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July 2004 - Week 2
The emails are categorised:
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I got on the extended trial with NDO at the beginning of June. I was
initially refused. I only got it because of the help of NDO and their
pressure on their BT contact to get round the automated BT line checking
system.
BT blocked my applications to the trial saying a normal application was
needed, but these failed twice. NDO in the end made a manual application and
the BT contact pushed it through the system and suddenly I went broadband.
The line has not gone down once and the speed tests show a good quality of
performance, so unless BT cut me off at the end of the trial I'm presently
happy of Bradwell.
Thanks to everyone.
Marvin, Bradwell |
| I'm on the NTL wireless trial, which is great.
I got on the BT trial with the extended reach ADSL which also works fine,
but is just a bit slow compared with the NTL service.
Regards
Adam, Monkston |
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 speed test 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[Get your ISP to call out BT.]
They did. Turned out to be nothing to do with the line - the wireless
connection causes the problem. No idea why. Just wondered if others had
experienced anything similar.
James |
Just a little warning for those on the trial--my BT
telephone went down for a week, but at least now I have Broadband. The phone
is supposed to be connected in another day or two.
Not funny!
Marianna, Walton Park |
Ah: well here's a story.
After a number of calls with Trinite/Nildram's techies treating me as an
idiot, I ended up trying the original settings I had: I'd abandoned these on
their instruction.
Et voila: 460+ down and 230+ up. Turns out the setting they instruct you to
use (including on their site) are wrong! Once BT enabled the line, it was
Trinite/Nildram's settings preventing my use.
Anyway, one shirty letter later and 1 month's free use.
Had a couple of complete failures subsequently so BT came out and moved the
master socket obviating the need for micro-filters.
All OK at the moment.
Many thanks for the group's efforts. Now all I need to do is keep the
contention ratio down......
Rob, <unknown> |
Well you can add me to the list of successful
installations.
I live in Walton Park and my phone cable length is 6.2km. Until your
magnificent efforts pushed BT into digitum extraction. I had been
refused several times.
Following your emails shortly before your break I applied again and was
instantly accepted. I got the package from Tiscali two days before I went
into hospital for a hip replacement, and got BB to go live the next day.
Wow!! What a difference. I then had to go to the hospital for the carvery
and subsequently couldn't wait to be released, so I did the exercises
diligently and was released after 7 days. All is now well and progress is
being made.
Thank you, thank you for donating your time on the MK broadband issue.
I think I have the solution to the sight of cables in various locations in
MK - BT's 21st Century Network.This MAJOR decision
by BT seems to have had little publicity, but that is probably the fault of
Editors rather than BT.
(I wonder if Walnut Tree just 100 yards from my home can just wander a
little further out? I can dream.)
Best Wishes
Paul, Walton Park |
Just to let you know I'm on the BT trial. Connections and
speed are fine.
A couple of disconnections but it is looking good at the moment.
[Get a BT engineer to visit if it's iffy. (Get your ISP to call them
out.)]
Regards
Paul, Willen |
Just to let you know I now HAVE BT Broadband. !!
My modem arrived this morning as promised and I've just made a successful
connection. There were technical problems affecting all Business broadband
users this morning, so I just waited for a while before attempting to log in
again....and hey presto it works.
I must say I am very impressed with the way my application was handled. I
received regular e-mails from BT and the setting up of broadband was very
straight forward.
Please pass on my thanks to the appropriate people, I think people are too
quick to complain these days and don't often take the time to say thanks.
Kind regards,
Sue, Wavendon Gate
PS : I hope the trial in Milton Keynes becomes a permanent solution, it was
a long time coming and it will be nice if it stays.. :-) |
Yes, It's in and working ... But not without some
aggravating problems.
