Tim FitzGerald – Page 2

End of the analogue phone system

BT/Openreach has announced that it will be closing the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by the end of 2025. Analogue voice services will be replaced by an internet-based digital voice service. This change may impact as many users as the change of television services from analogue to digital some 15 years ago. There are nearly 30 million landlines in use in the UK in 2021. Some 2.3 million of these do not have broadband.

Why?
The PSTN relies upon copper wires (telephone lines) to connect the phone in the home to the telephone exchange. These wires carry voice as electrical signals between the exchange and the home. Copper wires are being replaced by fibre-optic cables, which do not carry electrical signals. These fibre-optic cables are being used to carry fast (gigabits per second) internet services to the home. The copper wires are sometimes still connected to old exchange equipment and this equipment is becoming very expensive to maintain. Openreach also plans to close thousands of local telephone exchange buildings as these will be redundant.

Internet over phone lines
For nearly 20 years these telephone lines have also been used to carry broadband internet services to the home and this will continue until they are replaced by fiber-optic cables. The mobile phone network can also be used to carry internet services to the home. The company from which you get your phone and/or internet services is your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your ISP will continue to provide internet services on either the existing phone lines or new fibre-optic cables. These are provided via underground ducts or overhead using telephone poles.

Digital Voice by BT
BT has introduced a new service called Digital Voice and BT customers are being converted from PSTN to Digital Voice. The new digital voice service will utilise Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services. VOIP carries voice on the internet as digital signals. Your ISP will provide the necessary equipment with which to terminate your landline and connect your home telephone and other internet-connected devices. Many other companies (A&A, Vonage, etc.) have similar VOIP services and offer these at attractive prices.

Power cut issues
Will VOIP services work if there’s a power cut? The old PSTN phone services are powered by the phone network and will normally work in the event of a power cut. This is not true of digital services. The termination devices supplied by your ISP will require power and will not work when there is a power cut. Most households have access to a mobile phone which will work in the event of a power cut. However, not all homes have a mobile phone. Your ISP is responsible for ensuring you can make an emergency (999) call even when the power is out.

Support for vulnerable people
The winter storms of 2020 caused prolonged power outages in various parts of the country. These outages highlighted the challenges for vulnerable and elderly people who rely on the PSTN for essential communications. Openreach has acknowledged the need to identify these vulnerable citizens and to ensure they are not cut off when the PSTN shuts down.

Personal Alarms
Users of personal alarms need to check with their alarm provider their equipment is capable of being connected in the new digital environment. Most major telecare providers have suitable equipment but there are well over a million users of some sort of personal alarm system in the UK.

Burglar Alarms
Like with personal alarms (see above), users of burglar alarm systems that are connected via the telephone need to check with their alarm provider.

Planning for the change
Landline users should begin to plan the changeover from PSTN to VOIP for phone services, it might be unwise to leave the change too late. Some early small-scale pilots (in Salisbury and Mildenhall) have already been done and larger pilots are planned for 2023. BT is no longer selling new PSTN services in many areas, including Yorkshire, Humberside and Northern Ireland. Existing PSTN services will no longer be maintained in those areas. Existing BT users are being offered the opportunity to move to VOIP services.

Planning for the future
Any upcoming purchase of domestic or business telephone equipment should be reviewed in light of these upcoming changes. All existing systems that use the phone line should be reviewed to check they will work after the digital switchover.

Changes in Surrey Heath
I note the Bagshot exchange is the first in the Surrey Heath area to introduce the change – this will commence in August 2023 when BT/Openreach will restrict new sales and repairs of PSTN landlines served by the Bagshot exchange.

BT’s Regional Digital Voice Rollout Plan – 2023/24

Autumn 2023

North West
London

Spring 2024

West Midlands
South East
Wales
East Anglia

Summer 2024

North East
Scotland
South West

Read more:- Which?
Read more:- Daily Telegraph — 1 — 2 — 3
Read more:- Digital Health
Read more:- Daily Mail
Read more:- ISPReview – here
Read more:- ISPReview – from 2017 and from Jun 2023 – Aug 2023
Read more:- Vodaphone
Read more:- AgeUK
Read more:- Zen – Zen
Read more:- Register

Don’t use your ISP’s Email Address

Most internet service providers (ISP) provide you with an email address. It’s usually how you log into their website to access your account information, pay bills online, etc, so it makes sense that they do this.

