BT Infinity

[JohnnyFind]

For the second time the BT infinity availability date has slipped for my exchange, I'm so annoyed with these muppets.

Now I have to wait until the end of June at the earliest. 

I don't know if I can carry on like this any more 

[RichardWhitely]

Download speed achieved during the test was - 22 Mbps
For your connection, the acceptable range of speeds is 16 Mbps-77.43 Mbps .
Additional Information:
IP Profile for your line is - 77.43 Mbps

Upload speed achieved during the test was - 13.72Mbps
Additional Information:
Upstream Rate IP profile on your line is - 20 Mbps

[JohnnyFind]

They are two vastly different download speeds, what does it mean, I'm confused?

Your not telling me in a round about way that you have FTTC before me are you?

I personally think I have a long wait as the tits are still laying in my borough, let alone updating the cabinets.

[RichardWhitely]

Yes I have FTTC and I'm on the 80Mbps FTTC trial as well. However I rarely see the full speed from my line (77Mbps) due to BT being stingy with the backhaul capacity from the cabinet/exchange. And the second speed result is what I usually see - especially in the evenings.

The only reason I have FTTC is cos the Northern Ireland Assembly gave BT a [censored]ton of money 2 years ago and said "HERE! Give every cabinet in Northern Ireland FTTC!". Over the last year and a bit there has been a huge amount of work gone into the project and pretty much nearly every cabinet in Northern Ireland is done.

[JohnnyFind]

Good for you, I'm jealous to say the least.  Your download might be all over the shop but that upload speed is awesome.


I have five machines in my household, not to mention the ipads and iphones... the whole thing is creaking under the load.

[RichardWhitely]

It might be also the choice of ISP. I might have better luck with a more stable speed with the likes of Zen (who doubled their usage amounts today) or AAISP - however they are also quite expensive but at least their tech support might push BT a bit harder to fix it (especially AAISP). The thing to remember is you are locked into a ISP for 12 months, so its probably good you don't have it yet. Plenty of time to research and pick an ISP!

This FTTC ISP comparison spreadsheet is a good place to start:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AquiMM6uTUUzdHl4RGRZcnE1WWw0SVlLcVlzQWZuVFE&authkey=CNDi0Z8L#gid=0

[JohnnyFind]

Sweet jimmy BT infinity option 2 now available from my exchange 

69mb dowload
20mb upload

9am tomorrow morning I will be chasing that MAC code 

[JohnnyFind]

Tomorrow is the big day, BT engineer bringing around the FTTC modem.

[JohnnyFind]

First on the cabinet 

[Undergrid]

Does the engineer need to do anything in the house or is it just to drop off the router?  I just wonder if I have to be home or not when it comes to my exchange.

[JohnnyFind]

The BT homehub 3 is sent via the post and the engineer brings along the modem on the day of the installation. Overall it took about two hours in total, probably because I was first on the cabinet.

As usual BT insist on connecting directly to the master socket, they are happy to do some internal wiring as part of the installation for positioning of the modem. 

I discovered my master socket had been concelled behind the fitted wardrobe in the main bedroom but I managed to convince him to use the spur box in the living room, he wasn't too pleased but eventually gave in to my persistence. I don't believe it effected my performance much 



I asked for the modem to be directly fitted to the wall above the telephone socket, which is then hidden by a some furniture. The modem is ugly and lights up like the starship enterprise so you want it somewhere hidden, the homehub on the other hand is a sleek design.

[RichardWhitely]

You definitley need to be in for the BT Engineer as well as providing you with the FTTC modem (and homehub if you take BT infinity, for other isps they dont bother with the hub part obviously) they also fit a new faceplate filter to your telephone socket.

[BigBazza]

Availability date: 30 June 2013

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

Arse 

[Tricky]

Better than mine - which has been pushed back to the default latest possible date of Mar 2014 - which gets given to all slightly difficult installs apparently. Don't know why my cabinet has an issue. I emailed the FTTC people but they didn't say.

[JohnnyFind]

  that is one long wait.