BT offers to 'speed up broadband'

[Noreen]

A service launched by BT which offers to improve broadband speeds or "your money back" has been branded expensive.

As part of its Home IT Support service, BT has pledged to improve broadband speeds by at least 0.5Mbps (megabits per second).

But with a price tag of £90, some industry watchers suggest users find alternative ways of upping speeds.

Broadband speeds vary for a variety of reasons, including distance from the telephone exchange..................

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7446999.stm

[Rik]

For many people, this will be a good service, eg technophobes. For the rest, the answers can be found in forums like this.

[Sebby]

Indeed, Rik.

[ducky22]

That's genius... charge for something they should be doing anyway! We could offer a £45 version for all the same tricks ;-).

[Rik]

Good idea - where shall we start?

[Sebby]

We kind of do it already, but just don't charge. That's where we're going wrong.

[Rik]

Good thinking. So we make Help a closed section with a membership fee? 

[Sebby]

I vote in favour of that.

[Noreen]

But with a price tag of £90, some industry watchers suggest users find alternative ways of upping speeds.

Join IDNet.

[Rik]

 

[Noreen]

  Rik. I was amused by this post on ThinkBroadband.....................

Just got through to "BT IT Support" on the phone and spoke to a nice young lady, but she couldn't really help...

She wasn't sure if the Broadband Accelerator service was for BT ADSL customers or anyone - she asked her manager. After a while they thought it was only for BT Broadband Customers.

I mentioned the BT site just lists this under the other IT support services which I assume are available to anyone - the looked at the page and agreed. She contacted the Broadband 'people' and they said it was only for DSL MAX customers so that must make them BT customers. I replied saying I thought this was anyone on an adaptive up to 8Mb package?
I also mentioned all the security errors on the BT site which didn't fill me with confidence! - how we laughed... 

I told her I found this service from the BBC article which she went to look at and agreed it looks like it's for anyone...

I'm sure it will all be clear eventually - I thanked her and left.

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=btsupplier&Number=3373592&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=1

[Rik]

Wonderful. I've spoken to many call centres like that. 

[Tacitus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7446999.stm

The thing I like about this link is the Beeb's page shows Demon in the top 10 ISPs for speed...

Frankly you'd never think it if you used my connection....

OT:  Wonder if C&W are still after THUS?  It all seems to have gone quiet.

[Rik]

It's like all these tables, Tac, arrived at more by alchemy than research.

[doc_holiday]

For many people, this will be a good service, eg technophobes. For the rest, the answers can be found in forums like this.

When I read about this though, I wondered if there is any chance they would use BT resources to increase your speed? (i.e. tweak the SNR, check another pair from the exchange, etc.)  Depends on how bad they want to get your £90. (apparently there is no charge if they can't increase your speed)

I would almost be willing to give this a go just to see what stops they would pull out... because I have already done all the obvious things to get as much out of my line as I can.

[Sebby]

Ah, well if there's no charge if they can't improve the speed, I suppose there's nothing to lose for people like us. But for the majority of users, I suspect, they will be able to improve things.

[Simon]

To my mind, a 500Kbps increase isn't that great a target to aim for, and in many cases, could be achieved by tweaking MTU / RWIN settings, checking wiring, changing router, etc, all of which would cost less than £90.

[Sebby]

True, I certainly wouldn't want to pay £90 for a 500k increase. But we've seen 2, 3, or even 4Mb increases in sync here, with a few adjustments to setup, so it'll be very much more worthwhile for some than others.

[doc_holiday]

To my mind, a 500Kbps increase isn't that great a target to aim for, and in many cases, could be achieved by tweaking MTU / RWIN settings, checking wiring, changing router, etc, all of which would cost less than £90.

I would see it almost as kind of throwing down the gauntlet sort of thing... I have a faceplate, have been meticulous with my wiring, etc. and it would be interesting to see if they can pull anything out of the B.T. hat that I haven't done yet.  Anyhow, I doubt I'll ever do it, but it is tempeting!

[Tacitus]

One thing though is whether you pay a straight £90 or whether you have to be signed up to the Home IT support service first.....

If it's the first I might be tempted given I'm on a rubbish line that seems to be getting worse.  Even though Demon are not the fastest around I'm not convinced that in my case, it's entirely their fault.

[Sebby]

I would see it almost as kind of throwing down the gauntlet sort of thing... I have a faceplate, have been meticulous with my wiring, etc. and it would be interesting to see if they can pull anything out of the B.T. hat that I haven't done yet.  Anyhow, I doubt I'll ever do it, but it is tempeting!

I suppose it depends whether they will check external wiring and what have you. I suspect not, given that the fee is just £90, in which case there are many that this service wouldn't benefit.

[Rik]

We need a volunteer.

[Sebby]

Surely no one here, Rik. They all have perfect setups.

[Rik]

At least the best we can do for them remotely.

[Inactive]

Surely no one here, Rik. They all have perfect setups.

Mine is far from perfect Sebby, I have cables running all over the place, almost everything that I shouldn't be doing, is done, but no I ain't risking 90 quid.

[Sebby]

But you get full sync.

A lot of it depends how close to the exchange you are. Those with very low attenuation figures can afford to have poor wiring as they're likely to have so much noise margin anyway.

[Danni]

Indeed. I've done zero work optimising my connection (except plugging my router into the master socket, but that was part of the plan when I was getting it fitted anyway), and I have full sync with a comfortable noise margin.

I wonder what BT would do if I phoned them now- increase my profile up to the max?

[Sebby]

They'd take your money and run.

[Rik]

They already do that.