Broadband supplier
Discussion
I'm looking for broadband for my 85 year old father. He currently has Post Office which was initially good value (when it worked) but out of contract the price has jumped.
The big issue is he lives a long way from the exchange and only gets 1.5 mbps and almost every time I go around I need to reboot the router to achieve it. The Post Office supply a really cheap looking Zyxel modem/router which I suspect is a large part of the problem.
I'm wondering about the merits of PlusNet v. BT v. EE who are all the same company. Is the BT modem worth the extra money over the other two providers? Would it be worth just buying a third party modem - has anybody been able to compare them?
Obviously if fibre were available (which it is at one end of the lane but stops 100 yards away) it would be good but it doesn't look like they'll do it for a while.
Cheers
The big issue is he lives a long way from the exchange and only gets 1.5 mbps and almost every time I go around I need to reboot the router to achieve it. The Post Office supply a really cheap looking Zyxel modem/router which I suspect is a large part of the problem.
I'm wondering about the merits of PlusNet v. BT v. EE who are all the same company. Is the BT modem worth the extra money over the other two providers? Would it be worth just buying a third party modem - has anybody been able to compare them?
Obviously if fibre were available (which it is at one end of the lane but stops 100 yards away) it would be good but it doesn't look like they'll do it for a while.
Cheers
theaxe said:
A decent modem or router (from someone like Dreytek) would probably help. As far as I know the BT modem/home hub is okay but the one I got from PlusNet was rubbish.
A friend of mine swears by the Dreytek too. I haven't really looked at modems too much but clearly the codecs, modulation, analogue interfaces etc are improving quite rapidly not keeping up or buying cheap is something of a false economy.
LJTS said:
Just ditched my Sky fibre unlimited broadband for a Three Mobile Sim and a 4G router
Getting twice the download speed using the Three Sim compared to Sky
Highly recommend ditching the landline
How do the download limits affect you and can you use an external aerial?Getting twice the download speed using the Three Sim compared to Sky
Highly recommend ditching the landline
I know my EE mobile when placed in the loft can hit 60 mbps but they are pretty expensive.
Drayteks are very good but quite complicated to configure - there's a lot you can do with them. If you fancy one look on ebay as there are always some on there & the simpler ones aren't too expensive.
If you're looking to move then the support at Zen is outstanding, although they are not the cheapest. He'd be looking at £28/mo with line rental for unlimited broadband:
https://www.zen.co.uk/home/broadband/fast
If he signed up for 12 months he'd get a free Fritzbox router which Zen can support.
https://www.zen.co.uk/home/broadband/router
I'm not sure if it's the same router for Fibre but Zen CS can tell you. I've been very critical of how Zen have handled some price changes but for supporting non-techy customers they are peerless. I've banned my sister from ever moving away from them.
If you're looking to move then the support at Zen is outstanding, although they are not the cheapest. He'd be looking at £28/mo with line rental for unlimited broadband:
https://www.zen.co.uk/home/broadband/fast
If he signed up for 12 months he'd get a free Fritzbox router which Zen can support.
https://www.zen.co.uk/home/broadband/router
I'm not sure if it's the same router for Fibre but Zen CS can tell you. I've been very critical of how Zen have handled some price changes but for supporting non-techy customers they are peerless. I've banned my sister from ever moving away from them.
Using a Three sim which is unlimited data for £20/month
Router is a Huawei B525 Router (£120)
Wished I'd ditched Sky earlier which was £41/month
Three offer money back on Sim if not happy with network
Router next to window for maximum signal
B525 has two SMA connectors for external antenna if required
Router is a Huawei B525 Router (£120)
Wished I'd ditched Sky earlier which was £41/month
Three offer money back on Sim if not happy with network
Router next to window for maximum signal
B525 has two SMA connectors for external antenna if required
LJTS said:
Just ditched my Sky fibre unlimited broadband for a Three Mobile Sim and a 4G router
Getting twice the download speed using the Three Sim compared to Sky
Highly recommend ditching the landline
The Huawei 4G router, unlimited data at £24 per month. Just need to see if it will work properly there and job done.Getting twice the download speed using the Three Sim compared to Sky
Highly recommend ditching the landline
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/AIC...
CDP said:
The Huawei 4G router, unlimited data at £24 per month. Just need to see if it will work properly there and job done.
http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/AIC...
I'd check if you can fit an outdoor aerial with the Cube if living in a poor signal areahttp://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Huawei/AIC...
