# BT Infinity



## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Well today was the day that I got my BT infinity broadband installed. Since it only costs £1.50 a month more than I was paying with BT Unlimited. And I got offered a great deal to stay with BT 

Engineer was in the house around an hour setting up an extension point, new moden/router and new Hub etc and was very polite and very helpful indeed. TBH I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere near BT's published speeds, but boy was I wrong. 76Mb/s Download is what BT say it has at its best ability and 20Mb/s Upload. So after a quick tidy up of my PC programs etc ....... this is my results ........










Needless to say I am a very happy camper indeed.  Online gaming will now be glitch free and no lag 

James


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## sinizter (Aug 28, 2011)

And I'm stuck here with my sub 3mb connection.


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## DW58 (Nov 27, 2010)

I wish - only 70 miles away and getting 1.8Mb/s on a good day with no short-term prospect of any improvement.

Good luck to you, I'm deeply envious.


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2012)

Do you know how far from the cabinet you are? I've upgraded from Infinity 1 to Infinity 2 and have seen no speed change. I'm about 600m from my cabinet.


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Approx 80-100m I'd say. 

On standard BT Unlimited I was getting around 14.80Mb/s download and 1.05Mb/s upload with a pin rate of around 31ms. So needless to say Infinity for me is a massive leap. Just downloaded a 300MB xbox game add on pack and it literally took seconds. :lol: Just mad 

James


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## Matt197 (Dec 27, 2006)

Welcome to the fast club hehe, been on Infinity 2 as its now called since April and makes downloading or uploading anything large a breeze. I'm about 340m ish from my cab and sync at 83.4 down.


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## -Simon- (Oct 29, 2010)

Gone from 3meg to this with Infinity:


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## Will_G (Jan 23, 2012)

Where in Aberdeen are you that you're getting infinity?


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## GJM (Jul 19, 2009)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ what he said


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## Skodaw (Mar 19, 2006)

Hmm BT keep sending me letters telling me infinity is in my area, then when I check it's not, really winds me up specially with paltry 2mb I get on a good day....


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## Keir (Aug 31, 2010)

How much does it cost?


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

I stay around a 1/2 mile from the city center. Was sent a letter around 3 months ago from BT saying I can get Infinity now, but with my wedding that was due in May I put the upgrade on hold. 

Price is meant to be £26 a month for unlimited everything and 76b/s Fibre line. But I managed to swindle a good wee deal of £22.50 a month on a 12 month contract deal  

Very happy with BT, have been with them for over 4 years now with my broadband, and never had a single issue with major downtime etc. 

Just to note if I am using any wireless connections I only get around 40-46Mb/s speed, but as soon as the ethernet is connected direct, its instantly 72-74Mb/s. But TBH even 40Mb/s is ultra fast for the UK :lol:

James


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## DW58 (Nov 27, 2010)

I've been with BT Internet/Openworld since 1992 - excellent service, never seen any reason to change. The only negative for me being their utterly useless Indian call centre help - but everyone else is equally useless there.

Trouble is where I live (rural NE Scotland) there's no likelihood of anything but slow broadband in the near future from BT or anyone else - the suppliers and government just don't care about the silent majority who are on 1.5-2.0 Mb/s connections - we're supposed to shut up and be grateful.


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Well just a small update ........ 

Ethernet conection still holding strong at between 70-74Mb/s constantly no matter what time of day its seems. Wireless device speeds are now at around 50Mb/s now which is great.

Has been great seeing 1GB of an Xbox game being dowloaded in 60 seconds. :lol:  Instead of waiting a good 30-45 minutes with my old connection. 

Also line and connection has been very stable with not a single moment offline at all. 

James


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## Guitarjon (Jul 13, 2012)

They keep offering us this and in the last couple of weeks our connection seems to really slowed down. Maybe they have done it to make us want the quicker one. We almost said yes until they said it would be x amount of money (about 23 pounds more a month than what we currently pay butwe are currently on an offer and they said they would ring again once our offer had come to an end.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

DW58 said:


> Trouble is where I live (rural NE Scotland) there's no likelihood of anything but slow broadband in the near future from BT or anyone else - the suppliers and government just don't care about the silent majority who are on 1.5-2.0 Mb/s connections - we're supposed to shut up and be grateful.


