topic Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever? in Plusnet Feedback

Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:40:08 GMT

I have been with plusnet since 2004, when my exchange got activated, on a measly 1mb. Now 1mb at the time was great coming from dial up internet, but now even 1mb isnt fast enough no more for the new generation of cloud based computing, SDTV & HDTV streaming, and films on demand from services like Lovefilm and even Sky's new SkyGo web streaming service. My exchange is a rural one, less than 1000 premises connected to it, no LLU of any sort, no ADSL2+, no Fibre and absolutely no go live dates for any of these faster services from any company even BT have no set date for Broadband Connect. So is this it? Has the internet progressed to the point where even 1mb internet feels like the old 56k days? What is the future for me? Even mobile broadband delivers a measly 1mb, with a paltry 15gb download limit on a 24 month contract from 3!!!

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:42:24 GMT

Oh, and I must add that I used to get 2mb speeds when ADSL Max was brought out, but as more and more people connect to broadband around here, crosstalk on the 7km line has quickly dropped me back down to where I started!!

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

PeterLoftus — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:53:09 GMT

Sam
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,97499.msg823411.html#msg823411
It may be something to do with "grandmothers eggs and sucking" but I had a similar experience experience. 4/5 years on about 800Kbps and then I joined PN. The problem was my internal wiring but the previous ISP didn't advise me.
Just a thought

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:05:14 GMT

Thanks, I have no extensions at all on my line, and even have the new phone socket with test socket inside it, and a inbuilt ADSL filter on the front.
These are my linestats:
--- System Information ---
Vendor: Linksys
ModelName: WAG320N
Firmware Version: 1.00.12 , 2010-03-22T10:51:43
Boot Version: 1.06
Hardware Version: 0.01
--- DSL Information ---
DSL Driver Version: AnnexA version - A2pB023k.d21d
DSL VPI/VCI: 0/38
DSL Status: Showtime
DSL Mode: G.DMT
DSL Channel:
DSL Upstream Rate: 448 Kbps
DSL Downstream Rate: 2208 Kbps
Down up
DSL Noise Margin: 4.9 dB 9.0 dB
DSL Attenuation: 63.5 dB 31.5 dB
DSL Transmit Power: 17.5 dBm 11.9 dBm

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

Oldjim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:09:59 GMT

In answer to the first question - either you move house or you are stuck in the slow lane
Out of interest what does the BT speedtest give

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:57:16 GMT

FAQ

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
Download Speed
1520 Kbps

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

Oldjim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:02:18 GMT

We need the rest of it - IP profile and while you are at it the Current Line Speed from https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed although from your sync rate I would expect an IP profile of 1750kbps and the speed test isn't far adrift for that

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

Peter_Vaughan — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:24:28 GMT

The high DL attenuation suggests you have a long line to the exchange and are probably at it's limit, sync wise. Even ADSL2+ would not give you much of an improvement due to the high signal loss. I could only just manage 2Mbs DS on a 58dB attenuation and you are further away than me.
I suspect fibre is the only way you will get faster speeds, as happened to me.

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:43:18 GMT

Download speedachieved during the test was - 1520 Kbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 400-2000 Kbps.
Additional Information:
Your DSL Connection Rate :2208 Kbps(DOWN-STREAM), 448 Kbps(UP-STREAM)
IP Profile for your line is - 1750 Kbps

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

Oldjim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:46:49 GMT

As we thought - you are stuck with those speeds unless you move house

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

Steve — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:55:33 GMT

Or get open reach to bring the exchange closer to your home.

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:25:04 GMT

So will I ever get fibre? Whatever happened to the government promise of 2mb for all?!!

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

Oldjim — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:40:41 GMT

Have you checked your exchange on Samknows and this latest announcement
http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=6B440E94-F7D0-4317-BAD8-7391B44783A7

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:47:44 GMT

Thanks! Just had a look at the press release and non of those newly announced exchanges sound even remotely local unfortunately
Sam knows results show how dire it is round here!!
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EMTWCRO

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

JamesK — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:14:21 GMT

Quote from: samskellern
So will I ever get fibre? Whatever happened to the government promise of 2mb for all?!!

