3G Broadband

Post by **Dog Pants** » October 23rd, 2007, 13:01

This might have have already been mentioned in other threads, but I can't quickly find it if it has.

I've got to the stage where I'm starting to think BT aren't ever going to sort out my broadbean connection, so I've started looking at these new 3G packages that are being advertised. Does anyone know anything about them, good or bad?

I've already spoken to Vodafone (best chance of getting decent signal from them where I am), who assure me that I should be able to get 5Mb from them, dropping to 2Mb minimum under bad conditions. I asked about reliability and they insisted that there should be no drops, only occasional drops in speed. There's a 3Gb download limit but no charges if you exceed it (fair usage policy and all that), and the equipment is free if you sign up for 18 months. This is for £30/month. Not the cheapest I admit, but seems my safest bet and the speed is far better than BT would give me even if they could be arsed.

So, is it too good to be true or is it the perfect solution to my problem?

Post by **HereComesPete** » October 23rd, 2007, 13:15

Hmm, I just had a quick google, and it seems as though 3g upload speeds are less than a single isdn, dunno how true it all is though, never really een it as an option. 3g is limited in how fast it can go because of how it's coded, but you really do appear to have no other option, unless you petition her majestys govt to sort you the fuck out, being a tech monkey n all.

I still think it's crazy that my mum and dad are probably 1-2 miles from where I'm guessing you're stuck, if your still in leeming that is, and they get 2meg adsl.

Post by **Dog Pants** » October 23rd, 2007, 13:25

Yeah, I'm still at Leeming. Problem is, a mile or two can cause a hell of a lot of attentuation, especially on shitty cables. The main problem with my ADSL though is that I'm on TPON (fibre optic apparently) and that they don't have any copper connections for me to use. Despite me telling them that that isn't my problem they still don't seem inclined to sort it out.

But tangent aside, how much of a problem is the upload speed? The Vodafone guy insists it's fine for gaming, but then he would say that.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » October 23rd, 2007, 13:50

Dog Pants wrote:Yeah, I'm still at Leeming. Problem is, a mile or two can cause a hell of a lot of attentuation, especially on shitty cables. The main problem with my ADSL though is that I'm on TPON (fibre optic apparently) and that they don't have any copper connections for me to use. Despite me telling them that that isn't my problem they still don't seem inclined to sort it out.

But tangent aside, how much of a problem is the upload speed? The Vodafone guy insists it's fine for gaming, but then he would say that.

See, this is why BT should never have been privatised, they were going to replace most of the network with optical lines during the 80's, did a fair bit too, but privatised and bang, all work pretty much stopped.

Also allowed for Cable/other companies to get the drop on and lay their own optical lines.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » October 23rd, 2007, 14:00

It'll probably be crap, but usablish for gaming*, which is better than nothing.

*if all else fails, buy a mmong, lag doesn't matter on them

friznit · Post by **friznit** » October 23rd, 2007, 14:10

I played Eve quite successfully over 3G Vodaphone for a while

Post by **Dog Pants** » October 23rd, 2007, 14:16

Heh, Eve will run on pretty much anything though. I dunno, if I'm paying £30 a month for a connection I'd like it to run better than okayish. Problem is my BT line might be just round the corner, or it might be years away. I've no way of telling and they refuse to give me any kind of information. Cunts.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » October 23rd, 2007, 14:26

Having used 3G for broadband I'll let you know of my experience.

T-Mobile - £7.50/12 a month for web'n'walk (18 month contract)

Usability was usually good with very few "moments". Downloaded a driver at one point with a 40kb download speed. Quite impressive.
Didn't game with it, but from what I remember of ping times and general knowledge you'll probably find latency will be issue for online gaming requiring split second timing e.g. FPS's while WoW and Eve will probably be tolerable as they are more "point and click"

On a side note, what's the deal with BT? Tell them to fuck off and get a broadband line with someone decent.[/quote]

Post by **Dog Pants** » October 23rd, 2007, 14:38

I'm starting to think 3G isn't for me then. I can browse and stuff using dialup (albeit very slowly).

I'd have told BT to fuck off long ago if I had that option, but all ADSL providers require a BT ADSL connection in the first place (apart from LLU, but that doesn't appear to be feasible either).

I've been reading about TPON and it seems that they're fibre optic lines with the equipment at the box at the end of the street, rather than at the exchange. BT realised they fucked up by installing these (usually it seems on more modern estates) because they only provide broadband over copper, so they promised to put in copper overlays for broadband users. Thing is they only provided 5% of TPON lines with a copper overlay.

Seems to be that my only option is to wait until another copper line becomes available or they put more overlays in. I've been complaining to them endlessly, several times in writing, in the hope of the latter, but it seems BT just don't care.