Shut up and be grateful


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

DW58 said:


> I've been with BT Internet/Openworld since 1992 - excellent service, never seen any reason to change. The only negative for me being their utterly useless Indian call centre help - but everyone else is equally useless there.
> 
> Trouble is where I live (rural NE Scotland) there's no likelihood of anything but slow broadband in the near future from BT or anyone else - the suppliers and government just don't care about the silent majority who are on 1.5-2.0 Mb/s connections - we're supposed to shut up and be grateful.


I'm only a mile outside Aberdeen (5 miles from the center) and I never see 2Mb/s, 1.2 typically....again with no near term plans of improvement!


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## Scotty Pro (Nov 12, 2008)

Well I have 3meg download and for the foreseeable future that will not change. Too all those on Virgin Fibre / BT Infinity, I'm soooo jealous.

BT says next year for me (WTF) - Virgin have no plans at the moment to put cables in our area.

Those speeds are insane, bet you have no problem watching on line films


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## TTS-Dave (Jun 19, 2012)

Role on the 24th for my install of infinity 2 - Managed to get a great deal unlimited for £17.50 a month on a 12 month contract as was going to take my phone line away from BT they offered it to keep me.


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## Geetarman (Apr 22, 2007)

BT website has been telling me for about 9 months that my exchange will be upgraded to infinity, they give a date then when the date comes they move it another 3 months.....very annoying!


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## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

DW58 said:


> we're supposed to shut up and be grateful.


Just get satellite broadband.

Edit: http://www.bentley-walker.com/tooway/tooway_home.php

tooway12 isnt bad.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Got a BT engineer coming on 24th Oct to install Infinity










They are actually installing two lines of Broadband Infinity into our house. We get it free cus the wife works for BT, the second line is for her office in the upstairs bedroom.

Must remember to do a speed test on day before, and then after installation. Looking forward to this


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## WP-UK (Apr 24, 2011)

Guitarjon said:


> They keep offering us this and in the last couple of weeks our connection seems to really slowed down. Maybe they have done it to make us want the quicker one. We almost said yes until they said it would be x amount of money (about 23 pounds more a month than what we currently pay butwe are currently on an offer and they said they would ring again once our offer had come to an end.


I'm glad I'm not the only one! Been getting calls, letters etc offering upgrade and in the last 2 weeks I cannot watch iplayer or YouTube without constant buffering (no exaggeration either) - seriously annoying as this was never an issue and I used to do everything fine, my mum can't access bt yahoo online emails, everytime she logs in it closes IE down, fine on my mac though.. All this has started recently though


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## [email protected] (Jan 9, 2006)

Pants


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## Elliott19864 (May 11, 2008)

I read the leaflet on this the other day, very tempted because frankly my AOHELL is ******** lately.

Only thing that I couldnt figure out was the pricing, it says £18.50 +monthly line rental, but we already pay monthly line rental with BT, so that charge shouldnt be with BT infinity, I have been meaning to ring them.

Also my AOL is about £20 a month unlimited, infinity is £18.50 for 40GB, would this be sufficent for browsing forums like this, ebay, uploading some photos now and again and online gaming?

I only play BF3 online, but it seems everygame you buy lately connects to the net downloading this or that, FIFA especially I spend alot of time on and you cant get half the game on there without being online.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

BT Infinity being installed tomorrow :thumb:

Just done a quick speed test to compare with tomorrows results..


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

Its interesting to see how many people have gone with BT instead of other companies which also offer similar services


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## DW58 (Nov 27, 2010)

LeadFarmer said:


> BT Infinity being installed tomorrow :thumb:
> 
> Just done a quick speed test to compare with tomorrows results..


Here we can only dream of your current connection, although we have been promised BT Infinity in the area next year


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Infinity installed today, a few problems with trying to connect the router to the phone extension socket as its supposed to be fitted to the master socket. Ive decided to get BT to relocate the master socket but for now heres my speed test results...

Speed test before install..










And after..










Not as impressive as some of the other results on here, but perhaps when its connected to the master socket it may improve?


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

yeah the master socket does improve speed. as does a direct ethernet connection rather than wireless.

James


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

BBCiplayer is fast, no sign of buffering. Ive just started downloading a film so will be interesting to see how fast that works.

Any other tests I could be doing?

Edit - Film downloaded in less than 1hr, which is an improvement.


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Are you using wireless or direct link ethernet cable ?? 

If wireless, then the speeds will always be slower than a direct connection. Also where is the Hub? near a TV or any other slightly electronic devices. As this can sometimes have an impact of slower wireless speeds. 

