BT Ireland rolls out 8Mb broadband

Splinter

looks like we wait and see what happens in the next few weeks so

boardsdotie

Dooradoyle Exchange in Limerick has been upgraded

I didn't request the upgrade
I was on the 3Mb package

aliqueenb

does anyone know if there is reception for this in laois?

exiztone

Question, what's the new upload speed and cap?

murfo

is the wireless modem/router for €45 that bt are currently offering any good? if not, can anyone tell me what the best wireless routers are?

paddyk

murfo wrote: »

is the wireless modem/router for €45 that bt are currently offering any good? if not, can anyone tell me what the best wireless routers are?

The wireless modem/router I have is the one supplied by BT last June. It is the ZyXel Prestige P-660HW-D1. I have been using it with one pc wired, one pc wireless, a laptop, and a 360.

It is easy to use/set up and I haven't had any issues with it.

Never used any other though so the experts here could probably tell you more. You get moderate Nat by default, which can affect gaming, I'm to chicken to go port forwarding.:D

murfo

cheers paddy, thanks for the info. i'll only have a laptop and psp(wireless), and the ps3 (wired) but i'm worried about having to go through the extensive web searching involved in trying to fiddle with port forwarding and the like for gaming. i must do a search, i'm sure there must be a thread somewhere on here with info about gaming setups.

paddyk

murfo heres a link to port forwarding. It has loads of info and guide to doing it. I'm just to cack handed to try it.:D

http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/routerindex.htm

notahappycamper

I'm in Swords and I think I've been upgraded when I say that I mean my stats from my modem are:
DownStream Connection Speed 6511 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 507 kbps
which has gone from 3072kbps to the above which is not 8MB but more like 6MB!!

My line stats are bad though which could be a factor:

Line Attenuation 52.0 db 28.4 db
Noise Margin 6.1 db 19.1 db

Has anyone else in the Swords area who has been on 3MB noticed a change? I didn't request the change so it must be apart of hte "automatic" switchover.

Elessar

notahappycamper wrote: »

I'm in Swords and I think I've been upgraded when I say that I mean my stats from my modem are:
DownStream Connection Speed 6511 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 507 kbps
which has gone from 3072kbps to the above which is not 8MB but more like 6MB!!

My line stats are bad though which could be a factor:

Line Attenuation 52.0 db 28.4 db
Noise Margin 6.1 db 19.1 db

Has anyone else in the Swords area who has been on 3MB noticed a change? I didn't request the change so it must be apart of hte "automatic" switchover.

I'm in Swords and still on 3mb

Peter B

Anyone having trouble with their BT connection today. Outside Nenagh and have no broadband. Anyone know if there are any upgrades being done in this area?

Auvers

Elessar wrote: »

I'm in Swords and still on 3mb

me too

joeali101

I'm with BT on the Nenagh exchange as well and I haven't experienced any issues today.

paddyk

I'm on the Tallaght Exchange and my BB just went down for a few minutes about 930. When it came back I checked my modem stats and got this.

DSL Up 4419 kbps / 508 kbps.

Seems a strange figure. no where near 8Mb, just curious, would the upgrade be in two stages?

On speedtest I'm getting 3700 down and 410 up.

Its better but I'm still looking for more.:D

Praetorian

Quite possible that's all you can get reliably. What were your line stats before the upgrade, and what are they now?

kaizersoze

paddyk wrote: »

I'm on the Tallaght Exchange and my BB just went down for a few minutes about 930. When it came back I checked my modem stats and got this.

DSL Up 4419 kbps / 508 kbps.

The modem is syncing at the highest speed it can. It's probably all your line will support.

paddyk

noise margin upstream: 21 db
output power downstream: 18 db
attenuation upstream: 29 db


noise margin downstream: 6 db
output power upstream: 12 db
attenuation downstream: 53 db

These are my stats at the minute. They were similar before.

Just curious also why the upgrade happened so late in the evening. At 5ish when I checked it still said the same as last week.