The problem I suffered (and I do mean suffered) was two major worm
infections within just a few seconds of connecting to the net the first time
(Avast eventually detected them as Win32:GAOBOT-678 [wrm] virus detection
pattern did not come out until 3 days after my connection went live and I
got infected & Win32:Korgo-I [wrm] virus pattern came out the day I went
live but it was not downloaded until after infection), clearly it's not
related to the trial and a fault of the BT Yahoo set-up. You have to connect
to the net as part of the registration and set-up process but the install
doesn't switch the default Win XP firewall to on for their connection (all
my other connections had XP firewall 'on'). Their glitzy advertising bumf
says how well protected you'll be and that you get a free firewall so you
get the feeling that you will be well protected, in truth you have little
protection and there is a huge amount of port scanning and malicious traffic
going on inside and you have to download and install the firewall software
after connection.
Now that I have both XP firewall on and a separate software firewall I feel
a little safer, but the firewall is still blocking 1-2 malicious packets per
second all the time I am connected so I do disconnect when the connection is
not in use. I am considering putting in a combined DSL modem / wi-fi access
point & router instead of the USB modem as it gives that extra layer of NAT
and will allow for an always on connection (then I could let the neighbours
children piggy back the wi-fi access to help them with their schoolwork)
So far the speed tests that I have done have been mostly good (450+ Kbps
downstream), it was very difficult to tell at first because of the worms
swallowing most of the bandwidth. I do get one or two momentary drop outs
every now and then but the connection seems to pick back up ok by itself so
I'm not overly concerned.
I will perform some more speed testing and some large (ISO CD image)
downloads to fully check the connection for consistency, but obviously it
would be better if I had the confidence to leave it on all the time and
could then monitor for any total connection drops etc. I will update you as
soon as I have some stats.
In the mean time a note of caution might be worthwhile on the BB4MK pages as
I think the pain I went through could have been avoided by manually
switching the XP firewall on as soon as the network connection has been
created (before the final registration steps) or by downloading and
installing a separate software firewall over a secure dial-up connection
before starting the Yahoo install.
Thanks for the words of caution on the XP firewall / Printer sharing issue.
I'll be able to switch it off once I have some NAT in the way.
I am currently checking windows update on a daily (-ish) basis and awaiting
the release of SP2. I knew I was still open to the LSASS buffer overflow
issues when I was getting the broadband connection and it was intended to be
my first port of call once operational (if you've ever tried applying the
updates over a dial-up you'll know why I was waiting) but even with the best
will in the world and a 2Mbit connection I would never have made it with all
that dodgy traffic circulating on the Yahoo network. (They have the power to
close all these unnecessary ports on a per connection basis so why don't
they ???)
Best regards,
Richard, Walnut Tree |
| I now have Broadband and all is well! Suzanne, Bolbeck
Park |
Another success on the Extended reach trial !
We've used Zen as the ISP, whom we found to be efficient with a very useful
web site.
We've installed on a G4 Powerbook using the D-Link DSL-300G modem which
connects to the Mac's Ethernet port.
Unfortunately there isn't a utility that I know of that reports the
transaction speed. I'll keep searching. If you know of one please tell us.
Do you know how long the trial runs for ? Forever, we hope, but we fear
being switched off at some point in the future.
Thanks for all your help.
Regards
Jack & Jo |
We have managed to get onto the long reach trial, however
it was very "flakey". BT say they want to work with us to resolve the
issues, but by the time we get through to someone who could help us, we
fixed the problem ourselves.
Regards,
Russell, Bolbeck Park |
Just to keep you informed I have finally managed to be
involved with the MK Trial and have received my modem and software.
Installed okay and WHEN IT WORKS its really great.
Thanks for your continued perseverance in getting MK broadband enabled.
Regards
Bhavesh, Walton Park |
I now have broadband - hoorah! May i pass on a tip - mine
didn't work at all until i took off the old front cover of my main phone
socket and plugged my modem into the port behind it - then everything lit up
happily - apparently some of the older covers aren't too hot at passing the
broadband signal through.
[Get a BT engineer to visit with a new face plate. (Get your ISP to call
them out.)]
cheers,
Alexandra, Wavendon Gate |
| You won't get this unless I disconnect from BT Broadband
and go to Wanadoo (Freeserve), where I can receive mail in OE, but I can't
send. I have to go to my @FSmail.net to write to you.
Otherwise everything is OK, even though not all services are not
available on the BT Broadband connexion.
