A Few Questions About IDnet Please

[DeViTTo]

Hi I am in the middle of deciding which company to migrate to. At present I am with AOL, but they have just switched over to Car Phone Warehouse and my router drops connection about 30 times a day at the minute.

Anyway I'll tell you a little about myself and what I use the internet for.

I have been with many companies over the years, and thats not changing for the sake of changing i.e

Compuserve (good forums and computer chat)
Zynet ( small company I think they renamed as Eclipse later) I was a reseller for them also
Cix (once again good)
Pipex ( again good a reselller for them also)
Hotchilli ( web hosting reseller and own website hosting reseller)
Eclipse ( Had 2 connections with them) One running a snipe server for 8 players
AOL (through no choice of my own just in the house where i live now before I moved in)

I started business offering support for PC's then  went on to have one of the first ecommerce sites selling HP products. Later went on to design websites for various businesses.

My usage:
I also play Renegade which is an old C&C game of which I have been playing for over 5 years, I am a moderator for one of the servers and I use MIRC to authenticate myself ingame to alow, ban, kick etc. Now with CPW if I disconnect I'm still logged into the MIRC program and I cant get back into game because I cant Authenticate usually takes about 5 mins to able to log back into MIRC. With the forced switch from AOL to CPW and the disconections you can understand I'm a bit annoyed.

I am a regular poster on a lot of the various computer Forums, still keep my hand in.

Anyways thats enough about where I am coming from. My questions:

1)Could someone ping www.westwood.com for me and post the result?

2)I have read a lot on thinkbroadband forum about IDnet and a little here, it seems that everyone is very happy, but quietly keeping it that way which is good lol. Having noticed the amount or lack of posts on thinkbroadband. Is this really the case? I just want a consistant low ping connection.

3)Have many of you experienced greater than expected speeds from the usual stated for exchanges of some distance? I live in the sticks at the minute, but I only really need 1024 down 245 up, but it would be nice to experiance a boost as with all the companys I have been with have never gone above 1024. Now its about 840 down 180 up with CFW. I know this question is subjective, a lot to do with attenuation, signal to noise, distance etc.

4)I have tried the number search and it came back with 5MB* maybe available, I just wondered if many have had your expectations met or exceeded, when switching to IDnet?

5)I have a few Domain Names. Is it possible to host one of my domains within the selected package free web space? Or do I just have to web forwarded it? The website are demonstrating my website I have created etc so not a lot of traffic.

I have a MAC code now and I am looking to sign up this weekend, so if you have the time could you please reply

Thanks in advance 

[Malc]

 

I'm afraid I'm not the one to give you the answers, Rik is the expert and he should be around in a couple of hours.

However, I thought I'd give you a welcome  and just say I moved from pipex last October and have been extremely happy, I download now and then and have excellent speeds any time of day.

I'm sure the answers you will get will all be positive.

Look forward to you hopefully joining us soon

[DeViTTo]

I'm afraid I'm not the one to give you the answers, Rik is the expert and he should be around in a couple of hours.

However, I thought I'd give you a welcome  and just say I moved from pipex last October and have been extremely happy, I download now and then and have excellent speeds any time of day.

I'm sure the answers you will get will all be positive.

Look forward to you hopefully joining us soon

I've just been looking at my logs in my router pages and it tells a woefull story of disconects. I was hoping to check my line attenuation but I changed router from a netgear DG834G to a cable one a Dlink DIR655 with a Draytek Vigor 100, and I cant seem to find any info on my signal to noise on the current line. Maybe Rik could also answer would it help if I were to reconnect up the netgear and provide the line figures in accessing a guestimate of an answer to question 4?

Thanks malc for the welcome 

I look forward to recieving Rik's answers

[Malc]

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Malcolm>
C:\Documents and Settings\Malcolm>c:

C:\Documents and Settings\Malcolm>ping www.westwood.com

Pinging napdhome.pogo.com [159.153.235.27] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=118ms TTL=113
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=117ms TTL=113
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=113
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=113

Ping statistics for 159.153.235.27:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 117ms, Maximum = 146ms, Average = 126ms

Hi again DeViTTo.

Hope this means something to you and is good news

Malc

edit. bear in mind I'm no expert at this kind of thing!

[RA-1972]

i join a week ago from toucan m8 , play lots of fps games and dont regret the move at all . And welcome .You will love it here the people are really friendly .

