[Beewyched]

Is anyone else out there having problems with BT, or is it just us 
We've got both our landline &| internet via them & tbh it's driving me mad    Our lines go down frequently - the most recently from last weekend until Friday, then they've only worked intermittently & our broadband speed is barely above dial-up - even when it's working 
We've looked into going with another provider, BUT, if the BT lines aren't working, then they've still got us over a barrel 

[Anke]

Exactly! But if you live in the back of beyond - BT is really your only option. I know quite a few people who have gone back to BT because it was even worse with other providers... as you say BT runs the lines...
 
Ours doesn't break down, but broadband speed is so slow - I cannot watch anything on i-player or even u-tube... (now my OH would say that is a good thing, and tbh I don't miss anything either...).

[Beewyched]

Same here with i-player & u-tube 
The most frustrating thing is not being able to get on TAS for days at a time 

[ppd]

BT are awful and would never deal with them - but we have to. When we moved here my OH had our line converted to digital, for his work and we then applied for a house line for broadband and a house phone. After months of promises and site visits and stress we were quoted £47,000  and what gets me is they are rolling out all this super fast fibreoptic broad band and yet they can't sort our small communities and give them a decent service. We have satellite broadband now - not cheap, but at least the money doesn't go to BT (stands for Bloody Terrible, in case you didn't already know!) Rant over

[Beewyched]

£47,000 
I could add a few of my own for BT - Bl**dy Tyrants for 1 
They keep telling us it's because we're over 5 miles from the exchange  - surely that's more to do with their sub-standard maintenance than the distance we are from there 

[Plantoid]

Your pushing it to keep data together and coherent once you get to seven Km from an exchange For the internal resistaqnce of the lines kills the signals & voltage from the exchange . You also  you lose too many electrons through the covering on the metal cable conductors.
In some cases  in older areas where the aluminium cable is still in place fron the 1960's the losses in the cables are even worse. The Post office as it was then did a massive programme to get lines to as many people as they could .When I left BT 16 years ago there were still a couple of million miles to replace.
 
 I think Bt actually owns /service over 30 million miles of wires underground not to mention  several hundred thousand of fibre optics.
 
I used to be in BT playing on data circuits for business customers and ISDN . There was no home broad band , the gear had not yet been invented to shove the digital signals  along  circuits that were excellent for analogue speech.
 
Those over head cables both the ones from a pole into your home and the bigger thicker ones strung along roads where it is cheaper & quicker to carry telephony & data circuits  over head rather than bury them underground .
 They are really very strong , I have lowered myself down from a 40 foot pole on two of them when an  " ancient lady " came round a corner in her equaly ancient Oldsmobile  and knocked my laddder away snapping the ropes that tied it on to the pole as well . She buggered offf with out even noticing what she had done aparently ... exit one BT two section ladder poles climbing for the use of  .
 
In cases where there is exceptional risk of damage there are two more kinds of extremely strong wires .
One thing that none of these cables will stand for long is branches rubbing on them , falling  trees tearing them down and people blasting at them with shot guns. They do also suffer from lightening strikes all the time , which at the time of strike is not always obvious or showing as a fault .  Strike damage can take years or months to show up , so can shotgun damage where the insulation is peirced yet the conductors in the cables are intact .
 
 To get your phone socket live and  back to an exchange takes  something like a minumim of 18 connections for of each pair of wires in your cable, the further away you are the more connections and as a consequence the more fault liabilities..
 
 Here in the darkest of dark South Wales just north of the west end of the M4 we have waited for 8 years to get the local exchange in the 21 st century .
Updated less than two weeks ago to give us a record breaking average of 58 kilobites per second  except when the kids are on holidays , the TV is crap and during business hours when  it sinks down to around 36 kbs.
 Prior to the exchange upgrade broad band frequently dropped out completely .
 
 

[tizaala]

We are with sky ,I 've just googled " test your internet speed "  free.  our download speed is 2mb, upload is .3mb . we are the 2nd last property on the line , But it says if we switched to BT we could get 4 mb, oh and cheeper.......Hello ! it's the same bloody equipment and s**t line , do they expect people to believe their lies?

