Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group

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The Trial Begins!

June 2004

Members are getting broadband...

The Emails...

A stunningly amazing U-turn in customer relations it seems…

BT Yahoo phoned me today and talked me through their Ts&Cs for the trial:

Activation fee: zero

Hardware cost: zero

Monthly fee: zero

Duration of contract: No lock-in at all. After the trial (assuming it to be successful) I can either sign up for 12 months at the normal rate, or simply walk away.

All it seems they want from me (apart from my eventual business, obviously) is some "totally honest feedback" at the end of the trial. So I said yes, despite the fact that yesterday I was on the verge of signing up with another ISP.

Seems rather good to me, to say the least. Will it really happen? I'll let you know.

Neil
 
Just to let you know that I, too, am successfully connected to the long reach trial. The connection has been dropped a few of times but otherwise, it's all I'd hoped for: no problems at all. My connection even went live 4 days before the trial was due to start, too!
I've used ndo and found them very helpful.
Thanks and all the best
Nick, Wicken. 7/6/04
 
EUREKA !!!

I now have Broadband, up & running as of June 1st with whom I reckon to be one of the best: "ECLIPSE".
I'll keep you inform of any major problems.

Trev, Willen. 7/6/04
 
We got our BT ADSL modem on Saturday, and are now up and working on Broadband.

Thanks for you help in getting us connected..

Roy, Bradwell. 7/6/04
 
Now on line with Broadband - all is ok at the moment.

Thanks

Roger, Walnut Tree. 7/6/04
 
I am pleased to inform you that my 'BT Broadband pack' arrived on Saturday (05/06/04)and at long last I do actually now have the benefit of Broadband.

(I was previously continually being told that as the length of the lines from Stony Stratford Exchange to my home address were too long, Broadband was NOT available to me).

Keep up the good work and many thanks.

Ken, Crownhill. 7/6/04
 
Well, it's finally happened. I now get 576 kbps reported - better than dialup!

Regards,
Mike, Middleton. 7/6/04
 
Just a quick e-mail of thanks and to confirm my connection on the 25th May with freedom2surf was successful.
I don't really know if I am part of the trial as the connection was prior to the 1st June.
You can now add another green blob to the Crownhill map - hopefully this will mean others in the area will be successful too.

Many thanks
Rob, Crownhill. 7/6/04

 
This is just a short thank you for all your help with everything!

I have been a member of the MKBAG for just over a month now, and you have given me something that I have been chasing for 18 months - namely BROADBAND!!! I am more than happy with the connection speeds achieved and the service provider (Nildram).

It may be a short thank you, but you have no idea of the huge gratitude I owe. Again many thanks.

Martin, Willen. 7/6/04
 
I have recently been connected through the long reach trial. No problems so far, straight on and up and running. I now can't understand what all the fuss was about.
Cheers,
Dean, Bradwell. 6/6/04
 
I am pleased so say I now have a last broadband from Nildram so I am a happy man. Best of luck with the rest of the people

Rick, Great Linford. 6/6/04
 
Success!

I have broadband on the extended reach trial through Zen, I'm getting the full 512/256 connection speed and it all works beautifully.

Geoff, Loughton. 6/6/04
 
Thought you might like to know that I have successfully ordered ADSL from NDO. Being really decadent I now have an NTL network and a BT network!

James, Two Mile Ash. 5/6/04
 
Up and running in the last half hour, here in the High Street, Great Linford. NDO mailed to confirm line was up on Weds but didn't see their mail till Thurs. Had fun sorting filters and such so was delayed till today. ADSLguide.org.uk speed checker says my data rates are:

Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)

Downstream 464 Kbps (58.0 KB/sec) 501 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 235 Kbps (29.4 KB/sec) 253 Kbps (inc. overheads)

So pretty pleased!!! Just seen BT's reason for line checkers turning to "should" after joining the trial. Just as I speculated at the pub meeting last week. Why didn't BT think ahead and realise the confusion this was going to cause and planned it in the announcement? Or even had lines tagged as "On Long Reach Trial"....? Too easy?! [These issues have been raised with BT!]

Looking forward to ditching my second dedicated dial up line when ADSL is shown to be reliable and I've migrated the LAN boxes across........

Cheers, this is a great day!

Peter, Great Linford. 5/6/04
 
At last we have broadband with f2s.

Cathy, Loughton. 5/6/04
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Have now got Broadband set up and working, thanks to the hard work of the action group. I would like to continue to support the group in any way that I can.
Linda, Great Linford. 5/6/04
 
I'm happy to say that I am on the trial in Kent's Hill, and it works perfectly. I went with Eclipse in the end.

