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My Search for Broadband.

Roy

I have finally given in and decided to get broadband,  the rewiring of my house is now complete and it has Ethernet connections in most rooms due to wall thickness.

I’ve looked at all the comparison sites and many offer so called deals, many tell me I can have amazing speeds. I then contact them and am told that as my house is remote and that the speed will be practically nothing, 3 mbps. I quite liked the Sky glass package,  but when I spoke to an operative in India and questioned my internet speed I was told that the order then wouldn’t be possible. They wanted to send someone straight round to put a dish on my roof and receive wonderful  tv channels, I asked if this would give me broadband, the answer was no but it  would cost me £28 per month.The person became quite insistent, in the end I managed to end the conversation but not without a lot of stress. The person didn’t even say goodbye at the end of the conversation.

I did a speed test myself and contacted BT, there is no plans to upgrade my area. I then thought a 5G router would be good, many quote  high speeds. On actually checking my area, it has no 5G coverage, I just about get 4G.

I spoke to a farmer down the road, I know he has 3 teenagers who enjoy gaming.  I ordered Starlink,  a lot of locals seem to use it, it does have a dish but is for receiving broadband in remote locations. An app makes the installation very easy. I’m now receiving speeds of 200mbps. My wife has treated us to a ‘smart tv,’ and she can use her work laptop from home. Peace once more reigns in Gotham City.

  • I share your frustrations having lived for 8 years in an area with no mobile coverage and very low internet speeds. They all promise the moon on a stick and then can't deliver, I've seen mobile shops advertising 5G when we could barely get 3 or 4G.

    Theres so little understanding of how what your house is built from effects signals, our house is a mix of field stone and engineering brick and seems to be almost impenatrable, we have so many boosters and boosters for boosters. The signal arrives at our hub at a good speed, but it dosent' really spread beyond that and EE cannot accept that. I'd change provider if I could find one that was any better, but I dont' believe many are, and if there are any good ones they probably don't serve here.

    Neither of us are alone in having walls made of stuff signals don't easily pass through, although most providers don't believe us or get cross with us for asking and actually expecting the services we get charged for. The lack of coverage in many areas is shocking and not just in rural areas, many towns and cities have areas with similar problems.

  • Sorry to hear about your broadband hassles. I'm fortunate in being in a suburban area with plenty of options. And that's just as well, because every couple of years we need to do our research and haggle with Virgin Media to avoid getting ripped off with massive price hikes.

    I can totally sympathise with the stress of dealing with customer support. It's not the fault of the operatives, they're usually polite and trying to be helpful, but the line quality plus their accent makes it very hard to understand what they're saying. More often than not, they'll offer a low-ball discount, so we suggest we're thinking of cancelling and that gets us put through to the Retention team, who are UK-based and usually able to offer bigger discounts to keep us as customers.

    I've no idea if Starlink have similar system, but it's something to bear in mind for when your current contract is due to renew. It's a hassle, and very stressful, but worth it to avoid getting ripped off.

  • Good work, I'm glad the solution came from just down the road and out in space simultaneously.