with any slow-downs like they have in the past;

- the service is truly unlimited which could be important in your case. There is an FUP but no-one has heard of it ever being enforced;

- the price is very low for what you get, compared to the other two known quality ISPs.

After having had an hour or so on the phone, ringing around the selected few, it would appear that UKonline (BskyB) is the one I should be looking at and not plusnet.

The sales guy was a tad pushy, insisting that I should be able to get 9mb or 9mb regardless of what the BT Tester says and regardless of what anyone else says too, apparently he checked the line and said that I would definately be in high 8's !

I also like the idea that their service, or the one that I am looking is at a 20:1 ratio as opposed to the 50:1 standard.

I did push him very hard on the FUP, as mentioned before, simply because they won't say what is fair and what is not fair and because it is a 12 month contract I wanted to know ! ! !
He said it would only come into play anyway if I was outside of their "area" whatever that means, but becuase I am in their "area" there is definately no download limit and I would never affected by it ! (interesting)

Anyway, because of all the very helpful people here and the incredibly useful answers to my OP for which I thank you all, I am now moving this thread to the UK-Online forum to see if there are any reasons why I shouldn't start the ball rolling on monday !

Thanks again for all your help Folks, it really is appreciated !

Trevor, don't hold too much reliance on what the UKO sales guy said. I was told I would get 14Mb if I went for the Premier package (which uses ADSL2+). In reality my line is capable of around 5.5Mb on ADSL2+ and 7Mb on ADSL1 (this will seem the wrong way round but has been tested by UKO and myself to confirm). Also be aware that UKO have a compulsary £49.99 router purchase requirement whether you start from scratch or migrate in now.

Hi Vince,

No, I wasn't convinced about the higher levels he was quoting either, but I like the idea of 20:1 contention and the higher upload speeds, I have been stuck at 256 upload for years now when we do most of our work uploading ! I also like their FUP ! ! !

The extra router won't really bother me, I use Netgear stuff all the time, we have the main wireless router here, then because it is a large house with several black spots, we have piggy backed a second WiFi router off the first via Cat5e to boost the WiFi in one of the areas. So with a new router, I wil be able to add another one as well !

So in the end if all goes to plan, we will have one main router and two piggy backing off it in various other parts of the house !

However, thank you for your advice.