Martyn, Kents Hill. 5/6/04
 
The trial is going well from my end. No problems with the connection. Activation was due on 02/06/04 but I connected the router over last weekend and found that the line had already been activated.

Ken, Middleton. 5/6/04
 
I have broadband now. At the moment I am quite pleased as it seems to quite reliable and quick. Hopefully this will continue!

Jose, Racecourses. 5/6/04
 
Just to let you know that I've also managed to get broadband, as part of the MK Trial.

Andy, Walnut Tree. 5/6/04
 
Our long reach trial via Zen was activated on Thursday as promised. We're in Abraham Close. Apart from a noisy phone line (and I'm following the filtering threads with interest), all works fine, although I was beginning to panic when I read that others were being enabled earlier than expected and I wasn't!

Incidentally, in response to Matthew's issue, I've found Zen to be good to work with - everything happened as promised and, when I've needed to, I've been able to contact them without trouble.

Chris, Willen Park. 5/6/04

http://www.fatfreddyscat.com
 
Many thanks for your work for MK broadband, I also now have ADSL from the long range BT trial up and running.
No problems with it at all, the ISP is Freedom2Surf.

Cheers
Martin, Walnut Tree. 5/6/04
 
My Broadband order was handled well by Nildram after the initial hiccups

I received my Broadband details from them on May 28th - so plugged everything in and hey presto the lights on the router lit up and it all started working - looks like my line was activated early by BT

After one week I have to say I have no complaints so far - everything appears to be doing what I expected it to. I have tested my speeds twice now through ADSL Guide - once when I started and again yesterday and am getting actual speeds of approx 460kbps Downstream and around 240kbps up stream

No complaints so far

Phil, Rivers Estate. 5/6/04
 
I wanted to thank you for all your work getting "Rocket City" connected.
I applied for the BT trial through PlusNet. I've received my modem, filters etc, installed them all and I now have a lovely fast ADSL connection, (clocked downloads between 65 and 82).

Cheers and "more power to you elbow"

Andy, Walnut Tree. 5/6/04
 
I wish I could report the same success as those 30 people but at Nildram they seem to make cock up after cock up, they have processed my trial order as a normal ADSL order!!!!!!.

So they sent me out an email that I am now all to familiar with.
When i rang to see what they was playing at the Gentleman that sent the email from the provisioning team wasn't available.

I am looking for ward to Monday to ring them again to see if they can provide some details as to who made this little mistake(cough cough)

Darren, Bradwell. 5/6/04
 
Got connected on the Long Reach trial today, through Merula. No problems setting up the modem/wireless router. Within 15 minutes of unpacking the device I was up and running. Great me thinks, problems solved, lets moved onto the next campaign :)

Except.... I've had half a dozen disconnects throughout the course of the day (as another BB4MK member also reported). Not a massive problem if you're browsing web content, but not too good if you're working from home over a VPN connection.

Will report the disconnects to my ISP and see what BT suggest. Am pretty sure its nothing within my own boundaries, given the Belkin modem is logging 'ATM Stop PPP' messages. Maybe I need one of those proper BT faceplates rather than a micro filter?

BTW - A couple of good articles for you all...

www.clarity.it/telecoms/adsl_faceplate.htm

(some stuff on BT faceplates. Have made the assumption that this is the same faceplates that may be in use in the LR trial?)

www.clarity.it/telecoms/adsl_bandwidth.htm

(good explanation of the clashes between ADSL and other comms in the home such as Sky, modems and fax machines.)

Gareth, Kents Hill. 5/6/04
 
Happy to report first class service from Plus.net

Line activated on 2/6, Modem etc arrived 3/6, speed faster than expected average for a 512K line (490)

Still can't comprehend why BT had me down as a NO - I live 3 miles from the exchange after all - not MY fault BT ran the cables the long way round - but - I'm one happy little bunny now.

For anyone who hasn't signed up to the trial - get in there guys!

Kind regards

Gordon, Stantonbury Fields. 4/6/04
 
Just thought you would like to know that we were activated last night and it works!

We had a newsletter email from Zen at work a couple of days before the ISPs were announced. The email said they were taking part and to contact them if we wanted to use them which I did. We haven't had to talk to BT at all and so have never been declined by them.

Our contact at Zen was Neil and he processed our order on the 19th of May and told us to expect the order to fail which it did. It was then processed again and was due for activation today. So we connected the router last night and as is often the case it was already activated and we are now running broadband in Gaddesden Crescent, Wavendon Gate.

