BT BROADBAND + TV

[Beehpee]

Hi all, I’ve been with EE broadband for years with tv as well, EE are scrapping tv service I think because a business merger with BT, I can get a good deal for broadband and tv with BT but I thought I’d see what people’s opinions are on both the BB and TV

 

[otherclive]

I have broadband phone and mobiles with EE. TV is Freesat via a recorder box. It gives flexibility for diving in and out of Netflix month by month, but we do have Amazon Prime. So there’s more than enough for us to watch especially as tv rarely goes on before supper time. Except for Six Nations, as MOTOGP and F1 are now rarely live.

 

[Sam Vimes]

It somewhat depends on what type of connection you have. Wired (ADSL) or fibre (FTTC or FTTP). I used to be with John Lewis when on a wired connection and that was a good price. Every year I would search around for the best price but came back to JL for the last three years. (JL actually use Plusnet, which in turn is owned by BT)

With the roll out of fibre here and the fact that the higher speed would be beneficial to me, I had to switch to BT as there was no other provider.

The broadband service from BT is good - consistent speed and uptime - but their billing system is all over the place and 8 months on we're still not paying the right amount - in my favour though.

Just as an aside - I could stream videos from the likes of Netflix with no problem on the wired connection but then there's only two of us in the house.

 

[Beachball]

For the last four years + we are with cable Virgin Media i find it good value

 

[Raywood]

All broadband comes down the BT cables except Virgin so the service on that should be the same. The business is very competitive so I would get a quote from Sky and Virgin if you can get that and if you want BT then go back to them with your quotes from those two and any others you try. Experience says they will normally beat the others to get the business.
On service we have found Sky very good, but our daughter has had problems with BT on billing and they were very difficult and unhelpful. In some areas Virgin have easily the best broadband service, but broadband can vary a lot depending on where you live, so I would check with the neighbours (socially distancing of course) as to their experience.

 

[ProfJohnL]

For the viewing we do, we find Freeview to be 99% adequate. But apart from Formula 1 and snooker we don't watch sport.

I'd suggest you look up what's available on Freeview or the streaming services. You may find you don't need an extra TV package.

 

[Buckman]

Our biggest issue with BT was when you had an issue as it was nearly impossible to resolve as call centre is out sourced. We are now with Plusnet and are very happy with service. Although we have Sky basic entertainment package, we also have Prime, Netflix and Disney+. The latter we got at a good price as it was on promotion.

 

[Beehpee]

Virgin is a none starter as not in a cable area, I am the same as OC got 3 mobiles, fibre broadband + landline and tv, they aren’t doing tv from 1st March, we’ve got free view on smart tv, it’s just been convenient having the EE tv box, however currently it’s £45 with EE and only £4 less when tv gone, with BT it’s fibre with speeds 67mbs to something like 90+, much quicker than ee at actual speeds of 35mbs and broadband with bt including landline at £29 and an extra 10 if we want tv, it’s more the service I’m concerned with bt as we’re big internet users and don’t want hassle, thanks for the feedback, also I have friends and family in Coventry area who went with virgin when the cable went in and couldn’t get out of their contracts due to none stop problems so I wouldn’t touch them with a long pole even if they were available.

 

[Buckman]

We pay our line rental upfront so our monthly bB bill is about £18 for unlimited fibre. We use our Plusnet router for making calls with our mobiles. Unlimited data on mobile is £18 a month. Sky+HD package is £19 a month.

 

[Beachball]

Virgin is a none starter as not in a cable area, I am the same as OC got 3 mobiles, fibre broadband + landline and tv, they aren’t doing tv from 1st March, we’ve got free view on smart tv, it’s just been convenient having the EE tv box, however currently it’s £45 with EE and only £4 less when tv gone, with BT it’s fibre with speeds 67mbs to something like 90+, much quicker than ee at actual speeds of 35mbs and broadband with bt including landline at £29 and an extra 10 if we want tv, it’s more the service I’m concerned with bt as we’re big internet users and don’t want hassle, thanks for the feedback, also I have friends and family in Coventry area who went with virgin when the cable went in and couldn’t get out of their contracts due to none stop problems so I wouldn’t touch them with a long pole even if they were available.

Hi Beehpee Since having virgin now i haven"t had any problems what so ever so each to his own

 

[Woodentop]

To the OP, your relatives having trouble with VM may not be VM's fault. Having been on VM (and before that NTLWorld) for nearly 20 years I have only had four issues one of which was a kind person who took out the street cab at the top of the road with his car whilst drunk. They got phones back on in 24 hrs and broadband in 3 days.
The problem is that most people these days use wi-fi and never think to try a wired connection with a laptop (assuming they have one!) BUT the main issue is co-channel interference as most routers by default are set to channel 1, 6, or (by far the most) 11. A quick Google will show anyone how to change the channel on their router inc the VM Superhub. Having said all that the original Superhub (which may have been applicable in Coventry) was notorious for dropping out wi-fi connections and the SH3 also has some similar issues but the SH2 that came between and which I have never misses a beat.
In terms of which ISP to change to, there are some checks you can do which will give you some data that will help make a decision. If anyone wants to know how to find that data please PM me or ask in this group and I'll start a separate thread.

 

[Beehpee]

Hi woodentop, your obviously very knowledgeable regarding internet connections, I like the mention of changing channels and I’ll look into that, my current provider EE serves my purposes fine and I’m running 3 mobiles when we are both at home, my laptop is generally on and connected, then there’s the smart tv, plus a NOW tv plug in dongle, a chrome cast dongle plugged in, and a couple of Amazon echos, oh and an old lady next door neighbour piggy backs off our router for an internet connection for so little that it’s not worth having it herself plus she couldn’t afford it herself so I like to help her out, so with that lot running, not necessarily everything at once but on the odd occasion I do a speed check I’ve not had less than 30 to 35 which for my needs is fast enough so if I get the 60 odd speeds BT reckon I’ll get will be great, lol I’ve just remembered there’s an iPad and a wireless printer as well, my god even I’m shocked at just what’s running off my internet, how would we have managed through the pandemic without the internet.

BP

 

[Woodentop]

If you are on a BT line go to
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL
and enter your data and it will tell you what maximum speed you should get on ADSL, ADSL2, or fibre (aka BT Infinity) with the latter listed at the top. The start speed maximum on vDSL is usually 76Mb/s and this will slow down the further you are from the feeding street cabinet. Do however note that BT do not and will not guarantee any speed - basically you get what you get. On the other hand Sky do guarantee a minimum speed, the only difference being that Sky have their own equipment in the BT exchange so can 'see' more of what is happening. Note down the number of the street cab you are using.

If you want to know is other ISPs are available and have LLU* (local loop unbundling) on your exchange do the following:
First go to magsys.co.uk, select Code lookup (top left) and enter your full telephone number with dialling code in the box that pops up. This will tell you the name of the exchange that you are connected to. Click on the link above the yellow box to show the fibre street cabinets and look for yours by holding you mouse on the lollipops. It may not be exactly where it says but won't be far away. Mine is about 300m and it shows my maximum as 67Mb.
Second go to samknows.com, go down to the very bottom of the page and click on UK Broadband Availability. On the next page choose 'Exchange Search' and enter the name of your exchange into the box. On the next page your exchange name will appear underlined - it is a hyperlink - click on it and it will take you to a page showing all of the info about it. The list of ISPs down the lower right will show which ones have LLU in your exchange - in most cases that will be TalkTalk, Sky and Vodafone if there are any at all, any others are a bonus.

The local loop is that last length of line from the exchange to your premises. If it is unbundled it means that the ISP has their own kit in the exchange - it will be fed by a high quality fibre circuit from their servers, thereafter the decoding and service to your home presentation is their responsibility, not BT Openreach's.

 

[Woodentop]

I should have said how to change your router channel. Look on the router and it will show you on the label how to get into it. You will likely have to open a browser and type in a number sequence like 192.168.x.y where on a BT or Plusnet circuit x and y will be 1.254, on most others they will be 0.1 or 1.1 . This will take you to the front page of the web server built into your router. There will also be username and passwords on the router label which you will need to use when you find the operational channel.
If you want to see what channels are in use around you and have an Android phone download (free) Wifi Analyser - you will need to have location active on your phone for it to work (a Google requirement even though there is no data shared.) A graph should appear showing all of the users around you, the channels they are using, and the signal strength. If your router and your phone are both dual band, if you tap the screen in the top left corner of the grey background you will switch to the 5GHz wi-fi band where there will be many fewer users.
It is most likely your router will by default be on channel 1, 6, or 11; if it will let you change it to a channel with low usage - 13 is usually a good one: the default on 5GHz is 38 - change that to 48 if you can.
Before and after run Speedtest and see what you were and are now getting. Make sure you always use the same server for tests - I use TNP in Manchester. You may have to download Speedtest from the Play Store.