Fibre to the cabinet became available here about a month ago. Ours was switched on today, instant boost from 1.5 to over 30Mbps.
I was surprised to hear today that a couple of people have just tried to order it, one via BT and one from Sky, and have been told that there are no more connections available.
I think there are about 300 houses in the village. The new cabinet appears to be Huwaei 288, named for its maximum line capacity when it has all the card slots filled. It seems unlikely that so many people have applied in a month. Does anybody here know how this works?
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GOOGLE -Huawei 288 with working capacity for 96 services. only 2 bundles of 4 fibres
So a max of 96 - take off capacity for "future businesses+ local Surgery/Pharmacy" etc etc then there are not many for the man in the street.
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I wonder where the constraint is - I can't believe they wouldn't lay enough fibre while they have the drains up; entirely possible that they have only put 2 of the 6 possible 48-connection cards in I suppose, at least initially. I'll ask the Openreach guys when I see them, they seem to be in there every day at the moment.
There's no cable here, and ADSL is mostly less than 4Mb, lost of people get 2 or less, so take up will be high.
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>> I can't believe they wouldn't lay enough fibre
A single fibre cable laid by BT is likely to have many more cores than this single cabinet can currently use. Most of the fibre in the cable will therefore be classed as dark fibre - i.e. unlit.
Maybe you're right that only a few cards are fitted. When there's demand for another I'm sure they will fit it. But not for an extra customer of two. The installation obviously was a risk to begin with - i.e. maybe not enough demand.
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>> The
>> installation obviously was a risk to begin with - i.e. maybe not enough demand.
Not a huge risk in terms of demand - none of the alternatives here is even good enough for one client streaming HD video reliably, and many are worse than that. Mine was c 1.7Mbps. I assume their demand forecasting would take that into account.
I signed up for Amazon Prime again yesterday, which I had binned when video (inaccessible to me) was included and the price went up. So I watched Ep 1 of The Man in the High Castle and a fillum about the Krays last night when the boss went out. It worked perfectly.
There's something flaky about the TT 'super router' though. A visit to the TT support forums suggests it is a frequent complaint and hard to solve. If I can't fix it, I'll just buy a decent modem router. I've had hours of my laptop disconnecting from wifi today, every minute or two at times. Yet the Roberts radio has stayed solid all day. Ethernet connection (TV via powerline set) is fine.
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I might be wrong, but Pat is on TalkTalk and she gave up trying to get a stable connection with their router and bought her own.
If you go down the buy your own then make sure the router/modem supports VDSL and not just ADSL.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Wed 26 Oct 16 at 22:25
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4 months ago I got fed up with my TalkTalk connection - bought a new router from Currys TPLINK £60 - it was an outgoing model but really good - stable @ about 6 which is not very fast but a stable 6 was better than an unstable 4.5/5Mb
Finally last week I left TT as they upped my price by about £5 / month - now on SKY using their posh new router - However it is registering about 5Mb so I might try the TP Link again - 6 instead of 5 is not great but 20% faster.
TP-LINK TD-W9980 Wireless Modem Router now £55 Currys - I can recommend it - it had a glitch early on but a download of new firmware fixed it in minutes!
Rebooted roughly once per month rather than 2/3 times a day!
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TT has the merit of being cheap, and the FTTC product is Openreach regardless, so only the router issue really, if the later firmware doesn't cure it, of which I am not hopeful.
I suspect a TPLINK 9970 at £35 would fix it - I don't need ac wifi or gigabit ethernet (which last the TT router doesn't have anyway) for what we do.
I contacted TT today using live chat (avoid the call centre at all costs) and switched to the "new customer" product which locked me in for 18m at a fixed price of £32 including line rental and anytime UK mobile and landline calls.
The confirmation email tells me I now have TT TV too, as it is in the bundle at no extra cost (unless I want to watch anything other than Freeview I suspect).
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Pop your number in here and see what it comes up with: www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome
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I did exactly the same Manatee yesterday and did mine over the phone with the disconnections dept.
It was a good job I used the Talk Talk landline as I was on the phone just over an hour but the call was free.
I finally agreed to renew if they sent an engineer out to check the broadband.
He's coming on Friday so we'll see if it's a bit more stable after that.
With the free TV box we can sign up to BT Sport on a monthly basis only during next years MotoGP season and save on the VideoPass subscription.
Pat
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I take you are on fibre? Did you get your own modem?
