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  YOU ARE IN: BROADBAND

IT TOOK SEVERAL YEARS TO BRING BROADBAND SPEED INTERNET TO LOCAL HOMES
THIS PAGE RECORDS THAT STRUGGLE, AND IS RETAINED FOR HISTORIC INTEREST ONLY

  
     Minibus and Taxi service
    Telephone 01825 791105   Email charles.w@btconnect.com

HorstedKeynes.Com are pleased to offer help to villagers who are having trouble setting up their Broadband connection. Please ring 791624 for an appointment.

Last update December 2007

WHAT SPEED WILL I
GET IN THE VILLAGE?

VILLAGE GOES BROADBAND MAD!

KEEP AN EYE ON OUR
EXCHANGE CAPACITY


FAME AT LAST!
as THE REGISTER
features our campaign

 Broadband for £9.99 a month!

We use NDO Internet and ask you to
take a look at their site.

Please see here for  more information.

 

Result Of "Three" Mobile Broadband Tests in This Area

We have been conducting some tests of the new mobile broadband in the Horsted Keynes area. Some of you may not know that the major mobile phone companies now offer a service which gives a connection at broadband speeds but using their wireless networks instead of telephone wires. The advantages of an always on mobile connection when out and about are obvious, but if your broadband connection is important to you having one of their "dongles" to use at home if your main service goes down can be a real help. Fortunately a properly set up mobile broadband modem can be shared between home computer just as regular broadband can so you only need a single connection for all of your home computers.

So what are our conclusions? The Three network would seem to offer the best chance of service in many parts of the village. We connect at 3.6Meg which is very respectable although the connection is rather more heavily "contended" (shared with other users) than regular broadband. The connection speed is plenty good enough for normal browsing and email but can be a bit slow if downloading large files. For example the videos on the BBC News web site are easily watchable without break-ups. Fortunately most people don't need to download large files immediately so can wait for their main service to be restored.

If you live in the higher parts of the village, that's the Green, Lewes Road, Hamsland etc then you should be able to connect quite easily. As usual those in the posh houses by the church may have more difficulty. If you can't then we have a couple of tricks up our sleeves to help you!

Mobile broadband can cost as little as £10 a month for one Gig of data which is plenty for most people.

If you would like more info please do get in touch, we have a "test rig" that we can bring round to check your quality of reception before you buy.

 

March 2008
MYPOSTOFFICE - POST OFFICE BROADBAND HAS POOR LOCAL REVIEWS

As villagers may be aware we like to report on our experiences with that various computers that we are asked to look at. Recently it has been brought to our attention that customers of mypostoffice which is the ISP run by the Post Office are receiving an appalling level of service. In particular they have been without email of any sort for more than on month! When contacted the customer "service" agents are well rather more useless than some and say that they can give no indication of when service will be restored!

We also notice that pages that are coded in aspx sometimes go wrong and won't work.

All in all we cannot recommend Post Office broadband services. If you know better and fine this a good company do please get in touch and we will give your comments just as much prominance.

We're waiting to hear from you! ;-)

 

 

What broadband speed will I get in Horsted Keynes?

One of the first question that technically savvy people ask when considering a move to or within our village is what sort of broadband speed will they be able to get.

As most surfers know even though your broadband ISP advertises a service that is "up to 8 Meg", almost nobody can actually connect at this figure. It's all a bit misleading really. The connection speed is actually dependant on your distance from the local telephone exchange, and our local exchange is in Dane Hill! That puts at least one mile on to everyone's connection distance - or rather it did until recently! You see BT have now installed a "mini exchange" in the telephone cabinet opposite the Post Office and most phones in the centre of Horsted Keynes connect through this green box.

You would think that having a mini exchange so near to their home would mean that anyone living beside that cabinet would get the full 8 Meg connection. The laws of physics still apply however and the broadband signal still has to get back to Dane Hill where the processing is done but the special joint line between the village cabinet and the Dane Hill exchange is the best possible quality so it drops the speed far less. What actually happens is that those who live near the Green will get a rock solid 6 Meg connection, with the speed tailing off as you get further away.