I have my hub around 5 feet from any electronic device, and have my PC linked via a long ethernet cable under the floor boards. I constantly get 74MB/s. Yet if I hook up by wireless then the speeds drop to around 40-50mb/s. So a substantial drop. 

Hope that helps a bit.

James


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Thanks James.

Yes Im using wirelss from my laptop. My master phone socket is in the hallway but the hub & router are connected to an extension socket in the living room. Both hub & router are positioned under my TV and are sat amongst my Sky box, sound bar, PS3, CCTV & telephone. So plenty of other devices to impact on its performance!

Im getting the master socket moved into the livingroom today, so at least I can do away with having it connected to the extension. I will then look at possibly repositioning the hub at a later date. Should the router be moved away from other electrical devices as well?

Thanks.


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## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

When it comes to infinity your wireless connection is often slower than your Internet connections heh.

Standard G wifi is 54 and your infinity is around 75mbit

Either swap to Wireless N (130 to 300) or go cabled.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

carbonangel said:


> When it comes to infinity your wireless connection is often slower than your Internet connections heh.
> 
> Standard G wifi is 54 and your infinity is around 75mbit
> 
> Either swap to Wireless N (130 to 300) or go cabled.


Interesting 

How do you swap to wireless N?


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## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

LeadFarmer said:


> Interesting
> 
> How do you swap to wireless N?


If your laptop supports it, buy a Wireless N capable router most new ones are, if you are a new macbook it has wireless N already


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

So swap my Infinity router for a Wireless N router.

I'll see how things go when the phone socket gets moved, but I guess it will be more than quick enough for me. Interesting to know that though :thumb:


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## Ric (Feb 4, 2007)

The home hub 3 should be wireless N already, if you goto network settings in Mac, it should tell you the connection rate, mine is 144 connected to my home hub


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## Will_G (Jan 23, 2012)

The BT home hub is already wireless N enabled, the only thing you've got to watch with wireless N is that some broadcast on 2.4ghz and some at 5ghz

EDIT: carbonangel beat me too it


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Well heres a quick update. Web pages keep freezing and I keep losing internet connection. Not a good start to my Infinity experience.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Since installation of Infinity the speed has dropped from this..










to this...










Worse than when I was on normal broadband!


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## DW58 (Nov 27, 2010)

As your upload speed hasn't changed but the download speed has dropped massively, may I suggest trying a different server - you've used London on the fast test but Manchester on the slow one. Best compare like with like to be sure.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

DW58 said:


> As your upload speed hasn't changed but the download speed has dropped massively, may I suggest trying a different server - you've used London on the fast test but Manchester on the slow one. Best compare like with like to be sure.


I just ran the test. I thought it chose the server automatically?

When the engineer returns to fit everything to the master socket I hope it will improve. Its currently disconnecting constantly and really slow.


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## DW58 (Nov 27, 2010)

LeadFarmer said:


> I just ran the test. I thought it chose the server automatically?
> 
> When the engineer returns to fit everything to the master socket I hope it will improve. Its currently disconnecting constantly and really slow.


No idea, but I seem to recall that you can select the server.


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## madstaff (Jun 4, 2012)

Regarding the Speedtest - Hover your pointer over a dot on the map and it will give you a few servers to choose from, click on the one you want to use. 

London Namesco is a preferred one.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Thanks daveevs, ive managed to do a test from a local server using your advice. BT engineer returning tonight to bypass the original master phone socket and make the living room socket the master. It will be interesting to see how the performance compares. It currenty fluctuating from 4 mb to 19 mb..


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

No problems so far, since the engineer returned my connection hasnt dropped out and my speed seems consistent at around 20mb/s..


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## Will_G (Jan 23, 2012)

Ping seems quite high compared to your original results, I'd try against the london or manchester servers


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

Skodaw said:


> Hmm BT keep sending me letters telling me infinity is in my area, then when I check it's not, really winds me up specially with paltry 2mb I get on a good day....


I'm in the same boat, in fact I can see an Infinity cabinet from my house - could almost throw a stone and hit it - yet the availability checker says I can't get it.

I've got to the bottom of why. My house is one of about 12 in our street that have direct-to-exchange lines, i.e. they don't go via a street cab 

So, until FTTP is rolled out, I'm stuck on ~4meg ADSL

I can only guess that the reason I've got one of these lines is that my house was one of the first to be built on the development and it must have been the cheapest way at the time for BT to provide a phone line.

What makes this all the more annoying is that the house is only 8 years old so even then BT must have known how they planned on rolling out fibre - rolling out a nationwide telecoms infrastructure is a long term plan - and that it would be unavailable for those with these types of line.

