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Thread: Broadband speed, a coincidence?

  1. #1
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    Broadband speed, a coincidence?

    For weeks now Ive been plagued with poor speeds at home ( Plusnet ) and they have fobbed me off and been quite uninterested about the issue, sent me new filters and 'switch it of and on again' type of advice and its been bumping along at 6meg for weeks, a few months ago it was at 30meg which is what we are paying for, the day before Im due to switch to Vodaphone home broadband its back up to 30... Pah.
    Im still switching, only £20 a month so a good saving, lets see if they are any better with their throttling etc.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  2. #2
    Master petethegeek's Avatar
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    Interestingly Plusnet were early pioneers in throttling/prioritising/managing the throughput on their network. This often led to friction with some of their more communication savvy users and a certain degree of dissatisfaction generally.

    It was widely considered at the time that this expertise and experience was a primary driver for BT acquiring them.

  3. #3
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    Are you doing your speed tests cabled direct into the router? Otherwise other local / environmental factors could be an influence.

  4. #4
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by monogroover View Post
    Are you doing your speed tests cabled direct into the router? Otherwise other local / environmental factors could be an influence.
    Admittedly no, just a app, but its obvious on devices when its poor, its just so inconsistent.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  5. #5
    Just way too many good reliable providers offering good value deals to put up with any rubbish service providers.

  6. #6
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    I can't see landline connections being common in domestic homes for much longer. With 4G now and 5G in the near future you can get great deals for unlimited data e.g. SMARTY for £18.75 a month. I get around 50Mbps down and 40Mbps up using SMARTY (via 4G on the 3 network) which is ok for everything in our home and far better than the 6.5/0.7Mbps speeds I got following the upgrade of my not so local exchange to FTTC. Some will want greater speeds and this will come with 5G but in rural areas poorly served by FTTP or even FTTC it's a no-brainer. In urban areas the availability of 5G will be earlier and likely with reduced latency. The latency on the 4G connection is around 40ms and I can't really see that impacting even the keenest gamers. In the two years I've now been using the 4G networks (previously EE) for broadband there have been zero outages aside from two short-lived power cuts that hit the area.
    Last edited by Skier; 12th October 2019 at 07:36.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by JasonM View Post
    For weeks now Ive been plagued with poor speeds at home ( Plusnet ) and they have fobbed me off and been quite uninterested about the issue, sent me new filters and 'switch it of and on again' type of advice and its been bumping along at 6meg for weeks, a few months ago it was at 30meg which is what we are paying for, the day before Im due to switch to Vodaphone home broadband its back up to 30... Pah.
    Im still switching, only £20 a month so a good saving, lets see if they are any better with their throttling etc.

    I'm with Plusnet and it's bang average. Unfortunately I live in an area where "slow" fibre is as good as it gets.

    Some providers (possibly including BT who, of course, own Plusnet) give some speed guarantee. Of course how easy that is to claim for is another question - and it doesn't compensate for a poor service.

    FWIW, I tried Vodafone fibre BB and it was an absolute disaster - very slow and a completely useless offshore call centre. The only good thing was they had a 30 day 'get out' clause so I was able to extract myself from the contract. They were so incompetent they still sent my £75 signing on cashback, which went some way to compensate for the shockingly bad experience.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Skier View Post
    I can't see landline connections being common in domestic homes for much longer. With 4G now and 5G in the near future you can get great deals for unlimited data e.g. SMARTY for £18.75 a month. I get around 50Mbps down and 40Mbps up using SMARTY (via 4G on the 3 network) which is ok for everything in our home and far better than the 6.6/0.7Mbps speeds I got following the upgrade of my not so local exchange to FTTC. Some will want greater speeds and this will come with 5G but in rural areas poorly served by FTTP or even FTTC it's a no-brainer. In urban areas the availability of 5G will be earlier and likely with reduced latency. The latency on the 4G connection is around 40ms and I can't really see that impacting even the keenest gamers. In the two years I've now been using the 4G networks (previously EE) for broadband there have been zero outages aside from two short-lived power cuts that hit the area.
    You’re absolutely right. Within two years BT will start to see their customer numbers dropping off a cliff. In 10 years they’ll have lost over half probably more.

  9. #9
    Master reggie747's Avatar
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    ^^
    Do you just hot spot a phone or can you recommend a SIM slot router ?

    Cheers

  10. #10
    Craftsman
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    Quote Originally Posted by catch21 View Post
    You’re absolutely right. Within two years BT will start to see their customer numbers dropping off a cliff. In 10 years they’ll have lost over half probably more.
    Me included. You complain about poor service and their answer is for You to pay more money for an upgrade.