I still have a BT Voyager 2010 that I bought to replace some Virgin junk. ADSL only, slow wireless, poor encryption and not IPv6 capable. It will sync with piece of wet string though, according to the BT engineer who advised me to get it. Absolutely rock solid it was. I suppose it should go in the landfill now.
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Yes, we are on fibre and we got our own Nighthawk router/modem last year. The TV box has just arrived....that was quick!
Pat
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Ah, thanks. No sign of the TV box yet.
The wifi problem has gone away for now, it's all working fine. But it's such a commonly reported problem that I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back.
I turned the router round, in case it was the "beam forming" having some weird effects. Apparently they have multiple aerials, with transmission slightly de-phased, that have the effect of creating stronger signals where they interact. That IIUIC is why the Nighthawk and similar have a forest of external aerials. I must ask my ex-BT boffin friend to explain it properly.
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Yes, our Nighthawk has 3 external aerials and it does make a difference which way they are pointed.
I'm off to stock up on Rioja and ciggies this afternoon and Ian's job is to set up the TV box.
Fingers crossed I don't get upstairs on the Eurotunnel at 6am tomorrow;)
Pat
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>> Fingers crossed I don't get upstairs on the Eurotunnel at 6am tomorrow;)
How high is the Volvo Pat? The 'lingo at 1.87m is 2cm over the 1.85 limit for double decks and goes with vans/coaches at, SFAICT no extra cost.
We're off to Calais/Boulogne a fortnight's time. £60 return. Combining it with a weekend in the 'van at Caravan Club Blackhorse Fram.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 30 Oct 16 at 10:37
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To be honest I don't know Bromp, but it fits under the barrier with room to spare!
My fare is entirely paid for with Clubcard Points.
Pat
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>> Ah, thanks. No sign of the TV box yet.
Apparently they want £25 for the TV box, so I'll pass. As I understand it, it's just a Youview box that would give me Freeview (which I have), the ability to pause live TV (which I have) and some unknown to me Pay TV content.
I suppose I could look at it on the PC and see if it is worth anything.
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>>Absolutely rock solid it was.>>
I have the TalkTalk (HG 635 version) router for fibre. It's excellent, covers the whole house easily wi-fi wise and will deliver notifications and start sending/receiving e-mails to my Smartphone when I'm at least 50 yards away when walking/leaving home.
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>> I have the TalkTalk (HG 635 version)
The support forums seem to rate that more highly than the HG633 that actually came after it, despite the lower number. Hang on to it.
The 633 has faster'ac' wifi, when it's working, not that I need it as we are unlikely to have more than one video stream (if that) via wifi. The 635 however had gigabit ethernet, replaced by 100Mbps on the 633.
My 633 has been OK for the week I've had it, apart from one day when it was terrible on wifi. I suspect it will happen again, but it seems OK for now although it reports literally millions of errors in the stats which is a bit unexpected. No problems streaming video on ethernet.
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>>The support forums seem to rate that more highly than the HG633 that actually came after it, despite the lower number. Hang on to it.>>
I've had the HG635 for two years now and fully intend to hang on to it for the very reasons you mention..:-) It consistently returns 37.5Mb to 39MB+ download speeds figures on speedtest.net.
When I first read about the problems with regard to the 633 I made a beeline for the router's box to check which version it was and was relieved to find it was a 635!!
It certainly ticks all the boxes compared to the majority of ISP offerings, which is why prior to that I'd splashed out on a Netgear DGM4000 to replace a TalkTalk router. That now serves my best mate's ADSL2+ TT service.
One of the original 635 reviews:
tinyurl.com/mt76sdh
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Upgraded to TalkTalk Fibre today. Ordered it ten days ago and got the router on Monday. Installed it today - took ten minutes I guess. Couldn't be more straightforward Have been with Talk Talk for the past seven years and never had any problems with them.
They seem to be a Company that people love to hate but I find their product excellent.
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>>They seem to be a Company that people love to hate but I find their product excellent.>>
Snap.
I've been with TalkTalk for nearly 11 years, had excellent service and moved to fibre two yers ago (still only paying £5 a month for it thanks to keen negotiating!!).
In fact TT's ratio of complaints to number of subscribers is less than that of BT and other major ISPs, despite the perception of so many who are quick to accuse.
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Just out of interest what are you paying for line rental? The all inclusive introductory cost for fibre is now £22.95 for 18 months which doesn't seem bad to me.
