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      01-14-2007, 02:39 PM   #1
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Virgin.net are CRAP!

Anyone else with them? Anyone know the easiest way to switch provider? Any recommendations of ISP's?
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      01-14-2007, 03:16 PM   #2
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The biggest problem switching ISPs is you then may have to let all your correspondents know the new e-mail address. The easiest way around this dilema is to have your own domain and then autoforward everything to the ISP. However, this costs a bit more because you are then dealing with two companies.

As for a recommendation, I've been with Demon Internet for close to eleven years now. The broadband service is £20 a month with unlimited download. Another is BTInternet which a lot of my friends use. Then there tiscali which I know nothing about other than they have some pretty silly commercials on TV.

Best of luck.
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      01-14-2007, 05:10 PM   #3
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Yeah - the email is no problem as I only use my webmail (gmail etc) anyway. I've been with Virgin for probably a similar amount of time - I just can't believe how bad they have got lately. I'll look into Demon - cheers.
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      01-15-2007, 05:33 AM   #4
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You'll be best off with BT, I have experience of both Tiscali and Demon. BT have the best satisafction ratings in the industry, not surprising as they own most of the infrastructure.

With regards to changing, you need to speak to Virgin and get a MAC code (Migration Authorisation Code). You will need this when you sign up with your new provider. Remember you will need to use your MAC code within 14 days of issue or you will need to get another one and I suspect you will find it hard enough getting the first one.

Ed
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      01-15-2007, 12:47 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ted
You'll be best off with BT, I have experience of both Tiscali and Demon. BT have the best satisafction ratings in the industry, not surprising as they own most of the infrastructure.

With regards to changing, you need to speak to Virgin and get a MAC code (Migration Authorisation Code). You will need this when you sign up with your new provider. Remember you will need to use your MAC code within 14 days of issue or you will need to get another one and I suspect you will find it hard enough getting the first one.

Ed
Aren't MACs for cell phones? 1stnewcar is talking about internet service providers.
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      01-15-2007, 02:13 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoYank
Aren't MACs for cell phones? 1stnewcar is talking about internet service providers.
Mobile phone migrations use PAC (Porting Authorisation) codes, Floyd.

MAC codes (Migration Authorisation Codes) are for internet service migration.

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      01-16-2007, 04:33 AM   #7
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NTL anyone?
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      01-16-2007, 07:05 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer
NTL anyone?
Not if I could help it. I don't hear good things about them. Here is an amusing if somewhat extreme example of one of their customers.

http://networks.silicon.com/broadban...1028197,00.htm
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      01-16-2007, 07:39 AM   #9
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There is a lot of talk about NTL on the web, but to be honest I've had a pretty reliable and constant service for the past 4 years. Very occasionally there were intermittant problems with their DNS servers (not looking up names), a while back, but everything else has been fine. Virtually no downtime at all for me.
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      01-16-2007, 12:19 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1stnewcar
Anyone else with them? Anyone know the easiest way to switch provider? Any recommendations of ISP's?
I'm with 'Be Broadband' (up to 24 meg connection / £20 a month for life)

I've been with them for almost a year - very good so far - I have a very steady truly unlimited 14 megabit connection, which means I can download at about 1.4 megabytes per second (an average album of MP3's in less than a minute )

Worth a look if they are in your area ... and the migration process (MAC Codes) was a breeze - I swapped from Tesco Broadband with no probs.
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      01-16-2007, 03:25 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer
There is a lot of talk about NTL on the web, but to be honest I've had a pretty reliable and constant service for the past 4 years. Very occasionally there were intermittant problems with their DNS servers (not looking up names), a while back, but everything else has been fine. Virtually no downtime at all for me.
I've been with them for the last 4-5 years & haven't had any real problems, apart from the odd DNS server problem.

They have been trialling 50Mbit connections around the country over the last few months & should be rolling it out sometime this year.

They bought out Virgin Telecom last summer, so I took out their Virgin cable offer- £10 per month for 300 mins + 300 texts, both rolled over.
After 12 years with Orange,I told them where to go, picked up my PAC code & haven't looked back since!

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      01-16-2007, 04:23 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vivekk
I've been with them for the last 4-5 years & haven't had any real problems, apart from the odd DNS server problem.

They have been trialling 50Mbit connections around the country over the last few months & should be rolling it out sometime this year.

They bought out Virgin Telecom last summer, so I took out their Virgin cable offer- £10 per month for 300 mins + 300 texts, both rolled over.
After 12 years with Orange,I told them where to go, picked up my PAC code & haven't looked back since!

Viv
I like the sound of 50 meg !

I'd need a bigger hard drive though - I'm already hoovering up the entire internet as it is.
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      01-17-2007, 03:37 AM   #13
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Can someone answer a technical question re broadband (bit of an IT numpty myself!)

Is the maximum speed of broadband down to the provider or the local exchange hardware.

I am with Orange (was Wanadoo) and live in a rural area about 3-4 miles from the local exchange and get only a 500kb connection (half meg). If I change provider could I get a faster connection? or is this down to hardware in the exchange and distance (Which was the original info I got some years ago)

Cheers if anyone can help
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      01-17-2007, 03:47 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vivekk
I've been with them for the last 4-5 years & haven't had any real problems, apart from the odd DNS server problem.

