Providers

There are many providers for ADSL Broadband, providing broadband via your telephone line. Refer to ADSL Broadband Providers on the informative site www.adslguide.org.uk to review the list. You can select any of the providers from here and go to their website for current information.

Distance

Iwade is a fair distance from the Sittingbourne telephone exchange so the speed may be limited. Whilst BT used to refuse to install broadband on the basis of distance they now accept the business but the service has not been enhanced so you may experience problems with performance. Check availability by typing in your telephone number at bt.com/broadband.

Internal Wiring

Once you have BT Broadband into your house, it may be degraded by internal telephone extensions due to interference, quality of wire, length of wire etc. Once you've set up broadband at home, you can check the speed of your broadband connection to ensure you are getting the speed you think you are at your PC.

Useful Links

• The Broadband Resource - Technical Info on Sittingbourne Telephone Exchange relevant to Broadband
• Connectors and Wiring Diagrams
• ADSL Summary
• UK ADSL - How it all slots together

Our local Cable provider is Telewest Broadband also called Blueyonder. Higher Speeds can be achieved than through ADSL Broadband in Iwade and performance should not be affected by the number of users at any one time. Availability however is limited in Iwade as cables are not laid in every road, particularly not in the new roads (frustrating huh). Check availability by typing in your postcode at Blueyonder Postcode Check

In response to me asking whether Telewest were planning to lay more cables, they responded:

VFast provide broadband in Iwade via a new wireless standard called 'WiMAX'. This may be worth looking into, especially if you are unable to get Telewest. Take a look at their website at vfast.co.uk to find out more about what they offer although beware of setup costs.

"I've just had Telewest (blueyonder) broadband installed and very pleased with the speed at all times. I've noted the comments on this website before deciding on my service provider and given the information from locals, can say I've made the right choice. I really hope for others the availability becomes more widespread in the village."

"We also live in ferry road and are having problems accessing bt broadband via yahoo at certain times of the day. It does seem to differ from day to day but the morning ( 9.00 am -12.00) and early evening (4.00 - 8.00) seem to be a particular problem. We have contacted BT but we are also having problems getting them to acknoweldge there is a problem. We are in the process of having our wireless router replaced as they have said it is a problem with that but we have our doubts. We agree why are we paying for a service that we cannot access. at all times."

"I originally e mailed with a complaint of not receiving a service at peak times in Ferry Road. After numerous phone calls and e mails to BT they finally sent out an engineer. The problem was they had upgraded me to a faster speed free of charge and the signal from my telephone line could not cope with the speed. They have reduced the speed to 512.0 kps and problem is solved. I was told that anyone receiveing more than 512 speed was extremely lucky."

"I live in Ferry Road and have had BT Yahoo Broadband working perfectly for 10 months at a speed of 1 mbps. For the last 2 weeks at certain times of the day mainly peak times ie between 6 and 10 pm I cannot get on to my provider. BT at present refuse to recognise a congestion problem. Is there anyone else with the same problem.? If so we need to unite and keep complaining to BT until we get some improvement.Why pay for a service we are not getting."

We've recently had Telabria wireless broadband installed and in comparison to our previous supplier (Eclipse via ADSL) the service is so, so much better. With Eclipse we were limited to 512kb due to our distance from the Sittingbourne exchange. We also experienced regular outages and a generally unreliable service.
With Telabria we receive 3mb and also obtain 512kb upstream which is double most ADSL providers. The service is slightly more expensive @ £29.99 per month but is reliable and theoretically 6 times faster. A 1.5mb service is also available @ £19.99 per month.
The only negative point is that Telabria do not yet have an online control panel to allow the creation of new email addresses and management of users/passwords. Apparently this is due in February so it's not too big a deal.
Overall I would recommend Telabria over ADSL for users in the village. It does require an antenna to be installed at the highest point of your house which, whilst not intrusive, is not the most attractive addition to your property.
Still, if you want 3mb broadband in Iwade then this is probably your only option.