Input your postcode into https://www.mastdata.com/
It will show you mobile mast locations near to the property, helps if setting up an outdoor aerial
It will show you mobile mast locations near to the property, helps if setting up an outdoor aerial
Another vote for Draytek.
Piece of piss to set up and rock solid.
Not cheap but very stable, and can sometimes achieve slightly better sync rates.
If he is still on adsl and joins BT, they may give him a free speed boost in the future, as Openreach are trying to rid the network of any copper that feeds the cabinets.
Piece of piss to set up and rock solid.
Not cheap but very stable, and can sometimes achieve slightly better sync rates.
If he is still on adsl and joins BT, they may give him a free speed boost in the future, as Openreach are trying to rid the network of any copper that feeds the cabinets.
I've recently had to cancel Vodafone BB as it way slower than advertised and even they were surprised at it. They then sent an engineer out to test it which led to it not working for two weeks.
I spent 7 to 8 hours on the phone and 3 visits to try and get it working.
Part of their solution was sending me a new router which they charged me postage for so that was the final straw and they agreed to release me mid term.
I ended up with BT which seems far better. D/L netflix onto my tablet at 5-6 mb vs very max of 3 with Vodafone. In addition I got a £100 gift card plus 2nd gen Amazon echo all for the same price of 25 quid a month.
The router is good too. I can be in my cabin the other side of the house from the router with the cabin 20 odd meters away will full WiFi strength
I spent 7 to 8 hours on the phone and 3 visits to try and get it working.
Part of their solution was sending me a new router which they charged me postage for so that was the final straw and they agreed to release me mid term.
I ended up with BT which seems far better. D/L netflix onto my tablet at 5-6 mb vs very max of 3 with Vodafone. In addition I got a £100 gift card plus 2nd gen Amazon echo all for the same price of 25 quid a month.
The router is good too. I can be in my cabin the other side of the house from the router with the cabin 20 odd meters away will full WiFi strength
CDP said:
The big issue is he lives a long way from the exchange and only gets 1.5 mbps and almost every time I go around I need to reboot the router to achieve it. The Post Office supply a really cheap looking Zyxel modem/router which I suspect is a large part of the problem.
Would it be worth just buying a third party modem - has anybody been able to compare them?
Cheers
I'm on PO Broadband for £17.50 a month. I flip every year when the end of contract price increases. So far, cycling between BT, then PlusNet, now PO Broadband. Would it be worth just buying a third party modem - has anybody been able to compare them?
Cheers
The PO modem is a Zyxel AMG1302-T11C. It gives about the same ADSL speeds of 13.4 down on my line as the BT and PlusNet modems. Also have NetGear and TP-Link ADSL/FTTH modems, all of which give the same level of throughput. The Zyxel is not worse on my line.
It won't be possible to just blame the 'cheap' modem without a look through the log for line errors or re-connects (under System Monitor) or the ADSL status (main screen - then look for the right arrow: System Info.) In the Maintenance Section, there's also an DSL Status screen which will let you check for errors and line attentuation figures.
The modem is usually on 192.168.1.1
There is a firmware update on the Zyxel site. It doesn't improve throughput.
There are a lot of places to check for ADSL problems, starting at the connection in the house. Google will help.
Wifi performance aside, the Zyxel is no worse on ADSL performance than any of the others I have. The PO service is the identical Openreach service from BT or Plusnet, but with TalkTalk LLU, so moving to another Openreach service fired over copper wire nailed to sticks probably won't help.
Edited by Slushbox on Monday 29th April 06:44
Slushbox said:
CDP said:
The big issue is he lives a long way from the exchange and only gets 1.5 mbps and almost every time I go around I need to reboot the router to achieve it. The Post Office supply a really cheap looking Zyxel modem/router which I suspect is a large part of the problem.
Would it be worth just buying a third party modem - has anybody been able to compare them?
Cheers
I'm on PO Broadband for £17.50 a month. I flip every year when the end of contract price increases. So far, cycling between BT, then PlusNet, now PO Broadband. Would it be worth just buying a third party modem - has anybody been able to compare them?
Cheers
The PO modem is a Zyxel AMG1302-T11C. It gives about the same ADSL speeds of 13.4 down on my line as the BT and PlusNet modems. Also have NetGear and TP-Link ADSL/FTTH modems, all of which give the same level of throughput. The Zyxel is not worse on my line.
