From DR to BT

[REB]

I am seriously considering moving from Digital Region to BT Infinity. Whilst I’ve been mostly content with the DR product in comparison to my previous ADSL service, I believe I can get a faster download speed with BT Infinity.

My neighbour next door has just switched from a standard ADSL service to BT’s fibre network and is receiving a stable download speed of 24Mb/s (The BT checker suggested 17.1Mb/s – the same as for my line). That’s 10Mb/s more than I am getting at the moment and for less money too. We are connected to the same cabinet and as the houses were built at the same time, I can only assume that the telephone cables are the same and follow the same route to the cabinet.

Can anyone advise if it is fairly painless process and whether my Internet would be down for any length of time.

Thanks.

[mirdragon]

it all depends on how things have progressed since i moved from DR back to BT

When I moved to prevent downtime I had another line installed and when working cancelled by old line

You may have the problem off being down for around 10 days, unless they've worked out a way of migrating with minimum downtime

[REB]

@Mirdragon I've emailed Ask4 to ask what I need from them before talking to BT.

Was there any cost involved with taking a new line (I'm guessing there must be)? Did you retain your existing phone number?

According the the checker, I can get Infinity (also as evidenced by my neighbour running of that network) but when I went through the ordering process with BT (to see what they might need from me/Ask4), it did a line check (again) and come back saying I couldn't get it yet and offering me standard ADSL!!

Unusually for Ask4, they haven't replied more or less straight away which they have normally done in the past when I emailed them. Still it is the weekend I suppose.

Thanks for the info.

[alexatkin]

As I'm sure you are aware, there are no guarantees Infinity will be faster as your line may just be worse or longer than your neighbours. However I agree there is a reasonable chance due to the fact the BT equipment will automatically try to get the best from your line, whereas on Digital Region you have to torment your ISP into trying different settings for your line manually.

Have you made any attempt to get Ask4 to try and get more speed from your line?

This is all sounds like far more trouble than its worth if you haven't followed all the avenues with Ask4 first.

I know for a fact I would get 10Mbit more from my line on Infinity2, but there is no way I am moving over to BT to get it. I much prefer being on a smaller ISP.

[REB]

(03-03-2013 07:11 PM)alexatkin Wrote:  As I'm sure you are aware, there are no guarantees Infinity will be faster as your line may just be worse or longer than your neighbours. However I agree there is a reasonable chance due to the fact the BT equipment will automatically try to get the best from your line, whereas on Digital Region you have to torment your ISP into trying different settings for your line manually.

Have you made any attempt to get Ask4 to try and get more speed from your line?

This is all sounds like far more trouble than its worth if you haven't followed all the avenues with Ask4 first.

Oh, I've done battle with Ask4 already. When I was with Ripwire, I was lucky to get 10-11Mb/s. I asked Ripwire if it could be improved but they quoted the usual stuff at me (too far from cabinet etc).

When Ask4 took us over I had a long discussion with them (they were far more interested than Ripwire) about my line speeds and they tweaked a couple of 'things' and I was getting a steady 16Mb/s.

Then I did some updating of my internal wiring (new filtered faceplate etc) and managed to get my speed up to almost 20Mb/s (almost 21Mb/s via the test socket). It eventually settled to to between 19 and 19.8Mb/s and I was happy for about 3 months or so. Then I noticed that I was starting to get frequent drop outs and the speed dropped to between 13 and 16 Mb/s. Coincidentally, Ask4 notified customers of some maintenance work around the same time. They denied this had anything to do with the speed drop but at the same time they bent over backwards to try and get my speed back up to 19Mbs+.

Long story short, they tried all they could with Thales and I even had a BT line test done which resulted in a BT Outreach engineer calling and changing my master socket faceplate (all at no cost). They found nothing wrong and Ask4 said there was nothing more they or Thales could do. By now my speed was back down to 12-13Mbs.

I'd resigned myself to living with this as it was still much better than the 2.5mbs I was getting with ADSL.