Regards
Owen, Pennyland |
Hope you had a good holiday. I'm happy to announce I'm on
the BT trial now as well and it is going smoothly. And its free! Hope the
results they get back are good!
Matthew, Walnut Tree |
Just to say that my Broadband is up and running. Modem and
filters arrived, connected up but no signal so that I thought the line
wasn't activated. Waited a week, called BT and they said the line was live
and that I should try moving my computer nearer the master socket. Anyway,
got home, didn't move computer but ADSL was running.... ho hum! Received a
welcome to BT Broadband letter saying it would cost me £28, dialled the
helpline number and told to ignore the letter, sent out in error.
All in all - happy camper!
Cheers
Jim, Walnut Tree |
A couple of days ago and the day before BT were putting
some thick black wires under the ground just outside my house in Walton
Park.
I should be connecting to ADSL Broadband soon with PIPEX Xstream 500 (£23/m)
512kbps no limits and works with MK trial.
Jonathan, Walton Park |
Sure you're bored of these messages by now but -
Broadband is alive and kicking all the way out in Newton Longville.
I had some trouble to start with - connected at fantastic speed (reported as
576k think true speeds were not that far off). But, occasionally, the
connection would have a dicky fit and would keep disconnecting for a few
seconds or minutes. Then for no reason would re-synch and away I'd go. No
pattern to this at all.
Anyway, those nice chaps at BT came along and spent about 2 1/2 hours
rewiring my house. Moved the master socket upstairs, even did extra wiring
so we could keep the handy socket next to our bed! All of this for free -
well free to me, apparently some internal politics mean BT retail charge BT
wholesale or vice-versa. Something like that....
Since then, absolutely perfect - not one disconnection.
All of your Herculean efforts over the last couple of years are appreciated.
I wish I believed in god/karma so that I could be sure you would get your
reward in heaven/next life; as it is, you'll just have to accept my thanks.
cheers.
Gary, Newton Longville |
I am ecstatic. I have been on the MK extended reach trial
now for over a month with no problems what so ever. I can now work from home
via broadband which has made a real difference to me! What was all the fuss
about.
Thanks for all your efforts, you're doing a fabulous job. Will have to come
a buy you a drink at The Swan one day soon.
Keith, Wavendon Gate |
|
|
BT have been alerted to all the following emails...
Can I ask if you have had any feedback from people on the MK Broadband
trial, I am on it and having terrible problems getting connected.
If I use it at 6am it's great, but once the connection drops, which it often
does, I can not get re-connected. The error messages come up as no answer
the other end, then if you keep on trying it comes up with no dial tone, and
if you are persistent it comes up with there is no modem present.
Can you advise if you know of any others having these types of problems and
if they have cured them.
Many thanks
Paul, Loughton[Yes, some people are having problems. These are usually
resolved when a BT engineer visits and installs a new filter face plate.] |
Thanks to all the useful advice, we've had broadband here
in Kents Hill since Sunday morning.
The only trouble is, we had about ten minutes of high speed connection, and
since we've been down to about 3 kbps if we're lucky...
Simon |
I have grief with it. Can't get a service, currently
working with Zen through the fault reporting to finally get it confirmed as
'not available' here in Willen. :(
Paul, Willen |
BT updated their system & informed Ofcom, but my preferred supplier refuses
to process an order because the BT system shows the line as amber, so I'm 2
steps forward, all I have to do now is find another supplier that will do
rate adaptive on the same basis or just go the hog on the a std 512k.
I wish NTL would be upfront on what the wireless trial prices will be - if
they proceed.
- one day I will make it to the Thursday meeting - work permitting.
cheers
Pete, Monkston
[Pete is a neighbour of mine on TPON. I can no longer make rational
statements! BT cannot seamlessly handle Broadband orders. Yes, BT put in
copper cable last year... and
locals got Broadband!] |
I have now had my op [Monday] & am now trying to recover
after it. Seems to have been successful. We shall see.
I'm sorry I have not told you already but I have got on the BT broadband
trial. So far it seems very good, although very slow at times & disconnects
quite a lot, but is definitely an improvement.
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Neil, Bolbeck Park |
Thanks for your splendid work on all on this. I now have
broadband, through NDO.
