Cr*pBand Service
Discussion
We live in a village of around 200 houses, with three other villages of similar size, all being supplied with Telephone services from the same Exchange.
Most of us in these villages only get a max of 1mbs (usually around 750kbs), and have done for years.
The irksome thing is that we get charged by providers like BT the exact same rate as anyone else, when the blurb says up to 8mbs, and it appears that apart from moving, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
We have been struggling for 10 years using this service, and it is still as bad as it always was. God-forbid you try to download something!
More recently the quality and availability of a good Broadband service to a household is becoming an essential for house purchasers, and thus can potentially affect house prices and buyer interest!
The providers only give you platitudes & blame the infrastructure. OpenReach who are responsible are evidently not interested in upgrading the Exchange (which is ancient) for rural villages, and there is no ability to ping OpenReach directly either, even though they are part of BT.
OpenReach seem to be some shadowy company that, although solely responsible for providing what is a very important infrastructure for the public/ business, are in fact totally unaccountable, with no apparent mechanism for any individual to complain.
Is there any recourse we can take? ...especially since the Gvt are making so much about their thrust that BB is now an essential service in 'Competitive Britain' (That's a laugh! - Come and join us for a cuppa Mr Cameron!).
......Or is there some technology that could be used as a realistic alternative?
Most of us in these villages only get a max of 1mbs (usually around 750kbs), and have done for years.
The irksome thing is that we get charged by providers like BT the exact same rate as anyone else, when the blurb says up to 8mbs, and it appears that apart from moving, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
We have been struggling for 10 years using this service, and it is still as bad as it always was. God-forbid you try to download something!
More recently the quality and availability of a good Broadband service to a household is becoming an essential for house purchasers, and thus can potentially affect house prices and buyer interest!
The providers only give you platitudes & blame the infrastructure. OpenReach who are responsible are evidently not interested in upgrading the Exchange (which is ancient) for rural villages, and there is no ability to ping OpenReach directly either, even though they are part of BT.
OpenReach seem to be some shadowy company that, although solely responsible for providing what is a very important infrastructure for the public/ business, are in fact totally unaccountable, with no apparent mechanism for any individual to complain.
Is there any recourse we can take? ...especially since the Gvt are making so much about their thrust that BB is now an essential service in 'Competitive Britain' (That's a laugh! - Come and join us for a cuppa Mr Cameron!).
......Or is there some technology that could be used as a realistic alternative?
Some areas do not have gas / sewage supplies. People make do.
I am assuming being out in the sticks you enjoy cleaner air, more security, bigger areas for the kids, nicer scenery, cheaper and larger houses?
and the price you pay for that - not having 'superfast' broadband.
What would i choose? Interesting question..
I think i'd move back into a city centre and enjoy some Fibre broadband
I am assuming being out in the sticks you enjoy cleaner air, more security, bigger areas for the kids, nicer scenery, cheaper and larger houses?
and the price you pay for that - not having 'superfast' broadband.
What would i choose? Interesting question..
I think i'd move back into a city centre and enjoy some Fibre broadband
Pixelpeep said:
Some areas do not have gas / sewage supplies. People make do.
Yes - they have an alternative option in the vast majority of cases - but with BB there isn't one - and we have tried for years!Pixelpeep said:
...I am assuming being out in the sticks you enjoy cleaner air, more security, bigger areas for the kids, nicer scenery, cheaper and larger houses?
Only a 8 miles from a big town, of you call that out-in-the-sticks! Why should we, in this day and age? Yes SuperFast BB would be nice, but std speed would be just as welcome - but we can't even have that!Interesting. I too live in the middle of nowhere. For several years I had AOHell with speeds allegedly of "up to 8mbps", in fact I was lucky top get 0.75mbps. I decided to give BT a punt. They too said that I would pay for up to 8mbps but that on testing the line, I would probably get around 6mbps. In fact I regularly get between 5.5 and 6.8 which is significantly better than AOHell. Cherry was that BT was/is considerably cheaper too. Quite why the different speeds I know not. Same exchange, same line, same everything. Might be worth looking around.
It's all about money - they only bother with the areas with high density to make the most back.
But I don't think this is really about 'competitive britain' - what you're really asking for is a subsidy from other users, as it will cost BT more to provide a decent service to you & you'll want to pay the fixed price everyone else does.
Sucks, but such is life, they'll probably get their in the end.
Have you considered suing waitrose & starbucks as well for not building a shop nearby and increasing your house price?
But I don't think this is really about 'competitive britain' - what you're really asking for is a subsidy from other users, as it will cost BT more to provide a decent service to you & you'll want to pay the fixed price everyone else does.
Sucks, but such is life, they'll probably get their in the end.
Have you considered suing waitrose & starbucks as well for not building a shop nearby and increasing your house price?
Tough. If it's not economical to run superfast fibre to your home at the wrong end of a farm track then what do you expect? If it's "only 8 miles" why not get your own cables laid?
Have you considered satellite?
http://www.avonlinebroadband.co.uk/
Have you considered satellite?
http://www.avonlinebroadband.co.uk/
You are raging against the rules of physics. The limits you are experiencing are directly governed by the technology. xDSL bandwidth reduces with distance from the exchange and has a maximum range of around 8km. Changing providers will make no difference unless you go with an entirely new technology.
Edited by Martin4x4 on Friday 28th March 00:11
3Dee said:
Only a 8 miles from a big town, of you call that out-in-the-sticks! Why should we, in this day and age? Yes SuperFast BB would be nice, but std speed would be just as welcome - but we can't even have that!
My girlfriend's parents live around 1 mile (as the crow flies) from a town (population 15,000). No ADSL broadband available at all - despite BT's Infinity service being available in all the other villages around and in the town.They would kill for any ADSL broadband! Unfortunately they have to rely on 3G - 0.3mbit on a good day, highly unstable 0.1mbit on a bad day (if it's working!)
For reference - were not talking rural Wales or the Highlands here, this is Suffolk, less than 100 miles from London.
richardrsc said:
But I don't think this is really about 'competitive britain' - what you're really asking for is a subsidy from other users, as it will cost BT more to provide a decent service to you & you'll want to pay the fixed price everyone else does.
My girlfriend's parents line rental is exactly the same as I or someone in London would pay - and yet the investment poured into larger town's infrastructure is significantly more with continued work to get FTTC and 50 and then 100mbit. My exchange was kitted out with ADSL about 10 years ago, but hasn't had anything changed since besides the basic maintenance. My girlfriend's parents exchange, well that's just not been touched in years.If anything those users who have the worst connections are subsidising those who have the best.
This is the reason why I actually supported the minimum broadband tax thing where something like 50p per month was spent improving infrastructure to ensure that a minimum level of service was available all over the UK - rather than it all being focused just on towns.
3Dee said:
Pixelpeep said:
Some areas do not have gas / sewage supplies. People make do.
Yes - they have an alternative option in the vast majority of cases - but with BB there isn't one - and we have tried for years!4G is just coming on stream in my area so an upgrade to that is on the cards unless fibre gets put in round here.
bimsb6 said:
ZOLLAR said:
You can make a complaint about Openreach to Ofcom I believe.
Based on what ? I've even highlighted it for you.
Looking at your occupation how about assisting with the OP's query..?
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