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Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Eddie1980
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎24-03-2009

Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

I live out in the sticks, a situation I am only too aware will never coexist well with high speed services of any kind, even the milk is delivered stale...
My line length is 9.6km, I had 512/256 for a couple of years as soon as the limits were increased from 5km to 10km one day this vanished and my router refused to sinc.  After about a year of a circular argument between BT and Plusnet, involving lots of engineer visits and new pairs I managed to get them to fix the line at 256k and its been fine at that ever since...
While this is currently far better then nothing after a couple of years at this speed its starting to get frustrating, the internet these days is designed content rich and under the assumption everyone has at least 1mbps, I do all I can at my end of the connection to ensure its utilised efficiently, running squid and ABP etc.
Is there anything I can do, I know the whole village suffers with speed issues with no one getting above 512, and sadly I happen to be at the wrong end of it.  I also know all the copper in the bundle is utilised due to expansion and building over the years.  So what are the options?
Can I get a small DSLAM installed locally?  We are the largest community for at least several miles...What would be the process for this and if I got the whole village together is there a chance of getting this done?
Can I get a Loop extender installed on my line, again who how and what's the process for this?
Start a community broadband project, how and indeed options?
Any other suggestions?!
Has anyone else travelled this road, can offer any advice?
8 REPLIES 8
jack21
Grafter
Posts: 189
Registered: ‎25-02-2009

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Eddie,
I'm in a similar, but not quite as bad, position. My line length is around 6km, with attenuation of 67.8db.
I haven't got a clue re the possible infrastructure improvement - maybe someone else can comment.
Could you get better results with 'mobile broadband' ?- I'm in a wireless blind area so couldn't try that myself.
For 18 months with BT as ISP I lived with around 600kbps sync, but when I moved to Plusnet they helped me achieve 1300.....a combination of redoing my internal telephone wiring, and having interleaving switched on. After being happy'ish with 1300 (and an IP profile of 1000) for a year, something caused a slump to 800. I took advice from this forum and asked Plusnet to reduce my SNR margin from 15 to 12; that worked, and got me back to around 1300 kbps - with no bad effect on line stability. Is that a possibility for you?
I've tried various modem/routers, and the one that consistently gives 30% better speed is a BT 2700HGV.....around £5 off ebay.
Out of interest, could you post your router stats to this thread.
Regards,
Jack
Eddie1980
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎24-03-2009

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Hi Jack,
3G is not an option at the moment I am afraid as we have no coverage, best we can get is GPRS (have tested several networks here myself).  Having used GPRS for years as a mobile solution while on the road I'll take slow ADSL any day, at least it has sensible latency and no random packet drops!
I even spent considerable time looking at satellite broadband back when I lost my service for a while but decided I could not justify the latency and cost for something thats not actually all that great!
As for router I work in the IT industry so just went though the cupboard at work and the only thing that connects is a Belkin unit, but it takes about 10-20mins to sinc when you first turn it on.
Stats are..

                 Downstream      Upstream
Data rate (Kbps)          288 288

Noise margin (dB) 5.1         13.0

Output power (dBm) 14.1 11.8

Attenuation (dB)          63.5 31.5
NB although thats displaying 63.5 I assume thats due to the theoretical max firmware issue and the true figure could be higher.
Thanks
Eddie
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Is there any scope for a communal microwave link to the nearest telephone exchange?
David
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

I'm guessing your exchange has no plans for 21CN, you could check at 'samknows' if you're not sure.
Sensible suggestions - well a petition signed by the whole village might get BT to take notice - Fibre to the Cab would be the best option if you can't persuade BT to build a new exchange next door to you!
As for a Local Loop extender (RIM's I believe they call them in Oz) I've no idea if BT use such animals.
Eddie1980
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎24-03-2009

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Quote from: spraxyt
Is there any scope for a communal microwave link to the nearest telephone exchange?

This is actually an option in my opinion, we are in a spectacularly flat part of Lincolnshire and the village does have a water tower, which I am more then sure could provide LOS to something very close to the exchange.  However I am not sure how to go about this, how do I approach the water board, how do I go about planning permission.  Who do I talk to and would I need to cover all the costs myself?
Eddie1980
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎24-03-2009

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

When I checked a month or so back our exchange was not on the 21CN list no.  Not really a surprise.  Okay a petition signed by everyone submitted to BT I can cope with, but who do I submit it to and I assume that creating a little bit of a press stir over doing so (local rag probably with the local councillor involved I could run to) would be a good idea!?  Submitting something along the lines of a petition and pointing out a list of options such as local DSLAM / Fibre to the Cab or Microwave and Wifi I can cope with, just need a best approach, and is it really likely to yield anything, has anyone done this successfully, can offer any tips?
In terms of ADSL Loop Extenders / Amplifiers, your right they seem popular in OZ and America and are sold as a local DSLAM alternative by there makers, yet I can find no evidence there used in the UK, is there any way I can get one installed short of breaking into my line at mid point and plugging it in myself?
godsell4
Rising Star
Posts: 3,366
Thanks: 15
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Quote from: Anotherone
... Fibre to the Cab would be the best option ...

But is there a cabinet?
I too am on a small exchange with long lines, there are no cabinets, just wires directly between the house and exchange. Now of course they could install a cabinet, but I do not see BTO doing that.
SW.
--
3Mb FTTC
https://portal.plus.net/my.html?action=data_transfer_speed
jack21
Grafter
Posts: 189
Registered: ‎25-02-2009

Re: Rural Broadband speed.... Options?

Hi Eddy,
You may be interested in my trials described at  http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,74949.0.html ; in which a Billion Bipac 7300A gave me very good results indeed.
Regards,
Jack