"Broadband is very good, i have had no problems at all"

"I live in Mallard Crescent and had problems as some others have with being three storey, losing strength through phone sockets etc - I ended up getting wireless broadband with wanadoo but still sometimes have problems"

"We have been living in Iwade for a year now and we purchased a Ward Homes house and have had problems with Broadband from day one. I should have a connection speed of 2GB but are only achieving 540 at best. It's been very frustrating but a least I can use it now without getting knocked off line. I finally got BT to fit a V1.0 splitter which has helped but they keep telling us we are too far from the exchange to get any faster speeds."

"I live in Stangate Drive and since being stung by the collapse of Kent provider "E7 Broadband" where I used to get a reasonable 512kbs download speed (not bad given the distance), I have now moved to Sky broadband. Much to my surprise, Sky have already installed thier own ADSL+ equipment into the Sittingbourne exchange and I am am very pleased to now be recieving a very reliable connection that varies between 700Kbs and 1.2Mbs (the variations are normally due to weather conditions which although may sound like a disadvantage, it means that rather than being locked to a lower "safe" speed, the equipment will go as fast as it reliably can given the current conditions).
I do occasionally have problems with the provided wireless router (a bargian at £40 fully configured)but the simple solution is to turn it off for a few mins. I am certainly not complaining though as it costs me nothing (2GB capped which I have never hit) and even the £10pm uncapped is still an absolute bargain ! On top of that, the setup could not be any simpler and there is no unecesary rubbish installed to slow your PC down - well done Sky, highly recommended."

"I had 2.2Mbps, until just before xmas. My connection kept dropping out, after 3 long- long distance calls they sent out an engineer and I should not be on that speed? As a result of this I've been downgraded to 512kbps!!! and still not had a reply from Tiscali about any of this. I sent an email about a reduction in my bill and compensation for the lose of service, to date I've never had a reply and the only contact I've had with them is when I phone on there long distance number.I have emailed in the past with other issues, that they do not reply to. There customer service is useless to say the least. I have a reasonable idea about computers and told them it was a problem with the line, they were insistent that it wasn't- until an engineer came out after the 3 calls I made to them!!!!! If you are looking to get broadband- avoid Tiscali- they are cheap- but so is the service.

"Live in Sanderling Way, 500K connection with Wanadoo, like many others have been told that is as fast as it gets! It has been slowing up in the evenings recently."

"We live in Sanderling Way, and have wireless Broadband from Wanadoo, it is much faster than dial up and generally we are pleased with it however we do have a problem,we signed up for 2MB but because of our location can only have a 500 link, we lose the line quite a lot and have to re start the wireless box, having asked my IT department in work they suggest that the problem could be the distance that we from the exchange and the amount of traffic using the link? I think the wireless package from Wanadoo is good value for money because we can use 2 computers at a time as well as free phone calls after 6 and all weekend, My children can use their computers upstairs via a wireless transmitter and I can use the laptop downstairs via an ethernet cable, this means that we don't have to have wires all round the house, I can also use the laptop in the garden via the wireless transmitter if I want."

"Experience of Broadband is that it is very slow here in Iwade. It is better than nothing but I will be pleased when they upgrade the telephony equipment"

"We are lucky enough to be able to have Telewest Broadband as we have cables laid in School Lane. We pay £25 for 4meg speed Broadband and have had no problems. We've had it for over a year now. I'd recommend it if you can get it where you live. We have installed a wireless network so can share the connection across multiple computers."

"As for internet I decided on BT internet when I purchased my package some ten years ago. Back then Broadband was not available something to do with cabling. Recently I have been thinking about using Broadband and would be interested to know what problems you're having. I never have problems with the BT internet and am always able to connect first time, as for speed it takes around 25 seconds to access my homepage."

"I live in Woodpecker Drive and have and use Broadband. My supplier is Wanadoo at a speed of 576.0 Kbps. Wanadoo offer a speed of up to 2.0Mbps but I am unable to receive it at speeds greater than 576. If it was available to me in Woodpecker Drive at a faster speed I would like to be able to use it."

"I currently have a broadband connection with AOL on a BT phoneline, I am constantly losing my connection, on average once every 5 minutes. British Telecom have checked our phoneline twice and say we are "too far from the exchange and the lines go all around Sittingbourne before coming to Iwade. I spoke to AOL and they have offered a full refund and have suggested I go back to dial up." (Mansfield Drive)

"We have BT 512Kbs. SUPER easy to set up." (Mansfield Drive)