Think of migrating - Vivaciti to Be

Hi all,

Been with Vivaciti (Enta reseller) for a few years now, really been quite happy with them. I'm on the Family 30 package, pay £19.78 pm, and I'm currently showing the following basic stats:

DownStream Connection Speed: 6848 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 448 kbps

My exchange at Hockley Essex (EAHAW) has Be LLU available. Been reading good things about them, and according to Be I could get

Downstream: up to 14Mb
Upstream: up to 1.2Mb

Now these are some impressive numbers, for me anyway; it's the upstream I'd really like to improve, but the downstream looks great too. Be claim no traffic shaping, port blocking, cappage or anything like that. I'd probably go for the Be Value package at £17pm, and save a couple of quid in the process.

I'd need to use the Be Box I think, as I'm pretty sure my Netgear DG834v2 isn't going to hack it, which is a shame as I do like that trusty Netgear box.

So all in all this looks almost too good to be true. Is it? Is there a flaw in my thinking? I don't think I'm a massive user, probably 30Gb pm total traffic and Be claimed (on the phone at least) that wouldn't "Be" a problem.

Can anybody see anything wrong here, or anything I should look out for?

Thanks!

No, Be looks ideal for you, but post your router stats so we can confirm its estimates, which are only based on BT's unreliable database.

Get a cheap (about £20 new) DG834G v4 or DG834GT on eBay; better the latter as its hard to find out the former's version.

Thanks for your reply.

Is this what you mean, or is there something more detailed I should be looking for (sorry, can't see how to display it better in this forum)?

Connection Speed 6848 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 30db 8db
Noise Margin 11db 25db

The attenuation looks as if it has been reported incorrectly by the router, 30db down/ 8db up
but going on those figures you could see around 16mbits down and 2.5mbits upstream on fastpath with a 3db target snr ob the pro annex m package,
or 18mbit down ant the full 1.4mbit sync up on unlimited fastpath

I'd say about 15-16 Meg Down and 1.3 Up on Be Unlimited.

Wow - thanks. Those numbers sound great.

Any pitfalls to look out for these days, moving to/from an LLU provider?

Have a chat with vivaciti as they do LLU via tiscali exchanges

I would go to Talktalk for £3.49 p/m for 9 months then £6.99. it has a 40gb usage limit but if you need more upgrade to unlimited @ £14.99 and includes unlimited calls. They are starting doing fibre in may for an extra £10. you will have to wait until it is upgraded, if ever!
Be is good but there prices have gone up to much.
you will have to take your line rental to talktalk @£12.60
p.s. sign up via topcashback for £40 cashback. let me know if you haven't a topcashback account as i can recommend a friend for a fiver reward.

just done the maths, it works out equivalent to £1.03 p/m , if you can find a better deals i will be amazed!, p.s. ends in three days so be quick getting your mac code to order it!.

just noticed has a FTTC Date of 1/9/2011
as mentioned you could get 40meg around this time for an extra £10 p/m

Edited by deleted (Sun 17-Apr-11 21:07:36)

Not much to add to the previous posts, as a few strong opinions have been voiced about alternatives that I know little about, but you can feel safe regarding all your questions about Be.

In particular:-

"Be claim no traffic shaping, port blocking, cappage or anything like that.".
This is true. The only problems are a slightly flaky DNS server system and occasional, (maybe a couple of times a month), network-wide or localised slowdowns for a few hours, as their peering to the rest of the internet outside the UK is not particularly resilient.

So if a major hub such as Linx has a problem, Be can be affected more than a BT Wholesale-based service such as the one you are on. BT Wholesale has an extremely resilient network.

"probably 30Gb pm total traffic and Be claimed (on the phone at least) that wouldn't "Be" a problem"
It's amazing you didn't hear the person at the other end of the phone fall off their chair laughing

They have many customers taking more than 100MB per month, and you don't have to worry about peak/off-peak either. Several customers claim to take over 500GB per month, and I believe them, and there are certainly some who have taken over 1TB in a month, though how regularly I don't know. Rest assured !

The BeBox is a Technicolor (used to be SpeedTouch) 585v7 with custom firmware. Very good on their network but needs to have one side propped up by 1"/2.5cm or so to create an airflow through, otherwise it can overheat and get in a mess. Don't place it on anything soft that it can sink into and block the air inlets. The wireless is sometimes reported as not brilliant but mine was adequate.

Your Netgear 834v2 would be terrible! The v4 or the GT that have been recommended would be fine. They sync a couple of hundred kbps slower than the BeBox though, and also in my experience 0.5% lower throughput on that sync. They are however easily tweakable wrt noise margin, whereas the BeBox cannot be tweaked at all, and on your line that would probably give up to 1Mbps higher connection/throughput speed plus greater stability.

I recommend you try the BeBox first, and certainly for the first 4 days don't even think of trying your v2 Netgear. There is a DLM runs for 2-4 days, similar go the BT 10-day training period, but then it is switched off. You don't want to play around at that time.

I have also been with vivaciti for a few years now, but lately been dissapointed with my speeds;
downstream 3136Kb upstream 768Kb.
today wnet to speetest.net to check the speed and was very dissapointed;
0.5 mbps download with 0.6 upload!! tried again jusr now aand got 1.42 download & 0.64 upload.
Very poor i think anyone have an idea why?
Alos noticed i am with o-bit telecom now when i am sure it used to be entanet,