I offer the following advice:

Don’t use your ISP’s email address as your primary email address.

Switching ISPs

I hear you asking “why not?” Well, the only reason you really need is the fact that you might switch ISPs at some point in the future. If you switch ISPs, what happens to your ISP email account when you stop paying the ISP for your internet service? Some ISPs might let you keep it, but it’s not really in their best interest to provide that email service when you’re no longer paying them on a monthly basis.

ISP’s are getting out the email business

Sometimes ISP’s close, go out of business or are taken over by another ISP. Tiscali was taken over and is closing their email service or asking users to pay to keep it open. Click here. Or here. Or here.

Some ISPs (VM, Sky) are no longer providing email addresses for new customers. It doesn’t seem they have a long-term committment to provide email services. I also hear that one ISP is proposing to close its email service whilst continuing as an ISP – Click Here

Changing email providers

As anyone who has done it can attest, it’s not easy to change your email address. Think of the hundreds of friends, family, websites, retailers, etc. that use your email address to communicate with you. Do you really remember every important website or service that you registered your email address with? They probably include your bank, utilities, social networks, shopping websites like Amazon, entertainment services like iTunes and Netflix, your school, your employer, various reward/loyalty clubs for stores, and the list goes on. If you switch ISPs, you’ve got to log in to each account and update your email address. What a pain!

Feature Limitations

I have yet to see an ISP’s email service match the feature set of top email services like Gmail or Outlook. There are advantages and disadvantages in using any email provider – lets look at some issues:

Email Integrity

Are the contents of the email you send or receive secure from prying eyes? Be aware that email is generally considered to be insecure. There are new email services that encrypt the data – these are much more secure.

IMAP vs POP3

Email services from many ISPs only support the POP3 standard instead of the IMAP standard. IMAP allows you to sync your email across multiple devices like your smartphone, desktop PC, laptop, tablet, etc. Any change you make on one device, such as deleting a message, will be reflected on all of the other devices. It also supports most email functions like moving messages into folders.

POP3 is more limited; it simply downloads a copy of an email when you open it on a device and either delete it from the server (so it is only accessible on the device you first viewed it on) or leaves a copy on the server (so when you delete it from the device you viewed it on, it will actually still be on the server and all of your other devices). POP3 is not a secure protocol.

Additional Features and Services

Does your ISP’s email service offer automatic message labeling/sorting, lightning-fast search, and filtering, or value-adds like cloud storage, a calendar, or a task list? Does your provider do a good job at identifying and sorting spam emails? Look for an email provider that offers you features you can use to your advantage.

Past Performance

Yahoo’s services have had multiple security breaches a few years ago, affecting millions of users. This makes me very unsure about using it as my primary email account. Other email providers have experienced other issues. See here
Virgin Media users suffered several multi-day email outages in 2023
– see here and here

Advertising

Some email providers rely on advertising for revenue and interrupt your email experience with unwanted advertising. All free email service providers are using you as their source of revenue; usually, so they can advertise to you. The better email providers do not put advertising into their web-based email solutions or into their email applications.

A Better Email Solution

What’s the alternative? The alternative is to use an email service like Gmail, or Outlook. There are alternatives, but both Gmail and Outlook continue to add features that make managing email easier and faster. These email services also come with secure online storage for files – Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. Both offer online word-processing and spreadsheet applications (Google Docs, Microsoft Office365) that provide office application functionality, with co-authoring and file-sharing capabilities.

Users of Apple products may wish to remain faithful to Apple and use iCloud.

Gmail

The obvious next question is what email address should you use? Gmail has the advantage of being a familiar name, being free, and offering lots of storage for attachments. But it’s also hard to get the email address you want, and you do sign away significant chunks of your privacy.

Outlook

If you can cope with an Outlook.com address then this would be my preference, although the same caveats about privacy apply. Outlook offers all the benefits of Gmail. Microsoft’s Hotmail email service has been incorporated into Outlook.

Email Security

Email is not at all secure. The email provider can (and sometimes does) read the content of your emails and use the information gathered for their own purposes. Email can be made more secure by encrypting the content but this is complex and not for the average user. If you want secure email there are a few providers of email services with enhanced security – notably Proton Mail.

