Changing ISP

Hello, my current isp provider is orange (previously freeserve/wanadoo) and am currently on there home max package. Speed has varied over the time of contract with the isp from around 1-2mb to up to 6-7mb currently.

I recieved through the post today a letter and leaflet saying that virgin media had enabled my road for there asdl products. Have checked samknows to see if the exhange has been updated to show this but it has not yet.

My current exhange is http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/THHRJ

ADSL
Type Interleave
Status No Defect

Downstream Upstream

Data rate 7008 448

Noise margin 6.9 21.0

Output power 19.8 12.4

Attenuation 49.0 24.0

My road is the hermitage road, which is half covered by the hermitage exchange and the other half by the thatcham exhange, just wondering if the extension of service is from the thatcham exchange.

Considering that there are no llu providers on the hermitage exhange at present to my knowledge would it be best to change over to the virgin llu asdl or stay with orange
Chris

You are currently getting an exceedingly good Sync Speed; much better than the estimate for your attenuation, 49dB, of about 5 Meg on IPStream or 5.5 Meg on ADSL2+ LLU.

But what is your IP Profile? See results from http://www.speedtester.bt.com/.

The only real advantage of LLU to you is to free you from the vagaries and laggedness of BT'ss IP Profile, but can you be certain that Virgin have LLu'd your exchange as no one is listed. Perhaps they are offering you Virgin cable not ADSL? But that's not listed either.

Download speedachieved during the test was - 5535 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 600-7150 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :7008 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 6000 Kbps

Well the information from virgin only came through the post, i will follow it up with them, though it states on the bottom of the letter , satements reffer todsl broadband, not cable

If it really is Virgin Media ADSL, (over your existing telephone line), it has a pretty bad reputation of these forums.

Virgin Media Cable seems to be (on balance) worth having.

Virgin Media do not have LLU ADSL products anywhere, so there is certainly something strange. If they have recently cabled your road, are there any signs of new or previously laid cable? I believe that in the past some was laid but never activated.

Just had a chat with virgin media, its just there national service which i would not go with.

I dont believe any cable has been laid as the last major road works where to replace the existing water main, Openreach has been up a few times in the last few months to deal with poles being knocked down due to accidents.

The only problem i have with orange is there traffic management, there is alot of data use in the house with various people on through out the day, would swapping to say plusnet etc be a better quaility service provider.

Thanks

....... there is a lot of data use in the house with various people on through out the day,

How much would you be prepared to spend each month?


[edit > paste error]

Edited by Apprentice (Tue 18-May-10 19:49:14)

Plusnet is good for some people but I think from what you describe you would have similar troubles with their traffic management.

When you say "a lot of data use", have you any idea how much you download and upload in a month?

Not sure on upload but i dont think its much only small files and email generally.

As for downloads theres alot of use net browsing/gaming/sreaming (iplayer movies etc)/ music downloads i dont have a exact figure.

Currently on Orange home select so paying 23 a month, though proably look to bundle net and phone together.

Edited by deleted (Tue 18-May-10 19:20:12)

As Apprentice asked, how much pm are you willing to pay?

I would add to that, are you prepared to take a punt on something to see how it works out, and look again if it doesn't, but with better info about your info as a result?

I'm thinking 30GB 8am-midnight and unlimited midnight to 8am. £19.36pm. Monthly contract. I've a feeling the 8-midnight applies at weekends as well, but I could be wrong.

The reason I suggest trying it is that it is an Entanet package, such as vivaciti's Family 30 package, and for over a year from Dec 2008 Entanet was very dodgy. It seems to be a lot better now but to some extent it varies depending on which exchange you are on. Wierd BT routing!

If it's of interest I suggest you ask in the Entanet forum how things are on Hermitage exchange.

As a one-in-a-million chance, put your phone number into the O2 checker. If it says you are out of area but they can still give you O2 Access, forget it! That's dire.

Would be willing to pay around the current amount so between 20-30 pounds a month.

Proably would not be able to take a punt on something as need to convince a few people in the house to agree to it.

02 checker, i am out of area.

In reply to a post by ccxo:

Proably would not be able to take a punt on something as need to convince a few people in the house to agree to it.

If it works OK it is your best and most cost-effective solution.

If it didn't work, or you can't persuade them to try (as it costs nothing and is virtually risk-free!) then look to the alternatives which are currently:-

IDNet;
Zen;
uno/xilo, make sure you click the Home tab as it defaults to the Pro tab;
vivaciti Premium Home, I think Home 100 is lower quality;
A possibility.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I'm thinking 30GB 8am-midnight and unlimited midnight to 8am. £19.36pm. Monthly contract. I've a feeling the 8-midnight applies at weekends as well, but I could be wrong.

The off-peak period covers all of the weekend, from midnight on Friday night through to 8am on Monday morning (FAMILY packages). For BUSINESS, it starts at 8pm on Friday night.

HTH.

Yes, thanks for that. My memeory was failing - I think when the new rates were introduced for WBC/IPSC it didn't include the weekends, and there was such a scream they added it back.