Switching Provider

Hello,
Pretty soon I am thinking of switching from AOL to another ISP.
I am wanting a package including both unlimited broadband and calls.
So far I am thinking of going with BE. Just to make sure I'm posting here for some extra advice.
My local exchange is: NSSWY

Thanks for the help!

Unless there have been recent upgrades that haven't been updated on to samknows yet, you cannot get Be or any other LLU. Have you tried putting your number into the Be website?

Unless there is a really pressing reason for it I also recommend people not to go for phone/broadband bundles. Most of them are not much cheaper than having them separate, except for introductory offers, and many of them are associated with 12 or 18 month contracts for one or both of phone and broadband. There are one or two that are acceptable though.

On your exchange, which on samknows seems to be limited to ADSL Max, (up to 8Mbps), from BT Wholesale ISPs such as AOL and many better ones, you really do need to concentrate on finding the best broadband supplier for your needs, preferably on a monthly contract.

If you can get Be then fine, that is the best. But if you go for the phone bundle with them, then if and when you migrate the broadband away you also have to move the phone elsewhere within a short period.

Thank you for the advice. It does indeed seem that I can not get BE up here.
I'm afraid I'm not too clued up on BT Wholese ISPs, are there any you could recommend?
Thanks again.

zen was a great ISP i used them b4 swapping to LLU

In reply to a post by Cobra001:

zen was a great ISP i used them b4 swapping to LLU

Why did you move?

On your exchange, there is in effect no such thing as unlimited broadband. Unlimited calls is easy as I think every phone provider there is has such an option.

How much bandwidth/allowance do you really need, as that makes a huge difference to the price/quality balance of the ISP to choose.

How much do you pay AOL for broadband, what allowance is it. Do you do a lot of gaming? Is there a particular reason you want to leave AOL?

Who is your phone with, and is it unlimited now?

Thanks for the help.
Taking into consideration what you said earlier in the thread, I've decide to take an unlimited calls subscription from TalkTalk since I am already with them.
I am also thinking of joining with Xilo.net.
As for allowance, I am on an old AOL Gold subscription, so would I be right in saying my allowance is 40Gb?
If so, I have only hit that a few times and the 50Gb allowance from Xilo looks good.
And yes, I do do quit a lot of gaming, definately what hits my download allowance the hardest.

Again, thanks for the help!

No idea about the old AOL package allowance sorry, but the xilo 50GB package should be good for gaming from what I hear.

Bear in mind your exchange only supports ADSL Mac, "up to 8Mbps" connections, with either 448 or 832kbps upstream options. Whether that package has an 832 upstream option I don't know.

If you can find and post your router stats, see here for help, we can see what speed you should be getting now, and would be more likely to get with xilo.

Okay, here's a screenshot of the stats page:
http://i52.tinypic.com/2wrdgyd.png

Home 50GB dosn't do the 832k upload, you'd need Office 15/40/80GB for that.

Matt

Sorry to butt in but maybe you could recommend somebody for me? my exchange is hawkhurst

I am currently with o2 but looking to move. I thought you got a better/cheaper deal having phone/broadband bundle?

I don';t do any gaming.

I too wanted to switch to BE but they are not available, want to avoid BT like the plaque.

to be honest I haven't heard of a lot of the suppliers mentioned here and all the comparison sites are giving me different results, and they don't mention TM etc you have to rummage to find the info.

Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Jan-11 00:16:05)

Maybe one for Bob

Matt

Just incase, here are my stats agan, but this time plugged into the test socket behind the master socket. I notice there is a significant difference in downstream speed:
http://i54.tinypic.com/2elb7g7.png

The cause of that is likely your internal wiring.

If you then had a SNR reset back to 6db, you may see another 2Mb on the line too.

Matt

LLY with sky, zen could only offered 8mb max with 25gb cap, sky offered 16 (and now 20) with no limits.

I get 14.2Mb on avereage, the move made sense on price and speed. Though on support and reliability I was very hesitant as would be hard to gett better than zen in those terms

That sounds rather tasty! How would I go about getting the SNR reset done?

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I've decide to take an unlimited calls subscription from TalkTalk since I am already with them.

That's hardly any difference from BT phone service: £18.51 pm TT Anytime vs. £18.60 pm BT Anytime (with option of £15 pm if you pay annual line rental in advance) for identical features and conditions.

But can you get another ISP's BB when you have TT phone?

Your exchange has no LLU, just like OP. So you are stuck with BT IPStream, resold by most ISPs. Whatever's recommended for OP will probably apply to you too.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

That sounds rather tasty! How would I go about getting the SNR reset done?