Ah that was a whole government ago!
I was actually at a rural broadband conference in Suffolk earlier this year which had a keynote speech given by Ed Vaizey, the minister in charge or Broadband. In a nutshell, he said that they had dropped plans for 2mbs broadband to become part of the universal service commitment because they had decided that it was not sufficient and there had been a general refocus on providing super fast (40mbs+) broadband.
I can see the reasoning behind this, why continue to push a technology that's already out of date however it doesn't help people that genuinely can't get broadband.
There is a glimmer of hope in that mobile operators can now use the 2G spectrum for 3G services which should help them to rollout mobile broadband to rural areas however on an exchange with less then 1000 users it's pretty unlikely you'll see FTTC any time soon.
I share you're pain!

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

samskellern — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:59:23 GMT

Has their been any developments on rural broadband? I do feel that 3G or even 4G might be the future for me, but that means leaving plusnet, but at least I can finally rip my copper phoneline off the wall and coil it up next to the BT pole!! Dont want redundant ancient slow copper wires on my house from the incompetent BT, and I dont want to pay them a penny more for them to maintain their useless network!

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

jojopillo — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:49:19 GMT

Hi samskellern,
As you know our broadband relies on the BT network. BT, as you may know are involved in the 4G LTE broadband trial in Cornwall, but for news on other broadband initiatives a quick google brings up a few news items.
Jojo

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

WWWombat — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:43:19 GMT

As stated, the government shifted from a "universal obligation" of 2Mbps, to aiming at superfast broadband as widespread as possible. In doing this, they effectively shifted the onus on supporting the most rural customers away from single telco companies, such as BT or Virgin, and onto the local authorities.
That means the best place to find out what is going on is your local council. If the parish/town council don't have much going by themselves, then it is the county council. Each council is different, so the amount of public information varies too; try looking at council press releases, or look at some of the broadband websites for their new reports.
The government is putting funding in place via a group called BDUK - which have allocated £3.5M to Leicestershire; the county council have added £4M, and the commercial companies who come in as partners will have to put a matching £7M in too.
The BDUK (+matching funds from councils) are meant to support the "final third" - that part of the country that will not feature in the normal commercial rollout of superfast broadband. As I understand it, the money is meant to take the "superfast" coverage from 67% to 90%, and to get the remainder on something else as fast as possible (at least 2Mbps).
Some links for you to investigate:
- LCC press release
- LCC Broadband page
- News report on the LCC £4M
- Another news report
For anyone else: try Googling "BDUK" plus your county name, or town name.
Right now, a lot of councils are putting out surveys to find what people want - which Leicestershire is about to do too. Information about this will certainly be on the council websites, and almost certainly available in local libraries. I probably don't need to urge people to take part in these surveys, if you're on here.
Is it worth having Plusnet publicise the BDUK initiatives on a county-by-county basis? Or, as part of BT, would that be considered a bad thing to be doing?

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

SidSnot66 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:03:50 GMT

maaaan i feel sorry for you buddy, seriously, recently i have been giving Plusnet a hard time due to the unstable connection on my 2meg connection!!!!! My connection is much faster than yours which amazes me , your ONLY the 2nd person ive heard from that has a slower speed than mine, but i dont believe the blame lies solely with Plusnet or other providers, i lay it at the door of BT and the UK government ,as both seem to be "lagging" when it comes to rolling out Fibre or even upgrading to super fast copper. It makes me laugh when i here that the UK is supposed to be a leading light in technological advances......must be candle light, as countries like Latvia and other emerging nations have much better and faster broadband infrastructure than not-so Great Britain

Re: Am I destined to be stuck on 1Mb Slowband forever?

mapletree — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:18:25 GMT

@samskellern: What router do you use? Some are better than others at getting better speeds for poor lines.