Tracking broadband uptime/availability
Discussion
Over the last few years I’ve had a lot of frustration with broadband suppliers, first Virgin and late BT based services.
I’ve just switched back to Virgin after having tried them in the past because my neighbours tell me that the service they get is reasonably good. I have I think 14 days within which to decline the service, at no cost to me.
What I am looking for is an app, either iPhone or Windows PC (iPhone probably better) that checks network availability over time. Even something as simple as a Ping every 5 minutes would be fine, ideally as a background task.
Does such an app exist?
BT service is 40mbps and will generally drop out once or twice a day, so not terrible, but I don’t want to be paying much more for Virgin if it can’t at least match the OK-ish BT performance. Virgin is a 300mbps package, getting 220 right now, but the most important thing for me is reliability of the connection, not the bandwidth.
Any recommendations?
Edit: I actually have a 200 mbps package and am getting 220.
I’ve just switched back to Virgin after having tried them in the past because my neighbours tell me that the service they get is reasonably good. I have I think 14 days within which to decline the service, at no cost to me.
What I am looking for is an app, either iPhone or Windows PC (iPhone probably better) that checks network availability over time. Even something as simple as a Ping every 5 minutes would be fine, ideally as a background task.
Does such an app exist?
BT service is 40mbps and will generally drop out once or twice a day, so not terrible, but I don’t want to be paying much more for Virgin if it can’t at least match the OK-ish BT performance. Virgin is a 300mbps package, getting 220 right now, but the most important thing for me is reliability of the connection, not the bandwidth.
Any recommendations?
Edit: I actually have a 200 mbps package and am getting 220.
Edited by Tommie38 on Thursday 26th November 16:12
Set up a Broadband Quality Monitor on the ADSLGuide site:
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitorin...
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitorin...
I have a Node Red Dashboard running on my Raspberry PI that does a speedtest every couple of hours and keeps the last 7 days of data for me, which was useful when I was having performance issues.
Needs a bit of a kick at the moment as it has a habit of picking the wrong speedtest servers, but it's served it's purpose. Keep meaning to decommission it.
https://flows.nodered.org/flow/e3e8c7f4807f383ab85...
You could also add in a little ping monitor to check for continuous uptime.
Needs a bit of a kick at the moment as it has a habit of picking the wrong speedtest servers, but it's served it's purpose. Keep meaning to decommission it.
https://flows.nodered.org/flow/e3e8c7f4807f383ab85...
You could also add in a little ping monitor to check for continuous uptime.
Thanks for the suggestions everybody.
I had a play with some of the apps but in the end, I went for the old school way of simply using the connection. Frequent speed tests but appreciate that is less about uptime.
In simple terms, what I found is that you can think up lots of reasons why you are getting a poor connection to your device (connected devices, in home WiFi / mesh) but actually when everything works you don’t need to look for reasons why.
I moved from the BT based service to Virgin and am getting an absolutely rock solid service, and I can tell because it hasn’t dropped out once on any of my devices.
The house is such a nicer place to be when the broadband works...
I had a play with some of the apps but in the end, I went for the old school way of simply using the connection. Frequent speed tests but appreciate that is less about uptime.
In simple terms, what I found is that you can think up lots of reasons why you are getting a poor connection to your device (connected devices, in home WiFi / mesh) but actually when everything works you don’t need to look for reasons why.
I moved from the BT based service to Virgin and am getting an absolutely rock solid service, and I can tell because it hasn’t dropped out once on any of my devices.
The house is such a nicer place to be when the broadband works...
Tommie38 said:
Thanks for the suggestions everybody.
I had a play with some of the apps but in the end, I went for the old school way of simply using the connection. Frequent speed tests but appreciate that is less about uptime.
In simple terms, what I found is that you can think up lots of reasons why you are getting a poor connection to your device (connected devices, in home WiFi / mesh) but actually when everything works you don’t need to look for reasons why.
I moved from the BT based service to Virgin and am getting an absolutely rock solid service, and I can tell because it hasn’t dropped out once on any of my devices.
The house is such a nicer place to be when the broadband works...
I've been with them solidly since 2003 and to be honest, I wouldn't go elsewhere. I've actually downgraded to the 100mb service and all devices are connected and work fine.I had a play with some of the apps but in the end, I went for the old school way of simply using the connection. Frequent speed tests but appreciate that is less about uptime.
In simple terms, what I found is that you can think up lots of reasons why you are getting a poor connection to your device (connected devices, in home WiFi / mesh) but actually when everything works you don’t need to look for reasons why.
I moved from the BT based service to Virgin and am getting an absolutely rock solid service, and I can tell because it hasn’t dropped out once on any of my devices.
The house is such a nicer place to be when the broadband works...
I am with BT and the service as been sterling. Only donwtimes were during the first few weeks, which is understandable as my area is a new fibre area.
However despite paying top dollar the best speed I could get (FTTC) is about 70Mbps.
Virgin reps had been knocking and offering 300Mbps package at same price as BT.
Tempted to go for it, but have heard a lot of negativity regarding Virgin broadband.
Interested to know how you get along, and also how easy it is to cancel the package once everything is connected.
However despite paying top dollar the best speed I could get (FTTC) is about 70Mbps.
Virgin reps had been knocking and offering 300Mbps package at same price as BT.
Tempted to go for it, but have heard a lot of negativity regarding Virgin broadband.
Interested to know how you get along, and also how easy it is to cancel the package once everything is connected.
i use a SamKnows box. (https://www.samknows.com/)
it's great, unobtrusive and as the data from it is used by the EU - works great when you need to hit BT around the head. i've had a cpl of problems with my BB - called BT and get the usual tech brush off - as soon as i mention i'm looking at my SamKnows dash which shows XYZ I'm put through to a proper person that knows what they are talking about.
best of all it's free
it's great, unobtrusive and as the data from it is used by the EU - works great when you need to hit BT around the head. i've had a cpl of problems with my BB - called BT and get the usual tech brush off - as soon as i mention i'm looking at my SamKnows dash which shows XYZ I'm put through to a proper person that knows what they are talking about.
best of all it's free
anxious_ant said:
I am with BT and the service as been sterling. Only donwtimes were during the first few weeks, which is understandable as my area is a new fibre area.
However despite paying top dollar the best speed I could get (FTTC) is about 70Mbps.
Virgin reps had been knocking and offering 300Mbps package at same price as BT.
Tempted to go for it, but have heard a lot of negativity regarding Virgin broadband.
Interested to know how you get along, and also how easy it is to cancel the package once everything is connected.
My as advertised 100mb has always been 100mb thankfully. Don't believe everything you hear. Like how truly terrible BT and Openreach are to deal with?However despite paying top dollar the best speed I could get (FTTC) is about 70Mbps.
Virgin reps had been knocking and offering 300Mbps package at same price as BT.
Tempted to go for it, but have heard a lot of negativity regarding Virgin broadband.
Interested to know how you get along, and also how easy it is to cancel the package once everything is connected.
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