This means that most people who live for example in the Hamsland area enjoy a 5 Meg or so connection, down to the church and school it's well over 4 Meg, whilst the more outlying areas can usually connect between 2 and 3 Meg. All in all it's not too bad around here especially when compared to the speed that we at HorstedKeynes.Com had just 3 years ago 56km with just 33k a couple of years before that! Can you believe that we actually started and ran the village web site on that?

By the way it doesn't seem to matter if your phone number is to the north on the East Grinstead exchange, we all connect at the same sort of speed. Interestingly some really remote farms connect at really good speeds whilst others who are quite central only connect slowly. The reason for this is that for broadband to work properly you must have a copper wire connecting you to the world telephone system. As a cost saving measure, and well before broadband was even thought of, BT replaced some subscribers copper wires with aluminium. These are the people who are now paying the price with a dreadfully slow connection. If you are affected all that you can do is keep moaning to your ISP - or get a second telephone line installed! This trick will get you a new line with a nice new pair of copper wires. After 3 months cancel your first line and enjoy the faster connection - tricky!

The speed that you connect to the internet does not seem to be affected by which ISP you use - that is as long as you don't use aol! For some reason we have found that aol users tend to connect rather slower than their neighbours. It's probably due to aol having a higher contention rate. You see all ISPs make you share your connection with up to 50 other subscribers, but aol seems to make you share with rather more subscribers, or perhaps aol users are more active on line? If you aren't happy about this then you could try to moan to aol - not that it will get you anywhere - sorry!

Broadband Connections are provided subject to compatibility and availability of BT-exchange connected Telephone line. The "upto" speed of 2MB and 8MB depend on line quality and distance from your local exchange. The "upto 2MB" products are provided using a "fixed rate" service at either 512K, 1MB or 2MB speeds. The "upto 8MB" products are using a "rate adaptive" service with speeds varying anywhere between 1MB and 8MB. The average expected end-user speed is between 5-6MB. BT Wholesale estimates that approximately 80% of customers will achieve download speeds of 4MB and above.
Download speeds will vary significantly in the first 10 days after connection and then will become more consistent. At peak-times (6pm to 1am, and all weekend) speeds can be lower than those experienced at other times, due to contention at local BT exchanges
.

A typical ISP "get out" clause - this one is far more honest that some.

DO YOU USE UTILITY WAREHOUSE FOR BROADBAND?

We have a villager who has lost their Utility Warehouse Broadband connection for almost two weeks. Trouble is we are sure there is no problem at this end but they can't get through to anyone at UW to get help. If YOU use UW for your broadband could you please get in touch with the village webmasters with any broadband contact details (especially for technical support) that you have.

"Look on the internet", you say! Try! There seems scant contact information for this organisation anywhere that we can find anyway. There ARE lots of "adverts" for people trying to sell this "opportunity". Want to buy cheap electricity or phones, there are numbers aplenty but it's AFTER sales broadband contact that we need!

We'll say no more for now.

Many thanks, your webmasters.

Get Firefox!

We can supply Broadband equipment for less that the ISP's AND we can deliver and install them for you! For example: Broadband modems from £25, filters £9, network cables from £5 ! Ring 791624.
Broadband modems are HIGHLY susceptible to lightning damage; UNPLUG whenever you hear thunder!

November 2005 - Many villagers are having broadband connection problems

We have been contacted by several villagers who all complain that their previously reliable internet connections are now intermittent or unreliable. BT have been called in and their engineers say that there isn't a problem when there obviously is!

At this stage there is little that we at HorstedKeynes.com can do to help apart from encouraging any villager who has a less than satisfactory internet connection to contact their ISP. The rules state that if your connection fails you have to go via your ISP - contacting BT direct is not permitted.

The more people who complain, the more quickly BT (who are responsible for the actual connection whoever you actually use for broadband) will realise that there is a real problem in our area.

Obviously, if we can help further please do email, or even use the telephone, to contact us!

August 2005 - Our Broadband keeps going off

We had hoped that with the arrival of adsl in our area internet connection problems were a thing of the past, but we have recently had a large number of disconnections from out DSL service. This is naturally also affecting the free HotSpot that we run for visitors to the village as well.

