Mike2k111
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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Bit confused at the moment. Ive just moved into a flat in lancaster and got my phone line setup by BT so am now in the process of looking for an ISP. Im knowledgeable about broadband and IT in general but at the moment a postcode search is saying that I can receive speeds of up to 4Mb, but a phone line search is saying that I either can't receive it at all or am limited to 512Mb. I know the postcode is just an estimate but this seems quite a difference. Ive contacted alot of the ISP's (BT,Orange,O2,Talktalk,Tiscali) etc and all have told me that my line will support up to 1Mb apart from Tiscali who have said that my line will support the full 8Mb.
How are they able to offer speeds like this? I double checked to make sure they didnt mean that their service could offer 'up to' 8Mb but the 3 people I spoke to all said my line should support the full 8Mb
Its left me completely confused now as I dont want to opt for Tiscali and then find im only getting 1Mb when I could get this from another ISP.
Cheers
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Nismo
Member
Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline
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If your in a BT Wholesale area only (one where you cant get ADSL2+ only upto 8Mb and not 16Mb) then it really doesnt matter who you go with as the connection all routes through the same BT DSLAM so who ever you go with will just be using BT. There checkers are all guesstimates, they just geuss on distance from teh exchange as the crow flies, but some over guess as to say to try to win you.
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WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
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one thing i will say...
stay away from tiscali, we had them ages ago was told the same "Yes sir you will get full speed of 8mb"
get it all set up ect bloody 512m  phoned them and they said it was a problem with bt line ect blah blah
never again
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Mike2k111
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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Yeh I know i want to avoid tiscali if at all possible. I finally got to speak to someone who confirmed that I wouldnt recieve the full 8Mb which is what I knew all along, just the idiots quoting maximum speeds off the screen.
The property which im renting is a fairly new build 2000 onwards and has a 5 digit number not the usual 6, the BT fault people said that this is usually found in older properties but isnt an actual problem. Ive since done speed checks on telephone numbers of 2 properties which are on the same road as mine and they can receive 4.5Mb and 5Mb respectively. It just doesnt make any sense how I can only receive 256Kbs?
Is it worth asking BT to redo my phone line and generate a different number or anything like that?
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Eck
Premium Member
Registered: 17th Apr 06
Location: Lundin Links, Fife
User status: Offline
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Why not go with Virgin? Doesn't use a BT line as they use their own, faster optical connection.
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Mike2k111
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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would love to go with virgin's optical broadband but its not available in my area 
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Ash_EP3
Member
Registered: 15th May 07
Location: Melksham, Wiltshire
User status: Offline
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Tiscali are not worth the hassle tbh
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dannymccann
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 06
Location: Doddington, Lincolnshire
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Mike2k111
Is it worth asking BT to redo my phone line and generate a different number or anything like that?
You can try, just ask if they will send an engineer out to do a line test for you, as you are 'keen to take up their really good offers on 8mb broadband'
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Mike2k111
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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Update on this
Went back to BT this morning to enquire about reinitialising my phone line and they have just told me that my line can support speeds up to 4.5Mbps, thats before doing anything to the line. Big jump from the 256Kbps last night. This has been confirmed by the BTWholesale speed check. BT say that it takes up to 4days for their systems to update a new phone line, even though its been active for 2weeks now. I just think they messed something up and only realised it once I started calling.
One other thing, I understand what adslmax is and how it works adaptively etc but is it an actual service that you need to sign up to with your ISP? Or is it just a case of if your exchange supports adslmax then isp's will use this to calculate your maximum stable speed?
I don't no if I have to actualy enquire about adslmax when signing up or whether it will just be used if the exchange supports it.
Now my line is stable I think il be signing up to O2 and staying well away from Tiscal 
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Nismo
Member
Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline
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about 90% of exchanges suport ADSL Max now, about 50% support ADSL2+
I very much doubt BT messed anything up, it all goes down to how far you are away and the quallity of the line.
You do understand that BT wouldnt have physicaly patched you a new line from the exchange to your house, they will simply use a free pair from the street cab and patch it to your house.
That free pair could have been there for 5 years or whatever.
BT provide phone lines on the basis for an analogue signal (Voice) but as it happens digital signals work on them aswell, so aslong as BT can provide a voice service on the line then to them its installed and working to requirements.
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Mike2k111
Member
Registered: 7th Oct 03
Location: N.Wales
User status: Offline
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Yeh I knew they would never have run a new line from exchange to house lol. I never had to pay a connection charge as it was just a stop line connect. I just find it far to coincidental that yesterday my line could support up to 256Kbps despite the phone numbers of people in the same appartment block as me showing 4.5Mbps on btwholesale check. Im not saying that the BT engineers have messed up as the phone line works fine.
I think its more a case of someone hasnt done the paperwork and updated the relevent systems and that has meant that the bt customer service team who, lets face it, just read computer screens are only telling me what they can see. All of a sudden after me raising the issue my line can now support up to 4.5Mbps via adsl max.
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