BT broadband office

1. At March 27, 2008 10:27 AM, Carl wrote:

Still means nothing if your line cannot support the speed that the adapter claims to be able to assist with by increasing "on average, one and a half megs difference" as many lines still only support up to 2mgb.
A good product if it does work though.

2. At March 27, 2008 11:01 AM, Chris wrote:

Hannah,
This sounds like a great little device, do you have any idea when it is getting released or where to buy one from.

3. At March 27, 2008 11:49 AM, zen wrote:

Sounds smashing, but I'll have to see it to believe it...

4. At March 27, 2008 12:26 PM, james lyon wrote:

YES BUT - why are BT going to charge us all another £10 to solve a problem of low speeds that BT should have fixed in the first place ??

I am getting 6952 kbps out of a maximum of 8000 kbps and I am 2.5 miles away from the exchange. I was only getting an average of about 3500 kbps or even less untill BT installed new cables from my property to the exchange.

Is this box a solution to slow speeds or just a quick fit with a charge to us of another £10.

5. At March 27, 2008 12:26 PM, J G Dawson wrote:

Sorry - Sounds dodgy to me - something from the 'Realm of Could, Might and Maybe' - Bought freeview technology recently that 'could' turn my computer into a super TV but didn't - bought a pad that 'could' turn my computer into an artist - but didn't and of course I've already invested in broadband that 'could' give me speeds of up to 8Mbps - but didn't - Therefore, in my opinion, anything with so carefully chosen ambiguous wording 'should' in my experience be avoided...with extreme prejudice!

6. At March 27, 2008 2:34 PM, Jimmy wrote:

I think James is missing the point again.

This is to solve slow speed issues caused by interference from external appliances.

I mean if your tv power supply is faulty and causing interference with broadband you aint gonna call BT are you !.

7. At March 27, 2008 3:18 PM, Michael Kenward wrote:

Before investing in such kit, people need to be able to experiment to see if it will improve their connections. I suppose we could all run around and turn off everything electrical and see if the broadband accelerates. But there has to be a better way.

As to those moaning about connection speed, those of us who started in the days of 300cps, when 2400 cps (that about 2.4K) was a wondrous advance, delight in 6M, event if 8M is theoretically possible. It would be nice to have our own linesman to string up new wires, but I hate to think what that would do to my BT bills.

8. At March 27, 2008 4:31 PM, Chris Sabin wrote:

Means diddly squat in all honesty. Does it intergrate with ADSL 2+ that BT are harping on about when they get round to updating the exchanges on the 21CN.
The way ADSL works, 2+ use frequencies that Max or 2 dont use so it can provide a faster speed.
Will this iplate interfere with that?

9. At March 28, 2008 9:06 AM, Stephan Brookshaw wrote:

Ahhh the delights and good old day's of 8 Mbit connection to the internet. This would be a good peice of technology if it could correct interference etc...on the line, but surley BT should be providing these items free of charge to customers?

What most people fail to realise is that most the telephone lines in the ground have been there for many many years, some since around World War 2, meaning that they are in bad condition already. Do you really think that a simple thing on the face plate will fix this issue?

I currently use Virgin Media as my ISP and enjoy the full benefits of 20 Mbit connection speed, downloading at an average of 2.5 MB a sec. Maybe if BT was to offer something like this, they would get more satisfied customer and increase their customer portfolio? Or does that make to much sence?

10. At March 28, 2008 11:03 AM, Jimmy wrote:

How many people on here have actually took time to read this article through, nowhere does it say that it will solve speed issues caused by low quality lines.

To quote "The telecoms giant claims that electrical interference from household objects - including televisions, set-top boxes and even Christmas tree lights - can reduce a broadband connection to a crawl".

And

"BT says it expects ISPs to distribute the device freely to customers with connection problems, saving on the expense of support calls and engineer visits".

So before posting your comments please take time to read the article fully.

11. At March 28, 2008 11:42 AM, James Lyon wrote:

I agree with Stephan Brookshaw - Is it not about time that BT got their act together and provided everybody with a 20 mbps service rather than tinkering with gadgits that my or may not work.

Why dont BT come into the real world of 2008 and upgrade their systems to match or beat the VIRGINS of this world.

