Broadband (nb)

[petem]

I'm hoping one of you might be able to help..... BT say that I live too far from the exchange for Broadband. Also, we don't have cable where I live. Do I have any other options?

Thanks, Pete

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[Vara]

Organise a "We want broadband" petition get enough names and BT should respond.
Not a short term solution I'm afraid.

<hr width=100% size=1>If it can't be fixed with a lump hammer dont fit it!

 

[PhilF]

Move

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[AJW]

I thought I'd read that BT had abandoned the "x number of subscribers at an exchange need to be interested to make it worthwhile" approach and was rolling Broadband out moreorless nationally. (all part of Tony's "wired" Britain!) Certainly my folks in the not so wilds of Norfolk should have it by July. Might be worth checking when bband is scheduled for your area?

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[jon_bailey]

My understanding is that the maximum distance (cable run) that you can be sited from the exchange is 6km. (It used to be 3.5). This will leave some people out of reach even if the exchange is converted. They are trying to increase distance and are clearly making progress, but will not give any committment to ho far and when.

Satellite is an oprion but the BT option is £60 per month plus £600 installation (from memory). If you are a business I beleive that some Business Links are offering some financial assistance. There are other satellite providers although not sure of quality.

As already said, moving could be the best option.

<hr width=100% size=1>££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

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[steverow]

It is possible to get a number of standard telephone lines and aggregate them together using a combining unit (sometimes known as a braif unit).
I have seen this done, and in the days before widespread ISDN was done certainly at a professional level quite frequently. Broadcasters used to do it for instance for outside broadcasts for increasing bandwidth.
Given the theoretical 64k throughput for a standard telephone pair, then four telephone lines should give you a reasonable broadband service.
The down side is that since you live in a rural area BT's copper circuits will probably be quite poor, which will decrease efficiency..ie more data errors.
Also the cost of four seperate analogue lines with installation could be prohibitive, remembering that they are dial up lines and not "always on".

If you want to look at it then try either Belkin, D Link or Black Box for Routers Bridges and associated equipment.
It is going to be a costly exercise though both in terms of rental and call charges.


Steve.

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[BrendanS]

If like me you live too far from the exchange, your options are limited. Some areas like Thames Valley have microwave broadband, but these are line of sight only, and even though I live not too far from a transmitter, no line of sight - and I suspect in the Cotswolds this won't be an option anyway.

The second is to set up a wireless network by nodes from someone who IS able to get broadband. There are many reports of this working very well, even over quite long distances - this requires a great deal of trust on behalf of the people in the chain, and them leaving their computers on permanently. Not an ideal solution for many reasons however, and not a solution for rural dwellers.

The other option is satellite, but most of these are one way - ie download from satellite to dish to computer, then out going via telephone line. I've won't consider this option for a variety of reasons. I've yet to find an economic solution to 2 way satellite broadband for personal use.

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[Jinksy]

I also live too far from the exchange to get BT broadband. Some of my neighbours however have had bb installed by AOL or Wanadoo (and others) over their existing BT lines and it works fine. Apparantly, because of the distance from the exchange, BT cannot guarantee continuity of service in line with their Service Level Agreements but the others are not controlled by this so offer it. I'd speak to one of the alternatives and see what they say before going down an expensive route.

<hr width=100% size=1>This boat lark is a nightmare!

 

[petem]

We're not quite rural, more the outskirts of Cheltenham. We are a very borderline case, half our estate can get Broadband the other half can't. Would it be possible to set up some kind of wireless system?

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[BrendanS]

In which case yes. The person with broadband (needs one without limits on download Mb per month, or you get into arguements over who exceeded it, and very difficult to allocate resources on home network). The best bet if someone can get a commercial broadband connection, then share costs as it will provide extremely good concurrent user bandwith, then simply install a wireless network on all the pc's on the group connected. If you are too far away from the person with the broadband connection, you can 'piggyback' off someone closer.

Do a google on the subject - there are example of people with T1 type connections providing the connection as a local free service. You'd want to look into security though, and not use default settings on wireless

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[steverow]

Aha...now there's the rub.
This has happened locally in Leamington, on a new large estate.
After many residents complained, BT finally admitted at regional engineer level that they had actually run out of plant in that area and it had nothing to do with distance at all.
Sounds like a similar story to me...especially as youve got GCHQ gobbling up all the bandwidth within a 50 mile radius.

Steve.


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[burgundyben]

Hi Pete!

I have ntl broadband in the house and its fab.

gloat gloat!



<hr width=100% size=1>I didn't knacker TCM's copper it was Trazie

 

[Rob H 37]

Go for Wireless (GPRS)pretty mush the same price and you can use it on the boat!!!

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