How do you reckopn these line stats look? Keep getting confused which is good:D

Praetorian

I'm sure the stats must have changed a bit. Basically you want low attenuation downstream and higher noise margin downstream. Those figures aren't great, and I'm afraid that looks like your max speed on ADSL1 (which I'm 99% sure is what BT are using for their upgrades).

They're not terrible speeds for now though really. There may be some steps you could take to improve your sync speed.

paddyk

Right thanks for that. Just on a side note my Prestige now says

WAN Information
- DSL Mode: ADSL2 Mode. Now my firmware is from 2006 and for some reason I keep getting an error message when I try to update it.

I may leave well enough alone cause sure as shooting I'll mess it up. Daughter is coming up on weekend I'll leave it in her hands:D. Thanks for the replies. The router now tells me DSL Up 4461 kbps / 508 kbps. Another slight increase:D

Praetorian

Adsl 2+ eh. You learn something new every day I guess

paddyk

Praetorian wrote: »

They're not terrible speeds for now though really. There may be some steps you could take to improve your sync speed.

Could you possibly point me in the right direction to improve my sync speed. Would a more modern gateway be better?

I'm really trying to improve my speeds for gaming, don't use torrents etc, Sometimes the kids might dabble but nothing serious.

Praetor

Praetorian wrote: »

I'm sure the stats must have changed a bit. Basically you want low attenuation downstream and higher noise margin downstream. Those figures aren't great, and I'm afraid that looks like your max speed on ADSL1 (which I'm 99% sure is what BT are using for their upgrades).

BT is using ADSL2+ for the network upgrade, if you are not sure just check your modulation type on the router gui.

Praetorian wrote: »

They're not terrible speeds for now though really. There may be some steps you could take to improve your sync speed.

On ADSL2+ your SNR Margin will be very close to 6 dB that it not bad, is normal.

Paddyk, you have an attenuation of 53 dB, that's is not very good. There is little you can do, try connecting from the main socket and avoid extensions that's all. A better modem might only give you a bit more of speed but it wont be worth it. Your line just cant cope with more.

kmick

Anyone any idea when they are going to upgrade the Rathmines exchange? Im pretty happy with 3Mb but id take the upgrade seeing as it is free!

ceejay

My broadband and phone connection went down yesterday evening for a short while too. I'm on the Dolphin's Barn exchange, but since my modem's an old Zoom X4 I can't tell if the line's been upgraded. It's still reporting 3Mbps figures. Should I see any increase with an ADSL modem, or will I have to upgrade to an ADSL2+ one whenever the upgrade happens?

Ciarán.

Vunderground

I got a text message last week from BT informing me that Dolphin's Barn exchange was to be upgraded the week starting 11th March, so that might account for your disconnections.

exiztone

I'm also on Dolphin's Barn and was disconnected yesterday night for about a minute. When I checked my line stats, they were exactly the same as before 3072/384. I'm also in the same situation as the above poster, my modem is ADSL only and I'm unsure if I need an ADSL2+ modem instead to get the new speeds

tripswitch

exiztone wrote: »

I'm also on Dolphin's Barn and was disconnected yesterday night for about a minute. When I checked my line stats, they were exactly the same as before 3072/384. I'm also in the same situation as the above poster, my modem is ADSL only and I'm unsure if I need an ADSL2+ modem instead to get the new speeds

According to BT last week (when I rang them) if you've got the old Zyxel Prestige 623R it'll work fine. (If your modem says "Prestige 600 Series" on the front, check the label underneath to find out whether it's the 623R or not.)

Vunderground

Dolphins Barn upgraded


http://www.speedtest.net/result/244949216.png

Mikel Jr.

they announced a date they expect all customers to be upgraded by yet?

exiztone

tripswitch wrote: »

According to BT last week (when I rang them) if you've got the old Zyxel Prestige 623R it'll work fine. (If your modem says "Prestige 600 Series" on the front, check the label underneath to find out whether it's the 623R or not.)

Unfortunately I'm using my own router here, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't support ADSL2+