The problem with BT is that its staff dont know the meaning of JOINED UP THINKING.

I recently reported a line fault and received an email which said, click on the following link - This I did and was asked for my bill ref: I recahed for my BT bill and typed in the bill REF No. - reply - no such number came back. It turns out that BT bill ref numbers do not tie up with the BT Fault system. Surprise surprise. Faults man said he would report it.

New BT systems are not matching up with old systems - NO JOINED UP THINKING and the necessary JOINED UP ACTION.

12. At March 28, 2008 2:33 PM, chris SMITH wrote:

Well, Our Vodafone Mobile Broadband is working a treat , and guess what ? NO MORE BT LINE RENTAL MWAH HA HA HA HA

13. At March 28, 2008 3:35 PM, Davy B wrote:

I agree with one of the previous posters. A new gadget which will cost an additional £10 to resolve interference and increase broadband speed, something which BT should be resolving and what the customers are paying for. I'm just glad im with Orange and not BT!

14. At March 28, 2008 4:19 PM, Pat W wrote:

If like me you still rely on BTs old and slow lines this extra £10 worth of kit will make no difference whatsover! I still struggle to manage 1mbps at best because of the sub standard line I have.

15. At March 28, 2008 8:38 PM, MARK GENTRY wrote:

Inventing little gadgets is all very well but as long as you try to feed a high speed digital signal through what is basically old copper telephone wire you will never get the speed in this country that you should. it is high time BT started to invest in replacing old telephone wires with proper digital cable. We are seriously lagging behind other countries who enjoy super fast broadband connections. I don't think for one minute that my TV or anything else slows my broadband signal down. What slows it down and interferes with the signal is old copper wiring that simply is not designed to cope with broadband signals. It's like trying to play a record on my cd player.

16. At March 29, 2008 11:17 AM, Chris Sabin wrote:

If only it was as simple as replacing the cooper lines with fiber. (Hence virgin hitting 20mb and soon to be 50mb).

BT shouldn't have to pay for this themselves considering they were broken up by Ofcom. They are already investing £10billion in the 21CN. I wish i had that kind of money kicking about to do that. Upgrading the lines would cost about £10billion as well.

On a side note to the people who use Vodafone or Orange etc, you might pay BT line rental but your BB does use BT at some point.

To James Lyon, it doesnt matter what happens, BT will never make you happy. Get over it.

17. At March 29, 2008 11:28 AM, Steve wrote:

I agree with previous posters, it all sounds very good on paper, or moniter, but does the thing actually work, will it improve the speed of my wireless connection to my laptop, which at the moment is so slow, I could walk to town and back ( about 6 miles) before my chosen web sites have loaded. If it will do this I would gladdly pay a tenner or even twenty quid to obtain one.

18. At March 29, 2008 12:59 PM, JAMES LYON wrote:

I hope that all these comments are passed onto BT WHOLESALE beacuse they are in a world of their own - Even if you manage to get through to BT WHOLESALE on the telepjone they refuse to talk to you. They are way out of touch with the real world out there.

19. At March 29, 2008 2:56 PM, Kate wrote:

We are lucky if we get o.6mgb, yet are paying for a service supposedly offering speeds up to 8mgb. I agree with the many comments about the poor quality of BT lines. Our exchange is antiquated and if there is heavy rain (pretty frequently)the line is affected and broadband virtually grinds to a halt.How are we to know if other electrical equipment affects the speed and what use is this latest piece of gadgetry!

20. At March 29, 2008 3:14 PM, Mike wrote:

Davy B, Who do you think orange get their line from? BT, this little gadget will help with interferance which can be caused by TV's etc, (read this http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/177399/bt-bought-telly-to-fix-broadband-blackout.html )
If little things like this can avoid things like this then surely a tenner is nothing? Especially if you need all the speed you can get,

21. At March 30, 2008 9:47 PM, Barrie Duke wrote:

This iplate sounds like the main box plate that has a built-in filter - cheaper on ebay.
I have a 0.5 mbs broadband connection that drops off in moderate winds. BT refuse to renew the cable because I don't rent the line from them.