Many thanks for all of your tireless campaigning in this. If there's anyone else I should contact, i.e. BT, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Sally, Wavendon Gate. 4/6/04
 

We have broadband at Broughton!

Many Thanks to Nick and the rest!

I am connected with PlusNet via the MK Trial!!!
 
Was supposed to be connected on Friday, but up popped a green light earlier today.

David, Broughton. 3/6/04
 
I have signed up with NDO and the connection was activated on Sunday. (I was advised by them on Wednesday)

I am up and running on broadband and am achieving about 480kps - great.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Regards

Peter, Willen. 3/6/04
 
Given all the other successes, I had high hopes for my neighbour's connection in Loughton. Our case hasn't worked out as well as the others.

The line went live on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the Netgear DG834 we installed has not been able to obtain sync. It continuously sits in 'training mode'. We have disconnected all the extensions in the house, rebooted everything, wiggled wires, etc., all with no joy. At least the fact that the router enters training mode is a hopeful sign; it is hearing something and trying to respond.

We have contacted NDO and are now waiting to see whether BT will come out and do magic (install a faceplate and who-knows-what). I still have hopes that we will eventually succeed. The wiring in the house is old and rather bizarre, and separating off the broadband signal before it enters the wiring rat's nest can only help. We will see.

Regards to all,
Charles, Loughton 4/6/04
 
Just to let you know that Broadband has mysteriously become available in Woughton Park, and I am now connected, through Pipex.

I suspect that this, and much else, wouldn't have happened without your efforts.

Kind regards

Geoff, Woughton Park. 3/6/04
 
I’m on Ticehurst Close, Kents Hill, and I now have broadband via Zen Internet.

The first time I applied it failed, with the usual ‘too far’ explanation and they didn’t get back to me for a week. When I emailed them I had a prompt response that they would resubmit my application on the MK Trial. Within 24 hours of my email I had received an activation date of today and amazingly, today it works!!!

Not had any problems so far (3 hours later :-).

Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)
Downstream 463 Kbps (57.9 KB/sec) 500 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 239 Kbps (29.9 KB/sec) 258 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Certainly many thanks to Nick and his crew, but also to everybody else for their experiences and advice. I also got the information about www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk from this group, and they also have proved very helpful.

Best Regards

Paul, Kents Hill. 3/6/04
 
Just to let you know, we went live to day with and ADSL connection on the BT Trial with Freedom2Surf and we are getting almost maximum connection speeds. So far the whole experience has been painless.
Freedom2Surf were the first to respond and actually called us! Good price and the stats on adslguide.org.uk were good too.

Thanks for all the hard work.

Regards

Julian, Bowling Leys, Middleton. 3/6/04
 
Got my ADSL , just set it up and WOW !! went and down loaded a file 3 Meg would have taken half hour at 4 k/sec , Just did it in under 60 sec at 80-100 k/sec ...

Looks Like its all working fine first time Great!

David, Downhead Park. 3/6/04
 
Another positive feedback for Freedom2Surf very quick to get everything sorted and was connected 2 days early.

Richard, Bradwell. 3/6/04
 
Another Freedom2Surfer here, another early activation, another VERY satisfied customer!

Zen were originally my first choice, Eclipse second and Freedom2Surf third, but Freedom2Surf where the only ones ready to accept orders on the day the ISP list was released, so they got mine!

Cheers,

Ryan, Heelands. 3/6/04
 
I am with Freedom2surf, very efficient, you can apply online at www.freedom2surf.net - very easy.
Cheers
Jason. 3/6/04
 
Myself and a colleague at work are both connected on the trial with Freedom2Surf.

I have just had my BB activated (2 days early) as part of the trail on the Racecourses estate - very near windmill hill drive.

We both got activated ahead of the time said, and so far everything works fine.

Dave, Racecourses. 3/6/04
 
I can't thank everyone for all their hard work in getting me BB. I was switched on yesterday. I live just off Windmill Drive. I have 63dB.

It works great.

Ken, Bletchley. 3/6/04
 
Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)

Downstream 465 Kbps (58.1 KB/sec) 502 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 246 Kbps (30.8 KB/sec) 265 Kbps (inc. overheads)

:-D

Cheers Nick!!!

Ian, Willen. 3/6/04
 
I've re-joined the BroadBand world !! The PlusNet package was delivered yesterday lunchtime & it was working by the end of the afternoon. I had an initial hiccup - it failed due to a splitter on the initial telphone point, but removing that solved the problem.

