Joined: 18 Apr 2007Posts: 26Location: South Yorkshire
1nkling, I know what you are going through and how frustrating it is. You're attenuation and margin figures are similar to mine so you should be able to achieve 3.5ish Mbps as I do now. My solution was to sort out my own wiring in the house.
I don't know how competent you are with the telephone wiring but can you isolate your whole house wiring from the main junction box? You ought to try this first now to establish whether the line fault is on your side of BT's main socket. If you can I would locate the very first socket where the thick black cable comes into your house from the pole (or from underground). Then, depending on the type of master socket fitted, remove the wiring from that socket to your next socket. After removing these wires plug in an adsl filter (you don't need the filter function but you need it for the RJ11 socket) and then plug your modem (livebox?)into the filter. Reboot the livebox and check whether the figure for the attainable download rate has gone up. Hopefully it will have gone up but this won't automatically give you faster downloads but will be the start of sorting your problem.
The above is all that the BT engineer will do when he comes to your house. S/he will be more or less happy with the attenuation and margin stats but will want to increase that attainable download rate considerably. As a guide (given my similar stats to yours) I get 4448Mbps attainable at the moment. I have done alsorts with my line to achieve this. If the engineer cannot get a high figure then they will start to fault your line back to the exchange. You'd be amazed at the types of things that can cause interference on a line.
Hi Gaz.. Sorry I didn't get back to you.. I've kinda just been resigning myself to the situation for the moment.. its sooooo sloow...
Unfortunately I've had a BT phone engineer out to check my line because of my overhearing other peoples conversations and he said my wiring was perfect.. I only have the one box coming in with no extensions so theres not that much that can go wrong with it.. Thanks for the tips though..
As for the state of affairs I find myself in..
My speedtests are still coming back the same and my line is still set to 135kbps..
I phoned someone at Orange after the 5 days were up that I last mentioned.. That was on Monday (30th) and I was told the same thing again.. That line tests had been performed, engineers dispatched to sort it.. My case had been escalated.. Etc, etc.. Told again to wait 5 days.. So today I phoned up to see what was going on and found that the Orange systems were down and they couldn't do anything about it.. Can they call me back? no.. So I'll be calling them back later and this time I'm going to ask to go higher and I'm going to request my MAC code.. I'm still within my 30 days cooling off period and I've had enough.. I'm going to migrate to another provider and if they want to fight they can..
Anyone recommend a good ISP? I want a decent download allowance.. I'd say unlimited but apparently that only means 40gb so I guess it needs the clarification.. I'm considering ukfsn as they seem to have good bandwidth allowance for the money..
Anyway.. Will let you know how my call goes later and will try and keep more up to date on here..
So I'll be calling them back later and this time I'm going to ask to go higher and I'm going to request my MAC code.. I'm still within my 30 days cooling off period and I've had enough.. I'm going to migrate to another provider and if they want to fight they can..
Which 30 day cooling off period is that? Only one I know of is the "Try Broadband" one that is only for those on the Starter package.
Joined: 18 Apr 2007Posts: 26Location: South Yorkshire
Quote:
Unfortunately I've had a BT phone engineer out to check my line because of my overhearing other peoples conversations and he said my wiring was perfect.
You probably reported that as a line fault rather than a broadband fault but did you link it to your broadband problem?
Did the engineer attempt a sync with his/her laptop? A fault like that will almost certainly affect a broadband signal. I wonder whether they commented on the likelihood of the two being connected?
Which 30 day cooling off period is that? Only one I know of is the "Try Broadband" one that is only for those on the Starter package.
I've seen several other people mention a 30 day cooling off period and also saw something on the trading standards site.. If there isn't one maybe I'll start my own.. I'm that cheesed off with it now..
Quote:
gadgetgaz wrote:
You probably reported that as a line fault rather than a broadband fault but did you link it to your broadband problem?
As in.. Did I think it might be related or did I get BT to look into it as a broadband fault?
I certainly did think it might be related, as did Elhana when I mentioned it on here.. I told the BT guy all about my broadband problems but he was unable to do very much being a phone engineer and not a broadband engineer..
Quote:
Did the engineer attempt a sync with his/her laptop? A fault like that will almost certainly affect a broadband signal. I wonder whether they commented on the likelihood of the two being connected?
The engineer agreed that the two could very likely be connected.. He didn't have a laptop, nor even a decibel meter to check line noise.. He could not pick up any talking on my line at the time so was unable to do anything about it.. He disconnected my line and reset everything at the exchange and did everything he could do to sort the problem out.. He recommended that I get in contact with my Broadband Supplier and get them to send out a BT Wholesale engineer.. Something I've been trying to do ever since..
