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Original poster

Anyone else who has a house with very slow internet connection and mobile reception?

32 replies

hercules1 · 13/06/2009 21:03

Cant watch iplayer, youtube etc on internet in my house despite changing provider to sky and paying for faster connection. Sky and provider before say nothing to do with them. Also have terrible mobile phone reception so have to walk round the garden for ages to get a couple of bars.

DH and I have different phone suppliers who both say reception for our postcode is good so must be our house.

OP posts:
Original poster
hercules1 · 13/06/2009 21:25

bump as it's fast moving on here.

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ABetaDad · 13/06/2009 21:46

hercules1 - yes we have slow broadband (but very good Orange mobile reception) in one of the places we live. It is down a country lane about 5km (as the crow flies) distance from the BT exchange. There are a lot of new broadband users also being connected each week that live nearer the exchange which makes it even worse. We only get speed of 900 kbps most of the time.

The other place we live is right in the centre of town and Orange mobile reception is terrible and can barely get a signal. However, it has super fast broaband as we live about 750m from the BT exchange. I just did a test and got speed of 6135 kbps.

If you want to test the speed of your broadband go to BT Speedtester type in your phone number with area code and no spaces and then press GO. It takes a while but a pop up page tells you the result. Dont do anything on the internet while the test is happening and shut all other web pages to get a true test.

OrmIrian · 13/06/2009 21:49

I read that as horse.

foxinsocks · 13/06/2009 21:53

yes distance from the exchange key and the type of line that connects you

mobile reception can have black spots

our neighbours put a lot of steel in their house (when they refurbished) and we cannot get digital radio anywhere in the house now and our mobile signal breaks up a fair bit inside

foxinsocks · 13/06/2009 21:56

lol at abetadad and his 2 homes

we are right behind the exchange here so am trying your speed test to see what it says

must be v frustrating herc

ingles2 · 13/06/2009 22:00

yep ours shocking!
we are the last house from our BT exchange, and living in the middle of nowhere we've got poor mobile reception as well.
BT only managed to supply us with broadband about 4 months ago,,,shouldn't have bothered dial up was just as quick.
Ahhh, but the peace and quiet (and tractors, cows and fox noise) make up for it

ingles2 · 13/06/2009 22:06

Ha! did your test ABetaDad....
no-one can beat this!!!!
a magnificent.........
114KBPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ABetaDad · 13/06/2009 22:08

foxinsocks - thanfully we will be in one home at long last by the end of July. We only have two houses now because of our complete lack of organisation - sadly not because of a bequest from a rich Uncle

ingles2 · 13/06/2009 22:11

AbetaDad...come and admire my speedy broadband!!!

foxinsocks · 13/06/2009 22:12

lol abetadad

I can't get the speedtester to work as it doesn't recognise my account details but I was fixing our router earlier and when I ran a check on it, it did give me the speed and it was quite fast (though it's never quite as fast as you think it should be I reckon!)

ABetaDad · 13/06/2009 22:14

ingles2 - that is appaling assumng you had no other internet applications working at the time.

Does anyone know if there is a minimum guaranteed speed enforced by Ofcom?

ingles2 · 13/06/2009 22:18

funnily enough dh just said exactly the same thing we're paying for broadband but not actually getting it!
I'm sure there must be a minimum spec,...I'm going to have to find it now

ingles2 · 13/06/2009 22:18

no other applicatons btw

Paleodad · 13/06/2009 22:26

Just a thought hercules1, but is your pc/laptop connected to your router by a cable of with wifi?
If it's wifi, then maybe the 'channel' that the router is broadcasting on is being interferred with. i had a similar problem a while ago with terribly slow connection every time we turned on our baby monitor as both the router and monitor were on the same frequency. It took me ages to figure out why the internet worked fine while DD was awake but died as soon as she went to bed...

Original poster
hercules1 · 14/06/2009 10:10

Thanks all. Will get ds off his computer to test.

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Original poster
hercules1 · 14/06/2009 17:53

Tried to do it several times today but said it was busy and couldnt do it

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nannynick · 14/06/2009 18:16

www.speedtest.net I use to test speed.
I live a little over 3.5km from my exchange and have a 60dB line loss (when last whoosh tested by a BT engineer about 5 years ago). You may be able to get SkyBroadband to request a Whoosh test of your line.

I am able to get around a 650-700kbps average download speed now that I have O2 Broadband. The service will do up to 2mbps but due to my line distance and line loss, I don't get near that.

Many routers these days will tell you what line speed they think they are getting - both upload and download. If the router thinks it is getting a higher speed than you are getting, then investigate what interference may exist between the router and your computer.

foxinsocks · 14/06/2009 18:20

on that speed test, my download speed is 8.05Mbps which is blardy quick really. But as I said, I can see the exchange from my back yard!

foxinsocks · 14/06/2009 18:22

have you thought about calling out an engineer hercules? it really does sound like there is something up there

ABetaDad · 14/06/2009 18:36

foxinsocks - well that proves something I have always been sceptical about. It really is possible to get 8 Meg if you live next to the exchange.

I agree with your point about steel in the building. I definitely intereferes with the mobile phone signal. Modern blocks of flats with lots of steel in surrounding where I am now and the signal is pretty much dead. Its the Cage effect. The big steel beam in our house also partly blocks the WiFi signal upstairs although it does not affect the overall speed.

cookielove · 14/06/2009 18:41

my parents have a victorian cottage with really thick interior walss which use to be the exterior walls before an extension (sp?)
if you are within the orignal boundaries of the houe then broadband is really quick on the otherside you have to wait a life time for anything to happen!!!

Do you have really thick walls

foxinsocks · 14/06/2009 18:45

that's interesting Abetadad. I mean it's logical but for some reason, I didn't expect it.

I was amazed at the effect the steel had on our signal. I wonder if hercules is living in a big steel beamed house (re her mobile signal). Though still doesn't explain her rubbish broadband.

Ingles, yours seems unfeasibly slow too!

I think both of you should be able to put in a complaint tbh. Or at least request that someone be sent out (or explain your slow rate).

have you checked what speed your neighbours get (if there's anyone close by)?

ABetaDad · 14/06/2009 18:58

That link again.

Faraday Cage Effect

Original poster
hercules1 · 14/06/2009 19:07

Server is

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Original poster
hercules1 · 14/06/2009 19:08

We do live in a house that is 8 years old? Would that have anything to do with it? ie construction? Must ask neighbours.

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