Can any ISP be better?

I have a broadband problem that is driving me mad. First thing in the morning I have near 7Mbs download speed but every day, excepting weekends, my speed degrades to about 0.5 Mbs by 3.00pm going back up by mid evening. Same pattern every day.

My ISP says it's a BT problem, BT says it's an ISP problem. I cannot get it resolved. Any suggestions as to the most likely cause? Thinking of changing ISP, but don't want hassle of changing e-mail address if it doesn't improve the situation. Also - which ISP should I look at?

Any advice would be most welcome.

It sounds that you have a bad ISP which is over subscribed and have a contention issue
Most ISP'S operate in this slap hazard fashion with the public daft enough to put up with it
Good for you for speaking out as to getting it fixed that's another story and apart from going over to zen you are unlikely to get any further forward
You get what you pay for in life and zen are running a ongoing business hence there expensive

I was in the same boat as you ten years ago when i knew nothing i joined this forum asked an expert and everything has been plain sailing since

Edited by NICK_ADSL_UK (Tue 03-Jan-12 16:23:51)

It would help us help you if you tell us which ISP it is . With some it is known to occur regularly, with others it would suggest a problem more your end. Or even exchange congestion. Re the exchange, and suggestions for a different ISP, can you give us the link to what samknows says about it?

Re changing email address, some ISPs let you keep it after leaving, perhaps at a small cost, but you could get rid of that problem once and for all by getting yourself ISP-independent email, which is probably a lot cheaper than you imagine, and you can choose what your new (permanent) address is.

I would rather not say who my ISP is as I was traced by them when I posted a review on another site and asked to delete my comments I have looked on samknows and there doesn't appear to be a congestion problem on my exchange which is 1 kilometre away. I am with one of the top (smaller) ISP's and am paying £23 per month for which I would expect to have a fairly stable connection. I do not have very heavy usage - average between 2-4Gb per month. I have checked with a website that shows that my connection is not being throttled and my pings are fairly low with no packet loss. I don't need anything superfast, but a steady stable 5Mbs would be wonderful.
P.S - I am plugged directly into the BT master socket and connected by ethernet.

I am also considering going to a wireless provider at the moment and wonder if anyone has experience of wifi providers.

Thanks again

well, i think you're entitled to your opinion by posting reviews on other websites and as long as it's an objective review i don't see why they should ask you to take it down.

also, what website did you use to check if your connection is throttled.

http://broadband.mpi-sws.org/transparency/bttest-mla... it is run by the Max Planck Institute.

The review I left was much the same as the comments I have made here, just that my speed gets seriously bad throughout the day and I don't know whether it's the ISP or BT.

Edited by deleted (Tue 03-Jan-12 17:00:45)

Where does samknows give congestion info?
How do we know what ISPs are available there without knowing the exchange?
Did the ISP threaten you with legal action or further curtailment of service?
Did removal of adverse comments improve the service received?

I'm sorry, but without relevant info I for one can't help.

Sorry - my exchange is Birchington, Kent. I didn't really make adverse comments, simply said I had on going problem that couldn't be resolved and I didn't know where the problem lay. No I wasn't threatened at all just told that they would help solve the problem if I amended my comments. I was just a bit shocked that I was traced and approached. Things haven't improved at all however, which is why I am unsure whether I have a problem at the exchange, which BT deny, or whether the ISP is oversubscribed and there is congestion that end.

Sorry - it wasn't samknows the exchange information was on plusnet http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

At the end of the day, I am just asking for opinions on ISPs who are known for reliability. I don't mind paying for a good service, but if everything rests with BT any provider may give the same result if the fault is with them.

Ummm, not a good exchange for alternatives.

In your case I wouldn't recommend TalkTalk, more later on that.

I am just asking for opinions on ISPs who are known for reliability. I don't mind paying for a good service, but if everything rests with BT any provider may give the same result if the fault is with them.