I phoned back up today and spoke to a very friendly chap who, after putting me on hold for 15 mins, told me that there had been no results from my line test and that they'd received no feedback on my fault report since the 20th of April.. He said that as far as he could tell no engineers had been working on my line.. I asked how the fault reports and line tests were before my 10 day period was up and yet I'd been told nothing could be done about before that.. I also asked how come I'd been told on the 20th and again on the 25th that engineers were working on my line and that my fault had been escalated to level 3.. He said that he was very sorry but something must have got confused because nothing had been heard since the 20th..
He then set about cancelling my existing fault before putting in a new fault report.. And again telling me that everything would be sorted out within 5 days..
I said that I wasn't happy with being told to wait 5 days again and asked if I could be put through to a supervisor.. After another 10 mins on hold I got to talk to a supervisor who apologised for my problems and said that he personally was making sure my fault was put at the highest priority possible and would be dealt with within 5 days.. I asked about the all the misleading info I had received and the previous 5 day promises and he apologised but said it was problems with their systems causing it..
He then asked if there was anything else he could do for me so I requested a MAC code.. To which he said.. "Whats a MAC code?"
I tried describing it.. I tried spelling it.. But he denied any knowledge of a MAC code and said that cancelling would take 6 weeks, that there was no way I could transfer to another ISP before those 6 weeks were up and that I would be liable to all costs for the duration of my contract.. (Interesting how they can train them to say that last bit word perfect but they don't know what a MAC code is..)
Anyway.. I gave up in the end and decided to contact customer service for my MAC code.. I told him that I'd be ecstatically happy if he could get my broadband working properly within the 5 days he promised and that I hoped he was the saviour I'd been looking for.. I told him I didn't really want to cancel but my hand was being forced and he could change my mind with a good result..
Who knows what will happen.. I'll cross my fingers for the next 5 days.. Still going to get my MAC code though..
Oh yeah.. Another thing.. I got a text from Orange on my phone a couple of days ago saying..
"Get the complete home broadband experience from Orange - just £19.99 and the first month free. "
I'm not really been bothering to post up my speed test results and router stats for the last week or so because they're pretty consistent.. Todays are something different though so I thought I'd whack them up to show you..
Take a look at these..
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 135 kbps
DSL connection rate: 224 kbps(UP-STREAM) 608 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 56 kbps
I guess I'll give up trying to get the other 2.5 meg I was promised now.. Not..
But hey.. Its nice to get a tiny bit more speed anyway.. Bit better than being stuck on the 130k line and sharing it on 2 computers..
Will still be phoning Orange tomorrow at the end of the 5 days but how to broach the subject? My line speed has actually increased in the 5 day period.. Just not as much as it should have done.. I'm really starting to get cheesed off with being fobbed off.. Anyone know any ways I can blag them into getting an engineer out? I know my line needs sorting.. heard voices again the other evening.. Wish I could just ring BT Wholesale myself but they'll just want me to ring Orange..
Anyway.. Here are the stats..
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 500 kbps
DSL connection rate: 224 kbps(UP-STREAM) 608 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 191 kbps
So.. I phoned Orange earlier today, wednesday, and tried a different tack..
Instead of going through to the tech support line like I usually do I called customer support..
I talked to a guy Andrew there and told him about the problems I've been having and how another 5 days had passed with very little improvement to my line.. I told him that my line had a fault and I really needed a BT Wholesale engineer to come out and look at it.. He at least understood me but couldn't help as I needed to get the Tech support dept to order an engineer to come out.. So I told him that I felt that the fact I'd been lied to and the repeated 5 days promises were a Customer Support issue. I also raised the point that I felt it was something customer support should look into and maybe they could put a good word in for me..
He put me on hold for a little while before coming back to tell me that he really couldn't do anything and I should call tech support.. He then asked me if I wanted to make a complaint and I said that it seemed like a good idea considering what I'd been going through..
After a little more holding I talked to a lovely girl called Sam in the care department who told me she'd give me a month free as compensation and would call through to the tech dept to explain everything to them and push things forward.. She really seemed to understand and sounded genuinely sorry I'd had to wait so long.. Fantastic I thought.. At least I was getting somewhere.. So I held for a little while and waited for Sam to come back to me.. Eventually she came back and told me she'd talked to Anthony and explained everything and he was ready to sort all my woes out.. She then Transfered me..
Anthony started off by telling me that Sam had told him what was going on but he had to ask me security questions before he could continue.. We went through that and then he asked me a few questions about the speeds I was getting and the usual odds and ends about firewalls, browsers, virus checker, etc.. He then asked me to clear my internet cache and do a speed test.. Fair enough I thought, the usual.. He then told me that he had to order a line test and I'd have to call back in a few days.. I said that a line test had already been booked 5 days ago according to the last guy I'd spoken to and he should have the results.. He told me the last line test that was done was fairly old and nothing had been done about the results.. Gaaaaahhhh!! I asked why? And he said he couldn't' answer that.. He then told me that Orange was suffering a nationwide problem that was effecting many people and causing slow speeds across their entire network.. I said that was something else I'd heard before and it was sounding like a bit of a cop out.. He then told me that this was a definite problem but that engineers had given a time of 72 hours for it to be fixed and everyone up to the speed they were supposed to get.. I did try to convince him that I had a problem with my actual phoneline and that whether this was fixed or not I'd still have a problem that required an engineer to come out and physically check my line but he wasn't having any of it and kept saying that I had to call back in 72 hours by which time my problem would be fixed and then asking if there was anything else I could have done.. After going round in circles trying to get my point across I gave up again.. I've got a free month and I'll just have to wait 72 hours again.. If its not sorted I'm actually gonna get my MAC code this time though..