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The fixed £22.95 isn't for fibre as I read it. It's for "Fast Broadband" which I imagine means ADSL2+ up to 17Mbps.
Fibre up to 38Mb is £27. Up to 76Mb is £32.
these are all "Fixed Price" for 18m, there is no line rental split out. On the legacy tariffs with line rental, it is £17.70.
I have just switched into the £27 one and I pay an extra £5 for unlimited UK calls to mobile and landlines.
For me that was an easy decision. Although my line length is probably <4Km, I cannot get more than about 1.7Mbvia ADSL. The connection won't stay up on ADSL2. The 38Mb fibre product typically gives me 36Mb download speeds. Upload is capped at 2Mb.
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P.S.
This is probably more informative than TT's own presentation, and includes some comparisons.
www.choose.net/media/broadband/reviews/talktalk/
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Yes you are quit right Manatee - I am paying £27 for fibre inclusive of line rental. The previous ADSL achieving around 6 Mb per second was costing me a similar amount.
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>>I have just switched into the £27 one and I pay an extra £5 for unlimited UK calls to mobile and landlines>>
I would check with TalkTalk. My best mate is on a legacy AnyTime International3 package (I used to have it before switching to fibre) and they initially gave him a free SIM with 250 minutes, texts and 500Mb of data free. They've since doubled those figures out of the blue and, again, at no cost...:-)
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>> >>I have just switched into the £27 one and I pay an extra £5 for
>> unlimited UK calls to mobile and landlines>>
>>
@Pat
re. unlimited free calls to mobiles from your landline - I find that very useful
>> I would check with TalkTalk. My best mate is on a legacy AnyTime International3 package
>> (I used to have it before switching to fibre) and they initially gave him a
>> free SIM with 250 minutes, texts and 500Mb of data free. They've since doubled those
>> figures out of the blue and, again, at no cost...:-)
>>
@Stuartli
afaik, ALL talktalk plans include one free mobile Essential SIM (additional ones are £5 a month) with inclusive:
200 UK Minutes
Unlimited Texts
500MB of Data
"Voicemail is included in your minutes allowance. If you run out of minutes, it’s on us.
You can also make free calls to TalkTalk Mobiles and SIMs in your household and to your TalkTalk home phone"
I don't know of any other telco who gives that much value for money.
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>> You can also make free calls to TalkTalk Mobiles and SIMs in your household and
>> to your TalkTalk home phone"
>>
>> I don't know of any other telco who gives that much value for money.
I am a former client of TalkTalk. When it's working ok, it's ok.
When it goes wrong it can be an absolute pain to get them to put it right. Talking to people a long way away, where English is not their first language can be very frustrating.
I feel I would be failing in my duty if I did not point that out to you.
"There was a little girl,
"And she had a little curl
"Right in the middle of her forehead.
"When she was good
"She was very, very good,
"And when she was bad she was horrid.
Last edited by: Duncan on Sat 5 Nov 16 at 11:04
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>> I feel I would be failing in my duty if I did not point that
>> out to you.
>>
>> "There was a little girl,
>> "And she had a little curl
>> "Right in the middle of her forehead.
>> "When she was good
>> "She was very, very good,
>> "And when she was bad she was horrid.
>>
As someone already pointed out, there are more horrid little girls per customer at other telcos.
I would be failing in my duty if I didn't point out that there is a very simple, quite painless, and extremely effective way of dealing with horrid TalkTalk call centre staff - whose English is actually far superior to the majority of indigenous Brits although their accent can be a difficulty:
And that solution is, I hear you ask?
Either - use the web chat facility (gives you a written record of what was agreed/promised),
Or - use the customer forum, from where a TalkTalk agent will take up your case.
Simples.
Last edited by: BrianByPass on Sat 5 Nov 16 at 17:34
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>> Either - use the web chat facility (gives you a written record of what was
>> agreed/promised),
>> Or - use the customer forum, from where a TalkTalk agent will take up your
>> case.
The point is, that even when I got through, they understood me, and I understood them, my problem wasn't resolved!
But, no matter. You are happy with TalkTalk - That's good.
I am happy that I have left TalkTalk and am now with Plusnet and I speak to people with nice Yorkshire accents - not that I never seem to have the need to.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 7 Nov 16 at 10:06
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>@Stuartli
afaik, ALL talktalk plans include one free mobile Essential SIM>>
Not in my best mate's case. He took up the free SIM offer after the hacking problems TalkTalk suffered last year when the company offered free bonuses to existing subscribers.
