Poor connection speeds

[Rachel2112]

About 4 weeks ago my next door neighbour had NTL broadband installed †“ I know this as that Saturday afternoon 3 NTL engineers walked up my drive and started looking around the side of my house and generally poking around in the front garden. When challenged (I had to go out to them, they didnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t bother to knock on my door), they said they were looking for †˜the boxââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ so that they could install the broadband †“ what broadband?? They eventually decided theyââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d got the wrong house and found they should have been next door. I didnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t see anything they did to install the broadband other than hearing drilling.

Anyway, my problem is that ever since that day my dial-up connection has been abysmal. I used to regularly get 46667 (as displayed whilst watching the AOL dial in screen †“ on rare occasions it was 48k) however now itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s nothing better than 44k and on occasion 33600. Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve just tried the †˜DSL Zone UKââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ speed test (as suggested on the Dialup speed tester thread page) and out of 3 tries got recorded speeds of 27.3, 29.6 and 38.9 kbps (they wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t even record the first two test results in their database as they are so poor!).



Can anyone help or suggest what I need to say to NTL to make them realise I believe there is a problem †“ possibly created by one of their engineers †“ as I thought the days of my really poor connections speeds were long goneââ‚ ¬Ã‚¦Ã¢â ‚¬Â¦ Or is it just really a nasty coincidence and thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s nothing I can do??!

[Chris W]

Do you connect to AOL dial up through a BT line or NTL line?

NTL broadband operates through cable, rather than copper phone lines, so should not have any effect on dial up....

[Rachel2112]

Hi, I dial up to AOL through NTL. I live on fairly new housing estate that was all cabled up from the time it was built.
I also haven't changed anything with my PC or config etc. Just noticed dial up speeds way lower than 'normal' since 'the event'.

[Chris W]

hmm.

did your neighbours have just broadband installed, or a phone line as well?

[Rachel2112]

Sorry, don't know. Only know that the engineers turned up saying we're here to install broadband.

[Graham M]

Sorry its It may be a silly connection perhaps, but if you are able to get NTL services, why not get NTL Broadband rather than paying for a substandard Dialup account from a poor company like AOL?

[Rachel2112]

Zeph - Not on here to discuss what ISP I'm with - only to try and get help for a problem that has arisen.

[jrhnewark]

It's not totally beyond to think that during installation of next-door's broadband that they might have somehow managed to damage your telephone cable - or in some way 'dislodge' the connections, etc., etc.

Sadly, I don't think you really have a leg to stand on - as long as you can connect, I think that's really all you're going to get. I believe - at one time, on BT - there was some sort of regulation that stated that a connection of at least 16kbps should be available.. and you're getting a lot more than that and on cable!