BTW, we all know that BT's Customer Service sucks, but I've found a good way of getting answers to questions. BT have a Facebook page run by a dedicated team in N. Ireland. You can't post directly to their Wall, but you can reply to their posts and most people do so complaining about something. The BT guys then ask you to fill out an on-line form and they ring you up - usually the same day - and they are really helpful. That's how I found out why I can't get Infinity.

I did ask that if I cancelled my current line with BT, i.e. didn't have a phone, then ordered a line as a new customer if I would get a line from a street cab - no, I'd get my old line back


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

mines now sitting at 76mb download. 21mb upload and 16m/s ping. and is awesome for fast online gaming on the xbox  

cant say i have any issues with bt customer care. i phone up wait a few mins and then every single time a nice chap from what sounds like glasgow takes the call. which is very handy having someone i actually understand instead of rasheed from god knows where.

James


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Done a quick test tonight and my ping rate is really low, which is awesome for online gaming. Call of duty hasn't ever felt so good  But my upload speed has dropped around 4-5mb/s so I might need to reset the hub and also the router and see how that goes. 

James


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

insanejim69 said:


> Done a quick test tonight and my ping rate is really low, which is awesome for online gaming. Call of duty hasn't ever felt so good  But my upload speed has dropped around 4-5mb/s so I might need to reset the hub and also the router and see how that goes.
> 
> James


I'm in Aberdeen too and using the online checker I've been quoted about the same as you.

I detest BT though and have had huge problems with broadband at different houses before. Their customer care and poor excuses were embarrassing.

Surely download speeds that fast have no real effect on gaming?

It is all down to latency and that is only as good as the people you are playing against and the server.

I opted for 02 with a static ip to work best for iracing on the pc.

It is a good connection but when racing against people from all around the world there is no real way of getting around sizeable ping levels.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

So what causes the massive variation between our infinity results, considering I'm getting a speed of 20 yet others are getting 70+? Is it the distance from the exchange?


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## TooFunny (Sep 18, 2012)

LeadFarmer said:


> So what causes the massive variation between our infinity results, considering I'm getting a speed of 20 yet others are getting 70+? Is it the distance from the exchange?


Can be a whole host of things, distance from your local breakout (green) cabinet, that's distance from the exchange, the cable quality of your house.

I recently (3 months ago) had BT infinity 2 installed and was quoted 68.8mb download, when it was put in i was only getting 30mb, so after much tooing and froing managed to get an engineer round who noticed it hadnt been installed properly, moved the router and now im getting 70mb down and 16mb up....


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

Yup - its still suffering from the same problems as old ADSL, except its not quite as bad. Before it was distance to ther exchange that mattered, now its distance to the cabinet that matters. The closer you are the better your speeds. Its why some people who are far away from the exchange but very close to the cabinet have seen huge increases in speeds.
Fibre to premisis is coming over time and this service will give the same speeds to everyone much like cable does (mostly)


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

Really tempted to go for Infinity, line speed estimated at 22m download and 4m upload.

Currently get 7 down and .33 upload from plusnet who I'm fairly unimpressed with as with talktalk was getting 8-10 and 1 for speed

Just wonder if the price difference would be justified


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

They have 1/2 price for 6months offer on infinity just now bud 

James


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## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

Thought i'd make you all a bit happier.


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Jesus dude you still on dial up or something ? 

James


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## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

Nope, good old tiscali, now Talk talk! Only a couple of miles from exchange so who knows?


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

Just ordered infinity, hope it's worth it 

On a side note just added 'On Demand' to our Sky+ HD.

With a decent (hopefully) connection I might even try COD on XBox Live!


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## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

Anyone else feeling my pain?


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

^^^Cripes!! How do you even manage to load up a web page??


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## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

Even I don't know sometimes! 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Fiesta-125 said:


> Anyone else feeling my pain?


Holy moses .....  .... funny thing is your ping speed aint too bad compared to some better broadband speeds. :lol:

My mate stays around 3 miles from me at most, and he can't get infinity, he is stuck with sky. His speeds are around 8 meg download, 0.69 meg upload and a massive 49m/s ping rate   Needless to say he gets mega frustrated in COD :lol:

James


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## kempe (Jan 9, 2011)




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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

kempe said:


>


You tried the London server ?

Thats a massive ping.  ..... not bad standard BB speed though, if its cheap .