That's why I wanted to know the ISP, as explained earlier. If it is highly unusual for them we need to try and find why it is happening and if there is anything under your control affecting it. From what you said previously then the ones that spring to mind are, (alphabetically), AAISP, IDNet and Zen. If it isn't one of those then look at them. For 2-4GB per month you may well find AAISP hits the button.

Note that on that exchange AAISP and IDNet have different/worse prices for the ADSL which is all you can get at the moment and ADSL2+ which is scheduled for March. (WBC 21CN).

Otherwise you could consider one of the resellers that connect using the TalkTalk ADSL2+ equipment at that exchange. Some then use the Opal backhaul I think, others do not. Vivaciti, ADSL24 and Aquiss are the ones that come to mind, though best to call them as it can be difficult seeing which of their packages are on the TalkTalk kit and what happens behind it.

(Edit - typo).

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 03-Jan-12 18:14:38)

No ISP should do that sort of thing, i.e. tell you take back a comment, if it was an open forum, then they should accept that both good and bad comments will appear.

Only time it gets difficult is if you are telling porkies.

If what you said is correct, then I would be leaving ASAP, even without the ongoing issues.

In reply to a post by vfedup:

I have a broadband problem that is driving me mad. First thing in the morning I have near 7Mbs download speed but every day, excepting weekends, my speed degrades to about 0.5 Mbs by 3.00pm going back up by mid evening. Same pattern every day.

My ISP says it's a BT problem, BT says it's an ISP problem. I cannot get it resolved. Any suggestions as to the most likely cause? Thinking of changing ISP, but don't want hassle of changing e-mail address if it doesn't improve the situation. Also - which ISP should I look at? Any advice would be most welcome.

How did they trace the comments made to you? I mean did you give some personal info or something that would identify you, or was the isp secretly stalking you, as for the pass the buck isp>Bt>isp merry go round, not a good situation to be in, when neither will take responsibility for such a dire service,As said i would be looking to move ASAP no point in paying the full fee for a service that you in effect can only use at certain times of the day,I would ring them and tell them hat unless they take ownership of the issue they will be seeing more comments on the WWW.to worry about & you wont be retracting them, btw i would of named & shamed them after i had reported them to ofcom ect,

This is the review I left - which I think you will agree doesn't tell porkies at all:

I have been with ****** for a number of years now and initially things were ok. I am now having regular speed problems. Things will be great for a few weeks and then speed drops. First thing in the morning I can be getting 6.8Mb/s as the day wears on it gets slower and slower and by the afternoon can be getting as little as 1Mb/s download or less. I try rebooting my router, disconnecting for an hour or so, nothing solves the problem.

I have been told that there is considerable upload activity on my line, but I have checked everything, no unusual activity on my Mac, nothing hi-jacking my router, and have gone round in ever decreasing circles eliminating everything my end. I certainly upload very very little ever.

I suspect that they have some congestion their end, but it is put down to BT (which of course it may be), or me, like most customers I have to just take what I am told.

Customer service is always very helpful, polite and responds very quickly but nothing is resolved. I am getting fed up with paying for poor speeds. May have to consider moving on soon, which will be a shame. Problem is, are other ISPs any better?

Update: 14.04.11

****** got in touch with me soon after I posted the above review. They seem to have fixed the problem for me and I am now getting good speeds. Will update again in a few months.

Update: 07.06.11

Right - have experienced some really poor speeds lately, but I will admit that ***** has been on the case straight away. They have found out that BT have a planned upgrade on 16th June so am hoping all problems then disappear.

Well, I can now see who your ISP is.

You need to post your router stats, you might have a noise problem.

There is no reason for you to retract that post nor for anyone to insist that you do so. I would never have retracted that!

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

There is no reason for you to retract that post nor for anyone to insist that you do so. I would never have retracted that!

Maybe whatever upset them was removed by the December 15 edit .

I'm glad it isn't one of my three recommendations .

In reply to a post by vfedup:

I am plugged directly into the BT master socket and connected by ethernet.