Email applications

There are plenty of email applications for Windows, Mac, Android, or iPhone. These offer plenty of features and are often more feature-rich than the standard web-based application. Use an email application, by all means, if they offer you what you want.

Email service providers to avoid

Avoid all email service providers whose primary activity is being an ISP eg:- ntlworld, virginmedia, btinternet, talk21, talktalk, sky, vodafone, tiscali, ee, o2, plusnet. Also avoid some of the older original email providers eg:- aol, etc.

Multi Factor Authentication

What is MFA? Two-factor authentication (2FA) or Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is a way of strengthening the login security of your online accounts. It’s similar to how an ATM works. You need both your debit card (first factor) and your PIN (second factor) to access your account and withdraw cash. The main objective is better security. If your card is stolen, they still need your PIN. If your PIN is stolen, they still need your card. Enabling MFA will help to stop hackers from getting into your accounts, even if they have your password. If you are using an email service that does not offer MFA, please consider switching to an email provider that does.

How do I enable MFA on my accounts? Here are links you can use to enable MFA on some of the most popular online services and apps:

An independent review of free email services can be found here – Jan 2023

For more of the government’s latest advice on how to stay secure online, visit the Cyber Aware website: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberaware

End-to-End Encryption

Email was not designed to be secure. Although some email providers use encrypted transport, email content is stored unencrypted. There are ways to encrypt the email content. There are also a few providers making secure email available to all by using end-to-end encryption.. It should be noted that when the email is sent to an email provider that does not use end-to-end encryption then the secure nature of the email will be lost.
If the security of the content of your email is key to you then you may wish to use one of these providers. Proton Mail is just one example of secure email providers. A list of secure email providers is available here

Passwords

Most important of all your password is key to the security of your email.
– Don’t forget to change your passwords regularly
– Be sure your password is complex and not easy to guess
– Be sure you can remember your passwords
– Consider using a password manager

Summary

I recommend not using email addresses provided by ISPs but using the email services provided by Microsoft, Google, or Apple. However, if you can’t stand the thought of not using your old and familiar ISP’s email service, then relegate it to the purpose of signing up for services and websites that you think might send a lot of spam. Then, if and when you decide the website or service is OK, you can update your account with your primary email address.

By all means, use more than one email address; in practice, it’s a good idea to have several email addresses. You can set up your email application and your web-based email reader (Gmail or Outlook) to read the emails of several addresses.

You may want to use one email address for higher security use (eg: online banking); another for online retail (eg: Amazon, eBay), and yet another for social media use, etc.

Read about a survey which claims that fear of Email Loss stops 2 Million UK Homes Switching ISP

5G – What is it?

Fifth-generation mobile telecoms, known as 5G, is the next step change in mobile networking, very similar to the changes in previous generations of mobile telecoms technology. These changes are made possible by new and faster data transmission technologies and the new and faster processors for mobile telephony.

5G is a new digital system for transmitting data over the air. It uses a 5G-NR (New Radio) interface, along with other new technologies, that will, in the future, utilise much higher radio frequencies (28 GHz compared to 700-2500 Mhz for 4G) to transfer much more data over the air for faster speeds, reduced congestion and lower latency. Until the introduction of mmWave, 5G will use much the same radio frequencies as existing 4G.

This new radio interface, which will use the millimetre wave (mmWave) spectrum, enables more devices to be used within the same geographic area; 4G can support about 4,000 devices per square kilometre, whereas 5G will support around one million. The high-density capacity of mmWave technology will be particularly useful in a sports stadium, city centres and where large crowds gather, but not necessarily in suburban or rural areas where the existing radio frequencies will be used since mmWave radio signals travel much shorter distances.

Just as the mobile phone has significantly replaced the need for a home phone, 5G has the potential to displace some of the wired telephone and broadband networks. People could use a 5G WiFi router instead of paying for in-home wired broadband – this will suit renters who don’t necessarily want broadband contracts tied to a property.

The latest high-performance microprocessors in mobile phones now enable affordable mobile phones to create and display HD video as well as voice and messages. Mobile phone manufacturers predict that hundreds of millions of new phones will be sold in the next few years. Pricing will drop significantly as production ramps up.