So, I've decided to see if I can emulate my neighbour and get some speed increase via Infinity. If it doesn't work out, then at least I'll be paying £2 a month less

[SpencerUk]

@REB

BT's Tags On The Line estimate checker under estimates Fibre..I know this because I see many of these cases on Plusnet Faults. However next door needs to note that if a fault pops up with speed or anything, BT are only obliged to provide up to the estimate..not what they have been getting, remember that. Also because you are on the same cabinet doesn't mean you will get identical speeds. I live in a cul de sac and I have the best 3 pairs at the DP (2 for bonded FTTC and 1 for BT Retail). Whilst I get around 90Mb and on the bonded, I'm estimated 48Mbps on BT Retail and get around 65Mbps plus. Next door has FTTC with Plusnet and can't get more than around 35Mbps yet another house in the same cul de sac gets 50Mbps. It's dependent on the DP pair quality too.

If you want to retain your number, I believe you would need to cease your fibre line (up to 10 days), wait for the tag to come off your line and then place a new provide with your new fibre provider (10 to 14 days)...And thats best hoping timescales. I managed to get it done although I had to annoy Ask4 like hell to get them to contact Thales to get them to contact BT on my behalf to update the tag to say I wasn't with them so an order could be placed on my existing line.

Unless you have a real burning desire to leave Digital Region/Ask4, then I'd stick with them tbh

[REB]

@SpencerUK

Thanks for the info Spencer. If as you say the BT line checker under estimates fibre speeds, then what have I got to lose by switching to Infinity? I appreciate what you're saying regarding line quality as well.

I'm currently getting 13.5Mb/s with DR and BT says I'll get up to 17.1. I had 19+Mb/s for the best part of 3 months last year without any issues until 'something' happened on the DR network to affect my line and speed - I know not what and Thales/Ask4 can't tell me anything either.

I can live without broadband for 10+ days (at a pinch as I have a tethering option on my mobile contract). My son on the other will probably leave home - hopefully!

[Hippojay]

If you do move I would be very interested to hear what happens - as I'm considering jumping too.

At the moment it appears tha Ask4 are doing the bare minimum to keep DR going - all the while other providers are offering new products. I'm on the slowest provider there is!! Could jump to origin, but £35 is a mighty ask - but with BT is £26 and since they are unlimited and shaping free it does seem like a no brainer!

My only concern would be that, as the largest BB provider, they are the first to be targeted by groups looking to curtail usenet and the like.

[ash45]

(04-03-2013 12:10 AM)Hippojay Wrote:  If you do move I would be very interested to hear what happens - as I'm considering jumping too.

At the moment it appears tha Ask4 are doing the bare minimum to keep DR going - all the while other providers are offering new products. I'm on the slowest provider there is!! Could jump to origin, but £35 is a mighty ask - but with BT is £26 and since they are unlimited and shaping free it does seem like a no brainer!

My only concern would be that, as the largest BB provider, they are the first to be targeted by groups looking to curtail usenet and the like.

plusnets even cheaper 19.99 unlimited 80/20 and also unshaped thats who i switched to from LBO saved £15 a month and had a much better service

Ash

[john1]

(04-03-2013 07:26 AM)ash45 Wrote:  

(04-03-2013 12:10 AM)Hippojay Wrote:  If you do move I would be very interested to hear what happens - as I'm considering jumping too.

At the moment it appears tha Ask4 are doing the bare minimum to keep DR going - all the while other providers are offering new products. I'm on the slowest provider there is!! Could jump to origin, but £35 is a mighty ask - but with BT is £26 and since they are unlimited and shaping free it does seem like a no brainer!

My only concern would be that, as the largest BB provider, they are the first to be targeted by groups looking to curtail usenet and the like.

plusnets even cheaper 19.99 unlimited 80/20 and also unshaped thats who i switched to from LBO saved £15 a month and had a much better service

Ash

Plusnet unshaped???
From my experence I wouldn't be totally confident on that one admittedly not on fibre.