Broadband and line problems. Alternatives?

[Glenbuck]

Hi folks, looking for some help, if possible.

Been a telephone and broadband (ADSL) customer for many with years with IDNet. The telephone wiring to the house is old and neighbours and myself suffer from crackly phone lines especially after heavy rain. Broadband speeds here are around 4.5mb, when the crackling begins it drops to around 1mb.

IDNet have been great, I’d an engineer visit recently, and he spent a good few ours up the telegraph pole which serves all of us in this street. He seemed to get it fixed, said there was water damage and for 3 months all was well. Last week, torrential rain really battered us and once again the crackling is back and speed is crawling on broadband.

I thought perhaps if I moved on to fibre that would solve the problem but a good while ago IDNet told me it comes into my home on the same wires. There is no G4 and a very poor G3 signal here so broadband without a landline isn’t possible.

Can anyone tell me if fibre broadband can be brought into my home any another way? There is a cabinet closeby and I wondered if there could be some kind of direct or alternative wire system? Apologies, an oldie here now and cannot keep up with technology but the frustration of this is driving me nuts and I’ve developed a heavy rain/red router light syndrome!

[zappaDPJ]

I've been having similar problems and conversations with support over a relative's line. From what I can gather fibre is unlikely to provide an answer. It certainly didn't for me when I also had a low quality line that dropped out at the merest hint of rain. I did eventually get that fixed when Openreach finally agreed to renew the (drop) cable from the pole into my property.

The only alternative option I can suggest is cable if that's available in your area.

[Gary]

Sounds like a high resistance fault, idnet should be able to test your line and find this, battery faults can show up to but they don't effect broadband speeds. I had one fixed and lost 10Mbps because they just swap the pair over. If its a HR fault and it sound like it is it needs to be fixed no matter what. Don't report it as a broadband fault, report it as a telephone fault.

[Technical Ben]

In the past, with friends, the fault has been at the box/pole. So (I assume) fibre would not fix it. However, one had a fault that was all the way to the exchange, and I also had one last year at the exchange that needs a "lift and shift". Those kind of faults could be fixed by swapping to fibre, but that is more expensive than getting someone to find the real fault!

[Glenbuck]

Thanks everyone. I'll speak again with IDNet as there has to be some way to resolve it. It's annoying to be paying for a land line and broadband to find on wet days, which there are a lot of here, I can hardly use either. Gary, it's always been reported as a telephone fault.

[nowster]

Thanks everyone. I'll speak again with IDNet as there has to be some way to resolve it. It's annoying to be paying for a land line and broadband to find on wet days, which there are a lot of here, I can hardly use either. Gary, it's always been reported as a telephone fault.

My parents' line has the opposite problem. It's usually fine on wet days and marginal on dry ones.

[Glenbuck]

Just been reading about the full-fibre pilots about to start in six UK areas. The article says the fibre-optic cables run directly from the cabinet to the home and doesn't come in using the existing copper wiring which is all news to me. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I've a cabinet within touching distance. I've averaged speeds of about 4mb these past five days but after yesterday's torrential rain I'm crawling at 1.1mb again and the line is so noisy I can't make a call. IDNet have been great but I think there's not much more they can do. We are having a community meeting here tomorrow as all folks are affected and, supposedly someone from BT/OpenReach will be there. The local newspaper will be too as they've been campaigning for years about the very old wires and how they need to be replaced for all homes. It could be an interesting meeting.

This new system just about to be tested could be the answer for me at least for broadband. It'll be pricey and years away but at least it's good to know that an alternative could be available sometime in the future.

[Technical Ben]

Would going mobile be a better option? I'm considering it. But the bandwidth limits, not the cost, is the main problem.

[Glenbuck]

Hi Ben, there's no 4G signal here and poor 3G. I did think about it and looked at EE 4GEE but the strength of the mobile signal has stopped me. My youngest has suggested giving it a go but order online so I have a14day cooling off period. Maybe I should try it because I've nothing to lose. Last night's meeting was interesting and the BT guy said they have a plan in place to replace the old wire to everyone's home but it could be up to 24 months away.

[mervl]

I had a similar problem several years ago, but fortunately OR after many many attempts at patching our (underground) cables over many years have managed to get an acceptable service (not brilliant, but it does the job). So persistence is necessary in reporting faults which often seems like, all the time.

I was lucky though to have a local commercial WiFi provider. They can supply point to point broadband through the air (in a similar fashion to TV signals - so they need line of sight to their transmitter, and you need to pay for a one-off aerial installation at your premises, as well as the monthly subscription). With the right conditions it's wonderful. No weather impacts. I found my supplier through ISPReview, though Google may be equally as good. They tend to be small local outfits, which has both good and bad aspects so a bit of research is necessary. They do need the backhaul, but aren't dependent on creaking aged infrastructure for the local network. Obviously availability depends on whether you're in a sector with capacity, which depends on transmitter range, obstructions (forests, hills and tall buildings-in-the-way aren't good), and the number of users. So the chances are you're out of luck, but it's worth trying.

[Glenbuck]

Thanks mervl but I seem to have had the problem solved.

My youngest came up with his smart phone on Saturday and said he was getting a good 4G signal despite what EE’s coverage checker said. That I don't understand. Anyway, he ordered their 4GEE Wifi modem online for me and it came yesterday. Drew came along last night and set it up but said the modem needed to sit on the windowsill.

The speed has been amazing. I see a lot of you folks have the little OOKLA image so I did their speed test and printed off the results. It says, Download Speed 44.43 mbps, Upload Speed 28.12 mbps, Ping 27ms.

The allowance I have with EE is 15G per month, which is hopefully more than enough. Looking at my IDNet usage stats they tell me I average around 8G a month.

Thank you very much everyone for your help and advice.

[Technical Ben]

If I can get a 30gb one, it may be worth it. Problem being, game downloads. I'd have to visit family and ask to "borrow the wifi".

[Glenbuck]

Ben

After I spoke with my neighbour on Tuesday about how good the 4G Wi-Fi speeds were for me he said yesterday he’d gone ahead and ordered the same but from Three. He gets an allowance of 40G for £24 a month. I've just had a look at their site and they call it ThreeHomeFi.

Maybe that higher allowance would work for you.