[jaykay]

Fortunately we are so far from the exchange BT couldn't give us broadband, though it took (literally, I timed it) 12 hours on the phone to India, over a month, to establish this 

I now have satellite broadband, having had the microwave system that bounces from barn to barn along the dale. That was very unreliable, the satellite is great  and from the wireless signal it gives, I can have a gizmo in the house that gives me a mobile signal, for when BT's lines go down again 

Yes, superfast fibre optic broadband  Let's have 20th century (let alone 21st) systems in small communities first!

[SallyintNorth]

I have twice lived in properties where BT confirmed I could get broadband, let me order it, and then, weeks later, admitted that they couldn't deliver it.

Mind, every other broadband supplier was sure they could deliver it there too... 

[FiB]

Wow Plantoid, I suddenly feel very grateful for my 400 kbs (0.4 Mb)!!!  It took 12 month of fighting to get from 125 to that, but then they threw in the towel and said that was as good as it could get (reliably) untill the line was replaced.  They did say that the schedule was to have all lines upgraded by 2015, but I can imagine that being a load of bull....


 I would be pretty content if I was paying a bit less - I still maintain I dont have a 'Broadband' service - but am in a 'take it or leave it' (they have actually said that!)  situation and its still miles cheaper than satelite, even with a welsh assembly grant.  It does gall me when they send me junk mail advertising their super fast broadband - think I will start sending them back to the BT chief exec, saying 'yes please'!!!

[bucketman]

Morning all
Been reading this post, as the place we're moving to has satellite broadband. So would like to ask two questions.
One is if I've read jaykay's post right, can you get a mobile signal with some systems
I ask cos the place we're going doesn't get a mobile signal also ppd says satellite broadband isnt cheap so how much is not cheap.
rob
 

[ppd]

Hi Rob
We pay around £37 per month, but that gives up to 8meg download speed (probably not getting that!) The system is weather dependant and cloud and rain can slow it down, but not too badly. We have a reasonable download limit, but can't remember what is is now. If you go over your limit it can be expensive, but on some systems you can buy more if you think you are going over. You can choose from various packages so really depends on what you want. We are pleased with our system and as our phone line often gets cut off if we have storms at least we still have internet access Oh and it wasn't too expensive to fit (around £300 I think) Some companies were looking for £800 - £1000 Shop around is my advice
Jaykay - would be interested to hear what gizmo you have as our mobile signal is crap, unless you are hanging half out of certain windows   Is it a signal repeater?

[bucketman]

Hi ppd
 The place already has a system in place and the guy where buying it off says its the host for us and the place next door. So when we move hopefully we can just put the dish in are names. The place has a land line but I am never off my mobile and the signal there is crap am always on the internet on my phone using the wifi so hopefully get round it that way just have to tweet every one.
 Oh and one more thing if the Members Map is right we may soon be neighbours

[Sudanpan]

We've played silly bu**ers with BT for our telephone and broadband on several occasions 


All was hunky dory for a couple of years, but then we hit a massive go-slow on the broadband for NAR. When we contacted BT they messed us around for ages, insisting that we'd made some change or other. We were supposed to be getting 3mb but had about 156kbs on a good day and it was driving me nuts 


To add insult to injury they charged us a penalty for allegedly going over our monthly download limit (10Gb) - I freaked out at this as I pointed out that at the speeds we got to download 10Gb would mean I would need to be online for 796 days..... I got the money back 


I perservered (hours online and on the phone) and we are now in the relatively good position of 1.5mb download speeds - but still a far cry from what we theoretically could get - and we are only 1 mile from the exchange that has just had the super duper fibre optic hoodgamaflip - but obviously not down our line!


BT = b*st*rd Tw*ts

[Brijjy]

I'm now on satellite broadband with Tooway. And so far so very good. I can now watch Youtube and Iplayer without having to wait 6 months for the thing to buffer. I can download stuff much quicker too. And cos I live in a welsh "not spot" the Welsh Assembly are paying for it! Well the installation anyway. The price per month is £25.