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » October 23rd, 2007, 19:16

Dunno how much you need a telephone line for calls or what your exact problem is but...
http://aaisp.net.uk/aa/aaisp/pstn.html
These guys will provide you with a BT telephone line but with outgoing calls barred. Or if you have an existing line with a problem that you're having trouble you can migrate over to them and they'll take ownership of the problem

I'll keep going on about AAISP until blue in the face then

See also http://www.runpcrun.com/best-adsl-service - as you can see, I really believe in these guys.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » October 23rd, 2007, 20:09

Here's something you might be able to answer Cheese.

The 1gb download limit you get as a home user for £19 a month. Is that per day during peak hours, or per month? If it's per month, I can't see even the 8Gb package going very far with me (Typically, my house goes though 7-8Gb of downstream transfer a week), but if it's per day, that looks awesome.

Fear · Post by **Fear** » October 23rd, 2007, 23:16

It's per month, I am on the 3GB one and that works out at about 150MB per day in peak hours - it is unusual we go over that. It is even better for people who work, as they aren't even at home during those hours.

Hehulk · Post by **Hehulk** » October 24th, 2007, 0:18

hmm, right. thanks

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » October 24th, 2007, 8:50

Fear wrote:It's per month, I am on the 3GB one and that works out at about 150MB per day in peak hours - it is unusual we go over that. It is even better for people who work, as they aren't even at home during those hours.

What Fear said. Remember all you need to do is throttle your torrents etc from 8am-6pm WEEKDAYS. 150Mb 8am-6pm per weekday should be enough for you to game and surf

The rest of the time it is
* Unlimited bandwidth
* Great service (although it is 9-5 weekdays, which is fine for us businesses but may present a problem for home users I guess)
* Completely unthrottled
* No ports blocked
* As many static IP's as you want
* Your own status pages with traffic usage graphs, and tracking of any open problems on the line.
* Great service

Also, if you go for the 3Gb option rather than the 1Gb, you get a 10Gb "overdraft" so if one month you do 8Gb for any reason, you have a 5Gb overdraft and can recoup it by doing 1-2Gb for the next few months.
(They are very fair, it was only at a 27Gb overdraft that they said to us "erm, guys...")
On the 1Gb tariff they only give a 1Gb overdraft.
All ISP's have to manage their connections somehow. The way these guys do it is incredibly upfront and aimed at the lines being unchoked during business hours.

An example of the service you get, if you need your BRAS rate changed or interleaving enabled you can ask them, you try and get any other ISP to do this. You want another IP, you just ask them, you want a line check you just ask them. You want to talk about cider? Just ask them...

Yes, they are expensive, but you certainly get what you pay for.

Post by **HereComesPete** » October 24th, 2007, 11:56

cheeseandham wrote:Something about BRAS

You said bra,

Post by **Dog Pants** » October 27th, 2007, 9:33

A couple of mates here are getting the 3G broadbean because of the problems with BT here, so I'll post up the results. One plays Eve, the other plays WoW, and I'll get them to try some more resource intensive games too.

I might give HamAndCheeseBand a go too if my line gets sorted today, seeing as BT can get bent if they think I'm sticking with them. However, Mrs Pants would like Sky.

Post by **HereComesPete** » October 27th, 2007, 11:21

Is sky not standard adsl BB anyway? And the pictures arrive through the air? Or do you mean for pictures only? the deals are getting better, I got cable because the house isnt allowed a dish stuck on the wall, and I'd imagine the difference is minimal.

It's all good, ~90 channels for £12 a month. I don't watch it much, bit of walker texas ranger, gladiators, cops on camera, maury etc etc, but the missus is a tv addict, it's on all the time for csi/csi:ny/csi:miami/ncis/law and order/l&o:svu and all the others and she has about 8 channels that show them, so that keeps her happy because there is generally always a choice between 2 to watch, if not, I get it from the on demand service and let her watch one on that instead. Buy sky, get peace and quiet.

/ramble

cheeseandham · Post by **cheeseandham** » October 27th, 2007, 14:06

I'm sure you're aware, but just to be 100%

Sky = outgoing calls = needs BT line (with outgoing)

So you'll still need to fight with BT if there is problems on your line (although A&A can help, they still need BT to do stuff if it's a line rather than BB problem)

If you get Sky, Sky do BB too very very cheap when bought with their TV... Although I've heard horrendous tales of their BB customer service too.

Post by **Dog Pants** » October 27th, 2007, 14:59

Yeah, I know about the ADSL still being from BT. With a copper cable in place it's only a matter of time now until they get it connected, and as soon as they do I'm ditching BT because they've been worse than useless.