We have also heard from a number of village Broadband users who are losing their connection to the internet for minutes, or hours at a time as well. This all started at the beginning of August but is getting worse and has now peaked with our personal log indicating no less than 6 disconnections in the last 24 hours! We have a firm suspicion that there is a fault with some of the Broadband equipment racks at the Dane Hill exchange. To prove this we need you to check your Broadband connection, if you find that it disappears when previously it was reliable help us all by doing the following...

  1. If your Broadband is normally reliable but now keeps going off for no apparent reason do NOT first contact your ISP, instead ring BT Faults on 151 and go through their automatic procedure to report a line fault. When you manage to get through simply report "Intermittent ADSL". This applies whoever you use for an ISP or telephone call provider, it is still BT who maintain OUR exchange and lines for the present. If you are connected to the internet it is quicker to instead use www.bt.com/faults to report your trouble. Whilst BT will say that you must go through your ISP to report Broadband issues they do in fact maintain a log of all connection reports. The more who report problems, the quicker BT will act. (That's the theory anyway ;-)
     

  2. Next we suggest that you also report your problem to your ISP (aol, BTYahoo, NDO, Clara, or whoever you pay each month). They may well give you an involved list of things to check to ensure that it is not them at fault - obviously you can ignore much of it and simply tell them that it isn't just you who is having problems this time! In this way both your ISP and BT will log the problem. IMPORTANT - this is only if your connection has suddenly gone wrong and you haven't altered anything lately, if you get BT out when the fault is your computer then BT may try to charge you.
     

  3. Having reported the fault to BT and your ISP please drop us a quick email (when you can connect of course) giving if possible your phone number, the time of outage and restoration of Broadband service,  and the area where you live (there are two Broadband racks in the Dane Hill exchange and we need to see if both are affected). In this way we can keep a log of the problems to get BT to act.

BT are a lumbering organisation who tend to not believe the first or second person who reports a failure with the BT equipment. That is why we need everyone who is affected to let the BT dinosaur know!

We are now trying to log the outages and so far we show the following firm information (this is a "worst case scenario - it seems that the further you are from the exchange the worse are your disconnections)...

21 August

Off 15.00 to 16.15
Off 20.45 to 21.15

22 August

Off 03.00 to 03.15
Off 08.42 to 08.44
(Several short drop outs during the morning)
Off 12.27 to 12.29
Off 13.53 to 13.58 (Several times)
Off 14.35 to 14.36
Off 18.10 to 18.12

23 August

Off 03.00 to 03.10
Off 07.00 to 07.05
Off 13.31 to 13.33

24 August

Have BT fixed it/ Time will tell...!

Broadband is now available to ALL residents, irrespective of how far out you live!

BT have announced that they are scrapping the distance restrictions that have prevented some residents who live more than a couple of miles from the village from getting a Broadband service. This will come as welcome relief to residents in Birch Grove, Highbrook and other areas who had been told that they would have to continue using a dial-up service.

You can get more details from the BBC website here. Better book your line activation!

 BROADBAND SECURITY NOTES
IN YOUR OWN INTEREST PLEASE READ

Now that you have Broadband you MUST, repeat must, have a firewall and configure it properly. If this means nothing to you then give us a ring on 791624 and we will try to help (although we are VERY busy at present helping other village Broadband newcomers).

Unfortunately many automated modem installation scripts (what you run from the CD to install your Broadband modem) do NOT activate the firewall that is built in to Windows XP. If you are using anything earlier than XP for your own sake get a firewall today!

The best firewalls are hardware which means an extra box between your computer and the outside world. Using one of these you can start to feel a lot safer on line. We recommend and use Netgear as suppliers of reliable, reasonably priced firewalls who have good British support. A complete firewall router can cost from as little as £50 on the Internet (or £129 at PC World!). This sort of device includes an adsl modem, a firewall, and a connection to your computers by your existing network. If you do not have a network then you will need a different model.

By the way most of these firewalls work using the Linux operating system which upsets many of the Microsoft virus writers out there!

If you don't want to buy more hardware then the best known firewall is Zone Alarm which runs as another program on your computer. The basic version comes completely free but the advanced version costs about £25. This software is quite easy to set up on your existing computer and will keep most of the nasties at bay. There can be problems if you like to watch a lot of streaming video or audio with the free version of Zone Alarm. Take a look at their help pages if you get stuck. You can also take a look at the Norton personal firewall pages, slightly cheaper than Zone Alarm this program is really on suitable for single computer installations. If you run more than one computer then a hardware firewall is really the only way to go.

