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July 2004 - Week 1
The emails are categorised:
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Just to let you know I've been connected at hyperspace speeds now for a
week - no engineer out, no lines dropping plus apparently half decent speeds
= downstream @ 466 / 503 & upstream @ 246 / 265! I just turned on one day
when they said it would be there and there it was!!! -Could this really be
BT I'm talking about?!
I'm keeping quiet about the fact that I have ISDN on my main line as the BB
is on a separate line I had installed a few months ago so if BB fails I have
a plan B - although with the cost the Home Highway ISDN I don't think I'll
be keeping the 2 very long - HH is such amazingly poor value in comparison!
Anyway thanks for all you and your teams efforts thus far - we'll have to
see how BT play it at the end of the trial so I'll be staying with you guys
Cheers & thanks again
Paul, Great Holm |
All attempts to get on the trial were a failure as I was
too close to the exchange. I had to get someone in the BT technical
department to reset their database for my number so an engineer would come
round. When he tested the line and said I was too far from the exchange I
convinced him to switch my phone line to a different cable in the cabinet in
the exchange.
Completely against BT policy, completely against regulations, but he got the
job done, which is exactly what the customer wants.Anon, Middleton |
Installed a second line, am now on trial. It works, no
problems. I took this route as I installed 7 extensions when we built this
house. That was at a time of no reasonable cordless phones.
Peter, Loughton |
Just had broadband installed as part of the trial. Working
well.
Andrew, Middleton |
I was one of those whom status suddenly changed to amber -
I have since signed up with Zen without the need to sign up for the trial,
Thanks once again for your work - Much appreciated!!Anon, Middleton |
I'm currently on the trial (BT Business being my internet
service provider).
It seems to be working pretty well, except two nights ago I had a bit of
trouble connecting for a few hours, but it's fixed itself.
Only problem I have had is that, as someone else informed me, BT OpenWorld
have problems connecting to DNS's, and I sometimes have a problem connecting
to some websites.
However, that is not a problem connected to the trial only - it's a problem
experienced by all using BT OpenWorld for their ISP.
Other than that - I've not experienced any other problems and am happy with
the service being provided.
Adam, Newton Longville
P.S. I didn't have any problems getting on to the trial, and the BT Business
people were very helpful and responsive to any queries I had. |
I am connected on the extended reach trial for the last few
weeks – there are some complications regarding email, but they have not yet
been resolved due to my lack of application rather than anything else. I
have an iMac system X 3.3.
Rgds,
David |
I have managed to get on broadband after freeserve were
taken over by wanadoo. My telephone line previously read not really
available due to "shared services", this turned out to be that my telephone
line was to be shared with someone else but had not been connected to this
other person. When this facility was disconnected I was able to be connected
to the 500 and something broadband starter service. This problem may also
apply to a small percentage of other applicants. I am not technically
qualified to explain this but would maybe like to turn up to one of your
meetings to have a chat with your group as a thank you for your work on
behalf of Milton Keynes residents who have been unable to get broadband.
Although I have not attended any of your informal pub meetings I am an avid
supporter of your objectives and mention your good work on a regular basis
to people in the MK area and also to people further a field in an endeavour
to get them motivated to form similar action groups.
Best wishes for your campaign,
Nick, Giffard Park |
| Broad band test working fine (thru ZEN). Disconnected ISDN
today! I wonder if they'll test 2mb one day or even 1mb
Kind regards
Guy, Wavendon Gate |
Just thought I would let you know that I have just been
enabled on the Milton Keynes long reach trial (at last) The only thing is I
don't live in Milton Keynes I live in Dingwall Anyway to cut a long story
short if it hadn't been for your campaigning I don't think any of us would
have broadband THANK YOU
Regards
Derek |
OK, I finally decided to jump in and try and get Broadband,
even though I used to be too far from the Exchange.
This is day 2 on BT Broadband Basic, and here in Crownhill I am getting the
following :
Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)
Downstream 454 Kbps (56.8 KB/sec) 490 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 250 Kbps (31.3 KB/sec) 270 Kbps (inc. overheads)
I have no idea what any of that means, only that it is fast, and my
web-pages and e-mails now load / arrive like greased-lightening!
A very happy chappie.
QUESTION : I am confused by some of the mailings on here. Am I in the trial
or have I got BB permanently?????