Until you have your internal wiring sorted, you don't. It would almost certainly just revert to the high setting again.

The first thing you can do yourself about it is check the Ring/Bell wire and follow the instructions on that page if it is connected.

While you are at it, please note down and then post the colours and terminal numbers of all the other wires attached to the faceplate.

Then reconnect using the test socket and get the stats, replace the faceplate and reconnect to that and get the stats.

OP here, decided to register because of how helpful this forum has been.

Removed the Ring wire last night and here are my stats now, plugged into the master socket. (Not the test socket):
http://i53.tinypic.com/nmat5x.png

Now there are just blue/white wires in terminals 2 and 5.

Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Jan-11 15:40:34)

Well that's a lot better than what we started with, but still not as good as I would like to see on that line. We should be looking at more like 5Mbps.

What is odd is the way your attenuation has risen in each of the three sets of stats. It shouldn't be doing that. Are you using a plug-in phone extension by any chance?

By blue/white in T2 and T5, I hope you mean one is blue with white stripes and the other is white with blue blobs.

If I'm right, note which is which. Then check they are the same way round at every extension. So T2 >> T2 and T5 >> T5. Not T2 >> T5. How many extensions have you got?

In reply to a post by uno:

Maybe one for Bob

It's being dealt with in over here.

This Captain may not be a pirate, but seems to be a good hijacker .

Yes, two different wires.
And they look like they are in the same positions in six other sockets around the house.

sorry it wasn't intentional, I am just feeling pressured timewise and don't want to make another expensive mistake.

In reply to a post by captainmouse:

sorry it wasn't intentional, I am just feeling pressured timewise and don't want to make another expensive mistake.

That is understandable. But other posters need to be aware that you have something going on the same question else a lot of duplicated effort can go into answering. Then when people find out they may stop trying to help. That's why cross-posting of new threads is banned here. "Hijacking" one thread is not good, but two is definitely pushing it in my opinion.

It is always far better to start your own thread on something if you are asking a question.

Just make sure that wherever you go is on a monthly contract, preferably without connection or leaving charges, not a 12-month or more minimum. That way you cannot make a very expensive mistake .

Sorry headless chicken newbie

Oh wow, can't beleive my speed has gone up as much as it has from just pulling out a small wire.

In reply to a post by ltfullert:

Oh wow, can't beleive my speed has gone up as much as it has from just pulling out a small wire.

[chuckle]
I used to work for ICL when it was a mainframe manufacturer, before PCs and Apples etc were invented..

At one point they had a baby machine at £20k -£30k or so IIRC. Called a 2903. Then a bit later they brought out a more powerful version called the 2904. It looked exactly the same from the outside but went faster and had a bit more memory.

The upgrade kit the engineers got comprised the extra memory and a replacement name badge. Cost £4000.

The speed increase was done onsite by the engineers. On one of the 2903 circuit boards there was a little wire - called a "Delay line".

I leave the rest to your imagination.

Just had a thought. I have both a Netgear DG834G v3 and a SpeedTouch ST585 v6.
Would one be any better over the other?

It depends what the exchange equipment is. For example your original thought, Be. The 834v3 is very poor on that and the 585 is what is supplied by Be. It has a Broadcom chipset as do Be DSLAMs, and an unusual feature is enabled in both. The same is true of the 834v4, but not the TI AR7-chipped 834v3.

On others the TI AR7 is excellent and the Broadcom merely adequate.

I don't think Netgears in general tell you that, but IIRC the 585 does, in the stats.

Just try the other. But don't do lots of swaps in a short time. Two or three is enough, so as not to upset any exchange systems.

You never checked the wiring, or at least didn't report back.

Thanks for that, and you might want to check the third post on the last page.

Edited by deleted (Mon 17-Jan-11 22:32:26)

Your having a laugh

Unless there have been recent upgrades that haven't been updated on to samknows yet, you cannot get Be or any other LLU. Have you tried putting your number into the Be website?

Oops!
Brain fade.

However there are many ways of reading the forums. Third post on the last page means little to me as I have my settings so the whole thread appears on one page in Flat Mode (99 posts per page), and in my usual Threaded Mode reading there is no paging . Have a look - a button in the top right area. But I found it.

There's still something messing you up though. Maybe ideas will come another time.

Thanks for all the help you've given so far.

In reply to a post by krazykizza:

Your having a laugh

Unless there have been recent upgrades that haven't been updated on to samknows yet, you cannot get Be or any other LLU. Have you tried putting your number into the Be website?

I beg your pardon?