[Malc]

Wish I could play "lots of FPS" unfortunatly I suffer from motion sickness with them, 30 mins is my limit. So I stick to RTS and management

Sorry for diverting the thread a little, Rik and others will resume normal service

[DeViTTo]

Pinging napdhome.pogo.com [159.153.235.27] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=94ms TTL=114
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=99ms TTL=114
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=114
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=114

Ping statistics for 159.153.235.27:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 93ms, Maximum = 100ms, Average = 96ms

Thanks Malc, above is CPW its better than AOL was but it lacks consitency in line drops etc but nice pings for USA server.

Thanks guys for the welcome. I have been playing too much of late http://renladder.blackhand-studios.net/ until th CFW problems at least I have a life now lol, but I like my wind down time.

[RA-1972]

I was suppose to get 4 meg but look at what i get on idnet .


Software Version: 1.09
ADSL Version: 6.0.2.0 
Boot Code Version: 0.01
MAC Address: 00-1C-10-00-EB-35 
   
DSL Status
     
  DSL Status: UP 
DSL Modulation Mode: Auto 
DSL Path Mode: INTERLEAVED 
Downstream Rate: 7616 Kbps 
Upstream Rate: 448 Kbps 
Downstream Margin: 10 db 
Upstream Margin: 23 db 
Downstream Line Attenuation: 21 
Upstream Line Attenuation: 24 
Downstream Transmit Power: 19 
Upstream Transmit Power: 11 
LOS Errors: 0 
   
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   
Internet Connection
     
  PPP Login: Up 
Internet IP Address: 91.135.9.122
Internet Netmask: 255.0.0.0
Internet Gateway: 212.69.63.51

[DeViTTo]

I was suppose to get 4 meg but look at what i get on idnet .

Nice speed to get RA compared to supposed limit 

[Malc]

Not done a test but watching the modem I always get 7616 / 832, never dropped a line once since the first 2 days, which would be retraining.

[Simon]

Hi DeViTTo (I think we may end up just calling you Dev!), and 

As has been said, Rik is your man here, and you may actually know him from the Compuserve forums, as I know he used to be involved with them, but I will try to add my two penneth. 

1)Could someone ping www.westwood.com for me and post the result?

I know Malc has already done this, but for a second opinion, here's mine:

Pinging napdhome.pogo.com [159.153.235.27] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=120ms TTL=112
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=124ms TTL=112
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=119ms TTL=112
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=121ms TTL=112

Ping statistics for 159.153.235.27:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 119ms, Maximum = 124ms, Average = 121ms

2)I have read a lot on thinkbroadband forum about IDnet and a little here, it seems that everyone is very happy, but quietly keeping it that way which is good lol. Having noticed the amount or lack of posts on thinkbroadband. Is this really the case? I just want a consistant low ping connection.

Yes, it really is that case that we are all very happy here, and quietly keeping it that way. 

3)Have many of you experienced greater than expected speeds from the usual stated for exchanges of some distance? I live in the sticks at the minute, but I only really need 1024 down 245 up, but it would be nice to experiance a boost as with all the companys I have been with have never gone above 1024. Now its about 840 down 180 up with CFW. I know this question is subjective, a lot to do with attenuation, signal to noise, distance etc.

Most people who migrate from other ISPs report improved speeds with IDNet.  Technically, I'm not sure of the reasons why this is, but perhaps the promise of no network contention has something to do with it?

4)I have tried the number search and it came back with 5MB* maybe available, I just wondered if many have had your expectations met or exceeded, when switching to IDnet?

I switched from Pipex last year, and I am now receiving the maximum speeds my line will allow, which always seemed to be throttled before.  This is most noticeable when downloading, occasionally using the P2P networks.

5)I have a few Domain Names. Is it possible to host one of my domains within the selected package free web space? Or do I just have to web forwarded it? The website are demonstrating my website I have created etc so not a lot of traffic.

Can't help you with that one.

I have a MAC code now and I am looking to sign up this weekend, so if you have the time could you please reply

Thanks in advance 

You're most welcome, and we sincerely hope you join - you won't regret it. 

[DeViTTo]

Not done a test but watching the modem I always get 7616 / 832, never dropped a line once since the first 2 days, which would be retraining.

At least its consitant and very good speed Malc, you must be on the SuperMax package I was leaning toward
HomeMax for my current usage.

BTW sorry to hear of the motion sickness Malc, 

[DeViTTo]

Hi DeViTTo (I think we may end up just calling you Dev!), and 

As has been said, Rik is your man here, and you may actually know him from the Compuserve forums, as I know he used to be involved with them, but I will try to add my two penneth. 

I know Malc has already done this, but for a second opinion, here's mine:

Pinging napdhome.pogo.com [159.153.235.27] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=120ms TTL=112
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=124ms TTL=112
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=119ms TTL=112
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=121ms TTL=112

Ping statistics for 159.153.235.27:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 119ms, Maximum = 124ms, Average = 121ms

Yes, it really is that case that we are all very happy here, and quietly keeping it that way. 