My only problems are:
1. that it seems to disappear sometime in the evening; I've never been there
to see it happen, but somewhere between 8pm and 11pm.
2. I can't get me telephone to work on the same line-which I've always
understood is one advantage of broadband-even though I've bought the right
kind of splitter.
Have you come across others with the same problem??
[Yes, some people are having problems. These are usually resolved with a
BT engineer visit.]Thanks,
John |
|
I had a problem at the weekend. Rebooting my router sorted it out.
cheers
Loz, Kents Hill |
Now that Nick is back from his long holiday, I'd like to
join with the growing crowd in publicly expressing thanks to him for his
heroic efforts in getting BT to let us into ADSL. Having been refused it for
years, I got it put in under the trial and it has worked flawlessly since
mid-June.
Never mind pints. I think an OBE would be more suitable. Were it in my gift
etc...
Cheers - Frank[Get your nominations in quickly...Honours
system outdated, say MPs] |
I regularly do things like sending from my BTYahoo address
via the NTL server, and vice versa - which is all perfectly acceptable as
far as normal, courteous, non-spamming internet usage is concerned. As
I understand it, the spammers' paradise is a thing called an 'open relay'
SMTP server - one which will send your emails even if you aren't connected
to its own gateway. But what I just described is NOT that. (Thanks go to
John Baker for explaining all this to me many moons ago.)
As a long serving Demon subscriber my first Internet access software was the
DOS based KA9Q with Demon, which in the early '90s only offered Internet
connectivity and the customer were their own Internet node.
[I worked on the KA9Q code with G1EMM in 1990. (A buggette with the FIFO
serial comms I seem to remember.)]I know things have moved on
from then but I still tend to operate in the same way as 10 years ago,
although now with Linux software. It was always useful to have your own
mailserver especially when Demons relay fell over on one of their regular
SNAFUs.
Demon advised 12 months or so ago, that AOL were going to block Port 25 on
their fixed IP range and as a workround I could apply to be whitelisted but
since I don't have any contacts on AOL I didn't bother, anyway it's their
loss not mine.
With the dynamic IP range of NTL I suspect more and more block lists will
prevent direct email mainly due to the actions of customers running
compromised Windows computers. Fortunately, this wireless dynamic IP range
hasn't found its way onto many block lists yet.
To overcome some of NTLs connectivity problems I have Gradwell ODMR access,
which allows you to receive your email via SMTP from an internet connection
with a dynamic IP address. This works well with my current Sendmail server
which was originally configured for my Demon account.
Currently I use Gradwell to forward incoming mail to me with SMTP but
outgoing is sent direct. Should blocking become a bigger problem then I can
either use Gradwells server or I could redirect my MX records to my NTL
address provided I use a dynamic dns system of some sort. (This is in the
to-do list ).
As the months go by I get more concerned that mail sent direct will not
arrive, the spammers have seen to that. It is a fact that many NTL users are
not clued up and allowed themselves to run compromised machines, and NTL
does not have a good reputation for its abuse department, which means that
block list operators are not going to easily give NTL address space the
benefit of doubt.
I filter most of my mail through Spamcop and currently I am being sent about
half a dozen a day. You may be interested on Demons application of
Brightmail filtering at the beginning of the year which dropped the then
peak of over 100 a day. Have a look at
http://www.grantura.demon.co.uk/spam_stats.htm - if you are interested.
Regards
Bob |
Just to let you know that even though we have broadband on the trial, BT
have been laying fibre optic cables to eventually
replace copper ones outside our house on Bolbeck Park today. Apparently,
this means that not only will everyone here will be able to receive
broadband but we'll even be able to get a 1Mb or 2Mb connection speed. It's
all come a long way very quickly.
Thanks for all your good work.
Regards,
Jim, Bolbeck Park |
I'm not sure about the precise nature of the cable but I
have seen at least 4 vans every days for the last week or so in or around .
On asking the engineers and ready the announcement on June 9, I think BT are
getting ready for the Fibre to The Home trial they
are starting in October. I am trying to find out how I can get onto the
trial - any ideas?
Andrew, Walnut Tree |
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