Mobile Broadband Falmouth and Penrhyn

Richard10002

Richard10002

Well-Known Member
Joined
17 Mar 2006
Messages
18,979
Location
Manchester
Visit site
My aging father called me today to tell me that he "upgraded" ti BT Infinity a few months ago and has now had no broadband at all for 2 weeks. BT tell home that they are working to fix it, and that they call him almost every day to tell him that it hasnt been fixed yet, and wont be fixed tomorrow.

I suggested that he get a sim free MIFI, (Huawei like mine), and a data sim, so am wondering if there is anyone in Penrhyn, (he lives on Love lane near the graveyard), or even Falmouth, who can suggest the best Mobile Broadband provider and/or, possibly more important, those that dont work very well.

I suspect he is getting the run around by BT, but how can you know. The service comes down the same phone lines whichever provider is used so, switching may, or may not, solve his problem. I cant find any suggestions that BT Infinity is having a major problem in the area, so it could be the line to his house up the hill, or his router, or similar?
 
My phone line regularly used to fail, BT would take about three weeks to fix it - all sounds very familiar. As soon as they actually sent out a technician to look in the street cabinet, he'd fix it immediately, but it took them that long to get round to it each time.

In my case the terminals in the cabinet were damaged, according to one of the techs who just happened to be working on it as I walked past one time - but BT wouldn't fix it properly because the whole cabinet was due to be replaced as part of a "fibre optic" upgrade. So each time a technician would connect my line back up, and the next time one went to work in there on something else there was a good chance they'd nudge my line and break it again.

As you say, if the line is the problem, switching provider won't help, with two exceptions -
  • Virgin, if available, have their own completely separate cables. This is what I did, and had my unreliable BT line completely discontinued.
  • Andrews and Arnold have a well-founded reputation for doing whatever it takes to get BT faults fixed. Their MD has a somewhat obsessive personality, and has made a career of channeling it into harassing BT for the benefit of his customers.
Ongoing problem with no announcement - seems likely it is an individual line problem, as if the whole area was out they would 1) publicise it and 2) not hang about for weeks before fixing it.

Can't comment on best network - my parents spend a lot of time in Cornwall and say EE is best in the places they go, but I think it varies a lot and they are mostly on the north coast.

Pete
 
We live in Maen Valley, just over the ridge from Penryn. If your father is a BT customer, he has free access to their wifi network, which has public hot spots all over the place. He can log on to that network using his BT customer id details, if there's a hotspot within range of his house.
As far as a mifi is concerned the best signal in this part of the world is EE. On their coverage map, most of Penryn has 4G coverage. I found that the chaps in the Falmouth shop are knowledgeable about the area and will be happy to help. Just noticed that you mention he lives over the river in Love Lane. The EE map shows this as having "good indoor cover, great outdoor cover".
 
Last edited:
Hi Richard. I'm about 3 or 4 miles from Penryn and FWIW, my BT Infinity is fine so I suspect it's a very localised issue. Re the mobile broadband, I've heard good things of EE and I'm with Vodafone which gives me 4G in most of the area, but not always in the Helford River and never in Fowey. I hope your father gets it sorted soon.
 
I bought something like this.
http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6514545
Mine does 4g as well. (surely this one must?) It gave me basic access and was easy to set up.
I carry mine when I travel, I can always get another SIM for a few quid in Tesco if I need it.
EE is generally good where their coverage map says so, unless you live in a local shadow.
 
EE is very good. I use my mifi in Boatyard almost on Penryn bridge super broadband speeds, still a good signal onto mooring near Customs. Signal stays good upriver to Maggoty and out to sea. Get good signal at anchor St Mawes and Helford also good signal when I’ve made a sneaky stop in Flushing, the only place where I never get a signal is Mylor, friends on other networks aren’t so lucky. Hope that helps
Keith
 
I'm going to send him my Huawei Mifi and get him to go to the EE shop and get a PAYG data sim, or maybe a monthly contract with a few Gb. I am now in the market for a new Huawei Mifi :)
 
Richard10002 said:
I'm going to send him my Huawei Mifi and get him to go to the EE shop and get a PAYG data sim, or maybe a monthly contract with a few Gb. I am now in the market for a new Huawei Mifi :)
Click to expand...

Orange built a mast on Trefusis farm, over looks Falmouth and Penryn, BT land lines are very variable, my line is under water on springs, Infinity gets me 2.8 meg

Brian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top