Billion 7800n router -> 25% ADSL speed improvement

In the outer spiral arm of the BT ADSL network, a 25% improvement in performance is a big deal.

After reading some good reviews, I bought a Billion BiPAC 7800N router. In part so I could play with adjusting the signal to noise ratio.

We were on about 400k on the BT proivided router on the worse of the 2 lines I have. Now with the new Billion router we are up to 575k after about a week. It is stable and I have not yet started playing with SNR so there may be some performance still left to  force out of the setup, but will this impact reliability.

I am only running it wired at the moment. Will start using the wireless at some point, though even the BT hubs seems to be pretty good at spreading a signal through thick walls now.

So far an excellent router and well worth the money. I shall update with the impact of playing with SNR and it has had a period of stability of at least 2 weeks.

Warren and the Cloud

I was sent this by BT this week.

Keep your files safe with new BT Cloud.

     Hello,

What's BT Cloud?
It's a personal online storage space for your files, photos and videos. Which means you get secure access to your stuff online – wherever and whenever you want, on whatever you want so long as you have an internet connection. And with BT Cloud, sharing your digital life is much easier, too.

Your BT Total Broadband Option 1 package comes with 2GB of storage – giving you space to stash 1,000 documents, some films or around 2,000 photos.

✔    You won't lose your files
When you've set up BT Cloud on your computer, smartphone or tablet, it automatically saves a copy of all the files you have selected for backup. So the latest versions are always protected.


✔    Get your digital life anywhere
You can see your files wherever you are, as long as you're online. Get onto your BT Cloud on a computer, or with the BT Cloud app on your tablet or smartphone.


✔    And sharing is easy
With BT Cloud you can share files by email. And post pictures and videos on Facebook and Twitter.


✔    Free up space on your devices
Upload a few files to your BT Cloud and you can free up space on your tablet or smartphone.

How to get BT Cloud
To find out more about BT Cloud, click here. To get onto BT Cloud, all you need to do is log in to My BT.

Thanks for choosing BT.

Warren Buckley
Managing Director, Customer Service


Dear Warren,

Thank you for your insightful email. What wondeful opportunities it will open up for us. I would love to sign up to your service and use the BT Cloud right away.

I am downloading a Java update for the Mac as I type and it will take 3 hours for 66MB to download, though it is currently the slowest time of day. However, our upload speed is 1/2 the download speed, so that is around 10MB an hour.

I have calculated to use all of the 2GB of storage you have offered me would take roughly  200 hours of continual upload, that is 8 of your earth days ! I have a couple of 2gb plus USB sticks I got as free gifts as various events. If I put the various files on the USB stick and pop them in the post to you, could you download the contents onto the BT Cloud for us and then keep the USB stick somewhere safe incase we need the files back. I will enclose some stamps as I would not wish you to be out of pocket.

Your loyal customer

Clive