22. At March 30, 2008 10:06 PM, Frank Phillips wrote:

i have a .mac account and an msn account on a bt business total broadband hub, and they are super fast, but when i use my bt email account it's slow, they are all on the same line, who is conning who

23. At March 31, 2008 12:15 AM, Rhys Adams wrote:

I have to agree with Chris Smith, T-Mobile's web and walk data solutions really do help!
We rent offices on an extremely successful business park in Derby, with BT broadband. We get no more than 1000kbps download speed. With my T-Mobile card I get 1.8mbps, and it is so much clearer and faster.
Will BT please hurry up and put an exchange on Pride Park!

24. At March 31, 2008 10:48 AM, Chris Sabin wrote:

Im sorry but no wonder ofcom want to change the advertising law on how people get broadband speed.

You pay to get an UP to 8mb service. As admitted there are many factors that stop this happening. Im not the biggest BT fan myself but dont jump on the fiber bandwagon without thinking it about properly. Do you have at least £10 billion to spend to upgrade the network? Didn't think so.

And to James Lyon: BT Wholesale will not speak to you becuase they ONLY speak to Internet Service Providers (which you are not). Don't like that idea? Take it up with Ofcom *who decided how BT Group PLC should be split up due to the competition act*. If your not happy with that then speak to your right honourable local MP who may or may not have voted on it depending upon their length of service

25. At March 31, 2008 12:28 PM, Ade wrote:

Why do people comment unintelligently? Mark Gentry says he does not think any intereference within his premises would slow his broadband down. It does not matter what you think its a fact! Its not BT cooking up things. All these equipment have electrical noise, all of which can be transmitted, and can interfere with your BB signal, which is also transmitted down the line.

Why should BT be solving the problems in your home, that degrade the speed your line can support? They have not said it would upgrade that actual line rate, the improvement is based on the actual line rate of the existing line.

Now bearing in mind that the copper lines are very old, and taking into account distance from the exhange, how would you expect that BT should make all lines the same and have the same capacity - by magic?

Should BT undertake digging up copper lines, which would result in temporary loss of service for a period - a lot of the people here would moan. The copper lines are OURS, and not just BTs. They provided a service years back, which worked, and then we had no complaints, but now with technological advancement and this "gimme, gimme" attitude, we expect BT to magically upgrade the lines.

Do people have any idea how long this takes, and the effort involved, which by the way has already been embarked upon by BT. Why do people expect everything to be done for them? If £10 can help reduce interference in your premise, which has nothing to do with BT, then go sort it yourself. If your line can support 3Meg, and because of your own miserly attitude, you cannot be bothered to spend the money - then dont take your frustrations out on a company; because then its just simply a case of shifting blame.

26. At March 31, 2008 12:41 PM, Carl wrote:

In response to James Lyon.
BT Wholesale are the administrators of the product broadband. They regulate the fair trade of braodband between different internet service suppliers and therefore they need to treat all Internet service suppliers the same, this includes BT Broandband as well. They (BT Wholsale) are the suppliers to internet service suppliers and not the "End User", ie you and I and therefore they will not speak to us as they do not have any contractual obligation toward us.

27. At March 31, 2008 12:45 PM, tony norris wrote:

I used to be with AOL but switched due to the worst call centre ever, now with BT and i must say it is even worse, up to 8mg i think not even slower that AOL it would be quicker to post the mail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

28. At March 31, 2008 1:04 PM, Ian Betteridge wrote:

James says: "Is it not about time that BT got their act together and provided everybody with a 20 mbps service rather than tinkering with gadgits that my or may not work..."

ADSL 2+ - which delivers up to 20Mbits - is currently being trialed by BT in selected exchanges. If you're a BT Total Broadband customer and are interested in taking part in BT trials, it's worth keeping an eye on the support forums (http://beta.bt.com/bta/forums/forum.jspa?forumID=110&start=0) as that's where they tend to be announced. Roll-out date obviously depends on the success of the trials, but you can guess that the trials will last a couple of months at least.

