Ultra-slow internet

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

Hi folks. Just moved house here in the UK. Was with Tiscali before and am now in a different exchange area, taking over an existing line but asked for a change of number, as the previous occupants were evicted, and obviously didn`t want any odd phone calls. ANYWAY......BT, bless `em, got the line working OK about a month ago on time but I have spent a frustrating month being passed all over the place, trying to get my broadband back on. I used a friend`s e-mail address to try and get things moving, but I feel as if I`m banging my head against the proverbial brick wall. All I keep getting are standard mails (obviously from a useless off-shore call centre) with the usual standard checks to make. I now have a connection but, unbelievably, it is actually running at slightly less than dial-up speed! Everything worked OK at the previous house, sockets and wiring are OK, nothing has been altered on my PC and the only clue I have is that one of the mails said that there was "incompatible technology" on the line and that I would have to contact BT to "clear the line", which, presumably refers to something the previous people had, but I can`t see why there should be any residue in the exchange with a new number) What little service I have keeps vanishing every now and again.
Quote from mail (which, incidentally, was also sent to my normal address, which I couldn`t read, as I didn`t have an internet connection! Doh!
__________________________________________________________

"There are a number of services and appliances that are incompatible with the Broadband service as stated below.

Subscriber Private Metering - System that allows you to check your call charges through a meter.
30K loop - If you have taken your full telephone number including your area code to a new location outside that original area.
Private Services
Red Care - Alarm monitoring systems
Copper Wideband Servicing Sections
CWss 2 or 3 pair
Feature net 5000 services - BT Virtual Telephone management for business corporations
Private Exchange Branch Lines (PBX) - Lines connected to switch boards, requiring a digit to be entered before an outside line can be accessed
ISDN/Home Highway - digital data services, BT lines can only carry one digital data service. Broadband is another such service."
_____________________________________________________________
BT say the line is OK for broadband but I have a gut feeling that all is still not well at their end but I seem to be getting nowhere fast here. Anyone any suggestions, before I lose my sanity?

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Quote:

"There are a number of services and appliances that are incompatible with the Broadband service as stated below.

Subscriber Private Metering - System that allows you to check your call charges through a meter.
30K loop - If you have taken your full telephone number including your area code to a new location outside that original area.
Private Services
Red Care - Alarm monitoring systems
Copper Wideband Servicing Sections
CWss 2 or 3 pair
Feature net 5000 services - BT Virtual Telephone management for business corporations
Private Exchange Branch Lines (PBX) - Lines connected to switch boards, requiring a digit to be entered before an outside line can be accessed
ISDN/Home Highway - digital data services, BT lines can only carry one digital data service. Broadband is another such service."

Not knowing exactly what broadband you have & imagining things a bit different there, I can only guess. Assuming you are talking ISDN, since it is mentioned, it really isn't that much faster than dial-up to begin with & depending on how far you are from the central office will affect your speed as well. - DSL can have SOME of these issues as well.

As for the stuff quoted above, the company is correct as it appears that you carried over with you or the previous people left, some issues - according to this list, changed numbers, PBX, & the alarm service would definitely place havoc with your system as it is looking for something that isn't there. Kind of like a "broadcast storm" in the affect it has, I'd think.

My suggestion (anyway) is to keep hammering your provider on it & let them clean it up. - I agree that at first glance, it looks like the problem is on the line & here anyway, that would be THERE problem. BUT if you have any equipment other than your computer & router (such as "modems" or VOIP boxes) hooked in, you may want to check on the compatibility of those. Bottom line, you WILL have to work WITH a service tech. AT YOUR HOME to get it resolved, most likely.

Werebo · Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 9:10 pm Post subject:

Allo Davolente

, so you're further away from the swampies eh?

Apparently, 'RedCare' is a home/community alarm/CCTV system from BT. Possibly the previous tenant had summat installed and since removed. Ditto with t'other services listed - virtual telephone management, PBX lines etc. All seem to point to the last owner having a small home/office set-up. It might be worth having a word with BT (both Accounts and tech-support) to reset the line to that number.

Also, are you still with Tiscali as th ISP?

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

Good day, Baby Tux and Mr. Werebo!
Thanks for replies. I should have mentioned that I am (or WAS) on bog-standard 512 ADSL, as my previous rural location (swampies, yes, Werebo - and trolls, but mostly badgers!) precluded anything faster. HOWEVER, at least it worked and was perfectly OK - even for a touch of streaming media. Yes, it`s Tiscali I am still with, but not for much longer if they don`t get things sorted. I filled in their on-line form with all the details of the house move and after that the silence was deafening! Every time I get an e-mail from them (or their useless call centre) , it includes a request for the same information, despite sending them screenshots of the reported speed from their own website checker (as low as 21.8 kbps - 2.73 Kb/sec. in one case) and the "control panel" of my modem, which reports a speed of 32.0 Kbps; which is also what I see if I hover the cursor over the "connected" icon in the tray (notification area). Bizarrely, I also seem to loose the connection completely first thing in the morning. No "link" modem light or sometimes it might be flashing and the control panel says things like "trying to activate line" or "analyzing channels", if I remember rightly. The last female "agent" I spoke to a couple of days ago at Tiscali in the "high level complaints" department (the number I found courtesy of www.saynoto0870.com, incidentally - a useful site for us in the UK) insisted on putting me down for an upgrade to 2 megs for the same price as she said the line was OK for that, as if that would cure the problem, but it seems to me as if there may have been something left on the line from the previous people, (either the physical wires or in the exchange), despite the change of number, that is interfering with the broadband but the last conversation I had with anyone in BT was supposed to have confirmed that the line was clear. The fact it went completely out of order for a whole day three days after I moved in seems even more suspicious to me! I used to be a BT maintenance engineer, but that was pre-internet days, so I`m obviously a tad out of touch with what`s happening, apart from the fact that BT seem to be a shower these days!
Brick wall, anyone?

