My broadband connection is rubbish

[Undertoker]

hi guys
this is my first post


i live in a newish house thats 4 years old in milton keynes

the junction box for my bt line is literally outside my front door set in the pavement 4 feet from my master socket.

my exchange is less than a mile away, in fact its only 3 roundabouts i can walk there in 10 mins.

yet all i can seem to get is a measly 1.6mb connection

can anyone tell me why this is and who i would contact to see whats being done as i cant seem to see anywhere to do so and bt seems to be all damn machines these days and noone to talk to to improve this service as its rubbish considering how close i am to the exchange in a new build house.
thanks in advance for any help
John

[Admin]

Without your postcode and phone number, I can't judge if there's actually a problem with your line meaning you should be getting a faster speed. But assuming your line is actually rated to be receiving the speed you're getting, usually disparity between straight line distance from the telephone exchange and connection speed rating for the postcode area or line is due to the telephone cables actually taking a considerably longer route to the street cabinet.

The cables are probably not going via those 3 roundabouts but instead going via suburban streets or perhaps taking a diversion around your local housing estate. It may help you to think of the telephone cables as being arranged more like a bus route than a personal car journey.

The good news is that once your exchange and street cabinet are upgraded to use BT Infinity fibre to the cabinet broadband, being right next to the cabinet should mean you get close to the highest speeds available.

I hope this helps.

[Undertoker]

hi mate
ty for the reply

my exchange code is

SMSU heres the link for it

SamKnows - Broadband Availability - Shenley Church End (SMSU) Exchange

my postcode is mk56ga

[Undertoker]

is it ok to put my phone number on here mate?

[Admin]

Originally Posted by Undertoker

my postcode is mk56ga

The availability database says your postcode's 2.5km straight line distance from the Shenley Church End, obviously this will be longer in cable distance.

Your postcode area is rated to get 1.5Mbps from ADSL Max and a boost of less than 0.5Mbps from ADSL2+, so 1.6Mbps would seem to be about spot on.

You can see a report here:

Compare Broadband In Your Area

Good news though, your exchange has a FttC enable date in December so you may be able to get speeds in the range of 15 to 40Mbps by the end of the year, assuming your exchange is activated to BT's schedule and your street cabinet is one of the ones upgraded to take fibre optics.

[Admin]

Originally Posted by Undertoker

is it ok to put my phone number on here mate?

It'll be public to the Internet and visible to search engines.

I don't think it's necessary as your postcode was enough to show 1.6Mbps is within the range of what's expected in your area.

Originally Posted by Admin

The availability database says your postcode's 2.5km straight line distance from the Shenley Church End, obviously this will be longer in cable distance.

Your postcode area is rated to get 1.5Mbps from ADSL Max and a boost of less than 0.5Mbps from ADSL2+, so 1.6Mbps would seem to be about spot on.

You can see a report here:

Compare Broadband In Your Area

Good news though, your exchange has a FttC enable date in December so you may be able to get speeds in the range of 15 to 40Mbps by the end of the year, assuming your exchange is activated to BT's schedule and your street cabinet is one of the ones upgraded to take fibre optics.

Thanks for the info mate
I was interested to read about the fibre optic bit.
Is there anyone I can speak to to find out if I will be having this new high service in my area in December (if the schedule is kept). ?

Also, after tapping in my phone number it's saying I can get adsl+2
giving me 2.5mb
And that there are 6 companies who have put their own hardware into my exchange to do this.
How would I find out who these companies are ?

At the moment I am with what was originally "Nildram" they have changed hands to " opal" now.

I have 3 pcs on my current line and although I personally don't download much one of the other users does and I am a keen gamer.
Add to that the mrs on facebook and 1.6mps just isn't enough at all.

It's very frustrating to be so close to an exchange and have such a poor connection when my mates all have at least a min of 4mbs and don't live as close to their exchanges.

[Undertoker]

hmm just had a good look around and all the companies who do supply adsl+2 say it wont give me hardly any improvment.

the upgrade of the exchange in december looks promising, though how can i tell if my junction box outside the front door is a fibre optic ready one ? or who do i ask to see if it is.?

and what do i do about it if the junction box turns out not to be a fibre optic one ? im assuming ill se no benfit from any exchange upgrade

such a shame cos its quite a decent estate with the vast majority of residents being proffesional people with big houses but **** internet connections

[Admin]

Originally Posted by Undertoker

the upgrade of the exchange in december looks promising, though how can i tell if my junction box outside the front door is a fibre optic ready one ? or who do i ask to see if it is.?

and what do i do about it if the junction box turns out not to be a fibre optic one ? im assuming ill se no benfit from any exchange upgrade

such a shame cos its quite a decent estate with the vast majority of residents being proffesional people with big houses but **** internet connections

If your line is going to be FttC enabled, the availability database will be updated with speed estimates nearer to December. At this point your postcode isn't showing any speeds, but neither are any others on the same exchange. So ask again in November or December.

Street cabinets upgraded to FttC are usually taller than normal cabinets. The upgrade process will likely replace the cabinet with a larger one designed to accommodate the fibre optic equipment, although this may not be necessary with recent builds. It's possible that you'll be served by a more distant cabinet, but if your line is FttC enabled it should achieve a minimum of 15Mbps download, increasing to 40Mbps with proximity to the FttC street cabinet.

I hope this helps.