The same technology of high-performance microprocessors will be used in the nodes of the 5G network to process the gigabytes of data passing through these nodes every second. The latest high-performing antenna technology will be used to optimise the use of the radio spectrum.

https://www.mobilephonehistory.co.uk/history/time_line.php

https://rantcell.com/comparison-of-2g-3g-4g-5g.html

https://www.raconteur.net/technology/5g/4g-vs-5g-mobile-technology/

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/05/rootmetrics-test-5g-mobile-broadband-speeds-in-4-uk-cities.html

Safety
Much has been written about the safety of 5G technology. Almost none of this stands up to scientific scrutiny. In the UK, most 5G implementations in the next few years will use radio frequencies already allocated to existing mobile phone use. The power limits have not been changed. Therefore the public will not be exposed to any sinister radiation from 5G masts; nothing more than we are already exposed to.

The vast majority of radiation absorbed by one’s body is from mobile phone handsets and not from mobile phone masts. We all have the option of not carrying a mobile phone which will reduce the amount of radiation to which we are exposed by 10,000 times.

Let us consider the radio power of various transmitting devices:-
– WiFi uses about 100mW of power
– A mobile phone uses < 200mW of power
– A mobile base station used about 20W of power
– A microwave oven is about 800W

By way of comparison, the Crystal Palace TV tower in London used 200kW when transmitting analogue TV and it did so for many years with few ill effects being seen in the population of London.

Gen – Date	Terms Used	Typical Data Speeds	Theoretical Data Speeds
1G – 1985	Analog, ETACS	–	–
2G – 1993	GSM, GPRS, CMDA	64 kbps	64 kbps
3G – 2004	UMTS, HSPA+	2 Mbps	20 Mbps
4G – 2010	LTE, WiMAX	50 Mbps	1 Gbps
5G – 2020		400 Mbps	10 Gbps

Early implementations of 6G are expected in the 2028-2030 timeframe.

Option for a VOIP phone service

There are several options for getting VOIP phone service in preparation for the shutdown of the PSTN phone system in the UK.
There are options because the mobile phone market is well developed and there are numerous packages that include unlimited and cheap phone calls to both landlines and mobiles.
At this time (Apr 2022) the VOIP marketplace has not developed in the same way; I expect it will. develop and more players will enter the market with innovative pricing.

Users may wish to retain their landline number, even if they have a mobile phone.
The term ‘landline’ refers to having a phone number with 01 or 02 prefixes. These options are for outgoing calls to the UK only. If you need packages for calling abroad then you may wish to seek further advice for the cheapest options.

Let us consider 4 options:

Have no landline phone and rely on mobile phones
Have landline for incoming calls only – rely on mobile phones for out-going calls
Have landline for calls to landlines – rely on mobiles for calls to mobiles
Have landline for both incoming and out-going to both mobiles and landlines

Rely solely on mobiles
If you are prepared to discontinue your landline number then this is perhaps the easiest option. Seek out the best network provider that enables you to get good phone coverage in the places you use your phone. Home and work are two such places. Obtain a SIM which offers unlimited outgoing calls. This should cost about £6.00 per month. If you require to have a significant amount of data then that will cost extra.
Cost £6.00 per month

Rely on mobiles for all outgoing calls
This option is really for those who wish to retain their old 01 or 02 prefixed number for incoming calls from friends, family and business. Obtain a SIM as above for mobile calls. For VOIP service sign up with Sipgate for their basic VOIP service. Sipgate basic is free for incoming calls but costs for outgoing calls. Note that calls to mobiles cost £0.10 per minute – a one-hour chat will cost £6.00 which is as much as it costs for unlimited calls on a mobile SIM.
Cost £6.00 per month

Rely on mobiles for calls to mobiles and landline for landline calls
Sipgate offers an unlimited landline calls package for £10.00 per month. You will need to be careful not to make calls to mobiles on the landline as these will cost £10.00 per minute.
The total cost is something like £16.00 per month

Have both landline and mobile with unlimited calls
Vonage offers call packages with unlimited calls to landline and options for unlimited calls to mobiles. The combined cost for unlimited landline and mobile calls is about £13.00 monthly with one-time setup costs of £15.00.
So for unlimited landline and unlimited mobiles that is £19.00 per month

Porting your existing number to a VOIP provider
It is possible to transfer your existing phone number to a VOIP provider. However, the process is far from easy and will incur some costs. Care needs to be taken to time the porting of the number to the VOIP provider because the process may cause the existing phone line (phone and broadband) to be terminated. Phone companies need to refine their processes for number porting so that existing lines are not ceased inadvertently.

