Does anyone understand how ADSL broadband actually works?

[Temp]

23 minutes ago, ProDave said:

 

But on the other hand, the wireless offering will give us broadband at 30mbps.  Now that is 10 times as fast as we get at the moment, but I honestly don't think that fits the category of "super fast" broadband?

 

We get about the same. Mostly it's fine. Before our kids left for university they were xbox users and that would occasionally impact someone streaming a movie. Now they are away both of us can stream standard definition video at the same time without issues. For example my wife might be watching something on iplayer or similar while I'm watching F1 live. Buffering is rare and probably not be due to our connection rate. Overall I think I would call 30 Mbit "acceptable". I probably wouldn't pay more for it to be say 50 Mbit. 

 

If you are moving ISP I would consider getting a portable email address. I regret using one from my ISP as it makes moving ISP for a better deal harder. 

 

 

[TonyT]

GoFibre are digging up my village. Cheapest package is for 100meg, they do 300meg and 500 meg!

 

What type of optic fibre cables is used to the house?

can you buy it so you can install it uourself and they can connect either end up?

[SteamyTea]

8 hours ago, Temp said:

 

If you are moving ISP I would consider getting a portable email address. I regret using one from my ISP as it makes moving ISP for a better deal harder. 

Yes, but some can disappear.

I was with Lavabit, as was Edward Snowden, that got closed down, then I was with Gawab, they got bombed out in the Arab Spring.

I got a Proton account, nice and secure, but cannot remember the passwords, and there is now way to have it reset.

 

I thought I heard that you can keep your email address from old, mainstream, providers, but as the last time I used that type of service I was with AOL in the 1990s.  

[PeterW]

8 hours ago, TonyT said:

What type of optic fibre cables is used to the house?

can you buy it so you can install it uourself and they can connect either end up?

 Not unless you have a fibre splice machine and the ability to do that sort of complex connection - it’s not like punching down a CAT6 cable.  Best option is install a duct to where you want it and pull through that when the time is right.

[ProDave]

Emails are not in the equation. I have never used an ISP's email.  All the ones I use are based on domain names I own for my business or home.

[dpmiller]

I'm just awaiting our number port to VOIP completing, and then I will be pleased to be shot of any copper connection to BT. Outgoing calls are working already, inbound is to switch on Tuesday.

[ProDave]

25 minutes ago, dpmiller said:

I'm just awaiting our number port to VOIP completing, and then I will be pleased to be shot of any copper connection to BT. Outgoing calls are working already, inbound is to switch on Tuesday.

What VOIP phone are you using?

 

Currently we have a set of 3 wired landline phones.  I am told I can get a VOIP adaptor that they will plug into, or I have to buy a VOIP phone that plugs directly into a network port.

[TonyT]

1 hour ago, PeterW said:

 Not unless you have a fibre splice machine and the ability to do that sort of complex connection - it’s not like punching down a CAT6 cable.  Best option is install a duct to where you want it and pull through that when the time is right.

My house is all finished so adding a duct is impossible, easier for me to install the cable and install with time and care and leave coils at either end, if not possible will have to live with the 45 meg from BT

[dpmiller]

2 hours ago, ProDave said:

What VOIP phone are you using?

 

Currently we have a set of 3 wired landline phones.  I am told I can get a VOIP adaptor that they will plug into, or I have to buy a VOIP phone that plugs directly into a network port.

 

I wanted to retain our existing panasonic fax/ DECT base and acquired a Cisco SPA232D adaptor. I first configured it for a cheapo geographic number from the provider to test it's functionality and to get a fixed phone at the site, and it has been working well.

[AliG]

I had missed this @ProDave

 

You could get Starlink £75 a month for 100mpbs if you want to pay for a faster speed.

 

Have you tried getting a pay as you go sim for each mobile network to see who has the best signal and speed locally? You might be ale to simply use that if someone has a good signal. Or just get some mates round and ask them to check the speed on their phones.

 

As to your fault it could be many things, you just need to keep at them. I would keep the line going for a few months to try and get it fixed.

