1 EAGLETON NOTES: BT Broadband - Again

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Sunday 29 May 2016

BT Broadband - Again


Yesterday I actually managed to get a reading for my broadband speed which even BT would have to admit is exceptional and unacceptable (and theoretically impossible).

If you live on Lewis (and I'm sure many other places) then the chances are that the eternal cries of all the companies selling broadband at speeds we can only dream about will irritate you. Firstly let me say that I am grateful that I have broadband and a mobile/cell phone signal at all. Many do not. However my tussles with BT are reasonably well documented. Since my last series of visits from engineers about a year ago my broadband has, usually, been working. The speed wasn't great at about 1 Mbps. A few months ago the telephone exchange was upgraded to fibre and my speed went up to 2.5Mbps. Whoopee.

A few days ago I lost it completely and then it returned but intermittently and at about 0.24 Mbps.

Yesterday after a telephone conversation with a neighbour a hundred yards away when I could hardly hear her I decided to bite the bullet and have a conversation with someone in India.

"Hello. I would like to report a fault. I have no or intermittent and poor broadband but it may be my telephone line because I can only just hear you and there is a huge amount of crackling on the line."

"You have come to the right person, Sir, I will sort your problem."

Move forward 17 minutes (he had agreed that the readings he was getting were showing that my speeds were poor) during which time I had to ask him lots of times to repeat himself because the phone line was so bad (his English and diction were perfect) he asked me if I was having difficulty with the phone line.

The upshot was that he then tested the phone line and it is faulty. It will be repaired by the 3 June at latest.

Thank heaven I have back-up satellite broadband which, last night, was giving me 27 Mbps.

I'll be back tomorrow with something more interesting which isn't a gripe.

20 comments:

  1. It's always annoying when our connections with the outside world do not work as they should, isn't it!
    If your satellite broadband works so well, why not use it all the time and have the other one as a back-up instead?

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    1. It's very frustrating Meike. The satellite broadband download speed is very fast but the ping latency is very high indeed which can be frustrating when trying to use Siri for example. The real reason, though is cost: it's very expensive even for the limited 10Gb (8 down 2 up) that I'm signed up to each month. I tend to use it for downloading updates for the computers, iPad and sat-nav etc which take for ever at 1 or even 2.5 Mbps. Hopefully when we have our connections fully updated (in theory) in about 6 months I might be able to get rid of the satellite.

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  2. I put it down to the wrong sort of weather, your MEP and everything and everybody I don't like.
    Speed here is a massive 2.85 and 0.18 upload. Who gets these 20 and 40MBps speeds? I suspect very few outside of the major conurbations. Something else Dithery was promising to rectify.
    Are you grumpy today?

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    1. I can't imagine Dithery Dave in BT overalls, driving a BT van all over the country to rectify broadband problems. He would be working well into the next millennium.

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    2. I think you're right Adrian. If you are not in an urban area then forget it. Howver I'd be happy even with 10Mbps if it was regular. At 1 or less I couldn't even use iPlayer and half the time YouTube buffered too frustratingly as well.

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    3. YP, I very much doubt that anyone would leave Dithery in charge of a mini digger let alone that posh bit of machinery that buries fibre optics.
      Do BT have overalls big enough? He's a bit of a porker.

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  3. Interesting as we have been having the same problem especially the crackling line at times.

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    1. Sound like the problem is between us and the exchange again. It's probably water in a connector box somewhere - again.

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  4. I like it when you gripe Graham. Mrs Weaver in Bellerby, Yorkshire Dales has also been having BT trouble. Together your complaints are a good advert for living in cities!

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  5. Like the sweet lady who I met in London in 1981 told me when we were sheltering under a canopy during a heavy downpour of rain, "Blame the Americans!" HA! (She didn't know I was an American until I spoke and I only said one word..."Really?")

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    1. I have a feeling Kay that the Americans aren't to blame for this unless, of course, you are using up the world's supply or the CIA have infiltrated and are sabotaging our broadband. Mind you if Mr Trump with his Hebridean Mum manages to take control we may be blaming America for a lot more than the broadband and the weather!

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  6. Trump's Mum lives in the Hebrides??? That is almost weirder than him!

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    1. No Kay. His Mum came from the Isle of Lewis: from the village next to the one I first lived in when I came here.

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  7. When you said you lost it completely I thought we were in for some real excitement. Would it help if you were less polite perhaps? Those constant problems would surely test my patience.

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    1. Pauline there are some things where I have infinite patience and, oddly, sorting computer problems is one of them.

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  8. My service out here in the French wilderness is perfect. If Orange can get it right, I don't see why BT can't.

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    1. Without wishing to defend BT, Cro, our infrastructure is ancient and designed for an era when not many people even had basic phone service. It is gradually being upgraded. Friends on the Vienne and Poitou Charantes border have even more problems than I do.

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  9. You're light years ahead of me as not only do you know what this stuff is , you understand what it means. that's why you have success with the guys in India.

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