  11. #11
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    I gave up on Plusnet two years ago or the same reason - slower speeds. Vote with your feet and move on. Zen are good.

  12. #12
    Grand Master Rod's Avatar
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    We've been with TalkTalk for nigh on 15yrs now and despite them being rubbished in recent years, they've been consistent with us.
    Recently our 38 speed contact was near ending (£26 a month) Quick call and they've upped is to 67mgs and reduced our bill to £23 a month and sent is a new router f.o.c. Well pleased too.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by reggie747 View Post
    ^^
    Do you just hot spot a phone or can you recommend a SIM slot router ?

    Cheers
    Well yes and yes. I have three solutions that I’m trialling.

    a) Tplink ac750 aka Archer mr200, is a 4G LTE ‘modem’ and WiFi access point. Plugs into the mains.

    b) Netgear MR100 travel router, again a 4G LTE ‘modem’ and WiFi access point but very clever and can operate long term mains powered by taking the battery out. Comes with power supply as well (usb-c).

    c) Hotspot the mobile.

    I have my Vodafone sim in the mobile, an EE sim in the Tplink and a 24 month 3 sim in the Netgear.

    The hotspot solution probably won’t work for a family.
    The Netgear is brilliant - it can work in many different modes, and is great if you do a lot of travelling, have a camper, etc., but it is expensive.
    The tplink is just fine, leave it installed at home and forget it.

    (The Netgear has an offloading feature, where if it can piggyback onto another network it saves its own data. If the piggybacked network fails it automatically switches back to its own SIM card. You can connect to another nw over Ethernet (hotel room possibly or work) or over WiFi. My long term plan is to have the tplink provide the main internet connection in, with the best service provider I can find, but that will be routed through the Netgear (which will have a travel sim in) so any issues with the tplink and the Netgear takes over.

    I’ve been doing a similar thing with a dual WAN Cisco router, which allows two broadband connections in and works load-sharing or worker/standby - but realised the Netgear does this anyway without another box.

    We’re starting to see really good deals on high gb even unlimited data sims now. Ultimately it will be better and cheaper than bt, and genuinely 4 and 5G will be better than the copper in the ground. Remember your copper is only the access medium to the internet, all the rest of the network behind it is the same regardless of how you get on.
    Last edited by catch21; 3rd October 2019 at 22:00.

  14. #14
    Master reggie747's Avatar
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    ^^^Thanks very much, lots of great info there...

  15. #15
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    In an effort not to take this thread too far off topic. There's a thread HERE regarding the use of 4/5G as a broadband solution.

  16. #16
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    I live in the middle of nowhere, can’t even get mains gas..... I do however have 300mb direct fibre from BT and it has been faultless for 2 years. Hasn’t missed a beat, never not worked and now he speed is completely consistent. Never had to call them once. My last place had Virgin, that was as a nightmare and THE worst customer service I have ever experienced!


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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by zanderpants View Post
    I live in the middle of nowhere, can’t even get mains gas..... I do however have 300mb direct fibre from BT and it has been faultless for 2 years. Hasn’t missed a beat, never not worked and now he speed is completely consistent. Never had to call them once. My last place had Virgin, that was as a nightmare and THE worst customer service I have ever experienced!


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    +1 that, virgin are shocking going back to BT this month

  18. #18
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    Happy to say my switchover to Vodafone happened pretty seamlessly today, took a few hours to come on but had a nice constant 32meg connection all day, the app is nice and intuitive and gives info on connected devices etc, a guest network can be set up from it etc, £12 cheaper a month too. Let’s hope it stays stable.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  19. #19
    Master mindforge's Avatar
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    I heard today that apparently landlines will be phased out in the UK and all telephones will be connected into the back of a router by 2025. No idea if it's true but means I will be vindicated in resisting having a land-line for the last few years!

  20. #20
    Master Top Cat's Avatar
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    Switched to Vodafone today. Nice and easy plug and play router swap over. Same speed as I was getting with BT but £35 a month cheaper including landline.

  21. #21
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mindforge View Post
    I heard today that apparently landlines will be phased out in the UK and all telephones will be connected into the back of a router by 2025. No idea if it's true but means I will be vindicated in resisting having a land-line for the last few years!
    There'll still be a landline (exactly the same one as at present for most people). It's just that it will no longer carry a POTS analogue signal as at present. Instead it will just carry digital data. Existing phones will be plugged in via a VoIP convertor of some sort (if you don't have an explicit VoIP service).