Most people who migrate from other ISPs report improved speeds with IDNet.  Technically, I'm not sure of the reasons why this is, but perhaps the promise of no network contention has something to do with it?

I switched from Pipex last year, and I am now receiving the maximum speeds my line will allow, which always seemed to be throttled before.  This is most noticeable when downloading, occasionally using the P2P networks.

Can't help you with that one.

You're most welcome, and we sincerely hope you join - you won't regret it. 

Thanks Simon please do call me DeV most people do in game etc.

The promise of no network contention I find interetsing. Is this with the Supermax package or throughout the range? There must be a contention limit on the network for different packages surely?

What is the backbone of IDnet? 

One of the things that also is pulling toward IDnet is the credited partners that are hosted with IDnet and the length of time this company has been running. The friendly atmosphere here is also a welcome point. Its nice not to see anyone ranting about their connection issues over and above the normal outages.

Is anyone else playing games based in the USA how do they find gaming over that distance?

Sorry more questions lol

[Malc]

At least its consitant and very good speed Malc, you must be on the SuperMax package I was leaning toward
HomeMax for my current usage.

BTW sorry to hear of the motion sickness Malc, 

Yes, supermax I use private p2p trackers, with no port blocking what so ever, now and then, don't use 60gig, but I like the upload speeds.

NP with the sickness, I prefer RTS, and I can play outdoor games like farcry, HL2 and Crysis, it's the corridors that get me

[g7pkf]

i get pings in the region of 100ms to the site you suggested.

i live in the sticks the line is cr*p found using a 2700HGV router improved things dramatically not so much speed but connection stability. and at the start (moved house) i was getting 150+ dissconnections a day.

with idnet you get a very good level of service and support yes they are not the cheapest in the country. but you get what you pay for.

i looked for several week's (about 6 in all) before deciding to come here.

with idnet you get the following (at the moment and the forseable future)

no congestion (except at possibly the exchange) seems no matter what package you are on

support that actually knows what they are talking about to reiterate i have called them twice both times the phone rang only 4-5 times before being answered.

first support call really shook me it went like this:-

Hi just signed up to you guy's and am having a problem.

ans: Ok whats the problem?

Im having trouble re-configuring my router etc etc....

ans: Hmm try XYZ ill hold while you try that or would you like me to call you back in 5minutes to see if that worked? as our "expert" in this field is making a cup of tea for all of us at the moment and that doesn't happen very often.

so i thought right ill try them out and said okay ill try that can you get HIM to call me back in 5?

ans: Yes okay will do.

now i was gobsmacked when in 3minutes and 36 seconds (yes im sad i was timing them) I got a call back from the expert saying see you got it working do you have any other queries? He had obviously bothered to look into my problem and monitor to see if i got connected!

Now thats what i call service with a human touch.

the second service call went along the lines of:-

My internet connection seems dead? (i was calling from my mobile at time as i couldnt find any home phones)

ans:- yes Mr Jac**** let me have a look.......Hmm Can i call you back in 5 minutes

within 5 minutes they called me back and said:- We have been in contact with BT can you check your home phone please, (checked and dial tone) yes thats what we thought can you try calling a number outside your exchange? (checked and would not work) ah that confirms it your exchange is suffering a major outage you will or should be able to call anyone within the exchange but the exchange has been cut from the outside world. We have logged a fault but please contact bt to report that your phone is not working as well.

Later i discovered the whole village was in the same predicament but had no idea why, Idnet did know why.

makes a change to talk to people who actually know what they are doing.

and no i do not work for idnet

yes i am an engineer, i work on telephony/gsm/voip server's, i gave up the pc maint side as i found end user customers a pain in the A***e i decided to specialize and now only work on servers.

im on the Home SuperMax coz i need the upload speed for voip and vpn that i use (im a remote engineer)

[Simon]

Hi Dev,

The promise of no network contention I find interetsing. Is this with the Supermax package or throughout the range? There must be a contention limit on the network for different packages surely?

I can only quote from the website, which says: No contention on our network is achieved by not oversubscribing our broadband services and ensuring that bandwidth investment exceeds customer demand. This means that our goals of the highest performance and reliability can be maintained.

What is the backbone of IDnet?

Haven't a clue - but one of our techies will tell you later. 

The friendly atmosphere here is also a welcome point. Its nice not to see anyone ranting about their connection issues over and above the normal outages.

It's one of the things which drew me to IDNet as well.  I run my own PC forum and really didn't want to get hooked on another one, but with this crowd, it's hard not to get involved.  We do tend to crow a bit about IDNet, but we believe we have something to crow about! 

