BT FTTP - Any horror stories?
Discussion
Bikerjon said:
bristolbaron said:
I currently have fttp with BT giving me 50Mbps a an unused phone line for £28.
I barely pick up a signal at the other end of the house even with a netgear booster and when it does play ball I’m looking at 30Mbps max.
If I went with Zen, for example, and their 150Mbps package would my signal strength increase? Or just a better speed through the booster when it does connect?
FTTP is usually a lot faster than 50Mbps, but in your case the problem is your Wi-Fi. Consider a mesh Wi-Fi system.I barely pick up a signal at the other end of the house even with a netgear booster and when it does play ball I’m looking at 30Mbps max.
If I went with Zen, for example, and their 150Mbps package would my signal strength increase? Or just a better speed through the booster when it does connect?
A workmate of mine has been without his FTTP for several weeks*, the overhead fibre cables have been chewed through by squirrels. apparently they love the stuff and its really common.
(* the reason for the long time it has been off is that the cable is in a field and they were unable to access it with a 4x4 cherry picker, so have to come back and build a scaffold to access it.)
(* the reason for the long time it has been off is that the cable is in a field and they were unable to access it with a 4x4 cherry picker, so have to come back and build a scaffold to access it.)
7w7 said:
Those prices are quite high.
I assume you can't get Hyperoptic? They seem to avoid areas with Virgin.
Currently pay £26 and get 178/150 (much more than I need).
Sadly no Hyperoptic or and of the other options like them currently but maybe by the time the BT contract ends we'll be in a new world of choices. I assume you can't get Hyperoptic? They seem to avoid areas with Virgin.
Currently pay £26 and get 178/150 (much more than I need).
Edited by 7w7 on Monday 13th January 12:36
Paul Drawmer said:
Gareth79 said:
Yep, the ISP adverts are doing a great job of convincing people that slow WiFi means they need a new ISP. Another option for the OP is powerline WiFi devices.
Eh?Bikerjon said:
Internet providers use poor Wi-Fi as an opportunity to sell their broadband service, but in reality the Wi-Fi part is highly dependent on the building/surroundings. People should regard their internet connection as one thing and the Wi-Fi as another, but they generally don't see it this way!
One of my pet hates is people complaining their "WiFi is down" when it's the Internet that's the issue or, as per a recent article, media outlets reporting things like "Virgin to roll out free WiFi speed update to millions of customers" when in fact they're killing off some of the slower legacy packages and putting people on what was Vivid 100 (I think it's M100 now?) - their WiFi will remain the same at a potential 450Mbps unless they have a really rubbish old router. Bikerjon said:
Internet providers use poor Wi-Fi as an opportunity to sell their broadband service, but in reality the Wi-Fi part is highly dependent on the building/surroundings. People should regard their internet connection as one thing and the Wi-Fi as another, but they generally don't see it this way!
The OP didn't mention wifi.OK I think I'm just destined to have a rubbish ISP experience at this house 
BT just didn't bother to come and do the preliminary work to the house today as expected, it got to 17:00 and was dark and with the actual engineer appointment to complete the setup tomorrow morning I thought I'd better give them a ring.
So I called, apparently there has been an issue with sorting out the phone line I don't even want and this has delayed the process, it took an hour to find this out and had I not called I presume I'd have just been waiting in all morning expecting the chap to not turn up.
They're now "looking into it" and will call me between 8am and 8pm tomorrow.
A disappointing and avoidable lapse in communication and it worries me this is going to be indicative of how they might be for the next 24 months of the contract, I'm just glad I haven't cancelled my existing provider just yet.
BT just didn't bother to come and do the preliminary work to the house today as expected, it got to 17:00 and was dark and with the actual engineer appointment to complete the setup tomorrow morning I thought I'd better give them a ring.
So I called, apparently there has been an issue with sorting out the phone line I don't even want and this has delayed the process, it took an hour to find this out and had I not called I presume I'd have just been waiting in all morning expecting the chap to not turn up.
They're now "looking into it" and will call me between 8am and 8pm tomorrow.
