Yay! DSL is coming to my exchange - finally! :)

(evilsock) #1

heh, just got a mail from Nildram to tell me my local exchange has hit the trigger level and will be upgraded on Jul 21st!!! - Watch out maties, it’ll be a level playing field, no more 380ms pings and horrific lag spikes in the middle of fire-fights :open_mouth:

I was so nearly out of patience for online gaming and then this happens!

:moo:

[You recently pre-registered your interest in having Nildram Broadband ADSL installed. We are pleased to be able to inform you that your exchange has now had enough interest and BT will be upgrading it on: **not nearly as pleased as I am matey…

Jul 21 2004

We now need to move to the next stage and ask you to confirm your initial interest by placing a firm order with us.

Once you have placed your order we will confirm your details and exact requirements with an order acknowledgement. The final activation date will be confirmed once your exchange has been upgraded. For your peace of mind you will not be charged for anything until we have your Broadband ADSL activation date confirmed by BT.

Please note that although we can take orders at this stage, we cannot guarantee that you will be able to get Broadband ADSL until final line tests are completed, this will happen a few days after the date shown above.

Place your order now! http://www.getadsl.co.uk/checker.php

Or call our sales team on: 0800 197 1493

Should you have any queries regarding your order

With Regards]

(Fusen) #2

pfff go with bulldog mate I’m paying for a 2mb line £37 a month nildrams offerings for £37 is onyl 1 meg line :confused: and havnt had any problems with this conenction constant 250kb/s downloads =]

(mouse) #3

I think evilsock would be pleased with every speed, as long its better then his 56K. Congrats Sock!

(=ABS= SparhawK) #4

Just got my broadband working, had it 2 weeks, still shiney and new for me.

Chose Tiscali as ISP as had dial-up with them, bad choice they are the Suchz.

Customer Support is the worst I have ever seen/heard, with emails not being replied to for over 11 days.

Stil its broadband and I don’t have to run over to Croakers,or Svens, or Skinskis, orAnimals.

SH

(evilsock) #5

tbh, a 64kb ISDN line would be a good start - anything to get away from those fscking analog re-trains. I’ve seen the Tiscali deal - 3x is prolly enough to get a decent online game.

On the business side of life, Telco’s are the laziest, greediest set of farts. I’ve dealt with MCI, C&W, Kingston, BT and tbh, they all came from the same arehole imo - try provisioning a 128Kb frame circuit from BT with a 32k/64kb CIR) and you’ll be sat there making call after call to get someone who will speak to you - then you have to contend with a 30 day lead time (which almost always become 40 or 50+ with BT) and costings from Mars. (If you’ve ever had one of BT’s internet ‘offerings’ like netflex with a managed router, you’ll also know that their concorde stats are pure shite - no scales to tell you your true bandwidth usage, top talkers, listeners, hoggy protocols, won’t even allow you to prioritise protocol types :/) - oops I’m ranting again…

I had looked into setting up a WiFi rig between my house and my parents (who have a decent BB connection) - there’s more-or-less line of sight (few trees but mainly fields) - bit pricey and alot of work - DSL’ing the exchange kind of saves me from that :slight_smile:

(=ABS= SparhawK) #6

The Tiscaliwags offer of 150kbps is only for a limited amount of people. They use there own lines and are divorced from BT, the 256 and 512kbps are using BT lines.

I have been banned from there forums twice!!!

SH

(evilsock) #7

[The Tiscaliwags offer of 150kbps is only for a limited amount of people. They use there own lines and are divorced from BT, the 256 and 512kbps are using BT lines. ] - I didn’t know that, is the up-time good?

[I have been banned from there forums twice!!! ] - good for you matey - it’s about time ppl made a noise - lazy, no-good thieves imo.