29. At March 31, 2008 1:08 PM, Ian Betteridge wrote:

Chris says: "Well, Our Vodafone Mobile Broadband is working a treat , and guess what ? NO MORE BT LINE RENTAL MWAH HA HA HA HA"

Just a charge of Charge of £12.77 per GB if you exceed your inclusive allowance? :)

30. At March 31, 2008 1:10 PM, Ian Betteridge wrote:

Rhys says: "Will BT please hurry up and put an exchange on Pride Park!"

Probably waiting until the Rams got relegated! :)

(Sorry, couldn't resist! I'm a Derby fan, so I have an excuse...)

31. At April 1, 2008 11:16 AM, Stephan Brookshaw wrote:

To quote Ian Betterridge:

"ADSL 2+ - which delivers up to 20Mbits - is currently being trailed by BT in selected exchanges."

Are you not missing the point that was being made though? If the wiring is old, and unable to cope with Broadband speeds already, only giving 1 - 5 Mbit, then how is enabling ADSL+2 going to change that?

You need to improve the infrastructure first before you can do that. It is like putting more cars on a 3 lane motorway that is already at bursting point, and still wanting it to move fast, it aint going to happen! Fiber Optic is the way forward. If virgin can provide this for 20Mbit with 50Mbit trials, then BT is lagging behind. Cant you as an BT employee see the sense?

32. At April 1, 2008 3:37 PM, Gary wrote:

BT is lagging behind thanks to OFCOMs regulations that prevented them from dropping their prices. This would have encouraged more customers, more revenue long term and more ability to do anything.

As it is they are forced to work with what they have, due to not having billions of pounds lying around to replace the network with fibre lines.

Perhaps they should increase their prices to make more money to pay for all this?

Oh wait, then all their customers would leave them, they'd go bust and you'd all be moaning at the lack of communication network in the UK.

We're living the legacy of decades of previous decisions. It's not going to be fixed anytime soon. Accept it.

33. At April 1, 2008 4:57 PM, anjanesh wrote:

post breaks the record for most replies.

34. At April 1, 2008 6:23 PM, Phil Simmons wrote:

So BT are charging £10 to try and sort out the problems THEY are causing?

We pay for an 8Mb service and get AT BEST 0.6Mb. The lines where I live are poor quality and run through flooded pipes so when it rains, you can guarantee our broadband speed will run as slow as 0.09Mb and yet we still have to pay for 'up to 8mb'. 1Mb would be an improvement and I don't believe that if BT can solve this problem with a plate, they should be allowed to do this instead of fixing the actual problems that exist.

If we had cable, we would not hesitate to switch... Anyone would think it was the dark ages given the speed our connection runs at.

When complaining about this, BT actually advised us to MOVE HOUSE - I promise you that is true...

35. At April 2, 2008 8:57 AM, Stephan Brookshaw wrote:

I think we should all move to Japan, they give out 100Mbit connections to customers, how great :D

36. At April 2, 2008 9:06 AM, Chris Sabin wrote:

To quote Stephen "only giving 1 - 5 Mbit, then how is enabling ADSL+2 going to change that?"

The reason ADSL2+ works is to utilise frequencies that aren't available at the moment. This means that it can provide a faster speed.

"Fiber Optic is the way forward" which is 100% correct but to provide this BT would have to invest £10 billion which as ive said before not everyone has lying around. The Government + other ISP's should be able to pay for this as well as BT because there is now fair treatment between all service providers.

37. At April 2, 2008 9:39 AM, Jimmy wrote:

To quote "Phil Simmons" So BT are charging £10 to try and sort out the problems THEY are causing?.

Please can you tell me how BT can be causing the problems with "external" Interference from electrical equipment.

It is a well known fact that interference from electrical equipment can cause problems with broadband lines, hence the increase in "slow speeds and intermittent connections", particularly around Xmas due to xmas lights flashing on and off !!!!.

38. At April 2, 2008 9:49 AM, Stephan Brookshaw wrote:

To quote Chris Sabin:

"Government + other ISP's should be able to pay for this as well as BT..."

Then if the goverment and isp's know the way forward, then why don't they put aside their differences and actually do it then? This would be benificial to ALL isp's, not just the one, as they will have greater customer intake for faster speeds etc..

So the £10,000,000,000 spent could be reflected by profits greater than that.

Even if say the goverment was to raise taxes to pay for this, I do not mind...

