Broadband Connection

[cas49]

For the past couple of years or so I have been with Tiscali Broadband.For about 90% of the time all is brilliant but then we come to connection problems.We have been told that because we live quite a distance from the exchange we would have trouble with the line.I don't know exactly where our exchange is and although we live in a quite rural area we are no way "out in the sticks"and have a lot of houses around us.Anyway,after suffering a number of failed connections a young man from Tiscali rang me and said that they were downgrading me from 2Mbps to 1Mbps but that would solve all my problems - wrong !!! I was unable to get online all day yesterday and this morning I rang the Help Line.Now the chap was very polite but I had a bit of trouble understanding everything that he said.In the end all he told me was to check the filters,isolate the line and reload the modem software.I tried to explain that I more or less knew it was the line but he insisted I do these things and he would check the line once we had finished the call.I had put the receiver down for about two seconds when I saw the lights on the modem show that I could go online !!!!

Now my question is - if I should change to BT could they guarantee that the line would be ok seeing as they own the line ? Also,have I got to go on like this for ever ? My neighbour two doors down has BT Broadband and never appears to have any problems - why me ????

[Goofy]

3If it's a line problem (which it loks like) then changing to BT would probably not help. However it might be worth enquiring (as if you were thinking of joining BT) because they would then run a test on your line.
We have the same problem here. I get broadband OK, but neighbours - who are futher from the exchange - have problems.

[Nemesis9]

I too have encountered similar problems in the past in connecting to the internet. The guy you spoke to at Tiscali is working from a flowchart which is unfortunately rigid, (First do step 1, if step 1 fails do step 2 etc).

Having already experienced the same (or very similar) issues at three different locations, I feel pretty confident in suggesting it is probably 'noise' on the line creating the poor connection success ratio.

In the past I have found the most successful solutions are to isolate the line (reducing noise), get BT to carry out a line test, and if necessary they can increase the 'gain', and try using a different make of modem. For example I recently went WiFi, and found that certain modems are more susceptible to 'noise' than others, so some connect every time while others hardly ever. Hope this helps.

[cas49]

Thank you both very much - it is good to know it is not just me !

[ugly_bob]

I have the same problem. I found supanet's customer help to be less than useless and am now on the search for a new ISP.

[fo3nix]

If you're in a fairly rural area, you may not have cable TV and broadband available. But if you do, I can highly recommend you looking into them (specifically Telewest, if in your area).

[cas49]

No we do not have it here unfortunately - that would be the ideal answer