Many thanks E7er. Is it likely that I'd get close to 20 megs then? That would be over double what I'm getting now at best.

Speed you get is dependant on line length, what attenuation does the line have - figure will be available from modem

In reply to a post by BGD:

Many thanks E7er. Is it likely that I'd get close to 20 megs then? That would be over double what I'm getting now at best.

Hi BGD, as Mr Saffron says, you get the estimate of your line speed capability from your ADSL router/modem stats...

My 2Wire 2700HGV router stats
View Broadband Link Details
DSL Connection Details DSL Line (Wire Pair): Line 1 (inner pair)
Protocol: G.DMT2+ Annex A
Downstream Rate: 10985 kbps
Upstream Rate: 1156 kbps
Channel: Fast
Current Noise Margin: 4.7 dB (Downstream), 6.4 dB (Upstream)
Current Attenuation: 31.1 dB (Downstream), 15.7 dB (Upstream)
Current Output Power: 20.6 dBm (Downstream), 12.4 dBm (Upstream)
DSLAM Vendor Information: Country: {0xB5} Vendor: {IFTN} Specific: {0xBE71}

Then Enter the data from your ADSL modem to receive an estimate of the lines capabilities into the programme.

http://www.farina1.com/adsl/

In reply to a post by E7er:

Hi BGD, as Mr Saffron says, you get the estimate of your line speed capability from your ADSL router/modem stats...

Thank you both. Having some difficulties connecting to the modem to check, will have to look into.

Help finding router stats.

Hello E7er, Andrew, Roberto & others.

I have finally found the time after a hectic couple of weeks to do as you suggested. I am moving from my present home in just over a month. The new place will be almost equidistant from the exchange (see above in thread) and so I'm trying to decide what ISP is best for me. It does irritate that Virgin freq drops back to a crawl after 6pm and so I'm hoping to be able to make the right decision before signing a new contract with them or someone else.

I've tapped in my router details to Farina1.com and the results are on this image paste site here (or I can specify here if preferred). Any steers as to my options would be much appreciated!

Many thanks

Ben

There is a tiny possibility that the route back to the exchange from the new address could be much longer, let's hope not. Ideally you would see if you could get the line stats from the current occupant's router .

Ignoring that, two things are preventing those high speeds where you are now. First you are almost certainly on an "up to 8Mbps" package, whereas nearly every ISP on that exchange offers "up to 20 or 24Mbps".

But secondly, despite that, you should be connecting at 8Mbps. The drop from that could be down to the house phone wiring, which you can ignore where you are but need to check for at the new property, or to something like an unfiltered Sky box or other problem. So either issue could go with you and severely affect the speed you get compared to the expected.

Sky LLU has been mentioned. Since 1 September that is Full LLU only, which can be a pain if you want to migrate. The service itself should be fine on the unlimited package.

TalkTalk - many of us are against it, and your usage makes me think you would get considerable traffic management effects.

Orange has been mentioned. When that was first transferred to BT Wholesale White Label it seemed an improvement on Orange LLU, but there seem to be a few less happy punters turning up more recently.

To what extent is price an issue? You can get an LLU package using the TalkTalk exchange equipment, (but not their network), with unlimited allowance and no traffic management, but you would be looking at £40pm or so .

On "normal" BT Wholesale based connections, you couldn't go far wrong with IDNet Home Pro as long as you can keep the peak time usage within the 40GB. The allowances are applicable at the weekend as well though.

There is also BT Broadband itself of course, which is unlimited but has traffic management, and even Plusnet is worth looking at if you can stay withing the 80GB peak usage, which IIRC is weekdays only. That has a "Pro" option to remove the traffic management and priorise gaming, if that is of interest.

BT Wholesale products are not as bad as they were, as the new WBC DLM Profiling system is much better than the old one and no longer messes people up as much.

After one of the most interminable purchasing processes we have exchanged and therefore I am about to order our broadband package!

Sky LLU seem to take forever to get us up and running but are competitively priced although of course heavily push upselling options. But I have excluded them due to duration.

Orange (£22.75) are very competitively priced - £10pm + £12.75 per month (line) free calls anytime and no metered broadband, estimated speed (acc to call centre) 'up to' 17mb.

BT (£35) are the least competitively priced but suggest the quickest turnaround (5 days). £25pm Unlimited broadband and £10 pm line rental (only evening/weekend calls)

Talk Talk are pricier and have a lot of customer service critics and IDNet as mentioned have traffic management.

So it would seem that Orange are the best bet offering the most, for least.

If I may therefore ask a supplementary question of you or others Roberto - am I missing out on a critical issue that might make me wish I had considered out after signing on the dotted line? I.E. Is Orange getting some quite critical customers? Are they likely to be one of the slower providers on the market? etc.

I am hoping for an unlimited broadband package at a competitive cost that offers a quality service plus a telephone line for occasional use (I have a Vonage phone for work which does me fine for all calls).

Many thanks

Edited by deleted (Thu 02-Feb-12 16:54:51)

In reply to a post by BGD:

Orange (£22.75) are very competitively priced - £10pm + £12.75 per month (line) free calls anytime and no metered broadband, estimated speed (acc to call centre) 'up to' 17mb.

That's the standard price for Orange mobile customers only - add on a fiver if youre not one. Catches with Orange include moderate but sizeable peak time congestion in evenings, and newly extended p2p throttling hours (Orange still claim till 11.30pm, its 1.30am). They are more relaxed nowadays, so it's not too difficult to leave after a month if you see these issues, but you are bound by the contract and relying on their goodwill policy.

What is the lead time quoted by Sky? Might be worth waiting for? I'd also recommend checking out the price of unlimited BT Business Broadband, and considering that TalkTalk offer good customer service and support if you stick to their members forum.

Hello VimtoGirl and many thanks for the tips. Sky will take a month, about a week more than Orange. I am an Orange mobile customer at present, though I may move onto 'pay as you go' (i.e. little use) soon.

The P2P is not an issue as I do not use torrents. Other files sharing types, I do sometimes (Rapidshare etc)

The congestion issue from Orange might be more problematic. That is the reason I am leaving Virgin, my provider.

I understood from earlier in this thread that Orange have a fair service level at my exchange, meaning these issues should not appear, but I am not an aficionado here and reliant on the accumulated wisdom of others.

Do you believe I should realistically expect to have slow down issues?

Thanks

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-Feb-12 14:09:35)