Is this a good offer from BT (UK)?

MT

I live in the North and BT are doing an offer in my area of an 18 month contract for a 512 Kps connection at £9.95 (E14.80) per month for the first 6 months and £17.99 (E26.70) for the remaining 12. There's a £25 (E37) startup cost for the piece of equipment.

Steffano2002

ISPs still offer 512Kbps connections in the North? That's so 2004! lol

Does this price of €26.70 EUR include line rental? Here in the South BT's introduction package for broadband* is 1Mb for €20 EUR per month (€35 EUR including line rental).

*That's "Broadband Only". Not "Brodband and Talk"

Cabaal

There's far better offers then that to be had in the UK/N.Ireland and they'll come without such a long contract.

Unless your line is a "long line" then you should also be able to get alot better then 512K, you can check what your line is capable of by visiting http://www.btwholesale.com/get_broadband/

Post your line test results here and I'm sure better suggestions can be given for perhaps a better value supplier here, also did BT even say they'd give you a router or anything like that?

MT

Oh dear, the results say that due to the very long length of my line it is very unlikely that I will be able to receive 512 Kps or even 256 kps broadband service.

But strangely they also say that my line should be able to support a potential ADSL max broadband rate of 250kps or greater.

Also I phoned BT and the girl on the phone said I would be able to receive 512kps, so I'm quite confuse at the mo.

I live in the west, north of Enniskillen in Co. Fermanagh, and my exchange is Irvinestown. Hope this info. all helps.

Cabaal

MT wrote:

Oh dear, the results say that due to the very long length of my line it is very unlikely that I will be able to receive 512 Kps or even 256 kps broadband service.

But strangely they also say that my line should be able to support a potential ADSL max broadband rate of 250kps or greater.

Also I phoned BT and the girl on the phone said I would be able to receive 512kps, so I'm quite confuse at the mo.

I live in the west, north of Enniskillen in Co. Fermanagh, and my exchange is Irvinestown. Hope this info. all helps.

Ouch, thats never a good sign.

Considering the offer for £9.95 per month for first 6 months £17.99 thereafter (as per bt.com/broadband/) is for their basic broadband package and its capable of "upto" 8MB, it might be worth looking for a longer term on the 6 months for the £9.95 offer and if they can't give that to you look elsewhere as their are cheaper offers.

Take a look at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps.html for a list of ISP's that you should be able to get BB from, its worth shopping around (Note that its normal for some ISP's to say their basic product is perhaps 1MB but if your line can take only 512K then they'll give you this instead for the same price as they all sell there products as "upto")

Just to give you a heads up on the likely outcome for your situation, BT Wholesale would enable your line for ADSL Max (or ADSL) no matter what provider you go to.

Once your line is enabled hopefully it'll work without a problem, however if it stops working or you experience disconnection problems then (after they've ruled out a problem with your modem/router/pc or the way you have it connected to your telephone line, phones, sky etc connected without filters) a fault would need to be raised and the likely outcome for this would be a BT engineer visit.

The engineer would most likely fit a SSFP socket in your home (basically a master BT socket with a ADSL filter built in) and this would most likely resolve any connection/disconnection problems.

In relation to ADSL Max, you might well get 512K out of it,
But its more likely your speed will go between 256K and 512K, you won't know your actual speed till about 10 days after you first use it as ADSL max goes through a 10 day stabilization period so BT can find the highest speed your line can support.

Any further questions just ask

MT

whoah, that all seems like a foreign language to me - I know little about computers and even less about broadband . When you say BT Wholesale would enable my line no matter what provider I go for, what exactly does that mean? Do you have to pay BT Wholesale for the enabling bit - what does this involve - and then can basically say 'bog off, I'm going to go with another ISP now'? Why would BT do it if you aren't going to use them as your ISP? I realise this might sound like utter nonsense but I know very little about this subject at present.

As things go, is hovering between 256kps and 512kps a good speed when compared to other parts of Ireland. Or is it dead slow?

