- Only more people needed for Broadband!
If you want a faster internet connection then Broadband is the way forward. Edge Hill exchange currently needs 150 people
to sign up for BT to upgrade the local exchange. Currently there are
pre-registrations, so we need more people to register....
please spread the word.
For Hornton villagers the prospect of Broadband is as remote as ever. Demand is so low BT has set no activation threshold for our exchange. A typical threshold
is between 200 and 750 subscribers; that's subscribers not head of population. You want to know how many subscribers on our exchange have registered their
interest? 51! So we're a long way away. Can you wait? Broadband? More like Boredband.
If lack of ADSL really annoys you, and you have the energy and time to run a campaign there's a bunch of material on BT's web site that tells you how to do it.
Click here for more information.
All is not lost though. There are some initiatives to bring broadband access via satellite, even moored balloons in the skies but as far as I am concerned those
are still pie in the sky.
Meantime, BT has launched a 'new' service called Midband. Assuming you are close enough to the exchange, this service is based on an established technology,
ISDN, that used to be metered and cost a king's ransom; but now offers a bundled service giving between 75 and 150 hours per months included Internet
connection. The amount of included calls depends on whether you use the digital service on one or two channels. On one channel the service will be
approximately twice the speed of a regular dial up connection but if you download a large file, the service will auto-switch to two channels, giving your nearly
four times the regular speed.
Some brief details of the service:
· A Digital Box converts your existing BT Line - no new lines required
· You retain your old phone number for phone calls
· You get a second phone number (useful for a fax machine)
· You get a dedicated digital number for data
· You can browse the web using one channel without blocking your phone line.
· If you're browsing on two channels and the phone is picked up, the system will automatically drop the data line back to one channel.
(But if you're using two channels when a call comes in the caller will get the engaged tone)
· 75 - 150 free Internet hours bundled into monthly fee. Metered rate thereafter (you can carry over up to 50 hours unused service to the next month).
And you pay for your voice calls just as you do today.
· Cost - depends on what you currently pay. If, like me you are subscribed to one of the BT Together packages it can be as little as an extra £10 per
month over what you currently pay. (You can stop your regular ISP subscription.) There's a one-time installation fee of £75 and a minimum contract of 1 year
too.
· This is a no frills service - you get an Internet connection through which you can browse the net. But you'll need to get yourself an eMail address to receive
and send eMail. Some services such as hotmail may let you send and receive for free. I elected to use a service that costs £10 a year and allows me to use my
hornton.org.uk eMail address (I can provide details if you are interested).
So how does it perform?
I had my Midband service installed a week ago and here's my verdict:
I could only get a connection at 33Kbps over my old analogue modem so for me the response times seem much faster, even when using one channel; when
it steps up to two channels it feels very fast. OK it's still nowhere near as fast as ADSL but since we can't get that, I am grateful for anything.
The biggest speed advantage you will see is connection time. Using an analogue modem you can wait for around half a minute while the modem warbles away.
This service connects in less than 4 seconds - it seems instantaneous.
It's great that we can use the phone at the same time as someone else uses the Internet.
Installation is not for the faint hearted though; there were some quirky things in the set up procedure that didn't quite go the way that BT's documentation
said they would, and I had to spend a few minutes on the phone to their help-line to get the automatic bandwidth allocation software working. And although
they provide a nifty little facility to check how much of your free connection time you have used, they have made it very awkward to access.
Would I want to go back to my old analogue modem? No, most definitely not. I have only had this service a week but it's a keeper. You need to do your own
costing and decide if it's value for money for you. Oh, by the way, if you have an old PC with no USB ports you're in trouble - the service connects via USB.
You can use an ISDN terminal adapter in that situation, but it'll cost you another £70 - £100. Ouch!
If you are happy with your current connection speed, don't mind the connection delay and aren't bothered about wanting to use the phone while you're
browsing it's probably not for you. If, on the other hand you regularly have to postpone phone calls because your kids are on the web, or fall asleep waiting
for you modem to connect, you might find this service useful. Just don't run away with the idea that you can download feature length movies - for that you'll
have to wait for the blimp in the sky or a miracle at BT.
Paul Barrett
Starveall Barn
20th June 2003
And now the legal bit - this article is based on my opinion, my PC set up and my telephony arrangements with BT. I do not give any undertaking that what
works for me will work for you, that BT will provide you a service, at anything like the costs I have quoted. I do not know whether Elvis is still alive or if there
are any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Some things you just have to work out for yourself.