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

Personally, I'd still insist on someone coming out & looking everything over (in MY case that would EXCLUDE everything from the "modem" to my computers) as I STILL think that is the only way this is going to get resolved. But there again, that is there & I'm looking at things as they are here.

As for it being ADSL, other than a good bit faster than ISDN, the issues I mentioned are still SOMEWHAT valid. Do you know how far you are from the central office? (or switching station) as this does sound like it could be to far or your "coppers" are NO GOOD & just because they say they are OK, if / when someone comes out have them check again from YOUR end.

Werebo

Hmmmmm, 'tis a puzzler indeed.

To be honest, I'm lost when I get to the other side of my modem, as far as the practical side of things goes. Just looking in one of them local street junction boxes makes my eyes cross

I'm not sure what to suggest really, from what I've heard on some other forums, there's been strange problems across the UK, from Somerset to Hertfordshire to Doncaster - folks are suffering some very odd problems.

I'm also in the same boat as above, surfing is fine, but I cannot send any email larger than about 1Kb. A VirginMedia techno-bod said there's been a lot of upgrading/mending of email servers, I assumed he meant theirs, but I'm beginning to wonder if he meant nationally, instead.

Is there any way for you to track the cabling to outside? If the previous tenants were using Redcare, there might be a junction/connection block for the CCTV camera(s) to plug into, despite Tiscali/BT saying they're clear at the exchange end.

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

To be honest, I'm lost when I get to the other side of my modem, as far as the practical side of things goes. Just looking in one of them local street junction boxes makes my eyes cross.

In my day, they were really nothing more than giant "chocolate block" connectors. One side came from the exchange, called the "E" side, strangely enough, from the large cables and t`other side was distribution out to the customers (the "D" side, wouldn`t you know it?) and it all branched away to the rest of the network, overhead poles, underground-fed estates and offices, etc. and the connections were made via wire jumpers, so if someone moved, you just unscrewed and pulled out the jumper and pushed it to a different "D" side that went to the new property or to another distribution screw block on a pole from where all the overhead wires fanned out. There was a central record of which went to where, which wasn`t always accurate, as you might expect!

I'm not sure what to suggest really,
I'm also in the same boat as above, surfing is fine, but I cannot send any email larger than about 1Kb.

Odd

Is there any way for you to track the cabling to outside?

This place is completely underground fed, coming up in the lounge from the outside world to a flush main socket in the wall. There is a cable going off to a second socket but I`ve checked that everything is wired as it should be. I`m gonna ring Tiscali on Monday and give them a piece of my mind, if I can spare it. The fact that what little broadband service I have keeps vanishing seems to indicate a fault elsewhere, I would have thought.
Just read an article in Webuser mag. about a Tiscali customer who was off for two months and also had the devil`s own job to get anything done. Same "head-bang-on-wall" syndrome and frustration. Nobody seems to be over-seeing the so-called customer service aspect.

Philocalist

Hi Davolente ....
Without wishing to side-track this post too severely, would you mind checking the link you left ( www.saynoto0870.com ) .. I'm very interested / curious, but cannot get it to connect.
Thanks Smile

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

I need to rule out something here - are you sure you don't have any issues with your computer that may be causing the slowdown? Was it running up to par until this?

I've been assuming things and it's been coming back to bite me so I figured I'd ask.

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

To Baby Tux: Everything was running fine at the old house - even off an extension socket, which is not supposed to be recommended, and nothing has been altered, PC-wise, at all and programs, etc; run at the normal speed. Tried to get on at about 8 this morning and no go at all. Modem light not even on and no ADSL at all, and tonight it`s back on, but at the usual snail`s pace. I`m just about to strip all the wiring off the main phone socket and run straight off the incoming line, just to confirm whether there may be some obscure problem this end, but I can`t see how it can be time related! I`ll let you all know!
To Philocalist:
That link is OK to me. In fact, I clicked on the link in your post and got to the site - after a long wait in my present condition, of course!

Baby_Tux · Joined: Mar 06, 2007 Posts: 1242

I would imagine you know how to do this: check & see if there is any noise on the line that may screw with the speed (can remember for DSL) but it sure does for dial-up!