It won't be possible to just blame the 'cheap' modem without a look through the log for line errors or re-connects (under System Monitor) or the ADSL status (main screen - then look for the right arrow: System Info.) In the Maintenance Section, there's also an DSL Status screen which will let you check for errors and line attentuation figures.
The modem is usually on 192.168.1.1
There is a firmware update on the Zyxel site. It doesn't improve throughput.
There are a lot of places to check for ADSL problems, starting at the connection in the house. Google will help.
Wifi performance aside, the Zyxel is no worse on ADSL performance than any of the others I have. The PO service is the identical Openreach service from BT or Plusnet, but with TalkTalk LLU, so moving to another Openreach service fired over copper wire nailed to sticks probably won't help.
Edited by Slushbox on Monday 29th April 06:44
His neighbours also have issues with speed, much of his village have got fibre to premises. Sadly OpenReach don't publish schedules for this like they do with fibre to the cabinet.
My brother used 3 at home when their broadband was poor. He reckoned it was unreliable and unsuited for stuff like skype due to high latency but this was prior to the 4G network. The 3 deal at £22 per month unlimited data is really rather good. I have tried an old Nokia with a 3 sim and it gets 8-12MB which is a lot better than the broadband so maybe trying that for a bit before committing to a 24 month contract is the way to go.
^^^^
Think the 3G/4G routers are very good now. I use mine for a two-line VOIP phone without problems. Even sent faxes over it, which is said to be 'impossible'. :-)
Some say Mobile Broadband (MBB) latency is bad for games.
You might be able to test the signal using a mobile as 'tethered' Wifi hot-spot. Just got 26MB/s down/up, using a Moto E4 as wifi hotspot on Three 4G PAYG. (See you tried this.)
The Huawei HomeFi routers Three use are pretty good, but now have only one Ethernet port if you need to add more wired stuff. They work best on a window-sill facing the mast.
Will be switching to Three for MBB when the PO contract ends. There's often a discount for existing customers if you call them from a Three phone and ask for it.
Think the 3G/4G routers are very good now. I use mine for a two-line VOIP phone without problems. Even sent faxes over it, which is said to be 'impossible'. :-)
Some say Mobile Broadband (MBB) latency is bad for games.
You might be able to test the signal using a mobile as 'tethered' Wifi hot-spot. Just got 26MB/s down/up, using a Moto E4 as wifi hotspot on Three 4G PAYG. (See you tried this.)
The Huawei HomeFi routers Three use are pretty good, but now have only one Ethernet port if you need to add more wired stuff. They work best on a window-sill facing the mast.
Will be switching to Three for MBB when the PO contract ends. There's often a discount for existing customers if you call them from a Three phone and ask for it.
Edited by Slushbox on Sunday 5th May 15:45
Slushbox said:
^^^^
Think the 3G/4G routers are very good now. I use mine for a two-line VOIP phone without problems. Even sent faxes over it, which is said to be 'impossible'. :-)
Some say Mobile Broadband (MBB) latency is bad for games.
You might be able to test the signal using a mobile as 'tethered' Wifi hot-spot. Just got 26MB/s down/up, using a Moto E4 as wifi hotspot on Three 4G PAYG. (See you tried this.)
The Huawei HomeFi routers Three use are pretty good, but now have only one Ethernet port if you need to add more wired stuff. They work best on a window-sill facing the mast.
Will be switching to Three for MBB when the PO contract ends. There's often a discount for existing customers if you call them from a Three phone and ask for it.
A single Ethernet isn't too much of an issue for this as I'd run a cable down to a switch - the router would work best in the attic. I gather it is possible to fit an external antenna too which would make a big difference.Think the 3G/4G routers are very good now. I use mine for a two-line VOIP phone without problems. Even sent faxes over it, which is said to be 'impossible'. :-)
Some say Mobile Broadband (MBB) latency is bad for games.
You might be able to test the signal using a mobile as 'tethered' Wifi hot-spot. Just got 26MB/s down/up, using a Moto E4 as wifi hotspot on Three 4G PAYG. (See you tried this.)
The Huawei HomeFi routers Three use are pretty good, but now have only one Ethernet port if you need to add more wired stuff. They work best on a window-sill facing the mast.
Will be switching to Three for MBB when the PO contract ends. There's often a discount for existing customers if you call them from a Three phone and ask for it.
Edited by Slushbox on Sunday 5th May 15:45
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