BT VISION (not available in Sydenham?)

[The Eagle]

No doubt you have all seen the adverts re BT Vision.
I have been told by BT Vision that although I have an 8 meg max broadband line (set to 7,616 Kbps) the Sydenham exchange cannot have BT Vision on it. There explanation was, apparently Sydenham exchange only has a maximum of 2 meg (not BT Broadband related?) and the minimum required is 2.5 meg. Therefore NO ONE is Sydenham can have BT Vision. I questioned this with BT and told them I find it ridiculous that BT Vision are spending millions on advertising this product, and a predominantly residential area in London cannot meet the spec.

Unfortunately I do not always trust information that I get from certain people within BT and would be interested to know whether anyone knows any people that are on the Sydenham Exchange that have BT Vision.

[stuart]

Interesting. What's your achievable download speed?

Like you - my router syncs at 7,616 Kbps but on tests I usually get readings in the 2 to 2.7Gbps range through one of the faster ISPs and I'm within 1/2 mile of the exchange. This is above BT's minimum guarantees for MaxADSL so my ISP cannot raise a fault.

I get better speeds on my other connection on a Welsh hill 4 miles from the exchange on a much lower sync.

Speed tests I use:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://www.dslzoneuk.net/speedtest.php
http://speedtester.bt.com/

Stuart

[The Eagle]

In the peak periods (6 - 9 pm) my download speed can drop significently. However during the other times I nearly always get above 6000kbps. My favourite speedtester is http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/.
One has to be careful when using speedtesters as thse do not really give a true reading and many factors can influence it.

If I am downloading (bit torrent site) I often obtain speeds of nearly 8 meg. I would ask your ISP to ask BT to reset your snyc as obviously something is wrong.

[The Eagle]

Reason BT Vison not available in Sydenham (OFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM BT )



Thank you for your email dated 23/5/07 about BT Vision.

I am very sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced in receiving BT Vision.

Up to 8 MB BT Total Broadband is subject to various factors including local availability, distance from exchange and line test. ?Up to 8Mb' refers to maximum download speeds only (upload speeds are slower). BT Total Broadband is subject to availability and survey. If your line won't support up to 8Mb we'll offer the best speed available on your line.

For BT Vision to be compatible on your line you must get a BT Total Broadband Max minimum line speed of above 2Mb, should the line fall below 2Mb BT Vision is not likely to work as it should.

To check the compatibility of your line please visit www.bt.com/btvision/vis_line_details.jsp

BT Wholesale shall be upgrading all exchanges between 2008-2012 which shall then give you a faster Broadband speed, please visit www.switchedonuk.org to view when your exchange is to be upgraded.

Once again please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Thank you for contacting BT.

Yours sincerely,

Angela Connor
BT Vision Customer Services

[Savvy]

We've got BT Vision and we live off Westwood Hill. So far its been fine. We haven't tested it to its full capacity so I really can't comment on the full package - so far we've only recorded programmes and not downloaded anything as we've had little time. We have 8mb.