New FTTC Packages

[Clive]

That sounds very encouraging Dudwell and is definitely my preferred choice.  I'll let you know how I get on. 

[DarkStar]

That sounds very encouraging Dudwell and is definitely my preferred choice.  I'll let you know how I get on. 

I recently came back to IDNet after a spell at Zen where I was on ADSL2+. I wanted to upgrade to Fibre as a cabinet had been activated in my village but my connection with Zen was so appalling that there was no way I was prepared to risk an upgrade with them so I came back to IDNet.
The first thing I did was upgrade the connection box (where the BT phone line comes in to the house) with one of these

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B014E4FIJK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

as the old one was only suitable for ADSL and ran a new Cat 6 cable from it to the room where I have my computer. IDNet sent me a pre-configured Billion 8800NL R2 Router which I connected up on the day of my switch and I was connected "just like that". No problems, no hassle and a super reliable connection ever since. I am on Fibre Lite package as I never get near 50GB and as I am only 100 yds from the cabinet I get a 37-38 download speed any time of the day or night.

[andrue]

Very tempting. If I moved my phone and BB back over it'd only cost me an extra £5pcm (coming from a PlusNet/Pulse8) combo. Gonna have to think about that.

Well that's odd. I just went through the application again and now it's saying £49.80pcm for phone+broadband. Plusnet+Pulse8 is only £37pcm.

I don't know how I originally got a figure of £41pcm for IDNet.

IPv6 is not worth £12pcm. That's nearly a 50% increase

[colirv]

The two IDNet figures could be with and without VAT.

[zappaDPJ]

I was talking to someone yesterday who was having real problems working out the cost of IDNet's products. It appears the new rules encouraging a clearer pricing structure for broadband are anything but clear.

[J!ll]

Sent email to Brian at IDNet as it has been a week since I was to get a date for new package. Quick reply as usual!

Apologies for the delay. BT have committed the order now and it is due to change over on 17th. The router should go out in the post to you tomorrow for delivery on Wednesday by 1pm.

[mervl]

I was talking to someone yesterday who was having real problems working out the cost of IDNet's products. It appears the new rules encouraging a clearer pricing structure for broadband are anything but clear.

I think part of the problem is that the new rules rather assume a package of broadband and phone line, and don't really anticipate broadband or phone being taken as a standalone, let alone for packages that serve both business (quoted exc VAT) and residential users where they have to be quoted inclusive of VAT. Add of course call packages to all that. To try and accommodate all the permutations is messy. Just like any idiots guide, it's what it says on the tin. The rest of us who know what we want are expected to work it out for ourselves. We should be used to it by now.

For upgrades it looks like BT's systems aren't consistent either. I got an automated provision date within less than 30 minutes of my internet order even a number of years ago! Just like things differ between one shop of any chain and another, I suppose! There was no human contact at all until the Engineer rolled up, and then hardly any either!

[J!ll]

I went from ADSL Max to FTTC 8 months ago. Phone socket is a few years old. I simply replaced modem/router with the one supplied and pre-configured by IDNet (Billion-8800NL), followed IDNet's clear instructions and it all worked. Much to the relief of Mrs D who hates having workers of any kind in the house if it can be avoided!   

I received my router from them today. Clear instructions? I just have the router  So hopefully when I get up at a stupid early time tomorrow I will be able to use the new one? as no time has been mentioned.

[dudwell]

Hmm.. I received a series of emails from IDNet: Order Acknowledgement, Order Committed, finally Order Completed. Between them I had a clear idea of the "live date" and the time. Also instructions but since I had ordered a pre-configured router I hardly had to do anything beyond changing old router for new.

When the switch-over day arrived I had a call from BT to warn me of a loss of internet for a while (I forget how long) and after that it all worked and has done ever since. I expect BT will do the necessary at the exchange or cabinet during daytime rather than while you sleep.

I hope and expect yours will go just as well!

[J!ll]

Yes I know it's tomorrow as I had an email telling me router would come the day before, I just don't have a time so expecting it first thing. If I'm not here then you will know why   

Thanks. Was rather hoping to have it on waking, yes asking too much 

[dudwell]

Good!

Now for the negative bit. Switching from ADSL Max to FTTC resulted in an immediate increase in download speed from about 7Mbps to 33-36 Mbps. But has it transformed my internet experience? Not really because everything I wanted to do worked pretty well OK before. Occasional buffering on BBC i-Player has vanished. Downloading videos from YouTube is much faster but it didn't really matter if they took a while because I could let it run in the background while looking at something else.