Quietly. 

[DeViTTo]

i get pings in the region of 100ms to the site you suggested.

i live in the sticks the line is cr*p found using a 2700HGV router improved things dramatically not so much speed but connection stability. and at the start (moved house) i was getting 150+ dissconnections a day.

with idnet you get a very good level of service and support yes they are not the cheapest in the country. but you get what you pay for.

Thats all I'm wanting or expecting, but it would also be nice being in the sticks to have a little more speed if it can be found

yes i am an engineer, i work on telephony/gsm/voip server's, i gave up the pc maint side as i found end user customers a pain in the A***e i decided to specialize and now only work on servers.

Thanks g7pkf its nice to hear from a person in the field so to speak, it sounds if at times it has been litrally. its good to see that a company knows what BT is doing, a lot more than most even want to know or even bother to care to know and IDnet look as though they want to know because it could effect their quality of service. Good to hear Thanks

It's one of the things which drew me to IDNet as well.  I run my own PC forum and really didn't want to get hooked on another one, but with this crowd, it's hard not to get involved.  We do tend to crow a bit about IDNet, but we believe we have something to crow about! 

Quietly. 

LoL

[Malc]

Reading this thread and following on from my report, I'll add ATM I'm only using a 3 year old modem, not a router, something which I intend to invest in, in the next few weeks.

I assume that will make a difference to my results

[DeViTTo]

Reading this thread and following on from my report, I'll add ATM I'm only using a 3 year old modem, not a router, something which I intend to invest in, in the next few weeks.

I assume that will make a difference to my results

I think your best asking one of the techies, but my switch to my cable modem/giga router with adsl modem, helped my connection. especially the QOS which enables me to traffic shape my internal network so I achieve priority over other traffic on the network. Especially UDP the protocol that is used it most games.

My ping times improved as well, became a little more consistant, but this is subjective and i think, because is really more down to the network than the router, no of hops etc. Maybe the techies will comment here more Malc.

I have reconnected my Netgear DG834G and got some line info which may be of help when Rik looks at this post.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Sebby]

Welcome, DeV. 

With your current stats, you're only looking at getting around a 2.5Mb sync rate on Max. I have a similar attenuation figure as you and get around 5Mb. The problem is your noise margin, but luckily, of the two figures, this is the one that you can improve.

Do you have a NTE5 master socket? If so, remove the front faceplate (as shown in the picture - be careful as any extension wiring will be connected to this plate inside the socket) and connect your router to the socket behind (the test socket). Then please re-post your stats. If things improve, we can make suggestions about how you can improve the situation in the long-term, which will yield you higher sync.

Sync rate and speed are commonly confused. The sync is something that's outside the ISP's control as it's determined by your line characteristics. The speed you will achieve on IDNet is the maximum possible for that sync rate. It's important to appreciate the distinction as IDNet can't give you great speeds if the sync rate is poor to start with.

I look forward to hearing back from you, and welcome once again.

[DeViTTo]

Welcome, DeV. 

With your current stats, you're only looking at getting around a 2.5Mb sync rate on Max. I have a similar attenuation figure as you and get around 5Mb. The problem is your noise margin, but luckily, of the two figures, this is the one that you can improve.

Do you have a NTE5 master socket? If so, remove the front faceplate (as shown in the picture - be careful as any extension wiring will be connected to this plate inside the socket) and connect your router to the socket behind (the test socket). Then please re-post your stats. If things improve, we can make suggestions about how you can improve the situation in the long-term, which will yield you higher sync.

Sync rate and speed are commonly confused. The sync is something that's outside the ISP's control as it's determined by your line characteristics. The speed you will achieve on IDNet is the maximum possible for that sync rate. It's important to appreciate the distinction as IDNet can't give you great speeds if the sync rate is poor to start with.

I look forward to hearing back from you, and welcome once again.

Hi Sebby Ill take the modem downstairs tommorow and connect into the master, i'm off on an extension at the min which has not caused me a problem until all the CPW problems. I'll post in the afternoon, thanks for the welcome :-)

[Lance]

Hi Dev.