[Kelvin]

I’m not sure why you think BT should be the only answer for internet access. The fact they struggle in some rural areas opens up opportunities for different more innovative solutions. WISP services are a great alternative  as is LTE where available. Starlink is also a great solution and arguably better than all the others (if latency isn’t your main priority) They’ve recently reduced the price from £85/month to £75. Still dear but a nominal 150/20 Mbps uncapped with good latency. 

[ProDave]

4 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

I’m not sure why you think BT should be the only answer for internet access.

I don't.  But what irks me is we keep getting politicians standing up on the tv saying we will all get super fast fibre broadband even those remote rural properties.  Then along comes this wireless company and installs a network and now we have this 30mbps service available.  That is the best we are going to get.  What happened to the promised super fast fibre broadband to all properties?  The fact we have a bit faster offering available now seems to have removed BT/OR's obligation to deliver the proper service.

 

We know for a fact fibre is available at the top of our road.  What I had been expecting / hoping is OR would have installed a fibre cabinet at the top of the road leaving just the copper for the local connection, not difficult or expensive in the scheme of things.  But this other company has seemingly removed any obligation or inclination for them so upgrade their lousy network.

[SteamyTea]

26 minutes ago, ProDave said:

But what irks me is we keep getting politicians standing up on the tv saying we will all get super fast fibre broadband even those remote rural properties

Why do you think anything a politician says should turn into reality.

 

[ProDave]

28 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Why do you think anything a politician says should turn into reality.

 

It is a very sad state of affairs when that statement is so true, that you simply cannot believe that anything a politician says has a shred of truth in it.

[Kelvin]

Have they actually said ‘superfast broadband’ to 100% of households via fibre? 
 

I know the digital Scotland commitment is broadband speeds of at least 30Mbps which you’ve got via a WISP service who presumably got some grant money. 

Edited September 3, 2022 by Kelvin

[TonyT]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

I don't.  But what irks me is we keep getting politicians standing up on the tv saying we will all get super fast fibre broadband even those remote rural properties.  Then along comes this wireless company and installs a network and now we have this 30mbps service available.  That is the best we are going to get.  What happened to the promised super fast fibre broadband to all properties?  The fact we have a bit faster offering available now seems to have removed BT/OR's obligation to deliver the proper service.

 

We know for a fact fibre is available at the top of our road.  What I had been expecting / hoping is OR would have installed a fibre cabinet at the top of the road leaving just the copper for the local connection, not difficult or expensive in the scheme of things.  But this other company has seemingly removed any obligation or inclination for them so upgrade their lousy network.

They promised extra resources to the police, NHS too, just the usual lies to get votes in..

[AliG]

Shouldn't get into politics, just providing some information. NHS spending is through the roof with little to show for it. Admittedly it is early days for the largest increase which is this year. This chart is real terms spending. It seems that people don't actually believe NHS spending has gone up. It has increased by almost 40% in 10 years!

 

 

Police spending has also increased above inflation for the last 5 years running, having fallen in real terms the 5 years before that.

 

The fibre broadband target, however, has been scaled back. They have gone from 100% coverage for gigabit to 85%. IMO (sorry @ProDave) if you live in the middle of nowhere there is a limit to how much everyone else should subsidise the massive cost of getting broadband to your house. My parents' new house needs to be connected 40metres to the nearest storm drain, costing over £10k. The taxpayer isn't paying for that. Considering solutions like Starlink, I don't think spending thousands of pounds on bringing faster broadband to individual houses is a good use of funds. The promise should never have been made, and it is typical of politicians to say things that are not practical in reality and not to want to admit to harsh realities like the fact some houses are just too rural to economically be provided with fibre connections.

 

I thought that this page was interesting. 97% of the UK can access 30Mbps or faster speeds.

 

The average speed often quoted in worldwide tests is somewhat odd as it is based not on what is available, but on what people buy. It also often uses results from speed tests so includes WiFi issues and so on. Nevertheless it appears that UK average speeds have been motoring recently, almost doubling to 90Mbps per second in the last 2 years.However, the figure that probably better reflects the investment in the network is the average speed actually available to people which is 540Mbps.