A curiosity is that the thinkbroadband speedtester shows a map with results from other people for miles around. Nobody gets anything like mine, they are mostly in the range 15-19 Mbps! Do I have IDNet to thank for this or am I just lucky?

[J!ll]

Well put new router in as it was clear mine had lost connection. Power light came on a a few others flashing. Went out for a few hours, on return unit with no power light. Brian suggested a few things but had tried most. Nothing has worked and unable to use old router as it will not work with fibre. Using 4G at moment although allowance tiny. Just waiting to see if it's the router I suppose. 

[J!ll]

Very hard doing this on my phone! Brian is sending out another router tomorrow. He thinks it got stuck in post boot mode. Fingers crossed this will be OK! Never had any problems before.

[dudwell]

I'm feeling your pain! But just think how much worse it could have been if you had purchased a router from somewhere less responsive than IDNet. 

[Clive]

I've checked my availability for FTTC and discovered that I can only obtain 14 - 20 Mb/s which is absurd.  I have a cabinet just yards away and I know that others in the area have proper fibre.  IDNet claim I can only get ADSL2max which is what I already have with a diminishing speed of 9.5 Meg.   

[Simon]

Does anyone else in your apartment block have fibre, Clive?

[J!ll]

All up and running  Many thanks to IDNet! I just had a dud router, so the old one will be posted back to them Monday morning. Will do speed test later on.

[Clive]

Does anyone else in your apartment block have fibre, Clive?

I don't know Simon but the area was flooded with BT vans advertising Fibre back a few months ago.  The road has been dug up by BT and I was told it was to install fibre.  But the BT website says Fibre is not available here.   

[mervl]

I don't know Simon but the area was flooded with BT vans advertising Fibre back a few months ago.  The road has been dug up by BT and I was told it was to install fibre.  But the BT website says Fibre is not available here.   

If you're in a flat/apartment I suppose it's just possible you are on a line that goes direct to the exchange (EO line), without a cab that can be connected to a fibre twin.  You might be able to tap a BT engineer to find out. Does BDUK's address checker help, or say the same as BT and IDNet (not surprising as they'll use the same source). They can insert new cabs for EO lines but it takes much longer due to the permissions and engineering required, and there's a big backlog which has accumulated whilst they tackled the easier bits. When our telephones were installed broadband was a twinkling in the eye, if that.

[J!ll]

I'm feeling your pain! But just think how much worse it could have been if you had purchased a router from somewhere less responsive than IDNet. 

Yes! They have always been very good, which is why I stay with them. 

[Clive]

If you're in a flat/apartment I suppose it's just possible you are on a line that goes direct to the exchange (EO line), without a cab that can be connected to a fibre twin.  You might be able to tap a BT engineer to find out. Does BDUK's address checker help, or say the same as BT and IDNet (not surprising as they'll use the same source). They can insert new cabs for EO lines but it takes much longer due to the permissions and engineering required, and there's a big backlog which has accumulated whilst they tackled the easier bits. When our telephones were installed broadband was a twinkling in the eye, if that.

When I put my details into the IDNet FTTC checker it just reverts to the Broadband page but the BT website comes clean and simply says it's not available.  Perversely, all the cabinets in the area have a sticker on them advertising fibre.  I cannot see any mention of Wales in BDUK's address checker but that may be because the Welsh government is rolling it out at its own pace.  I will just have to be patient. 

[Clive]

Strangely, my download speed has suddenly jumped from 9.6Meg to 15.7 Mp/s which is very pleasing.  I wonder how that has happened?  It seems to be consistent as I've noticed the improvement on iPlayer these past few days.  Upload speed is 0.88 Mps with 20ms latency and 1ms jitter but I have no idea whether that is good or bad.  I'm using
http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/speedtester/ but it says it will expire in 6 days so I had better make the most of it!

[JohnH]

The BT wholesale speed test is a reliable measurement, too - http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/

[Clive]

Thanks John but my laptop would have to be connected by an ethernet cable which I no longer possess.  I used to use the Namesco speed checker but they disappeared quite a while ago.  The plusnet speedchecker has been superb but I hadn't realised it was a trial.   

[Glenn]

Have you tried http://www.speedtest.net ?