Alternatives to BT for broadband in a rural area.
Discussion
Hi.
I was going to post a similar question, so I'm watching this with interest.
We're quite 'lucky' in that we have a few fields (on a farm), and unlucky in that the main copper cable is knackered as the OP. Unlike the OP, we dream of 2MBps, and are currently on about 0.2. FFS call that broadband.
Anyay, escalated the complaint and the like (like the idea of level 1), but we have been looking at 4G signal. It appears in a field about 400m away. So we're planning to hoick up a post, attach a router to the top, complete with a battery, and run tha cable back to the house. EE are predicting between 30 and 60 Mb/s Even if half that happens that's really good for us.
I'd considered the satellite option to, but hearing bad reports about it all the time
If you have access to it, there's a great article in last weeks Farmers Weekly about broadband and problems and solutions in getting it to rural areas.
We even have fibre in a box about 700m away, but the buggers haven't switched it on yet. Grrrrrrrr.
I was going to post a similar question, so I'm watching this with interest.
We're quite 'lucky' in that we have a few fields (on a farm), and unlucky in that the main copper cable is knackered as the OP. Unlike the OP, we dream of 2MBps, and are currently on about 0.2. FFS call that broadband.
Anyay, escalated the complaint and the like (like the idea of level 1), but we have been looking at 4G signal. It appears in a field about 400m away. So we're planning to hoick up a post, attach a router to the top, complete with a battery, and run tha cable back to the house. EE are predicting between 30 and 60 Mb/s Even if half that happens that's really good for us.
I'd considered the satellite option to, but hearing bad reports about it all the time
If you have access to it, there's a great article in last weeks Farmers Weekly about broadband and problems and solutions in getting it to rural areas.We even have fibre in a box about 700m away, but the buggers haven't switched it on yet. Grrrrrrrr.
I live in rural Devon and after always having BT (in the UK) and as I was about to move I decided to go with the post office, we got it up and running a month prior to moving thinking it gives enough time.
I paid 12 months line rental up front and was told to expect 4-5mb.
4 weeks in and the internet is not usable, getting circa 100-150kb, the day it got active I got 1.9mb, since the day after I get 150kb
Numerous calls later and them not having any reference to my previous calls they say there isnt much they can do so I said i would have to cancel.
Thing is they wont refund the line rental as they say thats nothing to do with the broadband but I cannot get it elsewhere without getting the phone as well.
Having to use the mobile data for now (8-11mb) not a long term solution unfortunately.
Post Office = very poor customer service and obviously poor broadband.
H
Been with BT since 1993 without a single issue but after coming out of a deal recently I was paying £60 a month which is ridiculous for what I got - 4mb, free calls, BT sport.
Maybe going back to BT
I paid 12 months line rental up front and was told to expect 4-5mb.
4 weeks in and the internet is not usable, getting circa 100-150kb, the day it got active I got 1.9mb, since the day after I get 150kb
Numerous calls later and them not having any reference to my previous calls they say there isnt much they can do so I said i would have to cancel.
Thing is they wont refund the line rental as they say thats nothing to do with the broadband but I cannot get it elsewhere without getting the phone as well.
Having to use the mobile data for now (8-11mb) not a long term solution unfortunately.
Post Office = very poor customer service and obviously poor broadband.
H
Been with BT since 1993 without a single issue but after coming out of a deal recently I was paying £60 a month which is ridiculous for what I got - 4mb, free calls, BT sport.
Maybe going back to BT
M
ks it's never their fault if the connection drops BUT I can stream films and as long as it's not snowing blizzards we have an almost totally reliable connection (it can drop frequently and speeds always vary but it's good enough to stream you tube and Now Tv without lag or buffering - it would take 2-3 days to download an hour on iplayer under BTT- BT was never as reliable or fast but ironically their customer service was good. Until they upgrade to fibre (BT) there is no alternative anyway.
I realise the description makes it sound awful but your BT was like ours and we had the same excuse/issues - by comparison it's more than reasonable
It's pretty cheap too compared to BT
13m said:
Hi All
We have between 1.3Mbps and 2Mbps download at present, BT has run out of copper pairs and we need faster broadband.