Confused Gordon, Crownhill. |
Well you'll be pleased to hear that I now have broadband
after finally putting a splitter on my incoming line. Everything seems fine
so far, Good luck and thanks for your help,
Bob, Wicken |
| Just to let you know I now have BT Broadband.
One thing I would say is that it's very underhand how they get you signed
up. We were supposedly too far but there seem to be no problem and the set
up seems to be the same with any other supplier. They tried to get us to pay
rather than the free trial. I don't use BT but Wanadoo so I will cancel the
trial, now I know it works and join up with Wanadoo as soon as possible.
Sandwiches, Bradwell |
I must say that NDO have been more than helpful to me. I am
over 7.1 km from the exchange and receive the following speed test results
from adslguide.org:
Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)
Downstream 466 Kbps (58.3 KB/sec) 503 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 242 Kbps (30.3 KB/sec) 261 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Considering where I am, I think the service is good.
Regards,
Mark, Newton Longville |
I have just checked my connection speeds and they are as
follows for Freedom2surf at the bottom end of Walnut Tree.
Downstream 464 Kbps (58.0 KB/sec) 501 Kbps (inc. overheads) Upstream 244
Kbps (30.5 KB/sec) 263 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Since I was connected three weeks ago I have not had any problems.
Regards
Kodzo, Walnut Tree |
I have been successfully connected to ECLIPSE BROADBAND in
Wavendon Gate area for approx 4 weeks without a hitch. Once I got over the
stormy first few days setup period where nothing would work consistently,
everything went well and here are my findings.
Eclipse cannot be faulted ONE BIT. Their customer service is second to none.
I have been with about 6 ISPs over the years and they are the best so far
for customer support and friendliness.
The connection speed is stunning so far. I seldom get less than approx
57-60k/sec download which is about 15-20 times faster than my old dial-up.
The email works perfectly, likewise Newsgroups. My web-site couldn't have
been easier to setup and the connection is never flaky now. It stays
connected solid and I use 3 pcs with a wireless router. The only slight
criticism is during the first few days when I was struggling to get my modem
to work reliably I was attacked with several viruses. (I had to disable my
software firewall and antivirus temporarily to get my system working
properly). Eclipse are working on having a built-in antivirus and We page
protection but its not working just yet. But I finally installed Norton
Systemworks 2004 + Adaware 6 and got on top of things quickly.
A summary of setup problems
BT internal wiring was causing me loss of ADSL when it was left connected
(even with several micro filters connected). I had to buy a special BT
approved master socket micro filter. (One that filters the whole house from
the line) You then connect all the phones to their normal outlets without
any further filters.
I also had IP address sharing problems but got round that eventually and
ended up with DHCP server assigned IP addresses but locked them down hard
with MAC address allocations within my firewall.
Anyway, thought you might like to hear I was getting on,
thanks again for you help
Best regards
Dave, Wavendon Gate |
I live on the Racecourses Estate in Bletchley and am now
receiving Broadband. I thought I was part of the trial, but they recently
sent me a bill ! If it works I don't mind paying, need to get the hard drive
on my PC sorted.
Keep you posted on my progress.
Ben, Racecourses |
I have had successful connection to BB via NDO for nearly a
month now as participant in the long reach trial.
There were only two/three occasions when the BB was not available.
The typical speed is as follows (www.adslguide.org.uk):
Downstream 459 Kbps (57.4 KB/sec) 495 Kbps (inc. overheads) Upstream 242
Kbps (30.3 KB/sec) 261 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Does anyone know if at the end of the trial I would be able to switch to
another provider or I would have to stick to NDO?
[You can switch - check the T&C's with NDO]
Best regards,
Sacho, Bolbeck Park |
I just thought I let you know that after 9 months of
frustration, after having moved from Australia where I had broadband before
to the UK I finally got it!!!!!
I subscribed to eclipse, which is also participating in the MK broadband
trial, and a couple of days later after an initial problem, which was
resolved by BT within 24 hours, I got connected.
Interestingly enough my neighbor, who subscribed at the same time with BT
directly is still waiting!!!
Thanks a lot for your effort and keeping us all up-to-date!
Cheers,
Helmut, Great Linford |
| just a few lines to tell you that the long reach trial that
I'm on works fine, at last I can work with a computer that doesn't take an
age to download or even turn a page. Keep up the good work, maybe one day
all of M.K. will have it.
