BT Broadband Upgrade (up to 8 meg)?

[CAM3L]

Afternoon folks,

Can anyone offer any help to a total technophobe.

I have recently upgraded my broadband package from a 2 meg fixed deal to the BT Total Broadband up to 8 meg package. Last Friday my shiny new BT home hub router arrived and after following the instructions I managed to plumb it in and get it working. However since then my connection speed seems to have dropped to a level far worse than it was previously (1800kbs download/235kbs upload), with no hint of the potential 5.5-6 meg that was potentially available on my line (I'm about a mile from the exchange).

I understand that there is allegedly a 10 day period for the router to establish the optimum speed but to date it never seems to get above 900kbs download/100 kbs upload.

First question - I never received an e-mail from BT stating that the line had been upgraded. Is this normal?

Second question - Has anyone else had this problem or should I be concerned?

Third question - Although I've not been on live much the last few day, has anyone noticed any difference ie lag etc. when I have played on-line. I know I dropped out of Flatout the other night.

My router is plugged into the main BT socket and my Xbox is connected via ethernet cable. PC and my sons Xbox are connected wirelessly.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.

[Biscitt]

Hello Camel not with BT but had similar experience when upgraded originally with Demon, the connection speed was variable. I also had stability problems when I changed to Entanet with the connection dropping completely. Make sure you reboot your router everyday, i.e. switch it off for a minute or so then switch it on again (or leave it off overnight), and do the same if you lose your connection completely.

You can't really know for sure whether you have a problem until the 10 day period is up having said that I would expect it to reach at least 4 Meg at some point during the stabilisation period.

Does BT have any resources on its web site where you can check the status of your line/exchange?

[CAM3L]

Thanks for that Biccy,

I seemed to manage to host on Flatout reasonably well last night, apart from the one drop out.

However a further development. Came down this morning and BT had sent a text message to say that my up to 8 meg connection will be activated on or before noon on 22nd July. So it would appear that I'm not on the new service yet which gives me a grain of comfort that I may see some improvement in speed etc. ;D

[DarthLawl]

We've been on BT since 2002, and we've never had a problem with them. We've also gone through many of their modem/router combinations and now we've also got a Homehub.

Biccy - BT have a thing on their website to check availability and also if your internet goes down there is an automated telephone service. It can be a little more expensive than all these Virgin/Pipex/Cable/Doodah combinations and switcheroonies, but for stability and continuation of service, plus the fact that I doubt BT are going to get bought out by some other company, it's great.

[CAM3L]

I have to say Darth I have had the 2 meg package with BT since I first came on Live and have never had a problem.

They offered me the upgrade to the up-to 8 meg deal with the Home Hub and since then I've been reading quite afew horror stories about instability, loss of speed etc. and it's got me a bit jittery.

[Veritas aMp]

Hi Cam3l

Dont worry m8 ive had an 8mb line with BT for the last 10 months mine was also all over the place when it first got activiated, give it a week and all will be fine and you'll soon be downloading at warp 9 ;D

[amazingreflex]

Hello there,

I've just managed to get a bigger pipe!



I asked PlusNet to see if they could give me a regrade on my broadband.

Last time I asked them they rejected it because they said my line wouldn't support any more than what I had (450kbps down / 250kbps up).

I live about 5 miles from the exchange so I thought I was lucky to get any broadband at that distance!

I just asked again last week and they said they would action it. So far it's holding up with the results above (ping is a bit long at the moment I think).

Hopefully I'll get a few games on Live soon, see how it holds up hosting.

Haven't managed to get any games with you lot for ages! I always feel knackered at the end of the night so my bed always wins the argument.

See you all for a game soon.