[Wolves] Thoughts on Virgin Media?

[Simon C. Burke]

On Thu, 21 Aug 2008, David Goodwin wrote:

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>> What I think I'm going to do, is give my line 10 days to see if it will
>> sync back up to a more reasonable speed (my profile was set to
>> 'interleaved' last time I had problems, which is more stable on poor
>> quality lines than in 'fast' mode, but takes 10 days to re-sync back up
>> after a speed dip, whereas a 'fast' profile syncs back up within 3
>> days), if not then I will contact my ISP to see if they will do anything
>> about the problem. If it's not solved by the time my mobile phone
>> contract is up then I'll jump ship to another supplier.
>
> Good luck trying to get BT to do anything - I'm not particularly happy
> with the bandwidth I get at home (4-5mbit) (considering I get 17mbit at
> work from the same ISP), and I've tried to get BT to do things to the
> line, but (as you said) it's hard to convince them that it's a problem
> you're "only" getting 50% of what you should (for example).
>
> I presume you're aware of the bellwire / iplate "thing" - namely if
> you're on ADSL and happen to have extensions in your house plugged into
> the master socket, make sure the extensions are only using 2 wires and
> there isn't a third bell-wire in use.
>
> David.

I currently use bethere and get 20mb, but I am ridiculously close to the 
exchange. 
I would suggest the use of the master socket as per daves links above, as 
it does make a difference. Also if they blame the internal wiring you can 
just proclaim that as your using the master socket with different cables 
and micro-filters it may help, (it used to for me, but not BT directly).

The main problem seems to generally be over-subscription, exchanges are 
full and Virgin seem overcontended. Though if your lucky and live within a 
couple hundred yards of the exchange you can get close to the theoretical 
maximum they offer.

I've known people who live in such remote areas that BT refuse to give 
them broadband at all due to distance from the exchange, though those that 
I am aware of are up Huddersfield way.

It's totally pot luck at the mo, but BT are supposedly upgrade to fibre 
optics slowly but surely exchange by exchange...

Regards,

Simon