 

 

https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/
 

[Gone West]

13 hours ago, AliG said:

if you live in the middle of nowhere there is a limit to how much everyone else should subsidise the massive cost of getting broadband to your house.

I agree, and I live out in the sticks with a maximum of 10Mbps if I'm lucky, but I wouldn't change where I live just to have faster BT broadband.

[joth]

13 hours ago, AliG said:

IMO (sorry @ProDave) if you live in the middle of nowhere there is a limit to how much everyone else should subsidise the massive cost of getting broadband to your house.

But we already subsidise the massive cost of installing and maintaining copper wires to every single home in the UK.  The incremental cost of pulling in and maintaining fiber instead of copper is low, and once complete probably has lower overall costs and higher ROI for the country as a whole. So IMHO the 100% coverage target is where we should be heading, but accept it's going to take a long time (generations) to get there. 

 

(I'm in a town where everyone has FTTP except for our street, as on our street our copper is underground rather than overhead they want to charge me £8k for fiber install, so I'm equally cheesed off yet resigned to the fact this is now just a waiting game)

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by joth

[ProDave]

Thinking now if what hardware changes I will need to make to switch supplier.

 

One of them is very subtle.  I have a large HDD plugged into the USB port of the BT router, which gives me a poor mans Network Accessible Storage.

 

How can I easily make a standard SATA HDD into a NAS with something other than a BT home hub?  Searching has not found a cheap simple solution yet.

[Temp]

17 minutes ago, ProDave said:

How can I easily make a standard SATA HDD into a NAS with something other than a BT home hub?  Searching has not found a cheap simple solution yet.

 

Companies like Verbatim make NAS enclosures without a drive (add your own) but they need some setting up which I've not done. Think they are like £20-£50.

 

Other companies like Synology make boxes with one drive supplied and one or more empty bays for you to add extra drives. They tend to be a bit expensive.

 

If you have an old PC available it might be possible to use that..

 

https://www.cclonline.com/article/2041/Guide/Network-Storage-NAS-/Build-A-DIY-Home-Media-Server-On-A-Budget/

 

 

 

 

[ProDave]

1 hour ago, Temp said:

 

Companies like Verbatim make NAS enclosures without a drive (add your own) but they need some setting up which I've not done. Think they are like £20-£50.

 

Other companies like Synology make boxes with one drive supplied and one or more empty bays for you to add extra drives. They tend to be a bit expensive.

 

If you have an old PC available it might be possible to use that..

 

https://www.cclonline.com/article/2041/Guide/Network-Storage-NAS-/Build-A-DIY-Home-Media-Server-On-A-Budget/

 

 

 

 

I remember now I discussed this before a few years ago.  I dont really want another computer with another OS to set up and maintain, and all the power it will consume, just so that once in a while I can access a simple HDD from any computer in the house.  That's why the little documented option to plug an HDD into the BT router appealed once I tried it and found it works, and found the few quirks you had to do to make it work.  It is simple and low power.

 

One option if BT don't ask for the router back when I dump them is repurpose it as a simple network switch and the disc access bit by turning off just about all the other functions. Or keep looking for another cheap and simple alternative.

[Kelvin]

BT will probably ask for it back. If so, you can buy routers cheaply enough second hand. Many offer the ability to share a hard disk from a USB port. You can also set up a Raspberry Pi to do the same thing only better. 

[Temp]

I did have a Western Digital MyBook but they are discontinued. Was no real software or OS to learn. Just need to create user accounts via a Web browser interface. They have been replaced by their MyCloud NAS which start around £140 inc a 2TB drive at Currys. Dont think you can add a second drive though.

 

 

[dpmiller]

there are other brands of router that have built in NAS, I know Draytek often do. I've now got two old routers reconfigured as access points/ switches hanging off the Huawei 4g one. One is a Talktalk homehub thingy, the other is a Draytek 2850. It's got a USB that will run either as a printer server, an NAS, or take a 3/4g dongle for failover purposes.