Beside running a firewall you must also make sure that your anti-virus software is up to date. If you do not have anti-virus software or are relying on a program that was last current in 1998 (as one resident was) then we are afraid to tell you that you are downright stupid! Sorry, but it's true! Get it sorted out now, today! There are several free anti-virus programs available on the front page of computer magazines and on the Internet but this part of your setup is so important even we pay for the latest version! Norton is one of the best and doesn't cost that much, perhaps £20 a year.

Make sure that Windows update is reporting "No critical updates are necessary" and keep running Windows update until it does say that. Run Windows Update at least weekly until the present virus epidemic abates. It is reported that XP users who upgrade to Service Pack 2 this summer will then not have to update so often - we will believe that when we see it! Now that you can download via Broadband at 70k a second you have NO excuse for not updating regularly.

We mentioned the Linux operating system above. If you have an old computer sitting in the attic then why not consider turning it into a dedicated firewall router? This can be set up anywhereout of the way and can even form the basis for a centralised back-up server. Almost any computer running at 66MHz or above should be suitable, and that is almost ANY computer built in the last 10 years or so ;-) You simply get hold of the dedicated Linux firewall/operating system (no Windows is required) which is called Smoothwall. This is free, yes FREE, and can be downloaded in little time using Broadband.

See what happens when we sidestep Microsoft, things suddenly cost less and work better! Finally please remember to actually USE that Broadband service that we all campaigned for, won't you ;-)

Thinking of using aol as a Broadband provider? Please read our aol Broadband review before signing up to their service. We have found that aol remove the Broadband connection whenever you don't use it for 15 minutes. This makes using aol Broadband rather like using a modem - you actually have to wait while you sign on every time you want to use it. Antiquated!

MAKE SURE THAT YOUR BROADBAND CONNECTION HAS THE FIREWALL BUILT INTO WINDOWS XP ENABLED. BY DEFAULT MANY ISP'S DO NOT!


KEEP AN EYE ON OUR EXCHANGE CAPACITY

As you may know we all share the same Broadband "pipe" to the outside world. It doesn't matter (with a couple of exceptions) which ISP you use, all our data leaves the Dane Hill exchange to the telephone network via the same route.

With more and more villagers taking up Broadband the time will come when BT will need to install a further "pipe". Before this happens we will all begin to experience a slow down at busy times.

If you keep an eye here it will tell you how busy our "pipe" is. When the report light there goes amber we suggest that you start telling your ISP about possible slow connections (even if you haven't yet) and BT will be encouraged to install the necessary equipment!

Naughty, but nice!

June 14th. 2004


PLEASE CHECK YOUR ACTUAL CONNECTION SPEED

We certainly haven't "got it in" for BT, but if you have paid for a Broadband service that offers connection speeds "10 times faster than dial-up" then we feel that is what you should expect to get. Now in case you don't understand how the Broadband works let us explain, it is rather like electricity. It will change in the future but at present whoever you pay for your Internet service it is through BT wires and the BT exchange that your service comes. We all share a few connections to the Broadband network but except at times of exceptional usage this should not make much difference and we should expect to be able to download a file close to 500k bits per second, which is roughly equal to 60k a second of real file download speed.

It can certainly be confusing but a good 500k connection roughly equals 450k in real life. The reason is that along with the data that we want comes "housekeeping bits" which are added to the signal at one end and have to removed again by your Broadband modem.

Today we have tested the connection speed of several users in the village and while some are getting what they pay for others most certainly are NOT. For example one aol customer is connecting at just over 300k (which is rotten) and an NDO customer is getting 466k (which is quite good). We are connecting at just over 900k (good on a 1Meg connection) while another on BTYahoo is getting 820k (which is about the minimum to expect).

Therefore we ask you to kindly check your connection speed, and if you are getting a lot more, or a lot less that the quoted speed, please get in touch. If we find that certain areas are getting a poor service we can get onto BT Wholesale and ask them to sort it out.

To check your speed please go here. Then, as the saying goes, "follow your nose" through the speed test. Please try to do the test at least twice, one at peak time (roughly 19.00 to 23.00) and one off peak. Let us know your results, it may make interesting reading. We would also like to know which road you live in so that we can find out whether those who live near to the DaneHill exchange get better speeds.

As more and more people want to work from home we reckon that Broadband availability has added £10k to every villagers house value, and it won't be too long before the available Internet connection speed will be mentioned in house sale particulars - it is getting that important!

13 May 2004


AFTER ALL THAT BT DROPS TRIGGER LEVEL SCHEME

We struggled and some say that we cheated (oops!) but we managed to reach the BT trigger level for the DaneHill exchange. 250 people signed up to Broadband so that we could all benefit and guess what - two weeks after we are Broadband enabled BT Wholesale announce that they are scrapping the trigger level scheme altogether!

Many of us thought it a cynical marketing move in the first place but from now on apparently BT will roll out Broadband across the country on an area by area basis until 96% of the population is covered by June 2005.

The other 4% are going to have to campaign long and loud to get coverage. If you are among them and would like some help please email the webmaster.

You can read the BT Wholesale details here!

12 May 2004


VILLAGE GOES BROADBAND CRAZY!

"Half the village" was Broadband activated yesterday (well 30 or 40 people anyway). Meanwhile we at HorstedKeynes.com are still waiting for our ISDN line to be converted! Connection speeds seem to be lower than expected due to the new users sharing a single connection (which will accommodate up to around 100 users although BT may well stretch it a bit). No doubt this will sort itself out as people get over the initial "bump" and their usage patterns sort themselves out. Our neighbour is downloading at the equivalent of 5 times modem speed but others seem to be getting faster connections. Others have reported getting a full speed connection - please let us know what yours is like, particularly at busy times. Remember the speed shown in your system tray is NOT your actual connection speed. Test by making a download or using one of the many speed test sites.

If YOU have Broadband and your connection is not up to scratch COMPLAIN and BT Wholesale may be persuaded to put in another box in the exchange. This applies whoever you use for Broadband in this area BT still rules, O.K.? (Nope, not for us either!)

6th May 2004


BROADBAND NOW AVAILABLE!

Well it's taken more than 2 years campaigning but today BT announced that Broadband Internet is available to most subscribers in our area. A few outlying farms and small communities are beyond the current 5.5 KM range for full ADSL, however in a new development BT announced that they have managed to extend the range for 500Kb/s Broadband to 10KM or more! As far as we can see this means that EVERYBODY in our area will be able to have Broadband by the end of the year!

Obviously we will keep you informed if and when this happens (we think that it WILL) so keep looking back.

We would like to thank everybody in the area who have supported the campaign.

28 April 2004


  YOU ARE IN: BROADBAND2

Back to main Broadband Page

1 March 2004
BROADBAND REPORT

OUR REPORT ON A LOCAL AOL BROADBAND CONNECTION IS A REVELATION

Your webmasters had the opportunity to sample the service that villagers can expect when Broadband is made generally available to the area during the first week of May this year. As we have already reported a handful of locals have been given Broadband access early so that BT can test how well the service will run.

So what is our conclusion ? Let us state from the start that the customer who offered us a demonstration had managed to subscribe themselves to aol Broadband using a very small and very plasticy modem connected to a USB port on his computer. Now we understand that aol are different to almost all other Broadband suppliers as the connection is not, repeat NOT on 24 a day 7 days a week !

Every time that our host wanted to log onto the Internet they had to go through the aol log in procedure and it took.....ages! The three images on the log in screen lit up in sequence taking perhaps half a minute to complete, this for a "fast" service is dreadful. As for the connection speed this was reported as being 256/512 i.e. from the computer to the Internet at 256k and from the Internet at 512k. Reported, is all that we can say as the actual speed of pages coming down was little better than our present dual ISDN connection! We were NOT impressed!

Next we tried performing an XP Windows update using the Internet Explorer page and the whole thing crashed! Apparently some extra software is needed before aol users can update their Windows software! After this was installed the download came at about 300k which is perhaps 5 time faster than dial-up but certainly well below the advertised 512k per second.

At least BT Internet (or BTYahoo as we now have to call them) offer 24/7 connection and when you press the "Go" button the page begins to appear immediately. Our advice is to wait until you see how fast Broadband actually is before signing up, and if you understand anything at all about computers stay well clear of aol for your Broadband services!

