awful service

[Rik]

My lack of faith as expressed above is with BT.  I was talking about the engineer visit, which is presumably BT?

It is.

[Rik]

Given that it appears that you have no trust in IDNet or BT, it seems to me that LLU might be your only option.

Even that relies on Openreach, of course.

[Gary]

My lack of faith as expressed above is with BT.  I was talking about the engineer visit, which is presumably BT?

IDNet do not have engineers to vist you, all visits will be BT its their system not IDnets. Like a Supermarket selling branded goods, they just sell the product, they do not make it or own it.

[Gary]

Even that relies on Openreach, of course.

Very true Rik, its all down to BT's copper or aluminium in the end 

[tpk]

If that's the case, you are really in a hole, because whatever BT-based ISP you move to will have the same problems, even LLU runs over that same 'last mile'. You seem to be expecting BT to replace your line, they won't do it unless they can see something wrong with it.

Yes I am in a hole.  They don't want to find anything wrong with it.  They've not been to look.  They don't care.  They being BT mostly.  Their idea of something wrong is total loss of service.  If it works at all they don't want to know.  If it suddenly gets a lot worse, they aren't interested.  I believe it is wrong that I should have to get an engineer out with the "threat" of being charged.  How would I know they had genuinely checked their equipment and service to my house?  What recourse would I have if they said I had to pay, given that I know I've checked every possible wire and hardware which belongs to me to the best of my ability?

[Rik]

Very true Rik, its all down to BT's copper or aluminium in the end 

Roll on FTTC.  

[Rik]

to me to the best of my ability?

That's the key phrase, of course. Have you run a BT speed test lately? It now gives acceptable speed ranges for your connection. That might help your case. (Though, as Gary says, AV and other software can and do affect results - ultimately, a BT engineer will make a decision based on the results he gets when plugged into the test socket.)

[tpk]

Given that it appears that you have no trust in IDNet or BT, it seems to me that LLU might be your only option.

I don't honestly think I have any good option.  Broadband in the UK is a disgrace unless you happen to be on a good line which never has any faults.  It's down to one monopoly.

[Rik]

It is, and all you can do is pester BT's CEO (generally a waste of time, I've tried), pester your MP or get your local media involved.

[Gary]

I try to keep my software simple, less is more often, I now run Windows firewall behind a SPI router with Nod32 V4 Prevx3 and windows blunder running in the background and AdMuncher to get rid of banners and adverts which speeds up page loading, its all very light, Prevx is effective as its in the cloud behavioural detection http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2346862,00.asp So I know my system is as light as it can be. But all AV solutions will have some slowdown especially with HTTP scanning. In the end you have two choices, take the chance or stay as you are, and as far as a recourse if BT find its not them you pretty much have to pay the £160 its hard to argue yourself out of that fee.

[Sebby]

Roll on FTTC.  

Is that some kind of new deodorant?

[Rik]

[Sebby]

[Gary]

Is that some kind of new deodorant?

[Ray]

 

[Tacitus]

As a last resort you could try having a new line installed by iDNet.  I think their charge is around £100 which is less than an engineer visit.  You could possibly do it with a cease and then a sim provide on the new line, which means the installation would be done by a broadband engineer.

Not sure exactly how this would work in practice - you would need to talk to iDNet for that.  Also, there's no guarantee it would result in higher speeds, but it might be worth a try if you are really desperate.

[tpk]

Thanks Tacitus, I'll consider it but I'm not sure I want to be tied in for more than a month.

[Tacitus]

Thanks Tacitus, I'll consider it but I'm not sure I want to be tied in for more than a month.

AFAIK iDNet's phone service is on a one month contract the same as their broadband.  I'm pretty sure that also applies if you have a new line installed, although you'd need to ring sales to check.  Obviously you'd need to check the call costs on the various iDNet packages against those of your current provider, to see whether the numbers stack up, but it might prove a viable option for you.

[JohnH]

Just to add that you would also have to pay the broadband activation fee on a new line - £46.

[joll200x]

tpk,

I'm more or less in the same situation as you. I've been at this house for about a year now and my sync speed started at around 1000k. I called IDnet and they were very helpful and arranged for BT openreach to visit. They came out, tidied up the mess of wiring outside my house and lessened the rate of errors I was receiving. Then the speed went up to about 5000 which I was most impressed with. Over time, this dropped to about 4000 which was a bit disappointing but understandable.
The biggest mistake I made was moving to ADSL2+. Since I've done this, my line went up to about 6000 which got me rather excited, then I watched it slip steadily only to settle at 2400. I've spoken to IDnet on several occasions and however frustrating the lack of interest that they relay from BT, they have never been anything but professional and courteous.
It's quite true that BT do not make any ADSL data guarantees - they've (most likely deliberately) not updated their T&C's for years because of just how aware they are that the archaic PSTN network was never built for data and evidently is suffering from lack of maintenance. I think the inevitable 'internet tax' is just adding salt to this wound as the only people who will benefit will be those in an area where BT feel compelled to implement FTTC... ie, places where they have competition.
So far, IDnet have the most competent support department I've dealt with. I can appreciate how difficult it is for them to have to relay cr*p responses from BT and can also see how it can easily be confused as IDnet being unhelpful. My rule of thumb is if there's any chance it's BTs fault - it generally is... You could do a lot worse than being with IDnet, have you ever called Tiscali / Plusnet / NTL or Virgin media support??

[Sebby]

I think you've summed up the situation pretty well there!