broadband provider

[dlx1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/reports/internet/internet_20070227.shtml
^ url is old
was a thing on Watchdog this year about ISP given out mac address.

 

[baffled]

i'm too far from the exchange for Be. any other suggestions?

put your postcode in HERE and you'll be able to see which isp's are available at your exchange.

Hopefully you'll have a few LLU operators to choose from and then you can investigate each further, if BT sort your line/mac problems.

 

[slainte]

Emm just one thing there .i don't understand how you can be too far from the exchange for Be but still get bog standard ASDL from BT.

In fact normal ASDL is a maximum distance of 18,000 feet or 1.5 miles from the exchange.. Be there use ADSL2+ maximum distance of 5 km or 3.5 miles give or take a small bit.

I think those whom told you that you are too far from Be have definitely got their facts wrong ...re check. and do so twice from Be as call staff vary in quality..ask for your exact distance from exchange.

Seriously? better off with ADSL2+ from Be better download better upload speed more tolerant SNR.

Moving to them myself after being lied to by plusnet on my actual distance from exchange and therefore maximum theoretical download speed.

I will get double the download at least with Be and a hefty upload rate.
About the same price as the package I was paying from plusnet...bunch of arrogant c**ts they are too.

 

[ethel]

it was the Be website that told me

 

[lobster]

Anyone know a cheap SDSL provider that's good?

 

[stdPikachu]

Cheap SDSL?! Oxymoron time, matey

We had good experiences with our 2Mb PlusNet line before we switched to 10Mb Metro Ethernet (that was about £10k/yr with a four nines SLA - can't remember how much the SDSL was I'm afraid). Don't know if PlusNet have gotten shit in the time being, but bear in mind that SDSL = business class and therefore not really comparable with PlusNet consumer class.

 

[lobster]

Fair enough, it was my wishful thinking

 

[19sixtysix]

If you need to test how far you are from the exchange on a BT line do this:

"The BT line test facility can be accessed from any BT (or WorldOnline) line by dialling 17070.



Distance From Exchange

Dial the same line test number 17070. Then press option 3 (fast test) then press option 1 (to say you are authorised, don't worry about 'not being officially authorised'). The press option 2 (ring back test). Then put the phone down.

You will get called back by the test facility within about 10 seconds, one of the bits of information given will be distance from exchange (in kilometres).

*The distance result may not be accurate if you have a 'DACs' fitted. It is not 100% accurate but does serve as a guide.

any probs? see It doesn't work? (below)

It doesn't work?
You need a BT line (or WorldOnline).
You need to use a touch tone phone (don't think it works without one).

You have caller line id (CLI) blocked, if this is the case then on dialling 17070 the message will include 'there is no CLI detected for this circuit'. You can get round this by dialling a prefix before 17070, the prefix is 1470, so the full line test number will be 1470 17070."

 

[stdPikachu]

Cleverly enough, PlusNet want you to register with them before they'll give you the prices, so fuck that. Eclipse are advertising their 2Mb SDSL with a 10:1 contention for £225pcm.

 

[chio]

Locally, my ISP offer an interesting-looking business service that goes over a radio link rather than down the phone line. It's listed on their website at about £5,000 a year for 2Mb both ways at 1:1 contention. Although they're very niche at present, things like this can only be good for the broadband market in the long run because they give a few more options that don't involve that string of copper owned by BT and will work in rural areas.

Decent ISP for bog-standard ADSL, by the way - when you phone up, you get straight through to the bloke who pushes the buttons to change your service and stuff, no call centre gatekeepers in the way.