Keith, Crownhill |
Just to let you know I'm on BT's Broadband trial and so far
it's been working 100%.
Paul, Willen Park |
Thanks for all the help , i am now on broadband trial with
a loss reading of 61.5db on my line and no problems in over two weeks ,
thanks again
Cheers
Richard |
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BT have been alerted to some of the following emails...
The bureaucracy suddenly changed and I was allowed in. The kit arrived
during a particularly horrendous work period and there was a delay in me
setting it up and then in chasing progress.
Current status is -
* The "modem" refuses to synch.
* BT Yahoo treated me as having left their dial up Anytime service and
blocked my access to the 0808 number! This forced me on to UK2.net on an
0845 number!!
* Yesterday I spent 90 minutes phoning call centres in Bangalore, Dublin and
the Moon trying to get both the above sorted out.
* BT Yahoo Broadband in Dublin quickly confirmed my line was not functioning
for Broadband and efficiently logged a report to engineers. I believe they
will have to relocate the master socket to my study [upstairs rear bedroom]
and convert the living room master socket to a slave. Hopefully this will
solve the synch problem.
* Broadband told me I would need to speak to dial up, who told me that it
was Broadband that had changed my account status so that the 0808 number no
longer worked. None of these people had a clue what I was talking about when
I mentioned the MK Extended Reach Trial! My final call to Broadband in India
was, after much pressure from me escalated to first a supervisor and then a
manager. Her name was Anu and she was superb. She suggested the simple
solution of leaving the changes alone and simply setting me up with a new
Anytime account. She did this in a matter of minutes and I was back to
retrieving emails via the 0808 number. I am assured I can cancel the
temporary account whenever I want. My faith in the Indian call centres was
restored by the excellent skills of Anu and her colleague.
I will report progress as soon as it happens.
Douglas, Great Holm |
I had applied for the BT trial on 12/5/04 but they had
declined my application as I was a Home Highway customer.
I took a risk and cancelled my HH last month (and paid £50 for the
privilege). I then applied for the trial again and they sent me an email
last Friday 2/7/04 (text below):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for offering to take part in the Extended Reach Trial.
We have carried out a number of further tests and can inform you that we
can place an order for you to be included on the trial using the number
you gave us.
We will be in contact with you within the next 48 hours to provide you
with some important information relating to the trial and to place your
order.
Thank you again for putting your name forward.
Best wishes,
Broadband from BT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I havent heard anything from them since then despite 2 reminder emails I
have sent them.
I will keep you updated if there is any further progress...hopefully in the
next few days.
Thanks very much for all your work, it really is appreciated.
Sanjeev, Walnut Tree |
I managed to get on the trial in end after phoning BT. So i
got all my gear and set it up and it was fantastic all i had hoped it would
be. Except from about 16.30 every day I get disconnected all the time. Its
completely unusable. It will probably cut out in a moment.
I have been dealing with a guy from BT Broadband who is in charge of
gathering the details of problems with connections for the trial. very
helpful and have tried almost everything. Engineer has been out and says he
gets a reading of 68 db. Has know this not to be successful in the past and
has see 78 successful once. Has given me a new wall box but it does not seem
to have made a difference. Looks like its not going to work for me. My next
door neighbour is also on the trial and has great connections.
My next step is to buy a ADSL router and see if that (connection just gone
off) works. The engineer says that he has heard of modems in the US that
will accept signals up to 80 dB and BT are looking into this. My concern is
if the trial is a success generally and I am one of the few who is having
trouble they may just say hard luck and forget all about me.
I have got to the state where I am even thinking of Flattening the hard
drive reinstalling XP and seeing if that makes a difference. I cannot see
what they can do next.
I will ask them to switch my ISDN line over and try that maybe its better. I
suppose i will have to pay for that.
Not a happy man at the moment. The first 8 hours were fantastic. Still is
good most days before 16.30 then its useless.
Andy, Wavendon Gate |
Yes I did get on the trial about the 2nd week in June. My ISP is BT. Initial
contact with them was very helpful. I had almost given up then out of the
blue I got a phone call saying that they were willing to give me a trial.
Unfortunately I was away the last 2 weeks, so I have not been on it for
long.