I know.. I'm a bit of a slacker but what can I say, I had a busy weekend..
After my previous call I was told to phone back in 72 hours and that is what I did..
On Saturday I called up the tech department and told them I'd waited my 72 hours and I wanted to know what was going on.. The chap I spoke to told me his systems were down so he couldn't give me the results of my linetest.. He also said that no notes had been made on my file since my last call so nothing had been done by the escalation dept yet.. I was then told to call back in 24 hours for the results of my linetest..
Over the weekend though things have been happening.. My connection reset and came back at 1124 attainable download and then again at 1755.. When I got up this morning it read 1056..
I did this speedtester test about 20 mins ago when I started writing this post..
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 500 kbps
DSL connection rate: 224 kbps(UP-STREAM) 896 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 453 kbps
Already the downstream has gone down by the time I posted those router stats 20 mins later.. Gutted..
My noise margin has changed quite a bit so I don't know if someone is playing with my line.. My IP profile has finally made the leap to 500k.. I was really optimistic yesterday that I might have had my problem sorted and be able to get 1.5 mb (half what they promise me), but it looks like my lines still unstable.. Maybe they just started the MAX process again? It looks like it did when I first got set up.. It started high in the beginning and then dropped away..
Anyway.. I didn't have a chance to phone back this weekend after the 24 hours so I'm going to call back in a bit and see whats going on..
Is it Monday morning in India too?
Didn't have a chance to call on monday either so I finally got round to calling today.. For once I actually got through to an english call center which made a nice change.. Spoke to a girl called Chantelle who told me that nothing had been done on my file since the 20th of April. Something I've been told before on the 4th of May, but it appears the guy who told me didn't do anything then either.
Chantelle put me on hold while she called up the escalation department to find out what was going on with my file. (Something noone else has done for me before.) She came back and told me that the fault on my line had "got stuck" and had to be shut down and restarted. She told me that none of the previous promises I've had should have been made and that people I've talked to previously hadn't escalated my fault properly. They'd put notes on file saying they were escalating me but hadn't actually followed the escalation procedures.
After she got back from talking to escalations she also told me that the reason my fault hadn't registerd properly was because my line had been registered at the wrong speed on my account. Apparently the right speed hadn't been set on my account till the 1st of May. 2 weeks into my contract.
So, the long and the short of it was that I have to wait another 5 days and then call back to see whats going on. This apparently will give the stuck fault time to be cleared and then if my line is still performing badly I can register another fault on the line. Apparently this fault won't stick and my line will actually get sorted this time.
Who knows though.. This seems madness.. I'll be calling customer service tomorrow to attempt getting my MAC code again.
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 250 kbps
DSL connection rate: 224 kbps(UP-STREAM) 1312 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 210 kbps
My line is like a YO-YO.. Just before I did this test the router reset and then it came on at 1536.. before that it was on 600 ish..
I notice though that my IP profile is down to 250 again.. weird.. it was only a day or so that it was on 500.. if it takes 3 days to change how come mines changing so regularly.. seems a bit odd to me..
It's 3 days to go up, profiles going down aren't limited as far as I know.
Also the mention of the wrong speed being set for the line is odd. You're on ADSL Max, it's a rate adaptive service meaning it will connect and supply the best speed it can, at least to the exchange.
Your system cannot keep a stable connection which is why it's up and down faster than a kangaroo with fleas, it just screams connection fault. (exchange <> router)
It's possible the recorded speed at Orange's end is preventing the problem being reported correctly but thats not something easy to check into on here.
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 250 kbps
DSL connection rate: 224 kbps(UP-STREAM) 1152 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 219 kbps
Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test: -provides background information.
IP profile for your line is - 250 kbps
DSL connection rate: 288 kbps(UP-STREAM) 512 kbps(DOWN-STREAM)
Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 223 kbps
Elhana
Is the "Attainable download rate (kbps)" the figure that appears when you hover the cursor over the internet connection icon in the Windows system tray?
I ask because 608 is a figure which has appeared several times in the forums posts recently and it's also the figure that has consistently shown on my in system tray icon for several weeks now, with speedtests generally in the 500-590 range.
Or to put the question another way, can I find the figure that appears on the icon elsewhere?
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