i can't watch 4oD!!

[nightshade]

keeps saying "connection has timed out. please try again" every time i try to play anything!!any suggestions?

Have a check on www.ThinkBroadband.com for their Speed Test (see the upper right section).

"timed out" is something which may 'come and go' depending on time of day (anytime from 0800 to midnight is generally an ISP's peak time).

So, try a speed test in the early evening and if you can try late before bed, and early too, you might find differences.

BBC has a speed check for video and radio, and before my phone line was sorted out the only thing that my line could support was radio (there were 4 levels, and the top 3 showed red while the last was green).

The slowest ADSL service is usually 500 kbps (going up to 8000 kbps - ie 8 Mbps, and now they offer up to 40 Mbps where fibre is installed). I was getting 200 kbps down to 160 kbps, and some types of weather cause a loss of not just internet access, but inbound and outbound phone calls, too, for up to 5 days at a time.

Re my phone line... the insulation on the dropwire from the gutter to the hall had perished, but after they replaced the wire and put a brand new master socket indoors for me, my speed went up to 2750 to 3000+ kbps.

WARNING - do not start off by requesting Openreach visit you - if there is anything wrong with your equipment or extensions indoors, they charge nearly 130 pounds (plus some extra fee for every half hour). Only get Openreach as the very last thing you try!

cheers, speeds seem to be quite slow on the speed test but probably all we can expect down here!!!

have tried at different times of day, upgraded adobe whatever, still no joy.

may have to just accept the fact that i can't watch one born every minute when i like!!

How slow ? Sometimes there are things you can do to increase your speed. Don't know where 'down here' is but 'up here' (N Wales) I helped a friend increase his link to the exchange by 1 Mbps (1000 kbps) just by disconnecting an unused extension upstairs to the bedroom (they have a cordless phone).

NB From a safety angle, cordless is perhaps not ideal - you should have at least one old style phone as electricity can be cut off and they still work where a cordless phone won't. Must remember to tell my friend given his wife and child are there more than he is...

don't understand all the bits, but speed test on that site was 0.4 somethings?

i'm rural in northern ireland.

by the way, i've never had trouble with the bbc or itv players before only the channel four one??

Some of the services try to adjust to the bandwidth, though I've had BBC iPlayer grind to a halt and say it hasn't got enough at times.

Try seeing if 4od on Youtube works: 4OD on Youtube - One Born Every Minute

tried it. will play adverts prior to programme but wheel just goes round and round when programme is due to start. i officially give up.

I can never get 4od to work in the main window, but if I click "Play in pop-out player" it usually works. Worth a try? You can then click a fullscreen link from the pop out player.

I have to select the "Lower bandwidth version" hidden at the bottom of the page on iPlayer as well.

cheers will try same.

no, still not. can't find anywhere on 4od to change band width.

Can you try the speed test on ThinkBroadband.com

When it gets final figures, I think there should be a web link that you can copy and paste into MN so we can see the speeds you are actually getting. Clearly the speed is part of the problem, but without knowing just what you are getting it may be awkward to suggest ideas.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/129788342798957511766.html

networkguy,
this is my first copy and paste, so may be a disaster!!

oh feck it, link goes to some flight simulation programme!

thanks for help but abou to give up

Clutching at straws... I wonder if it's a DRM issue.

Using Internet Explorer (pain I know but it's an activeX thingy)

1. Go to drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/crlupdate/en/crlupdate.html
2. Click on the yellow bar at the top of the screen to install the ActiveX control (if the bar doesn't appear, don't worry ? you've probably installed it already in the past).
3. Click on the big 'Update' button.

Other thing to suspect is Flash but you say the ads are playing ok, so that implies to me that Flash is playing the video stream fine.
Flash version check (Note: If using Google Chrome, do not install Flash as Google Chrome uses it's own version and having two versions of flash running will cause issues)

Google Chrome Only

chrome://plugins
click the + where it says Details
look at Flash.  Make sure gcswf32.dll is the enabled one.  Disable any other Flash, such as NPSWF32.dll

1. Click on the 'Upgrade' button.

nightshade - don't worry about your first attempt at a paste - there's a glitch on MN where it adds a space after so many characters and that link was long enough to force an unwanted space in.

If you copy the link into your browser now, and then zap the space between "/id" and "/129...." then it comes up with a page showing you are using Virgin Media and then showing a faster upload speed than download.

I am guessing but assume you have a standard phone line (ie you live in an area without Virgin Media cable connection), as the 374 Kbps upload speed is fairly normal I think for a (BT) phone line. The bit causing the problem is the download speed, at 118 Kbps.