Someone has suggested these guys. Has anyone used them or something similar, sufficient to make comment?
http://www.ineedbroadband.co.uk/
Many thanks
I suspect you live very close by! We went from BT to indeedbroadband and I have a mixed opinion - it can be very erratic and their customer service is bWe have between 1.3Mbps and 2Mbps download at present, BT has run out of copper pairs and we need faster broadband.
Someone has suggested these guys. Has anyone used them or something similar, sufficient to make comment?
http://www.ineedbroadband.co.uk/
Many thanks
ks it's never their fault if the connection drops BUT I can stream films and as long as it's not snowing blizzards we have an almost totally reliable connection (it can drop frequently and speeds always vary but it's good enough to stream you tube and Now Tv without lag or buffering - it would take 2-3 days to download an hour on iplayer under BTT- BT was never as reliable or fast but ironically their customer service was good. Until they upgrade to fibre (BT) there is no alternative anyway.I realise the description makes it sound awful but your BT was like ours and we had the same excuse/issues - by comparison it's more than reasonable
It's pretty cheap too compared to BT
Edited by Zarkingfardwarks on Saturday 5th December 19:02
Bookmarked!!
Moving to rural north Devon next year (if everything falls into place!) building has 4.5mbps when i speedchecked the wifi but i will need faster for work. I don't think satalite will cut it so looking at wireless line of sight or microwave. Have a few £k budget so hoping to find a solution maybe relay from neighbour. Another challenge is its a Grade II listed building so might need to get creative.
Need to find an expert with Ubiquiti kit I think.
Moving to rural north Devon next year (if everything falls into place!) building has 4.5mbps when i speedchecked the wifi but i will need faster for work. I don't think satalite will cut it so looking at wireless line of sight or microwave. Have a few £k budget so hoping to find a solution maybe relay from neighbour. Another challenge is its a Grade II listed building so might need to get creative.
Need to find an expert with Ubiquiti kit I think.
Having done a bit more research on this, it appears that 4G appears in a field about 350m away. Took an Iphone thingy up to the field and was watching I player no worries.
So going to put a router on a pole in the field, and cable it into the workshop. I estimate it's about 50mb download speed, and the provider offers 50Gb data for £40 a month. Should be perfectly adequate for me.
Cheers
So going to put a router on a pole in the field, and cable it into the workshop. I estimate it's about 50mb download speed, and the provider offers 50Gb data for £40 a month. Should be perfectly adequate for me.
Cheers
Buckminster broadband could be worth a try if you are in their area, works via radio signal I believe. I had it when I lived on the Nottinghamshire/Lincolnshire border and had download speeds of around 20 mdps and upload speeds of 10 mdps when all I could get with bt was around 1 mbps. Sadly moved now on back on bt.
zombies said:
I live in rural Devon and after always having BT (in the UK) and as I was about to move I decided to go with the post office, we got it up and running a month prior to moving thinking it gives enough time.
I paid 12 months line rental up front and was told to expect 4-5mb.
4 weeks in and the internet is not usable, getting circa 100-150kb, the day it got active I got 1.9mb, since the day after I get 150kb
Numerous calls later and them not having any reference to my previous calls they say there isnt much they can do so I said i would have to cancel.
Thing is they wont refund the line rental as they say thats nothing to do with the broadband but I cannot get it elsewhere without getting the phone as well.
Having to use the mobile data for now (8-11mb) not a long term solution unfortunately.
Post Office = very poor customer service and obviously poor broadband.
H
Been with BT since 1993 without a single issue but after coming out of a deal recently I was paying £60 a month which is ridiculous for what I got - 4mb, free calls, BT sport.
Maybe going back to BT
Rural Devon as well I paid 12 months line rental up front and was told to expect 4-5mb.
4 weeks in and the internet is not usable, getting circa 100-150kb, the day it got active I got 1.9mb, since the day after I get 150kb
Numerous calls later and them not having any reference to my previous calls they say there isnt much they can do so I said i would have to cancel.