I will check out that link you've provided but I'm surprised that there could be any other competitors to BT my area as I live in what's pretty much the middle of nowhere in the west.

Cabaal

MT wrote:

whoah, that all seems like a foreign language to me - I know little about computers and even less about broadband . When you say BT Wholesale would enable my line no matter what provider I go for, what exactly does that mean? Do you have to pay BT Wholesale for the enabling bit - what does this involve - and then can basically say 'bog off, I'm going to go with another ISP now'?

No, what actually happens is you goto your ISP, in this example we'll use Orange/Wanadoo....

You ask them to give you broadband and then send the request to BT Wholesale, BT Wholesale do all the work and put broadband on your telephone line and then they tell Orange/Wanadoo their done.

You only pay your ISP and you never actually get to talk to or directly deal with BT Wholesale.

Why would BT do it if you aren't going to use them as your ISP? I realise this might sound like utter nonsense but I know very little about this subject at present.

BT is broken into two company's, BT Retail who provide broadband to joe soap via the bt.com website and BT Wholesale who deal only with ISP's (Pipex, AOL etc).

BT own the vast majority of equipment in telephone exchange in the UK so its often much cheaper for a ISP to get BT Wholesale to supply the broadband and then rent it off at a wholesale price instead of putting in their own equipment.

As things go, is hovering between 256kps and 512kps a good speed when compared to other parts of Ireland. Or is it dead slow?

Every telephone line is different, while almost every telephone exchange that BT operate provides speeds of upto 8MB, unfortunately due to the distance you live from your telephone exchange and the quality of your phoneline speeds often vary house to house.

512K is pretty poor but unfortunately its all your line can take and in the end its far far better then dialup and your lucky to get it if your living out in the country, here in the R.Ireland you'd be extremely lucky to even get proper 56K connection on dialup if you lived out in the country

I will check out that link you've provided but I'm surprised that there could be any other competitors to BT my area as I live in what's pretty much the middle of nowhere in the west.

Doesn't matter, because the vast majority of ISP's buy broadband from BT Wholesale it means that if you can get broadband from BT then you can get broadband from many many many other ISP's (again such as Pipex, Orange, AOL etc) so shop around to get the best price

MT

I put in a search on that link - thinkbroadband.com - but nothing came up?? Does this mean that the site simply couldn't locate an ISP in my area?

When you say that BT broadband do all the work does that involve them putting in something called a router attached to your computer? Is there an extra cost for this piece of equipment?

If each exchange is enabled by BT to take up to 8 mb does this mean that if I lived right by my nearest exchange in Irvinestown I'd be able to get the full 8 mb? To think that there are people only a few miles from me getting a superbly better deal. It seems unfair that BT charge a fixed rate - the same no matter how fast your connection.

Another question, does the speed you get to use your computer online at decrease if there is more than one computer using broadband from your house's connection? This would explain why the internet connection in the library seems to slow down the more people there are using computers.

As that search didn't produce anything is my only way of finding a better deal to go through each provider individually to see if they do broadband to my address? Or would they all do it as BT have given the go ahead for a broadband connection at my house? If so, are there any particular UK companies you'd recommend?

Questions, questions.... so many questions

Steffano2002

MT wrote:

I put in a search on that link - thinkbroadband.com - but nothing came up?? Does this mean that the site simply couldn't locate an ISP in my area?

Dunno, sorry.

MT wrote:

When you say that BT broadband do all the work does that involve them putting in something called a router attached to your computer? Is there an extra cost for this piece of equipment?

No. They will send it to you by post/courrier and you will need to install it. But not to worry, it is very simple to do. As for the cost, it depends. Sometimes they have no connection charge (this means free modem/router) but BT usually charges you for it... They do in the South anyway.

MT wrote:

If each exchange is enabled by BT to take up to 8 mb does this mean that if I lived right by my nearest exchange in Irvinestown I'd be able to get the full 8 mb?

Yes, pretty much.

MT wrote:

To think that there are people only a few miles from me getting a superbly better deal. It seems unfair that BT charge a fixed rate - the same no matter how fast your connection.

