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Thread: Recommend me an Internet provider.

  1. #1
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    Recommend me an Internet provider.

    I don't know anything about computers or Internet but when I bought my first house 2 years ago I decided to go with talk talk as it was cheapest. The speed of the Internet was good for the first three months and after that it went mega slow. I have to turn the WiFi on and off several times to get it to work. I don't have the time or patience to talk to the foreigners they employ.
    So I need help, who is the best provider out there? I'm willing to pay more for a better Internet than I have now? I've heard bt are good, is that true?

  2. #2
    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    There might be nothing wrong with your current BB.
    I presume its fibre (vdsl), and your using wireless exclusively. Try plugging in a computer with a wire and doing speed tests, wireless for most folk is utter **** because of the design of houses... where they put the AP ect...
    Test it with a wired connection first.

    If you have a line fault then changing supplier wont always just fix it either so if there is a problem with performance you will need to talk to someone.

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    If its really the line then you need Zen, they will kick openreach for you until its right.

    But usually it's your end.

    Try a network cable to laptop/desktop.

    Some routers have diagnostics that can show what channels your neighbours are competing for, try moving to a clear channel.
    https://iihelp.iinet.net.au/Improvin...nging_Channels

    I've had a number of routers just die at random and fall back to slow speeds. One lost the WAN completely so was used as a wired LAN router, a few years later that dropped from 100 to 10 Meg so I got a network switch. Simplest is to borrow a known good router.

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    I don't even know what fibre is lol. How do I do a speed test? Is it a Google search thing or do I go into settings?

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    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    Er well surely you know what package your on with your broadband provider.
    We could be here all day asking you to do this and that, while not particularly complicated basic broadband diagnostics need some tech knowledge.

    Here is the basics
    Use speedtest.net for testing, nothing else at the moment - there are other tests and sites like the openreach checker but thats only if you find a fault.
    Always always always use a wired connection on a machine, laptop or what not, that you know works properly when testing.
    Go to your routers homepage, almost always in your case going to be 192.168.1.1 and find the link speed. Tell us what this is in conjunction with your broadband package details. The numbers are whats called an ip address, enter this into a browser instead of a url. Log in details will be almost certainly default, not knowing anything about your broadband we cannot tell you what they are - you will have documentation with this on it or it could be on the router.


    Do this and report back, without this info ... well cant do owt.

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    It sounds like I am nowhere near knowledgeable about this stuff. I'll just stick to the cheap company. Or just throw the router at a wall and cancel the WiFi sh!t. Thanks for the advice given.

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    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    Sorry thats really not what i meant to say , what i meant is there is going to be a bit of finger twiddling to be done but it doesnt need to be a lot.

    If you can find the link speed from your router, the broadband package your on and run a couple of speed tests from a cabled computer then we can go from there.
    I am afraid though there is no magic fix button, well actually there might be... it could be something as simple as changing the wireless channel to one not being congested, or the link speed numbers could come back low for your package which could indicate a simple issue with a telephone extension in the house causing line interference...

    Or it could be something that you need openreach to poke with a stick, i had an issue where i was dropping to 28Mbit/s on my line, this is poor for FTTC and 12Mbit a second lower than Vodafones min 40Mbit service guarantee. It took 3 visits from an "engineer" to figure out what was wrong, was a faulty configuration on the cabinet Dslam ... the openreach chap spent hours checking every bit of copper back to the cab (and found some crap there as well) before fixing it.

    I know where your coming from with calling them up on the phone, i use the online help box thingy and my first words in it were "I am a network engineer, please jump to page 3 or 4 of your script and forward my call to the advanced support team" - this worked ... yes really and i got it all sorted eventually. Problem is that most of there 1st line telephone support people will follow the script to the letter, its useful sometimes but in most cases getting through to a proper tech in one of the other teams will be the best way - if you get the info above and we cannot sort it here then you have a lot of the basic information for them already.