39. At April 2, 2008 9:52 AM, Ian Betteridge wrote:

"Are you not missing the point that was being made though? If the wiring is old, and unable to cope with Broadband speeds already, only giving 1 - 5 Mbit, then how is enabling ADSL+2 going to change that?"

As Chris has pointed out, bad speeds with 8Mb services doesn't mean you'll get an equivalently bad speed with ADSL 2+. However, it DOES indicate that you're unlikely to get too close to 20Mb either: bad lines are bad lines, and no matter what technology you use to push bits down them, you're going to get interference which means reduced bandwidth.

Phil says: "I don't believe that if BT can solve this problem with a plate, they should be allowed to do this instead of fixing the actual problems that exist."

The point of the plate is to solve problems that actually exist in the home, rather than between the home and your exchange. The only thing that will solve the problem between the home and exchange is re-cabling, and even then it won't solve all your problems. The further from the exchange you are, the less bandwidth you're going to get.

40. At April 2, 2008 10:48 AM, Chris Sabin wrote:

Time to address a common theme here

"We pay for an 8Mb service but dont get it"

No you dont! You pay for AN UP TO 8mb service. This means the speed can vary from 8mb down to 512kb/s.

If you think that your service sucks, or the speed is slow, and haven't read anyone's posts about what could be causing the problem then dont complain.

Have a look at www.samknows.com and put in your exchange and see if its unbunled by a provider who can offer you 16mb or 24mb?

To quote a reference off samknows in reference to this article
"But perhaps the most impressive innovation came in the form of the interstitial plate. This small box greatly reduces the impact of electrical interference and can be installed without the need to disconnect any wires when fitting it. Note that a standard ADSL filter is still required as well though.

This neat solution was demonstrated in conjunction with the faulty fluorescent light too and saw the connection speed climb back up to 3.6Mbps from 470kbps - a massive improvement. Of course, this is an extreme example and just a demonstration; your mileage will vary. BT conceded that the new filters may not be ready for mass production by launch at the end of April, but they were hoping to make them available to ISPs soon after at a very low price."

41. At April 2, 2008 10:49 AM, Stephan Brookshaw wrote:

Forgot to mentionetion in last comment. If it is £10,000,000.000 that is needed,. then get 10 billionaires to donate £1,000,000,000 each, problem solved!

42. At April 2, 2008 1:20 PM, Zorro wrote:

James! "beat the VIRGINS of this world." - harsh! They buy your trains!

43. At April 2, 2008 2:01 PM, anjanesh wrote:

few things
1.BT is doing a commendable work of modernising its backbone network and would probably be the first company in the world to switch to an complete IP based network.

2.The last mile link between the exchange (or nodes )remains and would continue to be the weakest link .please remember that ADSL is sent over copper wires laid out decades ago it is a miracle that the broaband is even available over legacy systems.

3.Alternative technology to deliver broadband over the last leg is needed. Possible alternatives like power line networking,wireless links or firbre optics would be needed .

basic fact of the matter is that unfortunately - no one can tear out the underground cabling overnight and / or replace the last mile link or build more nodes .this would take more time.

44. At April 7, 2008 4:30 PM, Chris Sabin wrote:

Anjanesh is right, we should be grateful that broadband works on the legacy system and BT are doing massive overhaul on bringing the WHOLE network up to date from pre 1960's standards.

The reason the government is not involved yet is because it does not want to fully comit itself to the project while BT do the backbone network upgrade.
There are talks planned for later in the year between all ISP's, Ofcom and the government to decide on the way forward.

Its easy to sit here and just say fiber the whole last mile but this will take a long time to do. Try replacing every telephone line in the UK? Think it would be a quick job?

There is a company that can network a city within 6 hours. (3 choices of city for being the first to get it but i can only remember Dundee being one of them). Basically they use sewers to lay the fiber in and can do this in a very short space of time. How they get it to end users premises varies upon building design etc. It sounds nice but the problem is that some of the UK sewers aren't suited for this purpose and each has to be taken on its own merits at the time.
France however are laying their 100mb service through this.

Their are many different solutions available but whether or not they will all work is a different story. Until something is properly finalised then we can all just dream of faster speeds!