FTTC from Plusnet

H

heroblob

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814
Well ive been with PlusNet pretty much from their conception. But due to the distance from the exchange I have only ever managed to get a mediocre speed. Lucky if I managed to get 3Mb download speed.
Well 3 weeks ago I decided to take the plunge and sign up for their FTTC service. I also managed to secure a really nice deal with them for their 80/20Mb connection.

My connection was changed over on the 4/4/14 and took less than 40mins to complete. First test should a hard wired connection speed of 74Mb download and 17Mb upload. very impressive. Wireless was a little disappointing, at about 35Mb DL and 17Mb UL. This issue was finally tracked to the wireless card in my laptop, which unfortunately due to being a Lenovo and running a white list Bios cant be changed for anything any better. A new BT dual band usb wifi dongle sorted the situation. I now average 60Mb DL and 17Mb UL, and have seen 70Mb DL over wifi.

This has now allowed me to connect my sky box to the router hard wired using a couple of home network adaptors which use the ring main in the house, so I now get sky on demand.

Still awaiting an opportunity to try a Skype call to my brother in the California, but hopefully it will now be glitch free.

Technology, what a marvellous thing.
 
RE: FTTC form Plusnet

justcallmegreg said:
I'm with plusnet now.

What deal did you manage to get for the FTTC ?
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2year contract.
80/20 unlimited connection
Had to change phone line over to them, but ended up saving a pound against BT on rental.
£14.99 / month FTTC
£14.50 / month phone line rental.

I was paying £15.50 / month BT line rental and £6.99 / month PN ADSL 3Mb connection.
 
It's not bad is it.

I just moved from the god awful talktalk. They were giving me fibre for just an extra £5 on too of my half price Adsl which was only 3.75.

Trouble is I only used it wirelessly and was getting no more than 19mbs so not worth paging the extra really (I get 12mbs with Adsl)
 
I'm currently with talktalk, and am looking to change provider. Any recommendations, I only browse the net, emails, shopping, TSR, no streaming etc.
Thanks
 
I should have had my plusnet bb upgraded to fibre last week but they failed to book the openreach engineer so I had a morning wasted waiting in. Should be sorted on Thursday and I'll see how they respond to the email I sent.
 
I too am with plus.net. Out of all the ISPs I've been with they have been above and beyond the best. We have really poor telly reception here though, so I'm thinking about getting virginmedia, which I'm dreading a bit, I'll be honest, as their customer support isn't anywhere near as good. Technically though, virginmedia isn't bad, just getting to a techie there is like trying to get to talk to a doctor.
 
I was with Virgin media for almost four years - had a few technical issues with them but they sorted them in no time and had no trouble with customer support. I've heard people complain about them, but I would have gladly stayed with them had they been able to supply me in my new place.
 
Yes, its really good when it works, but when you have issues with SNR and you cannot get through to anyone technical at VM. Then when you finally do they say something like "well, nobody else in the area has reported issues, so we don't think there are, it must be your equipment"... Basically you have to wait until enough people complain before an engineer will visit. At least, that's what I experienced some 6-8 years ago. Perhaps things are different now.
 
eneville said:
Yes, its really good when it works, but when you have issues with SNR and you cannot get through to anyone technical at VM. Then when you finally do they say something like "well, nobody else in the area has reported issues, so we don't think there are, it must be your equipment"... Basically you have to wait until enough people complain before an engineer will visit. At least, that's what I experienced some 6-8 years ago. Perhaps things are different now.
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I am with Virgin and have had a few problems with the router as my area was swamped with VM customers so there were a number of people on the same wireless channel. So they gave the latest 5G router and now have only had one problem, they remotely sorted out the router and it was up and running in about 5 mins. I am currently getting 105Mbps download. It has a few issues but not sure as any of the main providers are perfect.
 
missingskin said:
I am with Virgin and have had a few problems with the router as my area was swamped with VM customers so there were a number of people on the same wireless channel. So they gave the latest 5G router and now have only had one problem, they remotely sorted out the router and it was up and running in about 5 mins. I am currently getting 105Mbps download. It has a few issues but not sure as any of the main providers are perfect.
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I always count the wired speed, not including the router. Even though VM give you a router, often the router cannot perform as well as your computer, especially the wireless side of it, processing the WEP is expensive work. The wired side of the box should be straight-through, or close to, it may have to do the NAT but that's minimal compared to the work involved doing wireless.

As far as channels for wireless goes, there's only three non-overlapping channels. You could plant a lot of trees around your property, that'll help shield things a bit for you.
 
...and the moral of the story is? Don't rely on the junk modem routers most providers dish out.

No idea what you guys are doing with the many 10's mbps you can't do without.
 
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