    Ohh and what i have spent half my Saturday doing... Redoing my houses whole internet configuration, new cabling, access point, better switching for cabled devices and higher security. Christ i cant be arsed any more either

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    I wondered why they ask you the same question over and over again when you ring up. I rang up when I bought the package because the router was late and they kept asking me "are you ringing up because you haven't received you're router". I was pulling my hair out.
    I don't have a computer anymore. I was using a second hand one before and I used to have to turn WiFi on and off in that too. I'm seriously thinking about buying a new laptop though as you obviously can't do as much on a phone. If I buy a laptop I will get a good one though as although expensive I've heard it's worth going for one with a quad core processor.

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    How many other Wi-Fi networks can you see on your phone?

    This is how to check the sync speed of your router. Sync speed is how fast it's connected to wall socket and to the cabinet down the road. If this is slow with router connected to master socket then its Talk Talk problem.
    https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/...d/ta-p/2205409

    And some more advice and checks you can do.
    https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/...b/ta-p/2200878

    https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/...s/ta-p/2204649

    https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/...l/ta-p/2204684

    Talk Talk speed check requires a wired connection. Got a friend with a laptop and a cable?
    https://myaccount.talktalk.co.uk/speed-checker/

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    Including mine their are 3 WiFi things I can connect to. One of them has no lock next to it. One of them must be a neighbours. I live on a street of old ppl so most probably don't have WiFi. I'll buy a new laptop probably next weekend.

  11. #11
    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    Just borrow one if you can, must be someone you know with a laptop or pc.

    Once you kick off the tests we can get this sorted, it will be sortable... just dont know how many virgins we will need to sacrifice first.

    Ohh and just a note come up, i moved my BT master socket to my new comms cupboard today. Just cut the bt cables at the junction box and ran cat 5 from that to the new location for the master socket and wired it.
    Yesterday i was using a telephone extension cable, kind of like the cheep ones everyone gets to put phones around there house. Well it when on the router dropped me 4Mbits a second down to 38Mbits according to the link stat.
    Re did it with soldered cat 5 and bang, right back to a stable 42. something.... just goes to show, dont run your routers off extensions. Primary master socket... always.

  12. #12
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    I’m just going to say, good luck getting rid of talk talk. It’s like the Herpes of ISPs. Once you have them almost impossible to get rid of


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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    I had to switch providers when I moved house about 6 months ago and I went with John Lewis. They've been really good, English call centres and use PlusNet as a provider.

    The service is £20 month, I got a £40 voucher for JL after I signed up and they sent a half decent router through.

    If you are using a BT supplied service, the BT HomeHub/SmartHub 6 is a good unit.

    I have a spare laptop I can post to you if you want a loaner. Its not mega, its just an HP Stream 11 inch but you're welcome to it. Just PM before tomorrow as I'm off out and about after today for a bit.

    +1 for TalkTalk being shite.

  14. #14
    No, the other one. Pete C's Avatar
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    If you're in a Virgin Media cabled area, get that. If not, just get whoever repackages BT fibre for the cheapest.

    moneysavingexpert.com is your friend here!

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    Thanks for the offer jonny but I'm going to get one from currys at some point this week and check my speed. I hope it is possible to get rid of talk talk as my contract has expired and I haven't renewed it yet. I am currently paying 30 odd quid for their standard package while I figure this stuff out. They have offered me a new contract which is about 20 quid and they are trying their best to get me to accept it.

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    The other thing to note is that you should never switch your router off overnight as it will cause the ISP to think there is an outage resulting in a reduced packet send rate aka it will run slower.

    Just leave it on all the time.

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    It is on all the time but I didn't know that.

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    Member sx rider's Avatar
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    Virgin, no hassle, quick and not too expensive, I pay £34 a month

  19. #19
    Banned sideways14a's Avatar
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    Yes you want to leave your router on all the time as switching it off makes the DSLAM and associated kit think your line is having trouble and drops the link speed accordingly. Its quite common for folk to switch them off at night, met loads of folk doing that and its just humping there speeds.

    Anyway talk talk aint the best but in this case its prob not worth changing just yet, if you can get your wireless problems sorted out them yeah drop em like a bad date.

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    But for many people if they don't switch it off the kids won't go to bed.

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