BatBoy has asked for the line stats. When you take them, (preferably in my opinion during daylight hours), please could you then try connecting to the Test Socket, on the wall at the back in this pic, then take the stats again immediately it has connected? See here for help.

Didn't alter the write up at all in any edit - but did alter the stars I gave.

Agreed they have no right to make you remove that

Anyway can we get stats as already requested &

Pop here http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker

Post back the results. It will show all the available ISPs

BT Wholesale, WBC due end of March 2012, TT the only LLU. No VM Cable.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/NDBIR

Ok in that case I 2nd what you said.

Talktak reseller would be perfect.

Vivaciti, ADSL24 and Aquiss

My stats are:

Down:
Data rate 8128
Noise Margin 9.0
Output power 20.0
Attenuation 25.5

Up:
Data rate 448
Noise margin 28.0
Output power 12.0
Attenuation 11.5

One more piece of advice would be welcome

My ISP want to call BT out again - to my house. BT couldn't find any problem last time and reported no fault. Not sure if I will be charged for this. When I asked my ISP today why they wanted BT to come to my house a second time they said they just had to keep doing it until BT admitted a fault. They say they will dispute any charge made to me, but, I am worried that I could end up with a bill for £100's and still have the same problem. Could someone tell me how this works?

Thanks

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Jan-12 11:43:32)

You're looking at 16Mbps-19Mbps connection speed on ADSL2+, which you can get now on TT or one of the suppliers that use their exchange kit, as posted earlier. Or from AAISP/IDNet/Zen at the top and many others once the exchange is WBC enabled.

Are those stats connected as normal, or are they from the test socket as I requested for a second set? There can be a noticeable difference, though in this case all they might do is raise the lower figure in that range.

Upstream on ADSL2+ will be well over 1Mbps connection speed.

Edit - Connection speed shows in those stats as Data rate.

Edited by RobertoS (Wed 04-Jan-12 11:44:26)

You can always email BT High Level Complaints if you do get charged

However, as long as the fault persists connected to the test socket (or master socket if you don't have a test socket), BT should NOT charge you

I have been told that there is considerable upload activity on my line, but I have checked everything, no unusual activity on my Mac, nothing hi-jacking my router, and have gone round in ever decreasing circles eliminating everything my end. I certainly upload very very little ever.

A bit suspicious ? If your ISP's logs show considerable upload activity but you say you upload very little I would be a bit concerned.
Have you monitored the (upload) package count on your router for activity ?

Upload activity would, I believe, affect your download speeds considerably.

In reply to a post by rarrar:

I have been told that there is considerable upload activity on my line, but I have checked everything, no unusual activity on my Mac, nothing hi-jacking my router, and have gone round in ever decreasing circles eliminating everything my end. I certainly upload very very little ever.

A bit suspicious ? If your ISP's logs show considerable upload activity but you say you upload very little I would be a bit concerned.
Have you monitored the (upload) package count on your router for activity ?

Upload activity would, I believe, affect your download speeds considerably.

If something was maxing out the upload maybe,but everything would be really painfully slow even loading a simple web page, this could also turn out to be an issue that your isp is responsible for,or some type of keylogger/malware on your pc

I have a Mac and am running IStat Pro which when all other applications are closed shows no network activity. At that time I also called in a local IT firm to go over my system and they couldn't find anything. Funny thing is when I run a Glasnost test I get the following:

Downstream Queue: 1 ms
Upstream Queue: 1729 ms
Your upstream queue is so large that packets can get delayed for more than a second.

Not sure what to make of this. Could anyone else give an explanation?

Thanks

My father lives in a bungallow near Quex Park, and he's on Plusnet. He pays £6.49 a month because we told them over the phone he is on a MARKET 2 exchange on the plusnet value package. Phones still with BT.

He's pritty much got 7Mb like you aswell, and has hardly noticed a speed drop at Christmas down to 6Mb. Plusnet give you an option on signup for a monthly contract, so if it doesnt work out, you dont have to stay.