Connection is a bit flaky at times especially so in the evenings. They had
said as I was with BT on the 56k modem that during the trial I would retain
both broadband and 56k but appears that since the beginning of July they
have taken me off the 56k modem because at time when I cannot connect to
broadband and I go over to 56k modem I get the message that I am a broadband
user so I cannot connect to 56k!
Regards,
Dinkar, Loughton |
I have managed to get on the trial this week, however the
service keeps going down at around 21:30 each night.
Regards
Barry, Middleton |
I am on the trial from Old Farm Park - The BT team is
trying hard to help.
The main problem is that the line just keeps dropping off frequently and
gets frustrating
Thanks for all your help.
Kind Regards
Dilip, Old Farm Park |
Well I was part of the extended trial but unfortunately the
noise on my line is too great to sustain the broadband connection. Find
attached the response from BT.
I'm not giving up just yet as I now have to look at Wireless broadband, and
I guess satellite, though this sounds to be very expensive.
Thanks for your help so far and I'll let you know what happens from here.
Ta
Sean, Newton Longville
Thank you for putting your name forward
to take part in the Extended Reach Trial.
As part of the Extended Reach Trial, we have performed extensive
investigations in order to establish if your telephone line could
support the broadband service you requested.
The outcome of our investigations, which included additional analysis,
testing and measurement, has resulted in the telephone line still being
unable to support reliable broadband service.
Unfortunately we are not able to provide broadband service on that
particular broadband line.
You will receive a returns kit in the post in the next few days. Please
return the ADSL modem pack to the freepost address.
Thank you again for putting your name forward.
Best wishes,
Broadband from BT
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I've got "British Leyland" broadband while you have been
away. It is great when it works but some days it just doesn't work at all.
(The modem won't synchronise)
Any suggestions?[Get BT to visit your installation.]
Philip, Giffard Park |
I've been using my NDO connection from Clay Hill in Two
Mile Ash for a couple of days now but the speed is pretty poor. According to
the speedtest at www.adslguide.org the downstream is around 200kbps,
upstream around 125kbps. Is anyone else getting similar results. I know the
line is adaptive so it will drop to the lowest reliable speed but this still
seems slow.
Is it worthwhile collating speed test results from different ISPs/locations
for comparison and reporting to BT?
Thanks,
James, Two Mile Ash[Neil writes: I would phone your ISP, and they
should get BT to come out and take a look. BT promised to do everything
possible for the duration of the trial. I believe they also said that they
would be dissatisfied if rate adaption occurred, implying that they will be
extra keen to help you at this stage.] |
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I really hope that NTL role out the service. I've never had to even power
down to reset my modem in the 8 months or so I've had broadband. It has been
excellent. I use it every day for both e-mail but also running a VPN. If NTL
role this out, it will provide users with up to 1 Mbps down link speed. That
will be good competition for BT. I spoke to the council today and silence
from NTL is not an indication of a pull out. They need to make an internal
business case for investing in this service. There are many areas in the
borough which could be considered a 'country area' that would also benefit
from wireless broadband where BT would be unlikely to provide coverage. This
is NTL's only chance to provide broadband in Milton Keynes. I asked why NTL
had been removed from the MK Council web page and it had been done so in
error. I assume it will be added again.
So wireless trialists, keep the faith!
Dave, Middleton |
I said I would keep you all updated on the NTL radio trial
Broadband.
I have had it for some 2 months now (perhaps three - its amazing how fast
you get used to something).
The helpline and backup service are lousy - forget them.
The service itself is excellent - you won't need the helpline.
I have a 600 Mb set-up and it runs very well. There are a few minor hiccups
which are irritating but for a freebie (or having Broadband when you can't
get it normally) is nothing. On some occasions it will not find a page or
will stop running. Simply shutting explorer will sort these out. Connection
is simply opening Explorer - couldn't be simpler.
On the freebie trial there are no extras so make sure you have a decent
firewall and anti-virus - you are literally connected all the time whether
you are using it or not. This leaves your computer wide open for attack
hence the advice. Downloading is a joy - no limits except those imposed by
the site you are downloading from. Even noticed very little variation in
speed between one or two downloads. When you get to three then you notice a
drop in speed.
Uploads are a different matter - these are an improvement on a 56k Modem but
frankly not a lot.
So far I am mighty pleased with the product and 'if' they offer it on a
permanent basis I will certainly go with it.
Peter, Blue Bridge |
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