Truly, I know your pain, as my line was running at not much more than than for 4-5 months (160 Kbps) and if we had rain, stopped working for both voice calls and broadband for upwards of 3 days (usually working again after about 5 or 6).

BT Openreach engineer visit one Saturday saw the young chap up his ladder and cutting off the dropwire from the gutter mounting point because he could see the insulation had perished. He fitted a brand new Master Socket in one of the front bedrooms (my computer room) and my speed went up tenfold.

Now, there could be a problem with wiring (a friend had an immediate speed increase when he disconnected an unused extension which went to an upstairs bedroom) because sometimes it picks up noise from mains wiring and the 'hum' interferes with the signals for broadband.

I know it is not Christmas, now, but another problem can be where someone has their phone line near the Christmas tree lights, or window lights, where they are made to flash in sequence, because the electronics put out lots of 'noise' that can affect broadband.

In some rural areas, even farm electric fences can generate noise (eg where the fence runs for some distance below the phone lines from the exchange).

Unfortunately, there's a hefty bill if BT comes out and detects a problem with your house wiring of extensions, running at something like 130 pounds (before the VAT increase this year) so may be 135 to 140 now.

Do you have any local computer enthusiasts or friendly BT engineers in your locality ? Also, how far to your nearest neighbours and do you know if they too have problems ?

That download speed seems very low.

I'm on a BT line, 3.5km from exchange, using O2 ADSL. SpeedTest Results

It is extremely low, Nick. When BT first offered ADSL in 2000/2001 (when they did every installation by engineer visit) they would fail a property if it did not hit 500 kbps (which was the standard speed then).

Later, when 'wires only' came into use from April 2002, they did allow some lines to have ADSL if they were fixed at 256 kbps (ie twice the maximum from using both channels of ISDN).

Getting anything less than 256 kbps is unusual and normally points to some problem with wiring but it can still be outside, ie BT's responsibility. I had about 5 visits from Openreach and had to reclaim their significant charge from BT for 2 visits, but in their rush to believe their test system (reporting a problem within the home) the first few visitors ignored any fault reports their kit may have shown - I have a dongle on Three so was easily able to carry out the BT online test on my line and their diagram always showed the problem not with the line from the exchange but at house. Simply a lie, but presumably everything checked OK up to the roadside green cabinet about 100 feet away from me, and failed once it was testing my [old style] Master Socket (no way to unscrew the lower portion or use test socket, as mine in the hall had no split front).

The first guy came before I had ADSL in response to a complaint about a constant hum on the line - something I had never heard in 40 years of phone use since age 10, and put it down as a fault in my wiring, which I challenged when it eventually hit my BT account 6 or 8 weeks later - I had been taking care to remove all extensions, and was using an older style corded BT phone, so no cordless / wireless aspect where hum or other noises might creep in.

Back to the problem nightshade has - it might be that internal extensions are causing some grief - some home extension kits use 3 or more wires and one, the "bell wire", is no longer needed because we have moved away from the older style ringing current and everything is sorted out by components in the Master Socket, so extensions will ring OK.

Unfortunately one of the tests would be to use the router in the Master Socket (the first one connected to the BT line) without anything else connected, but it all depends on having a power socket and possibly using wireless to carry out a speed test there.

Biggest problem is that if a complaint is made to Openreach, they might deem the line incapable of supporting ADSL and disconnect it, which would not be what was wanted. However if the line had been working reliably at some higher speed when ADSL was first used, or the BT speed estimator says a higher speed, there's some chance that it has deteriorated (all that supposing that there isn't a change when everything else in the house has been removed and only the router is working on the Master Socket for a fresh speed test).

Nightshade - are you still with us?

I just today saw an offer from ISP Aquiss reported on this ISPreview.co.uk page where (until 15/03) potential customers can try them out for free.

I still think your problem is perhaps at home, or down to distance, but have seen nothing from you in a while now... hope you've just been busy, and not been ill.

nightshade - Some BT news just in...
ISPreview.co.uk - 21-02-2011 at 14:30 :

BT Targets 88% Superfast FTTC Broadband Cover for Northern Ireland

"Come March 2012 BT expects N.I. to have more fibre deployed than most major European countries aspire to roll-out by 2015."

I know that's not "instant" but certainly good news, for most people in N.I.

I saw a piece in the Liverpool "Daily Post" about Wales, which hints at "Spring" for my exchange (Wrexham North) but does not mention which year, unfortunately :(