Sponsored Links

Is Anybody there?

OK at94home, I suspect that your problem might be solved. I also still use a normal 56K modem as well as ADSL. I have a micro filter/splitter at the end of the telephone extension with each modem plugged in to the appropriate socket. The extension in fed from the main BT socket where another micro filter/splitter filters the line to the rest of the house phones. This works well without any problems.
The address I gave for BT bt_test@startup_domain should be used instead of your account user name (*******@dsl2.net). It is not a URL so won't open a web page if pasted into OE. If used to log on (leave the password box empty) it will then, if your BT ADSL connection and modem is working, open a BT test page at http://www.bt.net/digitaldemo/ The only purpose of this it to check your ADSL connection independent of your ISP.

Cheers - by the way the name is Geoff :-)
 
Last edited:
Telephone Assembly

With regards your telephone assembly, a number of things to look at:
-If you have other telephones on the same line as your computer, either each phone needs the telephone branching device (a micro-filter) that splits your line in two into two frequencies. or
-A micro-filter at your main phone socket, if all the other telephone sockets (excluding the computer point) connect into the micro-filter on the main socket. A micro-filter is also required on your computer line.
-Check all devices attached to your line have a filter, such as a Sky Box, if the modem in the sky box dials when using ADSL it will crash.

Some sites that explain it that I found useful, as I’m still learning are http://www.adslguide.org.uk/howitworks/ , http://www.adslguide.org.uk/howitworks/splitter.asp and http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dsl.htm

As for my set-up I have a number of phone sockets each with a Micro-filter, as each sockets is wired directly into the main phone socket or in another socket that is directly wired. For my computer connection I have a Micro-filter with the ADSL part directly connected to my ADSL modem card, with the other part of the Micro-filter attached to a splitter one going to a telephone next to the PC and the other to my old dial up 56k modem. One thing I don’t understand is if I use a different Micro-filter on the PC split I get a slight improvement in connection speed. I guess it depends on the quality of the device and all connections being made tightly.
 
Hello people. I am trying to get my dad on adsl (for my little bro's sake). How is the service? Still good for most? Last thing I want to do is stick him on a lemon.
 
I can't fault the MetroNet service at all and have no hesitation in recommending it. ADSL for £11.75 a month - fantastic value!
 
How is the service?

Been with them since end of July, speed continues to be very good. Just ran speed test to try and give you some tangible info. Downstream 469 Kbps (58.6 KB/sec) or with overheads 506 Kbps and Upstream 246 Kbps (30.8 KB/sec) and with overheads 265 Kbps. Speed The upstream [correctionshould read downstream] is slower than normal, I usually get 474 to 476Kbps.

Service has been very reliable, including their email service but that’s an extra £7.50+Vat a year.

As for support-only used it very infrequently by email and response has been quick and accurate, but telephone support not 24*7 but can’t comment on that as I’ve not used it.

Cost as you will know Bartman depends on usage, for PAYG500 £11.75pm plus 0.29p a MB between 201MB & 5.8GB a month. I'm paying around £13 to £14 a month.
 
Last edited:
I don't have broadband myself, but suggested to a couple of people who decided to get it and were fairly light users that MetroNet might be a good bet for them, and they're both still happy with it after about 3 or 4 months.

Dave 01 - I am intrigued by your comment about the upstream being slower than usual. As I say, I don't have broadband myself so maybe I'm out of date, but I thought that it was 512k down and 256k up. Have I missed a change to things?
 
Sponsored Links
Sorry sentup.custard I should have said DOWNSTREAM slow than normal. My usual speeds are 474 to 476Kbps down and 246Kpbs up from a possible max of 512 down & 256 up.
 
Thanks people, but I failed in my mission. The cap of £28 or so was to much, even though I assured him they would never hit that.

Ahh well, me little bro will have to make do with dial up....
 
Thanks for the update Bartman; they do give usage info by day, but if your brother is into files transfers, music & video downloands it could get expensive. As yet I've neaver gone over 1GB in a month thats £14.10.
 
email accounts

Is it unusual for an ADSL ISP *not* to give you an email account?

Cheap offering but it seems a bit tight to leave out the email. Frequently for using online services you need an email which is not a hotmail or yahoo account so what do you do - other than pay more which kills the cost advantage?

Silly.
 
Sponsored Links
E Mail Account

With Metronet you pay for the services you require. I have their POP3 account at a cost of £8.81 a year. Thats 17 pence a week.

I agree most companies do provide an email account, but there are many fee email accounts apart from hotmail; even BT give you free email accounts if you use their dial up Pay As You Go service once a quarter.

In my case am paying £13 or £14 a month for a good always on ADSL connection, I find this a great improvement from my evening & weekend dial up connection. And plus 17p a week for email.
 
I think its a good idea. They are not leaving it out, they are giving you the option of paying for it if you want it.

I never use email addys given to me by whatever ISP im on (eclipse at the mo), I always use webmail, have used the same yahoo address for many years now.
 