(=ABS= SparhawK) #8

I do not know about the up time for the 150kbps, mine was good for a while but ping just recently to splashdamage and ABS server has been between 100-200, it did start @ 30-40

([AE]HawkeyE) #9

I live a half friggin hour away in a densely populated suburban area and DSL is still not fscking available in my area, it’s really starting to piss me off really >:o

(DG) #10

nildram seems to get the best rep from both the uk broadband sites (last I checked anyway) and gamers on irc, at least where cable isnt available.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/

I’m stuck with ISDN, hardly great but a hundred times better than 56k (maybe not by numbers, but I’d say im 100x happier with it). any MP gamer or fairly heavy er internetter who has basically no chance of adsl/cable should go for ISDN IMHO. Even 64k (like i use) is probably 50% more bandwidth than anyone out in the sticks is actually gettting with 56k, and of course the ping is a lot better, it doesnt drop the connection all the time, connecting takes about 2 seconds, and there’s the second line so nobody complains about tying up the phoneline. DONT go for isdn if theres a decent chance of adsl though, as it makes it harder to convert the line to adsl should it eventually come.

Anyoen know of good ISP for 128k multilink ISDN, who dont charge stupid price like nildram? fwiw freeserve and BTow are by far the best ISPs I’ve found at my exchange, 4 hops to jolt servers - most are 8+.

(Domipheus) #11

i use pipex, not a problem with em, pretty solid.

(chr0nicles) #12

Nice evilsock! :wink:

(evilsock) #13

ok, well - my exchange was upgraded on the 21st July. I should be happy but I’m not. On the morning of the 21st I started to make enquiries into DSL availability only to be told that I was ‘too far away from the exchange’ - sounded funny because I checked and I didn’t think I was more than 4km away - BT didn’t want to know and it took a long time before anyone there was prepared to even double-check the line distance. Eventually they came back with 4.48km. That should have been ok so I proceeded to order a 512/256 fixed IP deal (I had wanted to be able to run my own servers)

OK, got the confirmation e-mail back from Nildram who said they had submitted the order to BT. one week goes by and I hear nothing assuming no news is good news. On the Friday of that week, late in the afternoon I got a mail from Nildram saying that BT had declined the DSL connection on the basis that there was ‘too much line noise’.

Nildram say that I should investigate having a new phoneline installed but there’s no garuntee that I’d be able to have DSL even then.

So what am I to do? Shell out £100 on a data quality analog line in the hope that I’ll magically be able to have BB?

(fattakin) #14

Ah the joys of living in a city that NTL have cabled!!

Sympathy for you Sock tho… time to try that wifi!

(blushing_bride) #15

Ah the joys of living in a city that NTL have cabled!!

you use NTL. you have my deepest sympathies as they are the most incompetant company in the history of the world ever.

Evil Sock i think you should go for it. The worst thing that will happen is that you will lose £100. The best thing that will happen is that you get proper broadband amd live happily ever afterwards. At least if you spend the money but dont get broadvband you’ll know to start saving up to move house to a more civilised area :stuck_out_tongue:

(BondyBoy007) #16

even if NTL are INCOMPETENT (lol ironic?) NTL cable > 56k

Been with them for about three years and have only had one bit of trouble with them

(evilsock) #17

Any digital connection > 56k tbh but not all digital services are equal.

If you want to stay ahead and remain competant with your tech skills, you really need a decent fixed IP rig at home imho.

(BondyBoy007) #18

Although NTL cable IP’s are not fixed I’ve found that since I’ve been in my new house (1year+) my IP has always stayed the same.

Could be because I never switch the PC off :wink: or the fact that I live in an area full of hicks who wouldn’t know what a PC is anyway (ie nobody in my street to nick my IP if for some reason the cable modem is off)

What tech skills am I missing out on by not having a fixed IP? I can still access www.dictionary.com np :wink:

:drink:

(evilsock) #19

I could bite but I’m not gunna :wink:

(Oxygen - o2) #20

NTL are annoying people with annoying broadband, tbh i would rather take the 56k the low broadband setup is nearly the same as 56k :frowning: