Landline/Broadband ....

[KeenCook]

Morning all
Bright blue sky here today!

We are still with BT for landline and broadband. OH has their mobile minutes and we both have openworld emails that we want to keep.

Our landline has been out of order since the 8th - yes - the day the Queen died - with an odd couple of working days inbetween. The latest is that they are going to have it fixed by Thursday.

I'm interested to hear what suppliers/experiences you have all had as we're seriously thinking of changing. I'd always felt kind of tied to BT as I figured that if we were with them when our phone was out of order it would be easier to get it fixed, which may or may not be true.

I've heard horror stories from friends about Virgin and TalkTalk, but I'm sure there must also be some people who've had a good experience with both of them.

We definitely don't want any of those extras like Sky or BT Sport or whatever else is on offer.

Thanks, all!

[Suelle]

Bear in mind when you make a decision that many, if not all, landlines are repaired by Openreach, which is owned by BT, so things may not improve by changing broadband supplier.

Having said that, I've been with TalkTalk for many years, with no problems and excellent service. When they wanted to upgrade my router and the broadband speed, they found that the line wasn't good enough, so they sent Openreach engineers who replaced the line from the nearest telegraph pole into the phone socket in the house, at no charge.

[herbidacious]

I am wondering whether to bother keeping mine at all given that they are going to become internet based very soon. On the other hand I do like to hear the ring of my old bakelite phone (you can buy adaptors for the new system, apparently).

I had no phone from BT for 3 weeks a while back. I didn't bother to report it because it was an area-wide issue and they knew clearly about it. As a result of not reporting it, I was not compensated. I was furious. (They also hung onto a £700 overpay for 6 months once too.)

Even so, I am still with BT...

[KeenCook]

Well, we reported it so when we eventually get compensation it should be from 8th ... I hope your broadband wasn't affected too, Herbi.

Suellle, yes that was my reservation about changing from BT.

[herbidacious]

I suspect if broadband had been affected they would have made more effort to sort it out more quickly!

[Suelle]

The thing that would stop me changing is the thought of a new email address, and all the palaver that entails.

[Busybee]

You don’t have to change your email address when you change broadband supplier. I still have my original aol e - mail from pushing thirty years ago, OH has a sky one, we haven’t had sky for about ten years.

You just access the internet and sign in to your email account, who your broadband provider is is immaterial.

Our broadband is dismal, but the Openreach engineer gave us some good advice on one of their visits when they were trying to increase the speeds, he told us not to be seduced by any other providers promising greater speeds, he explained that whoever the provider was they all used the same bit of copper wire - we have remained with BT as no one else can do any better - we are just too far from the exchange to get fast speeds.

I have moved from BT to another phone provider in a previous house, Sky, it became so expensive we went back to BT and the effort and time it took to get a BT line back again made me swear never to leave BT again.

Hope this helps.

BB

[KeenCook]

Gosh, it is all a minefield, isn't it! Interesting you changed back, BB!

This seems to be pretty up to date info https://www.choose.co.uk/guide/email-ad ... vider.html

I think that would mean I wouldn't be able to access my BT email from my phone, unless I were prepared to pay £7.50 a month, which is far too steep for it to be worth changing suppplier, I think. OH also has a BT address which he uses a lot less than I use mine (we both have gmail as well) so he probably wouldn't need to access it from his phone.

Or else I'll have to do it via the browser I use on the phone rather than access it directly.

Hmmm .... food for thought!

[Earthmaiden]

I read that about email the other day too. I am with Virgin .

My package is landline, TV (basic package) and broadband. I have found, if I try to remove one of them, that they want to charge me more. I've no complaints, the broadband is good, TV is good but I could manage without it and landline has just changed to digital which is disappointing. I wouldn't mind getting rid of the landline (the cheap packages offer free calls at weekends but charge the earth for any calls made at other times) but mobile reception in my house isn't great. Something to do with thick stone walls I think as DS is with Voda but also struggles here. I sometimes look at other options but it's so daunting ..... it's true that Virgin has become hard to deal with if you need to speak to anyone.

[Sloe-Gin]

We have an unlimited data package with utility warehouse for £20 a month.
It allows us internet anywhere we take it.
Even on top of our welsh hilltop

[northleedsbhoy]

Broadband/mobile phone and associated services are very much dependent on where people live. I’m with BT and have been for several years and when I moved to the village I had to take out a new contract as it involved a change of number but I had the opportunity to get rid of the landline, I didn’t because I still know a few people who don’t have mobiles.

The mobile phone service is bad in the village regardless of who the supplier is but BT/EE are best for my part of the place. People living in other parts have slightly better service with other suppliers. I don’t know how completely accurate broadband checkers are but my BT one is for checking my speed but it’s worth checking before changing. Busybee is right in saying that don’t be misled by TV adverts promising mega speeds because unless there’s a fibre connection to the house then it won’t be achieved. Where I lived in Leeds only copper was available so I was restricted but at least the village has fibre.

Cheers
NLB

[KeenCook]

We decided to stick with BT and they have just delivered a new router and booster disc. We haven't fitted them yet and wanted to test the speeds before and after.

But, I can't remember what the site is that gives you a reliable readout of your internet speed.

I found something called fast.com, that seemed to tell us we have 21 Mbps. I have no idea if this is realistic, good or bad ...
20 MB download
2.8 MB upload

Any insights would be welcome, please ...

[aero280]

We use Speedtest.net

You can try different places to link to for the test, but it’s only a guide. And paying for really fast broadband is only worth it if the websites you visit are at least as fast.

You also need to be careful with modern phones. If they go via your router, you won’t have a phone in a power cut.

[herbidacious]

We have the WholeHome thing. (Had to pay for it, though.) Not sure if it helps or not. Maybe upstairs. We have quite thick walls.

Meanwhile my iPhone is getting very patchy with the internet, both when using wi-fi and mobile data. Built in obsolescence? It's an 11 Pro.

[northleedsbhoy]

We decided to stick with BT and they have just delivered a new router and booster disc. We haven't fitted them yet and wanted to test the speeds before and after.

But, I can't remember what the site is that gives you a reliable readout of your internet speed.

I found something called fast.com, that seemed to tell us we have 21 Mbps. I have no idea if this is realistic, good or bad ...
20 MB download
2.8 MB upload

Any insights would be welcome, please ...

The download speed is fairly good but not so on upload if multiple devices are being used. This link is helpful.

https://www.allconnect.com/blog/differe ... net-speeds

Cheers
NLB

[northleedsbhoy]

We have the WholeHome thing. (Had to pay for it, though.) Not sure if it helps or not. Maybe upstairs. We have quite thick walls.

Meanwhile my iPhone is getting very patchy with the internet, both when using wi-fi and mobile data. Built in obsolescence? It's an 11 Pro.

I have the standard iPhone 11 and have no problems with internet via WiFi or using mobile data but of course that depends on how reliable the WiFi or mobile signal is. For example neither is good in my local pub so sometimes I struggle to stay connected whichever one I use. I have no problems virtually everywhere else though.

The iPhone 11 came out in 2019 and there should be no problem with obsolescence as it’s being fully supported with all the latest updates and Apple have announced that the iPhone 8 and upwards will still have software support and will be able to download IOS 16.

Cheers
NLB

[Badger's Mate]

Earlier this year I inherited an iPhone 6. It still works - no noticeable problems thus far. There was a minor iOS update to 12.5.6 a few weeks ago but I realise that it might become less useable over time. We had an old iPad that suffered the same fate a year or two ago.

[herbidacious]

It's probably me! I have had problems with all 3 iphones I have had so far after a couple of years.

Places that used to be ok are not and I sometimes fine I have no signal in the middle of cities. Could be the network changing but it's slow to pick up wi fi.

I bought it in 2019 and it had little useage, of course for 2020 and less than usual in 2021. Previous phone (a 6S) only lasted a couple of hours even after a battery change towards the end. My last trips abroad with it were dominated by trying to find power sockets (a lot easier in Paris and Brussels than in London!)

My iPad from 2007, on the other hand is fine, but I can put very few apps on it now as it can't be updated sufficiently.

[KeenCook]

We decided to stick with BT and they have just delivered a new router and booster disc. We haven't fitted them yet and wanted to test the speeds before and after.

But, I can't remember what the site is that gives you a reliable readout of your internet speed.

I found something called fast.com, that seemed to tell us we have 21 Mbps. I have no idea if this is realistic, good or bad ...
20 MB download
2.8 MB upload

Any insights would be welcome, please ...

The download speed is fairly good but not so on upload if multiple devices are being used. This link is helpful.

https://www.allconnect.com/blog/differe ... net-speeds

Cheers
NLB

Thanks very much, NLB, that's a really useful article.

[northleedsbhoy]

I don’t know if this is relevant to anyone but there are broadband deals available for people who fall into certain categories. I saw an article a day or so back about this and it said that there was a low uptake because some providers “buried” the information in the small print, unfortunately I can’t find it now but this should explain what is on offer and the eligibility.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chea ... ugust-2022

Cheers
NLB