I don't need an e-mail address supplied by the ISP and prefer to have one that is portable and independent. There are plenty of free offerings. The @lycos.co.uk is very good and can be used as Web Mail or with Outlook Express.
 
If having the e-mail as an option keeps the basic price down, that's fine by me.

I have the usual web-based account (Talk21), nine different ISP based ones and two domain-name ones - I certainly don't need another one!
 
Thanks for the comments so far.

With regard to custard's reply,

A) 9 different ISP based ones! Can you recommend your top 3. Are they free?

B) I was considering a domain name - say sillyuser.co.uk but I still dont quite understand what you actually need to spend to get one. Incredibly thick of me hence the id.... What are the components you pay for, something like: buy domain, say 'a' setup, 'b' per year and then buy hosting , 'c' for setup and 'd' per year then buy email 'e' for setup and 'f' per year? I was looking at http://oneandone.co.uk but figured I had or would miss something. Unfortunately, cost is an issue for me. Any recommendations?

Ta!

PS. Im quite impressed with the availability of metronet so far. It was trivial to set up and within about an hour I had xp, 98 and 2 linux boxes talking through the dabs 4port router so im a happy user. Fingers crossed it will saty this good!
 
Sponsored Links
I have had a Lycos account for some time now. www.lycos.co.uk It's free and can be accessed using Outlook Express or as Web-Mail. Their message center also gives you free SMS to UK mobiles and very cheap SMS to International ones. I have not had any Spam so far either!
Also if you have an Orange mobile you can get a free POP3 or Web-Mail account from them. Both of the above have generous mailbox space.
 
They are all "free" as far as the actual e-mail account is concerned, but obviously there is the cost of the call charge for any that are not part of an ISP subscription - generally an 0845 number, but 211surf is an 0844 number, and OneTel and Eurobell are both special numbers billed by them not by BT.

If that sounds an expensive way of going about things, bear in mind that there is nothing to stop you using a webmail service such as the Lycos one which has been suggested to *send* your mail for nothing, but giving out the required proper ISP one (which has cost you nothing to sign up to) when filling in forms etc., and *collecting* your mail from this while connected to MetroNet at no cost - you do not have to be connected to the ISP whose address it is in order to collect incoming mail, just set up Outlook Express (or whatever) with the appropriate POP3 servers.

It's difficult to judge who is most reliable, as some of them I don't even bother to check for incoming stuff very often, and only use for sending once in a blue moon just to keep the account open. They are very variable about this - BTinternet sent me an e-mail to remind me that I hadn't used them for x number of days and they would close it if I didn't use it soon, but my old Eurobell one, which I had forgotten all about, was still active after I hadn't used it for over a year.

The three I use most regularly are PlusNet, Vispa and OneTel. PlusNet and Vispa both seem fine, OneTel less so but still not bad.

Surprisingly, considering criticism I've seen elsewhere, I've had no real trouble with BTinternet.

Waitrose and 211surf seem fairly OK most of the time, as do Eurobell now that I've remembered that I have an account with them and started using them now and then.

At the bottom of the pile I would definitely put NTL and GIO -the number of nonsense "wrong password" messages I get when trying to collect mail from those two is almost unbelievable.

I'm no wiser about the normal procedure and cost of domain names than you are, so will pass on that one - my two came free from the ISP, PlusNet, on a business account. They are in my name and I have the Nominet certificates, but PlusNet handled it all so I don't have a clue how you'd go about it yourself or what it would cost.
 
I think the question assumed you already had Web access? I have many different POP3 and Web Mail accounts. All of then allow mail download irrespective of how I access the Internet and the use of the MetroNet (and most other ISP's) SMTP server is free so there is no need to use any other dial up.
 
Sorry to change the subject but how are your speeds?

Hello by the way! My first post on here.

I have been reading the posts and have wondered how people's speeds are reading at the moment.

When I first connected to Metronet in July I was getting speeds of around 472 down on average but I have noticed that my speeds have dropped over the last couple of weeks to sub 470. Now, I know that this is still very good but I am interested to know if it's just me or if anyone else has noticed any difference?

I haven't tweaked my connection yet but am considering doing so, (see my post on Adsl Guide).


:shrug: :)
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Vodafone UK ISP Logo
Vodafone £24.00 - 26.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
NOW UK ISP Logo
NOW £24.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £25.99
145Mbps
Gift: £50 Reward Card
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £17.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Youfibre UK ISP Logo
Youfibre £23.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (6026)
  2. BT (3639)
  3. Politics (2721)
  4. Business (2439)
  5. Openreach (2405)
  6. Building Digital UK (2330)
  7. Mobile Broadband (2146)
  8. FTTC (2083)
  9. Statistics (1901)
  10. 4G (1816)
  11. Virgin Media (1764)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1582)
  13. Fibre Optic (1467)
  14. Wireless Internet (1462)
  15. 5G (1407)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules