Convince my mum

[AndrewC]

So, for the past 4 months or so, my house has been plagued by problems related to the phones and internet connection.

My sister downloaded too much music and went over a download limit (which we never even knew about.) So they placed a cap on us, giving us a maximim of 120kb/s connection to the net until they would decide to remove it.

Then a few days later, the phone cables in the box outside the house were destroyed from torrential rain. The cables were eventually replaced.


Now: Last month, on the 16th, our ISP said they had removed our download limit and we should be back up to speed but of course it's almost a month later, no improvement and I think it's the phone cables that's hindering the connection.

We recently phoned BT and asked for a line speed-check: we got a result of 500kb/s - beforehand we got over 3mb/s.


I'm trying to convince my mum to switch to Virgin Media and get Fibre-optic broadband.


(PHEW, almost there)

My question to the Escapist world is this: Will having fibre-optic cables installed involve anything being dug up around the house? I have no idea on the installation procedure for this, so please help if you know anything.

(rests fingers)

 

[AndrewC]

Yeah I checked and our street already has cables.

 

[Rakkana]

We just switched from BT to virgin and it's the best decision we ever made.

 

[DigitalSushi]

I've switched from Virgin to a BT home Hub and the service is much better, the bandwith is coming up as less but it all works faster for some really strange reason, also BT don't phone me every 5 minutes trying to sell me extra shit I don't need.

Also when I do have a problem they sort it out as opposed to being bitchy like Virgin were.

 

[jasoncyrus]

So, for the past 4 months or so, my house has been plagued by problems related to the phones and internet connection.

My sister downloaded too much music and went over a download limit (which we never even knew about.) So they placed a cap on us, giving us a maximim of 120kb/s connection to the net until they would decide to remove it.

Then a few days later, the phone cables in the box outside the house were destroyed from torrential rain. The cables were eventually replaced.


Now: Last month, on the 16th, our ISP said they had removed our download limit and we should be back up to speed but of course it's almost a month later, no improvement and I think it's the phone cables that's hindering the connection.

We recently phoned BT and asked for a line speed-check: we got a result of 500kb/s - beforehand we got over 3mb/s.


I'm trying to convince my mum to switch to Virgin Media and get Fibre-optic broadband.


(PHEW, almost there)

My question to the Escapist world is this: Will having fibre-optic cables installed involve anything being dug up around the house? I have no idea on the installation procedure for this, so please help if you know anything.

(rests fingers)

Go with BskB, I've had very few issues with them at all. Once you get it up and running ( a bit of a hassle) it doesn't fail for YEARS. It is truely awesome, and NO cap

 

[Girl With One Eye]

I use sky, its pretty cheap at the moment, you can get unlimited broadband for £10 a month as part of a package, you should check it out.

 

[AndrewC]

I have no idea who BskB are.

Sky's also been mentioned, but the idea of "0mg alien satellite on side of t3h house!!" just makes her say no.

¬.¬

I'm reluctant to switch to BT since when they replaced the cables, the phone lines are still fucked up -.-

 

[Alfador_VII]

I wish I could get cable here.

The only wires in the street belong to BT, so there's basically no choice.

Sure I could get various different names on the ADSL service, but they're all still re-selling BT. Even LLU which is an option still uses BT's phone cables

 

[Glamorgan]

So, for the past 4 months or so, my house has been plagued by problems related to the phones and internet connection.

My sister downloaded too much music and went over a download limit (which we never even knew about.) So they placed a cap on us, giving us a maximim of 120kb/s connection to the net until they would decide to remove it.

Then a few days later, the phone cables in the box outside the house were destroyed from torrential rain. The cables were eventually replaced.


Now: Last month, on the 16th, our ISP said they had removed our download limit and we should be back up to speed but of course it's almost a month later, no improvement and I think it's the phone cables that's hindering the connection.

We recently phoned BT and asked for a line speed-check: we got a result of 500kb/s - beforehand we got over 3mb/s.


I'm trying to convince my mum to switch to Virgin Media and get Fibre-optic broadband.

(PHEW, almost there)

My question to the Escapist world is this: Will having fibre-optic cables installed involve anything being dug up around the house? I have no idea on the installation procedure for this, so please help if you know anything.

(rests fingers)

Listen. Virgin is terrible. I was a pain to use, and everyone in my family hated it. We switched to BoB, and we still use that.
I wouldn't recommend using it.

 

[AndrewC]

err BoB?

 

[Sark]

I am jealous of your internet. The maximum download speed I can get at the moment is 160kb/s. This is uncapped. Seriously, don't complain too much.

 

[AndrewC]

This is going to be harder than expected

BT are extortionate anyway, I looked at their prices online and wanted to shoot them.

And it appears that most of you aren't too fond of Virgin either. Oh dear D:

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Virgin don't cap but they do throttle your bandwidth. If you download 6 gigs in the morning expect 200kbps for the rest of the day.

 

[SonicWaffle]

This is going to be harder than expected

BT are extortionate anyway, I looked at their prices online and wanted to shoot them.

And it appears that most of you aren't too fond of Virgin either. Oh dear D:

Whatever you do, avoid O2 like the plague. They've cut my mobile off once (after I renewed my contract, which they confirmed with me days before cutting me off!), taken the full cost of my 18-month contract at once instead of in installments - then told me it'd be back within ten days three times before finally returning it a month and a half after taking it, placed a block on my internet service and then been totally unable to explain why they did it, and actually managed to lose the phone my sister sent back to them for repair.

Seriously. Fuck O2. They are utterly hopeless.

 

[verindae]

All service providers have a fair usage clause in their broadband contracts, Virgin Media's does tend to be more liberal than others so if you're an excessive downloader you'll find yourself being throttled less on cable than you would on BT. Also I remember reading an article recently involving comparison between stated "Up to" speeds and actual averages, Virgin Media comes out on top by miles. (I'll try and find the article if you want)

Definitely seems the way to go from my experience.

Edit: went looking and found it anyway

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/07/uk-broadband-speeds-up-especially-the-advertised-speeds.ars

 

[AndrewC]

Yeah I've heard that O2 are terrible.

Thanks for the link Verindae

 

[spartan231490]

So, for the past 4 months or so, my house has been plagued by problems related to the phones and internet connection.

My sister downloaded too much music and went over a download limit (which we never even knew about.) So they placed a cap on us, giving us a maximim of 120kb/s connection to the net until they would decide to remove it.

Then a few days later, the phone cables in the box outside the house were destroyed from torrential rain. The cables were eventually replaced.


Now: Last month, on the 16th, our ISP said they had removed our download limit and we should be back up to speed but of course it's almost a month later, no improvement and I think it's the phone cables that's hindering the connection.

We recently phoned BT and asked for a line speed-check: we got a result of 500kb/s - beforehand we got over 3mb/s.


I'm trying to convince my mum to switch to Virgin Media and get Fibre-optic broadband.


(PHEW, almost there)

My question to the Escapist world is this: Will having fibre-optic cables installed involve anything being dug up around the house? I have no idea on the installation procedure for this, so please help if you know anything.

(rests fingers)

I hate you? My internet speed is 45kbps on a good day. I lose connection every few minutes for as long as 30 seconds.
OT: i have no idea, but i do know i would kill for the connection you already have.

 

[manaman]

Man I am glad I am in the US and nobody has download caps. The most we have to worry about is bandwidth shaping where some companies feel it's their right to throttle your bandwidth if you actually have the audacity to use the full bandwidth you are paying for. Even then they ususally only throttle if you have been using your full bandwidth for half an hour or more, and it's only between 25%-50% throttled.

Not that I have to worry about that at home. I have a fiber connection, 45Mb/s and its owned by the PUD so they don't really care how much of the bandwidth you are using. Realistically I get about 35Mb/s but it's still a great connection and far faster then anything else out here. Only downside was the expense to install it. The PUD was willing to run a node up to the end of the county road, but I had to dig a trench up the side of the ridge to the house (the run was to far to follow the driveway) and pay for the fiber.

I hate you? My internet speed is 45kbps on a good day. I lose connection every few minutes for as long as 30 seconds.
OT: i have no idea, but i do know i would kill for the connection you already have.

Last connection I had that was that bad was when dial up was the only thing available. I remember playing Starcraft and getting the dropping because someone called the house.

 

[spartan231490]

Man I am glad I am in the US and nobody has download caps. The most we have to worry about is bandwidth shaping where some companies feel it's their right to throttle your bandwidth if you actually have the audacity to use the full bandwidth you are paying for. Even then they ususally only throttle if you have been using your full bandwidth for half an hour or more, and it's only between 25%-50% throttled.

Not that I have to worry about that at home. I have a fiber connection, 45Mb/s and its owned by the PUD so they don't really care how much of the bandwidth you are using. Realistically I get about 35Mb/s but it's still a great connection and far faster then anything else out here. Only downside was the expense to install it. The PUD was willing to run a node up to the end of the county road, but I had to dig a trench up the side of the ridge to the house (the run was to far to follow the driveway) and pay for the fiber.

I hate you? My internet speed is 45kbps on a good day. I lose connection every few minutes for as long as 30 seconds.
OT: i have no idea, but i do know i would kill for the connection you already have.

Last connection I had that was that bad was when dial up was the only thing available. I remember playing Starcraft and getting the dropping because someone called the house.

U.S. companies do have download caps. At least some of them do. Hughs net, for one. and comp direct for another (only high speed available where i live) both have download caps.

 

[4484448444844484]

Where I live, we have fiber optic cables run through the whole town but no ISP to run them. It sucks.