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New and desperate

Hi All,
I hope that someone can help.
I currently use BTYahoo Broadband and have serious problems with access and speed. In addition to which, over the last 4 or 5 weeks, emails have been going astray.
I've been on to the on-line help several times, only to be told that the problem is with my PC or router or whatever.. never has it been their problem.

I really think that I ought to change ISP now, but am unsure whether or not that will help. If, as I suspect, its down to sheer volume of traffic, will I get better performance with another ISP? Do they use their own equipment or BT's?

Sorry, these are probably daft questions, but I want to get it right. We live in the far north of Scotland, and my wife, who is disabled, relies on the internet for her social interaction.

Thanks for any help you can give.
 
Yup get another isp!
I recomend my own www.idnet.co.uk
Immediate and cheap contact with support.
Excellent speed 24/7 and never any probs with e-mail
Give 'em a ring on free fone and get a few facts:
0800 0267 237
 
It does sound like its BT's problem, though it is possible it could be your end.

It would be good to move from BT anyway, as there are much better deals out there, with better levels of service.

Can you give a rough outline of what you use the internet for? Any idea of usage would be very handy for people making recommendations.

What does your email end in? Only give the last bit, i.e. yahoo.co.uk?

I have always found yahoo to be very reliable, and Im assuming thats what you have as your with yahoo.BT. But if its different, let me know.

I would recommend yahoo and gmail as email. They are both reliable, and dont rely on your ISP. This means if you change ISP, you dont have to change email addresses.

Oh yes, does it slow down at certain times? This is a clear indication of overloading.
 
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Old dude said:
It does sound like its BT's problem, though it is possible it could be your end.

It would be good to move from BT anyway, as there are much better deals out there, with better levels of service.

Can you give a rough outline of what you use the internet for? Any idea of usage would be very handy for people making recommendations.

What does your email end in? Only give the last bit, i.e. yahoo.co.uk?

I have always found yahoo to be very reliable, and Im assuming thats what you have as your with yahoo.BT. But if its different, let me know.

I would recommend yahoo and gmail as email. They are both reliable, and dont rely on your ISP. This means if you change ISP, you dont have to change email addresses.

Oh yes, does it slow down at certain times? This is a clear indication of overloading.

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply. :)
We use the internet mainly for browsing although we both upload photographs to forums we belong to. These are only small files (100K) and only about a dozen a month. Obviously, there is the odd file download too. But only once in a while.
I have no idea how to quantify the volume of usage. BTYahoo don't offer that facility anymore. Currently we are allowed 40Gb and have never been advised that we have exceeded that limit.
According to BT, we cannot receive greater than 512k speed as our line is not good enough.
In terms of slow browsing, it can occur at anytime although it is worse during school holidays and early evening. During a previous (very lengthy) on-line support session I was advised that the problem was with my wireless router (BT Voyager 2100). I went out and bought an ethernet card and cable so that it is now wired, but the problem persists. To me, logically, if the problem is only intermittent, it must be the connection backwards rather than from the router. Trouble is, I know too little about the technical side of Internet connectivity to argue convincingly
Our email ends with btinternet.com.

Thanks again, and thank you Nellie for your suggestion.
 
Looks as though it may be contention at your exchange and the backhaul to the ISP - BT should check that out. A good isp will ride heard on good O'l BT
Check out your exchange at SamKnows:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php
I think that using ones house wiring is much preferable/reliable than to using a wireless router.
It's very unfortuneate that you are so far/have such poor wiring back to the exchange
In any case, a change of ISP is no bad thing
 
nellie said:
Looks as though it may be contention at your exchange and the backhaul to the ISP - BT should check that out. A good isp will ride heard on good O'l BT
Check out your exchange at SamKnows:
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php
I think that using ones house wiring is much preferable/reliable than to using a wireless router.
It's very unfortuneate that you are so far/have such poor wiring back to the exchange
In any case, a change of ISP is no bad thing

Thanks - I've decided to register with IDNet. Hopefully things will improve :)
 
TAHNKH said:
According to BT, we cannot receive greater than 512k speed as our line is not good enough.