They have been trialling 50Mbit connections around the country over the last few months & should be rolling it out sometime this year.

Viv
I'm on NTL 4Mbit at the moment and reasonably happy with that.

I've actually just noticed that Apple have upped the stakes on the wireless front with 802.11n


http://www.apple.com/uk/airportextreme/
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      01-17-2007, 04:58 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Touringman
Can someone answer a technical question re broadband (bit of an IT numpty myself!)

Is the maximum speed of broadband down to the provider or the local exchange hardware.

I am with Orange (was Wanadoo) and live in a rural area about 3-4 miles from the local exchange and get only a 500kb connection (half meg). If I change provider could I get a faster connection? or is this down to hardware in the exchange and distance (Which was the original info I got some years ago)

Cheers if anyone can help
Speed is down to both hardware and provider so not the easiest question to answer and there is no definitive answer to whether you actually will receive any performance increase from changing provider due to your distance from the exchange.

The only way to know for sure is to try it and see.

It may be worth checking to see if any providers in your area offer LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) this is where the provider places their own equipment in BT's exchange rather than just overlaying the service they provide you over BT's equipment. This allows them to offer more flexible and often higher bandwidth services, Bulldog being a good example of this type of provider. However given that you live in a rural area it is unlikely the investment for them is worth it.

BT have recently been upgrading some exchanges to offer up to 8Mb downstream. My service used to be limited to 512K also, due to my distance from the exchange, I now get 1.5Mb on BT's 8Mb service, not quite 8Mb but a lot better than it was.

You should be able to find out here if your exchange has been upgraded http://www.bt.com/broadband
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      01-17-2007, 06:52 AM   #16
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Its all to do with the noise levels on the line (this of course gets worse the further away from the exchange you are) If you have a router you can get to these figures. On my netgear router the figure is in the statistics menu. The numbers of interest are (Downstream) Line Attenuation and Noise Margin. I did use a site once that let you put these numbers in to determine the theoretical top speed of your line. Although I'm on an 8mb package, I can only get 5mb. My LA is 39db currently and the NM is 13db.
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      01-17-2007, 10:42 AM   #17
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Thanks for the info - looks like I might be able to get 1.5mb. It is a free upgrade from Orange but they don't tell you unless you ask!!

Should be done in next few days

Cheers
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      01-17-2007, 11:18 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Touringman
Can someone answer a technical question re broadband (bit of an IT numpty myself!)

Is the maximum speed of broadband down to the provider or the local exchange hardware.

I am with Orange (was Wanadoo) and live in a rural area about 3-4 miles from the local exchange and get only a 500kb connection (half meg). If I change provider could I get a faster connection? or is this down to hardware in the exchange and distance (Which was the original info I got some years ago)

Cheers if anyone can help
Broadband via a phone line uses ADSL technology of which there are various standards ...

These have a lot of technical names but in simple terms you get:

ADSL - up to 1 or 2 megabits
ADSLmax - up to 8 megabits
ADSL2+ - up to 24 megabits
ADSL2+ annex m - up to 28 megabits

The fastest available is ADSL 2+ which is what I have and it offers up to 24 megabits per sec for a domestic connection. .

With all forms of ADSL your speed is limited to an extent by your 'line attenuation' and 'SN Margin'. These measure the quality of the signal on your phone line. The attenuation is effectively the loss of signal strength and it increases the further you are from your exchange. The 'SN margin' is a signal to noise ratio which measures interference.

Most modems will tell you what these figures are for your current connection. To establish how fast your connection could be you need this data and your distance from your local exchange.

You will only get ADSL2+ or ADSLMAX from suppliers who have installed their own equipment in your local exchange. That means it's still restricted to major urban areas. Effectively the LLU (local loop unbundling) requirement forces BT to lease areas within the exchange to these companies. When you sign up they unplug your line from the BT kit and plug it into theirs.

This is a useful check of what you would get from BT on the 8 meg service:

http://freeola.com/broadband/broadba...lity-check.php

It says I would get around 5.5 meg on an 8 meg connection. You can then pro-rata this up for faster speeds, accepting that an ADSL 2+ connection will be about 10% more sensitive to noise than an 8 meg one. This correctly estimates my synch speed at around 14.8 meg on a 24 megabit connection.

If it tells you that 8 meg is not available then it is probably because your exchange does not have the correct equipment.
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      01-17-2007, 11:21 AM   #19
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It's also worth noting that a lot of suppliers are throttling down speeds.

So Sky offer up to 16 meg ... however this is ADSL 2+ technology ..

Confusingly I would get about 14.8 meg on both Skys 16 meg service AND Be's 24 meg service. The 16 meg is an artificial cap.
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      01-17-2007, 12:40 PM   #20
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Another element that will affect the speed is the number of simultaneous users contending for the bandwidth.
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      01-18-2007, 04:21 AM   #21
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Here is a trace I've been running on Virgin - seems like its settled down again now.
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      01-18-2007, 07:03 AM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoYank
Another element that will affect the speed is the number of simultaneous users contending for the bandwidth.
This contention is 'apparently' the advantage of a 'niche' provider like 'be broadband' over a large scale offer like Sky's.

Be's service has little or no contention - which means it's always fast. Ironically their DNS servers are rubbish .. so browsing can often be frustratingly slow .. despite the fact that downloads are lightening quick.
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