Thing is they wont refund the line rental as they say thats nothing to do with the broadband but I cannot get it elsewhere without getting the phone as well.
Having to use the mobile data for now (8-11mb) not a long term solution unfortunately.
Post Office = very poor customer service and obviously poor broadband.
H
Been with BT since 1993 without a single issue but after coming out of a deal recently I was paying £60 a month which is ridiculous for what I got - 4mb, free calls, BT sport.
Maybe going back to BT
Do not go back to BT
Whoever you use they are going to be using BT (Openreach) cabling
Try Zen Internet at least they have a decent UK call centre
The other absolutely critical issue is your choice of router hardware: BT Homehub et al are absolute s
teGet a Billion (this supports proper stats so you can see what is going on and adjust the SNR
Edited by dmsims on Sunday 6th December 20:04
13m said:
Nottinghamshire near the Vale of Belvoir.
I live in this area too. Was also recommended ineedbroadband.I enquired to see if they could get their service to me - and it seems they can.
Still pondering what to do. We currently get about 3mb download speeds. Which is fine for spotify, and amazon prime and Netflix..
I contacted 'superfastleicstershire' (we're on knipton exchange) and they said they couldn't give a useful firm date for fibre being available yet - only Q1-2016 to Q4 2017!
I'll see if I can be patient
tomw2000 said:
I live in this area too. Was also recommended ineedbroadband.
I enquired to see if they could get their service to me - and it seems they can.
Still pondering what to do. We currently get about 3mb download speeds. Which is fine for spotify, and amazon prime and Netflix..
I contacted 'superfastleicstershire' (we're on knipton exchange) and they said they couldn't give a useful firm date for fibre being available yet - only Q1-2016 to Q4 2017!
I'll see if I can be patient
I think you should go for ineedbroadband. Then let me know how it goes and I will decide. I enquired to see if they could get their service to me - and it seems they can.
Still pondering what to do. We currently get about 3mb download speeds. Which is fine for spotify, and amazon prime and Netflix..
I contacted 'superfastleicstershire' (we're on knipton exchange) and they said they couldn't give a useful firm date for fibre being available yet - only Q1-2016 to Q4 2017!
I'll see if I can be patient
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Several grand from what I recall, and 300 a month !
I'll let you know how it goes... I have some servers in a colo which is costing quite a bit and could easily bring these home if I had a LL, which would offset the cost considerably. It's a bit like leasing a car though - the headline monthlies seem compelling but it's the potentially massive up front cost which will most likely be exorbitant. I wouldn't be surprised if it costs £15-20k to get fibre through the ground to my house but on the off chance there's some usable ducts it might be workable. At present Openreach subsidise the first £2.8k I've been told.For faulty/dodgy lines, Andrews & Arnold, "A&A" are the very best at fixing faults on retail lines - they have a trial where if they can't fix it you can migrate away for nothing:
http://www.aaisp.net.uk/broadband-trial.html
As it says their service is very transparent - the control panel pages list their communications with BT, along with the usual extensive service graphs. They know a lot of tricks to get faults fixed, and don't take no for an answer.
I'm not a customer any more (my usage increased such that their prices went beyond a 'little' more than other ISPs), but still thoroughly recommend them, and we still use them at work for VOIP.
http://www.aaisp.net.uk/broadband-trial.html
As it says their service is very transparent - the control panel pages list their communications with BT, along with the usual extensive service graphs. They know a lot of tricks to get faults fixed, and don't take no for an answer.
I'm not a customer any more (my usage increased such that their prices went beyond a 'little' more than other ISPs), but still thoroughly recommend them, and we still use them at work for VOIP.
