Should I just give up?

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Should I just give up?
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jettejette

Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 225

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 15 10:40 pm Post subject: Should I just give up?

I love having the internet, but our signal has got so bad recently that what was once a petty time waster has become impossible.
We have never had enough signal for iplayer, but now even answering emails is becoming so slow, that I can vitually make a cup of tea in the time it takes to load.
I did, in a moment of despair approach another internet provider who said we are at the end of the line so their speed would only be comparable to the present one.
I'm fed up 1. because we pay the same as someone who has better signal and CAN get iplayer 2. because it is getting worse rather than improving.
At 5 o' clock in the morning, it's not too bad so I can only assume it's affected by how many others in our vicinity are using it.
Now I feel that if life's too short to stuff a mushroom, then it's definitely too short to wait for an, at best, mediocre signal.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 15 10:48 pm Post subject:

I would be complaining to your provider, it could be that there is a problem between you and the exchange, we had appalling speed and I upgraded to fibre and the signal wasn't any faster, I complained and they procrastinated about it for a while but eventually after they realised that I wouldn't take no for an answer, they sent engineers out to check the copper wires.

The first visit made a slight difference but not fully resolved but the second visit did the trick.

Alternatively if they can't improve speeds they can give you a significant discount!

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 15 11:06 pm Post subject:
Do you have reasonable mobile phone reception? Data is now cheap enough for that to be an option.

GrahamH

Joined: 23 May 2015
Posts: 523

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 15 11:48 pm Post subject:
Hi jettejette. I sympathise with you. It takes me about 20 minutes to upload a photo to Downsizers and I need to do it when there are fewer people using their mobile phones. Normally in the middle of the night....my MBH is not impressed. Can you go via the mobile phone signal? I am totally in the dark about phone plans in the UK but a search of what's available now may be of use.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46217
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 12:01 am Post subject:

what they both said is sensible,i went for the "dont take no for an answer"option a while back on a different system to this.the speed went up from unusable to not bad after a few phone calls and a bloke huddled in front of a green box over the road.

a chum who is an ubergeek and uses his connection for work actually got about twice the super fast speed he was paying for using the "dtnfaa"method rather than the 5% he had been getting.

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 2:59 am Post subject:
You can set iPlayer to download stuff overnight then watch it the next day - means you can still watch Auntie with a duff connection

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 11:30 am Post subject:
It's also worth noting that the general troubleshooting instructions you get told by providers can also increase speed. Connecting the router to the master socket if it's not already there often increases speeds on slow lines. Begrudgingly I'll also admit buying a new router, one recommended by your provider for use on poor lines, can also help.

BahamaMama

Joined: 21 Sep 2006
Posts: 2315
Location: Away with the fairies

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 4:49 pm Post subject:
We had problems with speed and quality degenerating and finally, after months of arguing they agreed that we had a faulty router. Replaced and we are back up to full strength - it was hideously difficult and the tendancy was for them to look for a really complicated reason rather than check the basics. Make sure they check everything.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 9:38 pm Post subject:

I've given up the landline entirely. Paying nearly �60.00 a quarter just to make a few calls & answer a lot of cold calls every evening seemed stupid.
I really was just keeping it for the internet & like you that could be pretty intermittent at times, also being the last on the line & about as far from the exchange & the fibre optic cable as you can get.
I'm now entirely mobile & the service has been pretty good so far, as good as the normal highspeed landline if not a bit quicker & my provider (three) wont be charging more when the system goes to 4G, which should be soon.
Downside is there are no all you can use data packages for tablets or laptops so if you watch a lot of i-player or you tube you will soon eat into your data allowance. I take a trip to my local library every couple of weeks & use their free internet to top up my TV viewing.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 10:47 pm Post subject:

Tavascarow wrote:

Get an unlimited package on your phone, and use it as a wifi modem. I tether my tablet to my phone frequently. Not all packages allow this.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 11:10 pm Post subject:
Many say they don't allow it, but I don't know if they can tell... I certainly never tethered my phone on a contract where it wasn't allowed... no not me, wouldn't dream of it... didn't do it for years... honest.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 11:23 pm Post subject:

Hairyloon wrote:

Many say they don't allow it, but I don't know if they can tell... I certainly never tethered my phone on a contract where it wasn't allowed... no not me, wouldn't dream of it... didn't do it for years... honest.

There's usually a fair usage disclaimer that allows them to cut you off if they think you're tethering. Probably less of an issue now, but when phones didn't really offer anything that would use bandwidth we had a few rumbled.

Hairyloon

Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 15425
Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 11:43 pm Post subject:
I was with T-mobile: they had a very fair fair use policy: if you went over the limit, it stopped you doing heavy loads like videos.

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 1:21 am Post subject:

Nick wrote:

Tavascarow wrote:

Get an unlimited package on your phone, and use it as a wifi modem. I tether my tablet to my phone frequently. Not all packages allow this.

They aren't available any more. You can get 'all you can eat' data packages but you can only tether up to 5 gig. A neighbour just up the road has an old account & his has no limits. He runs his household internet (Mum Dad & two kids) & two holiday cottages all off the one phone.

jettejette

Joined: 01 Jun 2013
Posts: 225

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 7:06 am Post subject:

Thanks chaps!
We don't have a mobile signal in the house. Well, that's not quite true, upstairs in one window we get an intermittent signal, and halfway up our lane, quite a good one.
I will go back to the provider though, because it's definitely not as good as it used to be and it's never been brilliant. I don't really understand how it all works, eg why at peak times it is so bad. Can a 'signal' be diluted?
Incidentally, since we went digital in the South West, the television stops working too at various points in the evening. So now we have a multitude of channels, but we can rarely watch anything through to the end.
In the kitchen, the radio has to be perched (rather precariously ) on top of the kitchen roll dispenser or on a pile of stuff in thee middle of the draining board to get a signal! So it's not just the 'net.
Ah well, that's progress for you!

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