I hear you! But sure, what can you do!? It would be a logistical nightmare for them to charge you for exactly what you get...

MT wrote:

Another question, does the speed you get to use your computer online at decrease if there is more than one computer using broadband from your house's connection? This would explain why the internet connection in the library seems to slow down the more people there are using computers.

Yes, that is correct. The more PCs connected to a single internet connection, the less bandwidth each PC has.

MT wrote:

As that search didn't produce anything is my only way of finding a better deal to go through each provider individually to see if they do broadband to my address? Or would they all do it as BT have given the go ahead for a broadband connection at my house? If so, are there any particular UK companies you'd recommend?

Dunno anything about UK providers... Sorry

MT

This is a bit OT but why is broadband coverage in the South not as extensive as it is up here/UK?

Do any of the big providers down there work in or come from the UK market - like BT - and so could you give me an idea of their record in the South? This way I might know what to expect up here.

Another question, apparently you do actually need a modem to also get broadband (I always thought they were only for dialup). As there's no modem inside my new computer can you get external modems that attach say via a USB port?

What else do I basically need going from the phone socket - I've read about micro-filters and splitters, what are these? Are they just one of those little plastic plugs that splitters you telephone line if you want to attach two phones? Or do I need one at all as I have a phone line running into my room for the dial up I'm using at the mo. but no telephone?

Is the best place to get this hardware from your provider or would it be best to buy them elsewhere and then contact a provider for broadband? Is all the hardware (modems/routers) interchangeable and compatible with all the services ISPs out there are offering?

I know this might seem obvious to many people but I'm totally new to all this.

bk

MT wrote:

This is a bit OT but why is broadband coverage in the South not as extensive as it is up here/UK?

Because unlike the UK, Ireland has a very weak and useless communications regulator, which has let Eircom (the Irish equivalent of BT, owns almost all telephone lines) to monopolise the market and Eircom have completely under-invested in the infrastructure.

MT wrote:

Do any of the big providers down there work in or come from the UK market - like BT - and so could you give me an idea of their record in the South? This way I might know what to expect up here.

BT and UTV are both UK companies. However you can't really compare them to the UK, as in the south, they both simply resell Eircoms products, so it would be different from the UK.

MT wrote:

Another question, apparently you do actually need a modem to also get broadband (I always thought they were only for dialup). As there's no modem inside my new computer can you get external modems that attach say via a USB port?

Yes you need a modem (thought these are actually very different from dialup modems). Whoever you sigh up with will normally supply you with at least a basic modem, these usually have two connections, either USB or ethernet to connect to your PC, ethernet is the preferred (and simpler) method.

Also you can sometimes optionally get a wireless broadband router which includes a modem, this has the advantage of allowing you to connect to the modem wirelessly using wifi. This is handy if you have a laptop. BTW even if you don't have a laptop now, it might be handy to get one, in case you get a laptop in future.

Usually a wireless router is free or about £30 from your broadband provider.

MT wrote:

What else do I basically need going from the phone socket - I've read about micro-filters and splitters, what are these? Are they just one of those little plastic plugs that splitters you telephone line if you want to attach two phones? Or do I need one at all as I have a phone line running into my room for the dial up I'm using at the mo. but no telephone?

Yes, you will need a microfilter on every used telephone point in your home (phone, fax, sky, etc.). These are small devices that plug into your telephone port and you then plug your phone into them. These will be supplied for free by your broadband provider, so you don't really need to worry about it.

MT wrote:

Is the best place to get this hardware from your provider or would it be best to buy them elsewhere and then contact a provider for broadband? Is all the hardware (modems/routers) interchangeable and compatible with all the services ISPs out there are offering?

Most ADSL modems and routers are compatible with most ADSL ISP's. Of course there are exceptions. However usually at least a basic modem is supplied by your ISP.

For instance a wired one is supplied with the BT service you are looking at, a wireless one is an extra £30, but free if you go with a more expensive product.

The following is a good site for comparing ISP's (however they may not all be available in Northern Ireland):
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isps.html