Best Broadband in East Dulwich?

[edcam]

As annoying as they are, Virgin are overall the best. Wise to hassle them about the bills though.

[Earl Aelfheah]

My internet is appalling (EE). Someone has suggested I get a 'Mesh Router'. They're a couple of hundred pounds, but she swears it has made a huge difference. I have no idea how this works, but do any of the technically minded on the forum, know how likely it might be to make a difference? Am I better just trying another provider?

What I can't work out is how much of it is down to just the same physical infrastucture that all the providers use locally, how much the ISP, how much the router and what's down to my PC / hardware? What makes the difference?

Thanks

[Earl Aelfheah]

@bonaome Just noticed that you mention mesh router above. Do they just boost the signal, or actually increase speed? My signal is pretty strong around the house, so I don't seem to have a problem with dead spots as such. But I dunno, not sure how it works?

[alex_b]

Mesh routers/mesh access points improve the WiFi signal in your house which will in some cases increase the speed your device is able to get. They?re much better than the range extenders that people used to recommend for poor coverage. It won?t however improve the bandwidth coming into your router. Try testing your speed using a wired connection and then again via wireless. If there?s a big difference then a better access point setup might help.

The other thing that can help is to offload as many devices as possible onto wired connections and to check you?ve chosen different wireless channels than your neighbours.

I also should have mentioned that different providers will have different peering connections out to the wider internet and will do different amounts of traffic shaping/filtering all of which also affects performance.

For instance my 60MB FTTC connection from A&A is indistinguishable from my 200MB Virgin connection in terms of experienced performance.

[HamletHarrier]

Sky all the way for us. Only about a day and a half downtime in total in the last decade or so (we were originally with O2 before that who got taken over by Sky).

Have heard horror stories about Virgin and I had horrendous customer service from them with Virgin Mobile when I vowed never to have anything to do with them again.

I get that all providers use BT kit but my Sky service has been up and running when neighbours' (from other providers) hasn't.

I hope that this helps.

[Lowlander]

Plusnet - runs over BT - zero downtime in 15 years working from home.

[rollflick]

Meanwhile Virgin down again today 9-5 (actually was from 8) "for essential works...to ensure you get the absolute best from our services".

Lost count of downtime days this year, VM are total jokers.

[the_duke_of_hazzard]

Anyone else getting dropped connections on their broadband in the last week? BT engineer has been called out twice, and just blames a cable 'not put in by BT', which I am skeptical about being the real problem.

[Fitzgeraldo]

Do you use speedchecker and if so, what results do you get?

Mine: Download; 22.8, Upload; 9.3. For Virgin this seems rather slow. Also recently intermittant loss of signal.

[the_duke_of_hazzard]

I do, and speed is fine. It's just that frequently the connection to the exchange drops completely and comes back 10 minutes later.

[Penguin68]

I do, and speed is fine. It's just that frequently the connection to the exchange drops completely and comes back 10 minutes later.

Is BT Retail your supplier (the network will then be managed by BT Openreach, and arm's length wholesale supplier to most retail broadband suppliers other than NTL/ Virgin in the local domestic market)?

[the_duke_of_hazzard]

Yes, they have already been out twice, and blamed a cable they claim wasn't put in by BT.

Openreach engineer was incredibly rude. I had to ask him to stop rolling his eyes whenever I answered a question.

[Penguin68]

It is standard BT practice to wire up the the Master Socket. Cabling behind that is often not installed by them. I have heard of contractors rewiring the master socket, if, e.g. they accidently disrupted or cut the BT cable. It used to be that BT had a monopoly of wiring to the Master Socket, but I'm not sure that now holds. If BT was a secondary supplier, for instance replacing Virgin, it is possible that internal wiring isn't BT's.

[bidvid]

Does anyone use Now broadband on East Dulwich Road.

I am sick of paying through the nose for Virgin and having crap internet.

[Chick]

I use three it's gsm and if you go away you can take it with you.

[Adidas_guy]

I am with Shell Energy and i have not had any issues.

In fact, I was recently upgraded to fiber without even requesting it. (The monthly subscription did increase, but only minimally and in line with other providers).