C:\Users\Lance>ping www.westwood.com

Pinging napdhome.pogo.com [159.153.235.27] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=109
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=97ms TTL=109
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=98ms TTL=109
Reply from 159.153.235.27: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=109

Ping statistics for 159.153.235.27:
   Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
   Minimum = 96ms, Maximum = 98ms, Average = 96ms

C:\Users\Lance>tracert www.westwood.com

Tracing route to napdhome.pogo.com [159.153.235.27]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

 1     2 ms     1 ms     1 ms  home [192.168.1.254]
 2    52 ms    21 ms    21 ms  telehouse-gw2.idnet.net [212.69.63.55]
 3    23 ms    21 ms    22 ms  telehouse-gw3-gi0-1-400.idnet.net [212.69.63.243
]
 4    27 ms    20 ms    23 ms  w-s-1.lon1.arbinet.net [213.232.64.56]
 5    98 ms    95 ms    93 ms  Gi12-0.lon-wal-core-2.interoute.net [217.118.119
.33]
 6    94 ms    93 ms    94 ms  PO6-0.nyc-002-access-1.interoute.net [212.23.43.
149]
 7    93 ms   103 ms    93 ms  Gi7-0.nyc-002-access-3.interoute.net [212.23.43.
138]
 8    93 ms    93 ms    94 ms  PO4-0.was-001-access-1.interoute.net [84.233.183
.81]
 9   153 ms    99 ms    93 ms  PO0-0.was-001-inter-1.interoute.net [84.233.183.
86]
10    93 ms    93 ms    93 ms  if-6-0-2.core4.AEQ-Ashburn.teleglobe.net [216.6.
42.13]
11   104 ms    96 ms    95 ms  0.so-2-3-0.BR1.DCA5.ALTER.NET [204.255.169.85]
12    98 ms    95 ms    98 ms  0.so-1-1-0.XT2.DCA5.ALTER.NET [152.63.43.178]
13    96 ms    95 ms    96 ms  0.so-6-0-0.XL4.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.0.130]
14    96 ms    95 ms    96 ms  GigE7-0-0.GW8.IAD8.ALTER.NET [152.63.33.17]
15   102 ms    95 ms    99 ms  ea-gw.customer.alter.net [157.130.82.94]
16   100 ms    99 ms    97 ms  159.153.224.174
17    99 ms    99 ms   110 ms  eaocore01-eqx-iad.ea.com [159.153.224.90]
18   105 ms    97 ms   109 ms  www.ea.com [159.153.235.27]

Trace complete.

To try and answer some of your questions...

There is no contention at all accross all packages on the IDNet network. However, you may experience local congestion at your BT exchange.

Not sure what you mean by backbone. They have BT centrals, which they (as part of the no contention promise) make sure don't get overloaded and plan forward for capacity, rather than reacting to current needs.

To cover point four in your OP, that is a BT estimate, and actual speed will vary. Whether it is better or worse is entirely dependant on BT's estimate, and sometimes they can be wildly wrong!

As has been said, you'll have to look long and hard for someone who isn't happy with their IDNet connection.

Hope this helps!

[Sebby]

Hi Sebby Ill take the modem downstairs tommorow and connect into the master, i'm off on an extension at the min which has not caused me a problem until all the CPW problems. I'll post in the afternoon, thanks for the welcome :-)

No problem.

I'm not saying that your internal wiring will cause you problems on Max; just that you might be disappointed, because you're not going to achieve a very good sync at present. There's certainly a lot of room for improvement.

When you go to the master socket, make sure you take the faceplate off and connect behind it; connecting to the master - believe it or not - is not different to connecting to an extension socket. Only the test socket will eliminate the extension wiring completely.

[Glenn]

Is anyone else playing games based in the USA how do they find gaming over that distance?

Sorry more questions lol

Dev, I host a racing league using a server in Canada, I alway connect to it with a ping of around 100ms, that's fine for a driving game.

[DeViTTo]

Hi Dev.
There is no contention at all accross all packages on the IDNet network. However, you may experience local congestion at your BT exchange.

To give you an idea of my exchange I come off the ST Austell Exchange in Cornwall. Do you have or know of any figures as too number of broadband users currently using this exchange, and the current state i'e moderness of its equipment? A friend of mine actually installs all the equipment in the BT exchangess for CPW and he has seen some old equipment connected up to fibre. A lot of the connections of the small vlillage exchanges he has visited have had over 1000 people from 2 villages going through 1 10/100 hub.

Not sure what you mean by backbone. They have BT centrals, which they (as part of the no contention promise) make sure don't get overloaded and plan forward for capacity, rather than reacting to current needs.

I was only enquiring as to backbone, like pipex had its own backbone that other providers shared maybe i'm wrong here. I understand that your using BT centrals.

As has been said, you'll have to look long and hard for someone who isn't happy with their IDNet connection.

Hope this helps!

Thankyou for the Traceroute BTW and this all helps :-)

Dev, I host a racing league using a server in Canada, I alway connect to it with a ping of around 100ms, that's fine for a driving game.

That would suit my game no problem at all as I have been used to 120 -180+ thanks for that Glen