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Congested Exchange - Slow broadband but connected at 6.5Mbps!

Hey all, you probably get this question a lot in some form or another, but I was hoping someone could shed some "true" light on the matter. I'm fed up of being told different things by different ISPs.

First of all, my exchange is Towcester - searching the net revealed that many people are in a similar situation (especially if living in small towns) where there is congestion reported at the local exchange... I found this link:

http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/?exchange=Towcester&exact=1012&plugin=vp

I presume because of this, no matter what ISP I use, I'm still going to experience major issues at peak times of the day. My line is reported at 6.5Mbps and in the evenings and most of the weekend, which is the only time I need to use the internet at home I must add, even browsing the net is extremely slow - let alone trying to stream video content! I ran some speed checks, the best I managed to get was about 200kbps.

Question 1: is my presumption correct? Can this differ between ISPs?

Secondly, searching on, I found this link:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EMTOWCE

Basically I was looking for any potential upgrades at the exchange and whether or not there were any ISPs with their own LLU presence. Unfortunately not, but...

Question 2: would an ISP with LLU presence actually make a difference?

I'm with Orange, I paid for the higher package, and I've checked I've not been throttled because of high bandwidth usage (that'd be impossible anyway :crap: ). I've called them on many occasions, even armed with the dreaded question "Can I have a MAC code please?". But they insist that what ever ISP I chose I'll experience the same congestion in the evenings and weekend.

Question 3: So do I basically just have to live with it?

I also noticed that some ISPs offer lower contended services (especially on business broadband). I called several to ask the same questions above. However, even with the likes of plus.net, I am told that they prioritise important traffic within their own network and this will give me a better experience and won't actually guarantee any speed increases.

Question 4: Surely if the exchange is congested, the ISP prioritising traffic won't actually make much difference?

So really - the overall question here is - what is the truth? Please ispreview, could you make it your mission to explain this to the ordinary person at home, wondering why in 2010, we're getting slower speeds than when we all had broadband 9 years ago?

All the best, JD :D
 
Hi JD,

The checker is saying a VP is contended but it will show that even if there is just 1 out of 20 VP's is contended and you may be unlucky and be on that 1 VP that is, a LLU provider would be better if there was any present as they dont use the same network for back haul.

If you was to migrate you would stay on the same VP and just the mapping where your connection went to would change, also if you are getting only 200kbps there is a garenteed minimum bandwidth of 600kbps on the 448 upload product, but if you have the product with 832 upload then the minimum is 1200kbps so you would have grounds to raise a fault to BT on that. The 832 upload product through the BT network it is prioritised.

If BT are unable to incease the bandwidth on a VP then they set it to churn where they wont allow any new connections to be put ont hat VP and wait for people to move off it, one way to have this done is for a cease and re-provide which would change the VP.

Hope this helps

LeeH
 
Thanks Lee,

So in the case of a congested VP, seems like the only option is to take the risk terminating your connection completely and connecting again in the hope you'll be connected to a less congested VP.

Or just wait for WBC... and live with it in the meantime...
 
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No it wouldnt be terminating the connection a cease and re-provide can be done via the faults process and wouldnt be a problem.
 
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