Thanks for your help - liquid refreshment to follow in the pub later !

Regards,

Tony, Loughton. 3/6/04
 
!!!!!!! I HAVE a BT engineer in my house now testing my line!!!! aaargh the excitement

Guy and Susan, Wavendon Gate. 3/6/04
 
At last the delights of Broad band are with us in Newton Longville or at least my bit of the village.
I have connected with KB Net of Bedford through their Pumpkin deal 512 K connection with no download restrictions and no phone charges for £19.99 per month!

BT said that with my postcode it could not be done but KB arranged to have a physical check and guess what, it was on. My phone actually provided a signal noise level of 56bB I gather the no go level is 59+ which in fact means that I have no problem. Even the BT engineer who came to convert me back from ISDN was impressed with the signal strength.

So there we go I must now with Delight resign from your group, but please pass on this info.

Regards
Dave, Newton Longville. 2/6/04
 
Just to let you know the latest regarding my trial...

Following on from the lack of response from the BT trial registration, I did register my interest with NDO, a day after which I received an email from BT acknowledging my email and welcoming me to the trial. DOH! I responded that day to BT's email, advising them that I had registered my interest with another ISP although my preference was for BT to be provider all the way throughout and asking them if I should cancel my interest with NDO. Unfortunately I didn't hear back from BT until several days later, when they simply informed me that my BT application was being rejected as I had registered elsewhere. Shame.

Anyway, I was advised by NDO that my trial would be live sometime on 1 June - for which time they would send my USB ADSL modem through to me. They also advised that a BT engineer would probably need to come to the property to check the signal and possibly replace the master incoming socket - so I could expect to hear something soon from them.

As promised, my modem arrived in plenty of time - but I hadn't had any contact from an engineer, so I contacted NDO yesterday to see when an engineer would be in touch. I was then advised that if an engineer hadn't been in touch already it might not be necessary - so just try it out.

So... I tried the connection yesterday... and managed to connect successfully!! During my three hours surfing last night after work, the connection only dropped once, which occurred when I plugged in a telephone into a secondary extension without plugging in a filter first. After the filter was plugged in, the connection resumed.

It is clearly early days yet - and I was probably the only person online in the area - but thanks to your help I've had just had my first taste of broadband and I have to say I like it!

I haven't had any forms or anything from NDO relating to the trial period - perhaps some will be forthcoming shortly - but I would also be willing to provide feedback directly to BT relating to the trial service, if it is relevant and useful for them through another provider. Perhaps you could mention this as a subtopic to them in your next conversation with BT?

Thanks once again for your help with this,

Regards for now

David, Wavendon Gate. 2/6/04
 
Direction Actual Speed True Speed (estimated)

Downstream 465 Kbps (58.1 KB/sec) 502 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream 243 Kbps (30.4 KB/sec) 262 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Router reports 65.5 db

Enough said.............

Colin, Middleton. 2/6/04
 
Let me add my thanks too.

After the long wait I today too have broadband (2 days earlier than the switch on date). So looks like, for me anyway it was worth the risk of switching from HH.

Speed results:

502 Kbps (inc. overheads)
258 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Richard, Bradwell. 1/6/04
 
Good feedback from Walnut Tree

Although it took an hour to synchronise, so far has been OK at up to 60k per second.

Andrew, Walnut Tree. 1/6/04
 
Things are indeed moving along...........
After the ISP list came out, as Pipex (my current ISP) was not on it, I went for Eclipse. Initially they refused me.......until I pointed out that I was an 01908'er and the request was for participation in the trial. They pushed it through again, sent me a modem, and gave me an activation date of today.
BUT......07:00 Saturday last........two green lights on the modem. I pressed connect, and BINGO...........I'm on!!!! Yippee....

However...........I've not had a call from BT about what they want from the trialist re: feedback, I've not seen an engineer......nothing!

I wonder if I'm actually on the trial at all............

Still who cares...........240 up and 490 down is OK by me. (and for those of you who know my story, these reading are faster than those of my neighbour)

David, Willen Park. 1/6/04
 
I tried mine on Saturday. Surprisingly the ADSL link light flashed orange then went steady green. Somewhat surprised I completed the router configuration (username + password) and was gob smacked to find out that I was connected. I'm not supposed to be enabled until tomorrow!

Nice one Freedom2Surf.

Especially nice one to Nick. Sounds like you're going to get a lot of pints at this week's pub visit.

Matt, Middleton. 1/6/04
 

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