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Top Cat View Post
    Switched to Vodafone today. Nice and easy plug and play router swap over. Same speed as I was getting with BT but £35 a month cheaper including landline.
    I think that goes to show that location is important and that, of the bigger providers, you can't guarantee whether they'll be good or bad based on other people's stories. As I said, my brief experience of Voda fibre was disastrous; glad to hear yours is good.

  23. #23
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    Recently moved house, had by fiber at the old place from BT. The speed and connectivity was abysmal, guaranteed speed was 50mb down and we rarely got above 10. They sent us a new router but as we were moving in a week decided to stick it out with the old one and update it all when we moved.
    Phoned them to give them the move date which was a week away. They cancelled our broadband the next day. Phoned to complain and they sent us a 4g hotspot thing. Then killed that after 3 days. Phoned them again and they were belligerent saying they’d send another mobile thing but that was it then hung up. Rand to speak to a manager and they took out details and hung up again.
    Booked virgin that afternoon and told by to shove it.
    Virgin is now in and working great 200mb down guaranteed 220 down actual.
    BT can take a long walk off a short pier.


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  24. #24
    Grand Master JasonM's Avatar
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    It’s been 2 weeks today since my switch from Plusnet to Vodaphone as my BB provider, the difference in speeds and reliability is chalk and cheese, I’m getting between 30-40 mbs speeds consistently where Plusnet was bumping along at 5-10 mbs at best for months now, I only hope this isn’t a ‘new account wick it up to impress’ thing and it lasts beyond the 30 day period where I get a further discount if it falls below 30mbs speeds, Injust can’t see how Plusnet got it so wrong seeing as nothing has changed to the same phone line they are both using, admittedly I know very little about how it all works, maybe Voda have more more bandwidth in my area to go around, so far so good though.
    Cheers..
    Jase

  25. #25
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    I just brought a 4g router for my mum to try the internet.

    Got an unlimited data sim from smarty which is three’s value brand. Under £19 pm on a rolling contract.

    Tested it at my house with 3-4mbs, tested at a friend’s less that a mile away and 35-40mbs so hopefully a good service at mums
    Last edited by Captain Morgan; 12th October 2019 at 07:33.

  26. #26
    Master mjrennie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slamdoor View Post
    I gave up on Plusnet two years ago or the same reason - slower speeds. Vote with your feet and move on. Zen are good.
    They are. Pricey but we've been with them for maybe 8 years or more now. Never fails and is very quick.

  27. #27
    Master Skier's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Morgan View Post
    I just brought a 4g router for my mum to try the internet.

    Got an unlimited data sim from smarty which is three’s value brand. Under £19 pm on a rolling contract.

    Tested it at my house with 3-4mbs, tested at a friend’s less that a mile away and 35-40mbs so hopefully a good service at mums
    Use THIS site to determine the location of the closest mast to your mother's and place the router accordingly. If still not a great signal consider an external (to the router) antenna. You can pick them up cheaply from Amazon and they work well. If the signal is really poor you may need to look at something like THIS (directional antenna) from one of our very own on this forum.

  28. #28
    Master
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    That’s fascinating- according to that map, my nearest tower is O2 and it’s 800m away, and a T mobile mast is 2.5km away. Yet the only phone signal at my property is EE.


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  29. #29
    Grand Master Seamaster73's Avatar
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    Likewise, I’m dubious about how up to date/accurate that is. Where I am (very rural location) nearest mast purports to be Vodafone; only signal anyone gets round here is BT/EE.

  30. #30
    I was very lucky where I live, BT fitted fiber all the way into my house for free.

    It is a total post code lottery, previously I had less than 1 meg and could barely stream 360p resolution video on youtube.

  31. #31
    Grand Master markrlondon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by xellos99 View Post
    I was very lucky where I live, BT fitted fiber all the way into my house for free.
    !!!

    What did you say/do to get that?

  32. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by Captain Morgan View Post
    I just brought a 4g router for my mum to try the internet.

    Got an unlimited data sim from smarty which is three’s value brand. Under £19 pm on a rolling contract.

    Tested it at my house with 3-4mbs, tested at a friend’s less that a mile away and 35-40mbs so hopefully a good service at mums
    Set up at mums and got a stable high 20’s mbs, good enough to stream reliably and seems unaffected by the three outage early yesterday.

    Thanks for the pointers on location etc.

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