BT called

DP · 20 Jul 2011

Free calls
Free home hub
20MB/s max speed, but averages at 8MB/s
BT home hub
Free landline calls
first three months free but line rental applicable
WiFi- unlimited access outside

I am with ntl at the moment. Coax into the house whereas BT will be internet access on the copper wire that phone is on.

Another issue is I email which is over ntl network but BT tell me they will take care of routing NTL emails to me.

Is BT trying to sell me something a lemon or is it as good as NTL. Most of my internet traffic is emails and information download from google

Can you learned people please show me the way please.

TIA

Alarm · 20 Jul 2011

Was with BT for line only Orange for BB.
Moved and held hostage for new line and BB.

Bottom line free calls all day ( hang up one hour) to 01.02.03 0844, 0845 ect numbers.
Speeds as promised. Average 16 meg, stable.
Emails rerouted.
Hub ( range is good actually) goes from front of house to rear of garden.

Unlimited outside access but speeds are low 1/2 meg at best. But its fine for mails and browsing.

My experience anyway.
Not disappointed.

Just that they have a strangle hold on my access and phone line goes against the grain a bit.

Paul_C · 21 Jul 2011

DP said:
20MB/s max speed, but averages at 8MB/s

The actual speed at which you connect will be very dependent upon your telephone line quality, distance from exchange, and so on. If you don't know where your local exchange actually is, you can find its location here:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

BT home hub

I'm not a fan of the BT Home Hub due to its flaky software, automatic updates which you may not want, etc. Be aware also that the BT custom firmware in these units has an ISP lock, so that you can't use it if you ever transfer to a different provider (unless you want to obtain replacement firmware and flash it).

But of course you don't have to use the supplied home hub. Substitute your own ADSL modem/router combination for something better if you wish.

Alarm · 21 Jul 2011

There is an unlock available for the hub.
I was going to use my own router as I always have but gave the Hub a chance and its worked fine.

merlin50 · 27 Jul 2011

i was with bt once, never again

DP · 27 Jul 2011

On the phone the spec sounds very good i.e. free landline calls, £16.00 per month for internet, 10 Gig allowance, download speed of 8 but suspect that is an enhanced rate (due to internet via copper pair instead of coax as I have presently with NTL). Hotpot access but that is at .5g on average.

They are certainly aggressive in their sales and seem not to be aware of 7 day cooling off period.

big-all · 27 Jul 2011

i am with talk talk
get around 4meg unlimited [nearly]download free local national 0845 any time
100 mins to mobiles all for £31 full price or for another £2 [£33] you get 500 mins to mobiles

Alarm · 27 Jul 2011

Bt , 18 meg D/L 1.8 U/L.
10gig allowance, unless on BT Phon or Hotspots when unlimited but as you say average speed 0.5meg.

aptsys · 28 Jul 2011

If you have cable, stay with it. Why take a step backwards for a small saving

100M/bit down, 10M/bit up here and have only had a total of 2h 43m downtime since November 2010 according to my server which was more than compensated for by credit from VM .

Steve · 30 Jul 2011

BT has to be the poorest value broadband.

I get warnings about my useage. I was with O2 for years, never got warnings about useage, despite regularly exceeding the limit.

BT say if I go over 10 gig they will charge £5 per 5GB extra, in 5GB blocks - if I use 10.1 gig, thats an extra fiver for 0.1 gig.

I only got a BT line so I could get O2 broadband (at £7 a month), but after I signed the deal, realised I only could get BT or orange. So I'm left paying £15 a month for BT. As soon at the 18 months is up I'm switching to Virgin and getting decent telly too (TiVo)

Also, the homehub transmits BT FON and Openzone signals. They dont like telling you this, and there is a setting in the hub software to turn it off. But this is why they dont offer a concession if you use your own router. Of the £15 a month, about £10 pays for the hub. Robbing gits.

Alarm · 30 Jul 2011

They openly tell you about the hub being used as a platform for open zone and Fon.
Hence you can use your notebook/lappy anywhere, or did you not bother reading the contract?

Agile · 5 Aug 2011

For anyone who doesn't follow that!

BT offer a wide coverage wifi paid for on demand service for anyone with a lot of money to spend. It also carries the service for other BT customers too!

BUT what they presumably only say in the small print is that this service to anyone in your area is carried on YOUR line/modem if you are signed up to BT ! That must slow down your connection when it becomes shared.

I have TalkTalk but as its a few miles from the BT exchange the max speed is only about 1.8 Mb/s

But if I was starting again, I would go with BT because if you like to access the internet during the day when out the BT access is a great benefit.

I do have email access on some mobile phones but internet access is very tedious indeed.

Tony

Paul_C · 5 Aug 2011

Agile said:
BUT what they presumably only say in the small print is that this service to anyone in your area is carried on YOUR line/modem if you are signed up to BT ! That must slow down your connection when it becomes shared.

It will, since there will be contention for the bandwidth available on the DSL channel. It may be that the hub firmware puts a limit on the bandwidth which can be used by OpenZone connections to guarantee a certain minimum for the main user, but even so, it will still represent a limitation on the bandwidth for the latter, and I would think it would be especially noticeable for anyone several miles from the central office where speeds are already on the low side.

Alarm · 5 Aug 2011

Just tested again 18 + meg up, 1.4 down. @ 18:45
With two other laptops on Fon on my hub. They are both stuck @ 0.5 as BT say on Fon.

So no effect on my primary.

Might get my old router out and sling that on tomorrow, see if there are any changes.

Paul_C · 5 Aug 2011

Alarm said:
Just tested again 18 + meg up, 1.4 down. @ 18:45

I assume you meant that the other way around. But how are you determining those speeds? If you're looking at the DSL sync speed, then that's not going to change however many systems are connected and contending the bandwidth. The actual data throughput that each device sees is another matter.

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BT called

DP

Alarm

Paul_C

Alarm

merlin50

DP

big-all

Alarm

aptsys

Steve

Alarm

Agile

Paul_C

Alarm

Paul_C

DIYnot Local

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