James


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## kempe (Jan 9, 2011)

insanejim69 said:


> You tried the London server ?
> 
> Thats a massive ping.  ..... not bad standard BB speed though, if its cheap .
> 
> James




Yeah this is the free BB


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## kempe (Jan 9, 2011)

Thats better


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## insanejim69 (Nov 13, 2011)

Can't really argue with that can you   

James


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## kempe (Jan 9, 2011)

insanejim69 said:


> Can't really argue with that can you
> 
> James


Yeah when its free and it does the job


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Well its been a couple of weeks now since I had Infinity installed so thought I'd report my findings.

Previous Bt Hub2 broadband gave me this..










My Infinity is giving me this..










No noticable difference when performing general web browsing, seems to be the same speed as my previous broadband. Streaming is quicker though, whether it be BBCiplayer or watching videos on youtube, they load up straight away with no buffering.

The most noticable improvement in speed is downloading films, whereas they previously took all day, they now download much quicker, sometimes within 15 mins.

Overall there is a good improvement. Im lucky to get Infinity free through my wifes employment, but based on my experiences Im not sure I would be prepared to pay the extra for it. Had my previous broadband been, say, 2mbs then Im sure the improvement would have been much more noticeable.


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## *MrB* (Feb 20, 2011)

UPDATE!
Stuck with Plusnet, 22mb / 4mb estimated with 250GB allowance as opposed to BT capping at 60GB.

Same price...

Results after 24 hours


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## Rob74 (Jul 29, 2012)

I'm with sky and about 2miles from the exchange, we have had hellish problems with speed and loss of connection this is a big improvement on the last two years lol

When we had the BT openreach man out the other week he said we will probably slow down when the put fibre is as the closest green box is about a mile away and if your 500meters or more from a box then fibre is a wast of money

Guess that's the joy if living in a small village in North Yorkshire

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

Rob74 said:


> View attachment 27122
> 
> I'm with sky and about 2miles from the exchange, we have had hellish problems with speed and loss of connection this is a big improvement on the last two years lol
> 
> ...


Feel your pain. Small little villages

However it was really Wierd. My upload spikes to 18mb then back to 0.5mb haha.









Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2


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## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

Little(Speed wise!) Saturday evening update.

Everyone must be PLaying CoD or something

Ridiculous


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## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

will be trying infinty in the new year i think :lol:


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## TooFunny (Sep 18, 2012)

Rob74 said:


> View attachment 27122
> 
> I'm with sky and about 2miles from the exchange, we have had hellish problems with speed and loss of connection this is a big improvement on the last two years lol
> 
> ...


211ms latency!!!!!!!!! :doublesho

Jesus Christ, get on the phone to them now and ask them if they are routing you via the moon!!!

We have a point to point link here in our London office to our Singapore office, 10mb throughput but we only get latency of 172ms!!!

And that's 9000 miles away!!!


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## Rob74 (Jul 29, 2012)

@too funny
It's a little bit bad but hay that a good result for us lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## TooFunny (Sep 18, 2012)

Rob74 said:


> @too funny
> It's a little bit bad but hay that a good result for us lol
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sorry but your bt engineer is talking rubbish, a mile via fibre is not pointless, it's the speed of light, the fact your latency is so high means way they're routing you is either going all over the place or there is a bottle neck at a roiter somewhere along the way. Either way its not right. But hey if you're happy. Personally I'd be going bonkers.


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

TooFunny said:


> Sorry but your bt engineer is talking rubbish, a mile via fibre is not pointless, it's the speed of light,.


Yes fibre is the speed of light.....the problem is the connection from the cabinets are not fibre. The difference between ADSL and Fibre is that with ADSL its copper all the way to the exchange - up to 5km? I think where as with Fibre is Fibre from Exchange -> Cabinet and then the same old copper from Cabinet to House so what the engineer is saying is true. If you are a long distance from your cabinet you may not see good results. If you want fibre all the way you need FTTP but this is only just starting to be rolled out.

Over 500m on fibre is still possible but its not going to be the mega 80MB speeds that many can get. I think I am around the 600m mark and get around 35mb but its constant and so far been very good


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

Bizarre how my Infinity speed fluctuates throughout the day. I went from this during the early hours of this morning..










to this just now...


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## PaulaJayne (Feb 17, 2012)

LeadFarmer said:


> Bizarre how my Infinity speed fluctuates throughout the day. I went from this during the early hours of this morning..
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is called packet shaping - during busy periods with lots of users then connections are throttled to share out the speed.


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