Edited by Gareth79 on Monday 7th December 19:54
dmsims said:
Rural Devon as well
Do not go back to BT
Whoever you use they are going to be using BT (Openreach) cabling
Try Zen Internet at least they have a decent UK call centre
The other absolutely critical issue is your choice of router hardware: BT Homehub et al are absolute ste
Get a Billion (this supports proper stats so you can see what is going on and adjust the SNR
Well, just signed up with Plusnet who I believe have something to do with BT, BT cut us off a week early whilst moving so reluctant to go back and heard good things of Plusnet, fingers crossed.Do not go back to BT
Whoever you use they are going to be using BT (Openreach) cabling
Try Zen Internet at least they have a decent UK call centre
The other absolutely critical issue is your choice of router hardware: BT Homehub et al are absolute s
teGet a Billion (this supports proper stats so you can see what is going on and adjust the SNR
Edited by dmsims on Sunday 6th December 20:04
I had called PostOffice a couple of times only to get someone stupid and/or not aware of their terms and conditions, saying I would not get my advanced payment refunded but this chap today was very good and explained I would get it back (without me asking about it), as usual with most things these days its who you get on the day.
So, Plusnet next...
I had used I think Homehub 3 without any problems, homehub 5 always went to sleep so went back to v3.
OK, following on from previous posts, I can confirm that the EE 4G network works superbly (I'm not associated with them).
We have put a £50 dongle on a piece of 4x2 and pushed it into the sky as far as it would go. Bought a router to fit on the end of it, and we have wireless internet in the workshop. Download speeds last night were running about 47Mb/s. Even the upload speed was over 10Mb.
God it's amazing, completely faff free browsing, seamless vids, no little thing going round and round. Brilliant.
It does look like it effected by weather though, raining this morning, and a mere 30Mb download.
Really really, it's worth buying a dongle with a suitable SIM, and wandering around looking for a signal. 4G looks superb. (and believe me I am a Luddite with these things).
We have put a £50 dongle on a piece of 4x2 and pushed it into the sky as far as it would go. Bought a router to fit on the end of it, and we have wireless internet in the workshop. Download speeds last night were running about 47Mb/s. Even the upload speed was over 10Mb.
God it's amazing, completely faff free browsing, seamless vids, no little thing going round and round. Brilliant.
It does look like it effected by weather though, raining this morning, and a mere 30Mb download.
Really really, it's worth buying a dongle with a suitable SIM, and wandering around looking for a signal. 4G looks superb. (and believe me I am a Luddite with these things).
bearman68 said:
OK, following on from previous posts, I can confirm that the EE 4G network works superbly (I'm not associated with them).
We have put a £50 dongle on a piece of 4x2 and pushed it into the sky as far as it would go. Bought a router to fit on the end of it, and we have wireless internet in the workshop. Download speeds last night were running about 47Mb/s. Even the upload speed was over 10Mb.
God it's amazing, completely faff free browsing, seamless vids, no little thing going round and round. Brilliant.
It does look like it effected by weather though, raining this morning, and a mere 30Mb download.
Really really, it's worth buying a dongle with a suitable SIM, and wandering around looking for a signal. 4G looks superb. (and believe me I am a Luddite with these things).
4G? I don't think we even have G here.We have put a £50 dongle on a piece of 4x2 and pushed it into the sky as far as it would go. Bought a router to fit on the end of it, and we have wireless internet in the workshop. Download speeds last night were running about 47Mb/s. Even the upload speed was over 10Mb.
God it's amazing, completely faff free browsing, seamless vids, no little thing going round and round. Brilliant.
It does look like it effected by weather though, raining this morning, and a mere 30Mb download.
Really really, it's worth buying a dongle with a suitable SIM, and wandering around looking for a signal. 4G looks superb. (and believe me I am a Luddite with these things).
Not too sure yet. We have bought a 6GB card just to see how things go, but we are about 1G into that in 2 days (but there is some novelty value there). I'm anticipating we will use perhaps 2Gig a day.....?
EE offer 50G for £40 plus (I think) £10 for 10Gig on top, so I guess we would be looking about £50 a month. No line rental, so it compares well on cost to BT.
EE offer 50G for £40 plus (I think) £10 for 10Gig on top, so I guess we would be looking about £50 a month. No line rental, so it compares well on cost to BT.
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