in that case check out the special deal from NDO at www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=21558
this gives you 12 months broadband (with a quality ISP) for £60

it should also be possible to keep you BTY e-mail account,
but your BT router will need to be re-set to the factory defaults before you can use it on your new service.

if the problems persist after you have changed ISP, then running the BT speedchecker, and then a general speedchecker, will help identify whether the problem is with the line, BTw, or your ISP
 
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If the most you can get is 512k on your bt line you can always try cable. You might be able to get NTL (ntl.com) or Telwest (telewest.co.uk)
 
jannerboy said:
in that case check out the special deal from NDO at www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/showthread.php?t=21558
this gives you 12 months broadband (with a quality ISP) for £60

it should also be possible to keep you BTY e-mail account,
but your BT router will need to be re-set to the factory defaults before you can use it on your new service.

if the problems persist after you have changed ISP, then running the BT speedchecker, and then a general speedchecker, will help identify whether the problem is with the line, BTw, or your ISP

Thanks for the info :)
 
ipguy said:
If the most you can get is 512k on your bt line you can always try cable. You might be able to get NTL (ntl.com) or Telwest (telewest.co.uk)

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think its likely as I live on a remote crofting community about 60 miles north of Inverness. :)
 
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Tahnkh

not sure what you're budget is but you're going to be faced by lots of choices.

If you prefer a smaller and more personal ISP, take a peek at the packages below -

http://www.aquiss.net/broadband.php

Might also help you decide which type of package is best for you. My own advice is draw up a short list of two or three and then ring each - you'll soon find out which one is the best for your needs.
 
petezab said:
Tahnkh

not sure what you're budget is but you're going to be faced by lots of choices.


there wont be a lot of choice if you restrict your decision to a non MAXdsl product.

you already have some existing problems, and the last thing you need is another set of problems that MAXdsl is likely to bring.
If your line was capable of supporting, say, 5Mbps, then it might be worth taking the risk, but a fixed speed product looks to be your best bet if your line can only support low speeds.
 
Thanks for the advice and links everyone. :)

I've registered with IdNet and will give them a try. Its a 1 month contract so if its no good then I'll try again.
 
try aol they have been pretty good to me over the past 4 and a half years
 
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I would advise you to change email address too. I know its a pain, but I think BT close those accounts sometime after you leave them.

If its unreliable, its not worth keeping anyway.

I strongly recommend a free yahoo address (I know thats partly BT but dont let that put you off, Ive been using it for 3-4 years) or a free Gmail one.

Let us know how you get on with your new provider.

Good luck!
 
Old dude said:
I would advise you to change email address too. I know its a pain, but I think BT close those accounts sometime after you leave them.

If its unreliable, its not worth keeping anyway.

I strongly recommend a free yahoo address (I know thats partly BT but dont let that put you off, Ive been using it for 3-4 years) or a free Gmail one.

Let us know how you get on with your new provider.

Good luck!

I've just set up a yahoo address :) I looked at gmail, but it doesn't appear to be available in the UK.
Thanks again, everyone. You've been a big help. Idnet starts 8th August. I'll keep you posted

Regards

Trevor
 
i personally stopped using free email services along time ago in favour of my own domain name and email address.

plenty of places on the internet offer such services.

without trying to spam the forums or promote anything but organic solutions offer an email only service under there web hosting service

here is a list to a handfull of email services in the uk

http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/email/mailplus/
http://www.hostinguk.net/services/mail_hosting_plans.asp
http://www.organichosts.eu/?p=email/standard/index

Those are 3 examples
 
Last edited:
One may sometimes often change one's ISP. Therefore, its better to get an e-mail addres with someone such as http://uk.yahoo.com/. With yahoo uk (not yahoo.com) one is able to automatically receive ones emails downloaded to ones computer via Outlook Express etc. I have had the same E-mail address for many years not withstanding the trials and tribulations of ISPs - very convenient and of course free.

At this time the ISP situation is in a great state of change. At first sight one would think that Talk Talk was the answer to all our prayers - but this is hardly the reality of the situation - anything but!! Around a year for the dust to clear and the reality of the situation to become clear. At least with excellent support at Idnet one should find where the weakness lies in ones connection to the www
 
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