If YOU are one of the other "Broadband guinea pigs" in our area please do get in touch so that we can report to our readers what they can expect when it is available to everybody in the area. We have had offers from Broadband users in other areas to sample their Broadband speed. Whilst we are grateful for the offers we are here to only cover the Horsted Keynes and Danehill areas so it may mislead our readers if we report the service from town areas like Haywards Heath or East Grinstead.

 


January 14th 2004

IT CAME AND WENT IN A FLASH!

For a few delicious hours last week enquirers to BT were offered immediate activation of the BT Broadband product. It seems that this was only offered to self install enquirers so we as ISDN users had our order rejected on Monday morning. Therefore we are going to have to wait along with the rest of the village to see how good the BT Broadband service really is. We understand that "less than a dozen" subscribers are taking part in the trial so if YOU are one of the very lucky people who have been accepted and have (are are getting) Broadband now, please get in touch with us so that we can all see how good (or bad) the service is. Confidentiality is assured, less you have hoards of villagers beating a path to your door !

A small but important change has been made to the wording on the BT web site concerning our activation date. Whereas the site used to say "Broadband will be installed on 28th April 2004" the page now reads "Broadband will be installed by 28th April 2004". This could well mean that we will all be able to get Broadband earlier than we anticipated. We suggest that you keep an eye on the following BT page for the latest news http://62.172.198.79/broadband1/where_i_live/region_8.asp . Remember all the other ISP's use the BT web site as a "key" to allowing new subscribers in a particular area. This means that as soon as the page reads "active" you will be able to sign up with any ISP that you choose.

As soon as anything happens in the Broadband arena be assured we will let you know on this page !


A WiFi network for the village?

We have been approached by a resident who is thinking of setting up a WAN (Wide Area Network) around the village centre using WiFi (IEEE 802.11b) technologies. The idea being that anyone with a laptop computer could access the Internet while outside, perhaps in their garden, perhaps on the recreation ground, perhaps just a rep in the car park who needs to log in to his office during his lunch hour. There are any number of these self-help schemes, perhaps the most well known locally being www.piertopier.net which operates a network between the piers in Brighton. Obviously there are rather more computer users in Brighton than Horsted Keynes but nonetheless if you are interested in joining the scheme please get in touch so that we can put you all in touch. It occurs to us that this might be a neat way of drawing customers to the village pub(s) at lunch time or Summer evenings. We at  HorstedKeynes.Com are more than willing to put in a node (small transmitter/receiver) on the Southern extremity of the village. With permanent Broadband Internet connections all these sorts of things are feasible.

Anybody with a nice view of the green interested in putting a web camera in their window?


January 10th 2004

LIMITED LOCAL BROADBAND  SERVICE AVAILABLE NOW - TO SOME!

It has been confirmed to HorstedKeynes.Com that BT are activating a limited number of Broadband subscribers early. This is so that they can iron out any wrinkles before the official launch which is currently set for April 28th. If you would like to subscribe early just give BT a ring on 150 BUT be warned that you can ONLY sign up to the BT BROADBAND or the BT YAHOO/BROADBAND services and you will pay the full charges (£28 or £30 a month) from day one for a service which might be less than wonderful. We also understand that BT usually offer a "special discount" to those who have registered their interest to make them sign up when the service goes live. This usually comes in a special mailing set for about 1 month before activation. Sign up now and you will not get this either.

If you were planning to use one of the cheaper alternative suppliers (Freeserve give the first month free, Tiscali give a service for less than £20 a month) then you will have to wait until the BT web site says that the full service is available. This may well be a little before April 28th. so keep looking here.

However, if you are desperate for Broadband - sign up now - and please let us know how you get on.


How did BT manage to install so quickly all this expensive equipment which was the reason why we could not get Broadband ages ago, we hear you ask?