Late last month TalkTalk informed him that the minutes and data figures would be doubled (texts are unlimited as far as I'm aware) and the deal would continue to be free in the future.
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>> Not in my best mate's case. He took up the free SIM offer after the
>> hacking problems TalkTalk suffered last year when the company offered free bonuses to existing subscribers.
>>
Free SIM had always been there, but you had to dig for it. The hacking compensation offer gave a few extra minutes etc. for one year only.
>> Late last month TalkTalk informed him that the minutes and data figures would be doubled
>> (texts are unlimited as far as I'm aware) and the deal would continue to be
>> free in the future.
>>
TalkTalk are now giving the enhanced doubled allowances to ALL customers, and have simply brought those who took up the hacking compo offer - which now looks less favourable - in to line with the new better free deal.
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>>Free SIM had always been there, but you had to dig for it. The hacking compensation offer gave a few extra minutes etc. for one year only.>>
You don't seem to have understood my comment. Yes, the SIM offer was taken up when offered after the hacking problem, but the latest upgrade came out of the blue and is, apparently, permanent.
No doubt it will be further upgraded in future and TalkTalk is indicating on its website that anyone who takes up present upgrade offers (fibre broadband, TV etc) can switch to an even better one after three months if they wish.
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As already pointed out, the £27 charge is for 38Mb fibre with line rental - actually very good value for a fixed price 18 month contract.
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Vodafone's prices are less - they are at the moment for Vodafone mobile customers anyway.
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I have always been happy with Talk Talk, so much so that after an 18 month contract with BT, I went back to Talk Talk after being with them previously for12 years.
I've just switched to the fixed price deal and am waiting for £139 line rental refund I had already paid up front
I've also been with Vodafone for more than 15 years and they have been ringing me offering exceptional deals on broadband and phone and yes, they are cheaper than Talk Talk but try Googling Vodafone broadband complaints!
Pat
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We have Sky Fibre Max and it is very fast.
However, it stopped working on Friday so we have had to rely on mobile broadband over the weekend.
The Open Reach engineer came out today and checked everything our end and then went to the green box at the end of the close.
Turns out a lazy Open Reach engineer was installing a new connection on Friday and just unplugged ours to make capacity!!!
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That happens across ISPs then, similar for me when my Virgin performance went really slow - they'd moved me from the top of the cabinet to the bottom, whatever difference that means, when putting someone new on. (I think it was BS but there ya go...)
With Virgin I've always got slightly over the quoted bandwidth e.g. now I am on 100 Mbps but speedtest tells me I'm getting 110.53 Mbps. It rarely seems any slower despite a large number of Virgin customers around here. So when it does go slow, it is quite noticeable.
btw I was looking at my router over the weekend and was surprised that I have almost 40 devices regularly attaching. That includes 2 printers, 2 NASs, multiple PCs, phones, kindles and tablets, TVs, media servers (software) and the odd Internet of Things devices (sound docks etc)
None use an awful lot of bandwidth though so it doesn't get overloaded.
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I've tried upgrading from our 2mb broadband with plusnet, however they say that there's not enough capacity in my area and I should check with BT, however looking at their website they say there's plenty.
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BT have something, either a number to call or a web page, where they can tell you the likely throughput in your postcode. Would be worth a try...
EDIT: Here it is www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/tv-packages/?s_intcid=con_hpni_pns_tvpkgs
Last edited by: smokie on Mon 6 Mar 17 at 13:11
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Thanks, it says minimum is 2.5 mb, with an estimated 6-15mb. not bad but not as good as some of the speeds you see, mind you we manage perfectly well on 2mb that we get now. I expect plusnet will just keep referring me to BT.
It all started when I tried to change to the cheaper advertised deals, but because of where we are we can't get them.
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"I've tried upgrading from our 2mb broadband with plusnet, however they say that there's not enough capacity in my area and I should check with BT, however looking at their website they say there's plenty. "
Exactly my position.
BT tell me I can have their fibre broadband at their price, but it seems that they limit the capacity of the network to those ISPs who's customers are, in their words, "price sensitive" and want better deals. A bit of a monopoly situation IMHO.
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Fibre internet sold out - Falkirk Bairn