A disappointing and avoidable lapse in communication and it worries me this is going to be indicative of how they might be for the next 24 months of the contract, I'm just glad I haven't cancelled my existing provider just yet.
Somebody said:
Type in your details here and it will show you what products are available and suppliers
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/broadb...
It’s not always accurate though ... it’s wildly inaccurate for my home addresshttps://availability.samknows.com/broadband/broadb...
Gareth79 said:
Bikerjon said:
bristolbaron said:
I currently have fttp with BT giving me 50Mbps a an unused phone line for £28.
I barely pick up a signal at the other end of the house even with a netgear booster and when it does play ball I’m looking at 30Mbps max.
If I went with Zen, for example, and their 150Mbps package would my signal strength increase? Or just a better speed through the booster when it does connect?
FTTP is usually a lot faster than 50Mbps, but in your case the problem is your Wi-Fi. Consider a mesh Wi-Fi system.I barely pick up a signal at the other end of the house even with a netgear booster and when it does play ball I’m looking at 30Mbps max.
If I went with Zen, for example, and their 150Mbps package would my signal strength increase? Or just a better speed through the booster when it does connect?
Otherwise I’d expect as a minimum if I’m now receiving 100Mbps into the home, I should now expect to see the same percentage loss, and get 60Mbps through the booster.
Either way, it looks as though a mesh system could be worthwhile for me, especially as I won’t keep changing between connections depending where in the room I’m stood!
bristolbaron said:
I get that all of the above is a Wi-fi issue, the question is whether a router provided by Zen would transmit a stronger signal than the current home hub 6.
Otherwise I’d expect as a minimum if I’m now receiving 100Mbps into the home, I should now expect to see the same percentage loss, and get 60Mbps through the booster.
Either way, it looks as though a mesh system could be worthwhile for me, especially as I won’t keep changing between connections depending where in the room I’m stood!
Fritzboxes are not renowned for their WiFi strength (the router Zen supplies) They are good routers and have some nice features around handling VoIP. I use a 7590 as my main router and then three (much cheaper bought from eBay) 7530s as mesh repeaters. Otherwise I’d expect as a minimum if I’m now receiving 100Mbps into the home, I should now expect to see the same percentage loss, and get 60Mbps through the booster.
Either way, it looks as though a mesh system could be worthwhile for me, especially as I won’t keep changing between connections depending where in the room I’m stood!
Today was supposed to be my BT FTTP "go live" - it's far from it.
After they didn't turn up on Friday to connect the house up I called and chased as the engineer to complete the setup was booked for this morning, "something" was wrong, the order hadn't completed correctly, they'd call back today between 8am and 8pm.
So at 7pm they called, "something" is wrong, it's a system thing, the order has been rejected due to the phone line part of it, they don't know why (there's a phone line, it was active until last June when I cancelled VIrgin), they've tried twice but "computer says no". It's now escalated to Openreach for further investigation and they say they'll need to "wipe the address clean" of line history.
Apparently this takes 5 days, they'll call me next Saturday, again between 8am and 8pm with an update.
Had I not called yesterday I'd still be here waiting, none the wiser as apparently their "systems" haven't worked properly.
A pretty woeful first impression and now I'm going to have to keep throwing money at Three for their joke of a 4G service until this is sorted out, very disappointed, if I had a viable alternative I'd cancel the order.
After they didn't turn up on Friday to connect the house up I called and chased as the engineer to complete the setup was booked for this morning, "something" was wrong, the order hadn't completed correctly, they'd call back today between 8am and 8pm.
So at 7pm they called, "something" is wrong, it's a system thing, the order has been rejected due to the phone line part of it, they don't know why (there's a phone line, it was active until last June when I cancelled VIrgin), they've tried twice but "computer says no". It's now escalated to Openreach for further investigation and they say they'll need to "wipe the address clean" of line history.
Apparently this takes 5 days, they'll call me next Saturday, again between 8am and 8pm with an update.
Had I not called yesterday I'd still be here waiting, none the wiser as apparently their "systems" haven't worked properly.
A pretty woeful first impression and now I'm going to have to keep throwing money at Three for their joke of a 4G service until this is sorted out, very disappointed, if I had a viable alternative I'd cancel the order.
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