The answer ? Our BT spy tells us that one equipment rack (which gives 100 a.d.s.l. lines) has been in the exchange since last year and it took just a few hours to install! (Much of the work is actually done on computers in Tunbridge Wells and Gatwick) The other problem of bringing a Broadband "pipe" from Uckfield has been solved by "doubling up" the existing trunk line from Haywards Heath via a new circuit on the existing trunk cable. It is believed that this is one of the first times that BT have tried this doubling up by RF modulation on a long trunk route and might be one of the reasons for a protracted burning in period. Previously BT only used RF doubling on local subscriber lines. A side effect might be increased interference, particularly (but not exclusively) on the Medium and Long wave bands. If YOU are getting unusual radio interference please let us know. We are near the line and have walked beside it with a pocket radio (much to the amusement of drivers !) and can hear a buzzing on Radio 5 Live which is not that objectionable (the buzzing, not Radio 5 Live that is ;-).

Amazing how all the rules can go out of the window (see previous) when BT want, isn't it ;-)


January 9th 2004

BROADBAND NOW AVAILABLE?

We happened to contact BT today and were told that the website is wrong Broadband is now available on the DaneHill exchange! We have taken them at their word and have ordered BT Broadband for activation next week (other ISP's are NOT yet taking orders) . There is a complication as we use ISDN so we will need a visit from an engineer to get us set up. Therefore if you have a "normal" BT line and would like to order please do so and let us know how you get on.

It is possible that will all have to wait until the promised date of April but let's see what happens!

As it happens we received our ADSL modem/firewall/router today. Maybe we won't have to wait too long before we can use it!

MORE SOON


If and when Broadband does become available there are some important security implications in leaving your computer switched on and connected to the Internet all day, every day. We are preparing a special Broadband supplement which BT's possible early activation has pre empted! We will get our supplement up and running as soon as possible. In the mean time please get in touch with your webmasters for all kinds of Computer, Network, and Internet help.


 

December 17th., 2003

BT BACK PEDDLING ON THEIR FREE "MODEM" PROMISE

During the recent effort to get us through the Broadband threshold BT said that they would honour their current offer to supply a free "modem" to those signing up for BT/Yahoo Broadband before the end of the year. A number of villagers have tried to take up BT on their promise by trying to sign up for BT/Yahoo Broadband in the last few days.

The BT site now REFUSES to accept their order!

We have contacted BT/Yahoo Broadband and will report on their reply as soon as it is received. In the mean time if you do manage to sign up with a Broadband supplier and get the promise of a free Broadband "modem" please email us. Thanks,


December 28th., News

BROADBAND CABLES GOING IN ALREADY!

*   The Broadband target having been met BT are wasting no time replacing existing aluminium cored cable with the more expensive copper trunk cables that are needed in an area like Horsted Keynes where many of the subscribers are a fair distance from the exchange. Therefore if you have to wait at Stop/Go boards over the next few days remember that it is all in a good cause - bringing Broadband Internet to Horsted Keynes and Dane Hill!

*  Our Broadband service is slated to start on the 28th of April 2004 however when we at Horsted Keynes.com tried to sign up for the service on the first day we were told that no service could be arranged until one week later, that's the 5th of My 2004. And YES we DO have to pay for our Broadband "modem"!


WE WERE RIGHT!

It's nice when we get things right and we hope that it helps you feel more secure reading what we write. We still can't name our sources (or they would dry up) but we hope that you are now more assured about what you read here.

Several months ago we predicted that the Government would free up a special part of the waveband to allow Broadband internet in difficult areas (until last month that included Horsted Keynes!). We worried quiet a few people when we mentioned an aerial mast in the middle of the village! You will be pleased to read that we were 100% correct and despite objections from the Ministry of Defence a large part of the 5GHz band has been freed up. Not only that but the government are only charging each consumer 50 pence a year to use it! Read the full story here on BBC News. Remember WE got it right and first!

p.s. Now that BT have arranged for wired Broadband there will NOT be a mast in the middle of the village, stop worrying!

 

From ISP Review August 1st. 2002
www.ispreview.co.uk

BTs Ridiculous ADSL Trigger Levels

By:mark.j @ 2:56:PM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]

Brace yourself because if you've tried BTs new pre-registration system and found that your exchange has yet to be given a trigger level then things could be about to get worse.

ADSLGuide has reported on word of a meeting between Ulverston and BTs Broadband Deployment and Strategy manager, Malcom Starke, yesterday:

Paul Buck has reported that BT said the exchanges that don't have their triggers specified yet can expect the figures to be set in the next 10 days. The bad news is the triggers will be between 400 and 600, which for the smaller exchanges means it will be a very long time before this level is reached.

BT also has given some indication of timetables, they expect that most triggers will not be reached until Christmas 2002 at the earliest - this doesn't seem unreasonable if the same rate of growth can be maintained. The problem is that once the order phase of 6 weeks starts if the 75% order level is reached an exchange build will still take around another four months.


Wonderful, so even if your area could meet the madness of a 600 strong trigger level then you'd still have to wait the best part of a year before the exchange could be enabled, oh very clever BT. We thought things were supposed to get faster – NOT SLOWER!

 

 

 

THIS SERVICE IS NO MORE! KEPT FOR HISTORICAL INTEREST

New service "gives Broadband speed Internet now" for £20 a month, is it good value for money?

Personal review by Robert Philpot

Living in a rural non-cable area  I was very interested to  hear of a new service offered by a company called Ipviasat which uses spare capacity on the Sirius2 satellite at 5 degrees East to allow computer users a fast 512 Kbit per second Internet connection now. When I say connection I should say one way bandwidth, as this service uses your regular ISP for the uplink part of Internet messages, but routes all the information coming to you via the Ipviasat servers and their satellite.

The extra speed of course makes for a very fast way of viewing web pages, downloading files, and all the other things that have made the Internet so essential to us today, without having to pay for an LNB capable of uplinking to the satellite. The present subscription is just under £20 a month which allows use between 5pm and 8am Monday to Friday and anytime at weekends.

The system works like this. In your computer you install a network DVB card connected to an outside 60cm dish with a regular LNB pointing at 5 degrees East. These are all available on the Ipviasat website as a kit for £145. You must add to this the cost of having the dish professionally installed and pointed at the Sirius satellite, NOT the normal Astra satellite that we use for tv, which will cost perhaps £50 or £60. Then you will need to get somebody to open up your computer and install the card needed to receive the data from the satellite, perhaps another £30 or £40 if there are no problems and your computer has the right sort of socket.

At this point I must stress that you will need a proper satellite installer who understands what you want done. There are many cowboy firms who will say that they can do the job but will in fact not understand the work involved. As the dish supplied is just 60cm diameter it will be working at or near the threshold of noise so it is imperative that special ultra low noise cable is used and that cable must not be bent around tight corners. In short this job will take even a good man a minimum of 2 hours (unless you are VERY lucky and the dish can be sited just outside the window). Use a cowboy you WILL have problems later, trust me!

In theory this is a wonderful system for those who live "out in the sticks" and want Broadband speed Internet now, however I am rather worried about how good is your investment and how long it will last.

First there is a limit of 1GByte per month on the data that you can receive, which is fine for regular downloading, browsing etc., but uses such as Internet radio, NASA TV etc. can quickly use up your bytes. There is an inherent latency of 350 to 400 miliseconds which makes fast turnaround impossible, a system for gamers, this is not! As soon as you reach the maximum 1GBytes of data received, your connection is stopped until the 1st. of the following month. You can of course go back to using the slow return half of your regular ISP for the remainder of the month.

Then there is the Sirius satellite which is hardly the most reliable in the sky (in fact it is co-located with the very first Astra satellite 1A which is now in a very inclined orbit indeed and requires a dish capable of tracking both vertically as well as the regular East West to be used). I wonder about the long term stability of the Sirius satellites and the supplied 60cm dish is rather too near the noise threshold in much of Britain. One byte of data corrupted will make the system request a  resend of a whole data block and the request will not start until at least 400 miliseconds have elapsed! It is also perhaps interesting that Ipviasat are not issuing long term contracts, they just require 1 months payment in advance.

After this there is the problem of capacity. The system appears to use just one 33Mhz transponder on the satellite at 11.727 GHz with Horizontal polarisation. (The symbol rate is 27.500 and the FEC 3/4). If too many people subscribe then downlink speed will inevitably be compromised. There is no mention on the Ipviasat website of extra bandwidth being available in the future.

If you are truly desperate to have Broadband speeds now and don't mind the caveats above then by all means sign up for this service but I think that I will put up with my dual ISDN connection for now. However, if Ipviasat would like to make a set of equipment available for review then I will happily give the system a real workout on my network and report my findings here.

www.ipviasat.net

 

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