If moving from ADSL/VDSL to fibre to the home (FTTH) service then the timing is best left until the FTTH service is running, the VOIP service is running and the ADSL/VDSL service is no longer needed and can be ceased.
If going to VOIP and retaining the ADSL/VDSL line then great care is needed.

Digital Voice – click here

Toob – installation & performance

Location of Router and ONT

You need to plan where your Optical Network Termination (ONT) box and WiFi router are to be located. The ONT needs to located on an outside wall where the fibre-optic cable enters your house. These devices do not need to be co-located but need to be connected via ethernet. Each device requires mains power.

WiFi
If you are to rely on the toob router as your only point for WiFi access then the router location is key to good WiFi performance. There are guides for finding the optimal location for your WiFi router on the internet. The best place is probably not where you have your existing router; like in amongst the jumble of wires behind the TV.

Mesh WiFi
If you have a larger home, consider using a mesh WiFi system to deliver high-speed WiFi throughout your home. This might replace the toob WiFi service from the router.

Telephone
If you need to connect wired telephones to the router then this adds another factor to the decision about the location of the router.

In 2024, toob started to ship a toob branded Linksys (model SPNMX55 – AX5400) router as standard equipment.

This new router offers WiFi-6 support and links with other similar devices to form a mesh WiFi network for larger homes. This router is available on eBay for ~£50.00

Performance

I left the service running for a day or so and started testing in earnest. I connected my existing mesh WiFi to the toob router and found I could get 100 Mbps or more throughout the house and into the garden. Upload and download speeds were similar with both speeds being slightly slower in the evening. In many rooms in my house, I can see speeds approaching 450Mbps, via mesh WiFi.

Ethernet attached devices are delivering 900Mbps+ upload and download. These speeds have remained consistant throughout the first year of operation (May 2022 – May 2023). Ping speeds are consistently <6ms.

I found that older PCs were not able to deliver the full gigabit speeds but were limited to <100 Mbps.

Reliability

A network analysis tool has found that the reliability is high (99.99% and more) with only a couple of very brief interruptions in service.

There have been a few longer interruptions in service in the first year of operation. Two of these were pre-announced via email and one was an unplanned interruption.

On the latter occasion, in April 2024, I contacted toob by email and they advised there was indeed an issue overnight (02:00-06:00).
In August 2024 there was an interruption in service of 2.5 hours from 18:00.

Ping analysis has shown that there is no perceptible packet loss (failed pings) during normal operation.

Limitations of using CGNAT

Like some ISP’s and many mobile network companies, toob is using Carrier Grade Network Address Translation (CGNAT) in their network to provide your IP address. You can find out about CGNAT here or on Wikipedia. The fact that toob uses CGNAT should not be an issue for most users.

some advanced gamers will find CGNAT quite limiting.
If you want to establish a connection to your network devices from the wider internet
(eg; running a web server or VPN server) then you will also have some challenges.

Toob offers a static IP address option, for an additional monthly fee. Other CGNAT workarounds are available including Cloudflare tunnels, OpenVPN cloud, ZeroTier and Tailscale.

3G shutdown in the UK

Mobile phone operators in the UK are preparing to close down their 3G networks.

There are 4 mobile network operators (MNO) in the UK

Vodafone
Three
O2
EE

If you buy a phone or SIM from another provider (an MNVO) then that provider uses one of the 4 networks listed above. A list of MNVOs is available here.

The image below shows the major MNVOs and their associated MNOs.

The UK MNOs are preparing to shut down their 3G networks.
This 3G shutdown is in progress in Europe, Australia and in the USA. It has been completed in a few countries in Europe. Most people won’t be affected as the overwhelming majority of phones released in the UK in the past 10 years are working on 5G and 4G, as well as 3G. However, users of 3G-only phones may be impacted; there may be millions of older 3G-only phones in the UK. There are over 80 million mobile phone subscriptions in the UK in 2021.

Very little data is carried by the 3G networks – some operators report (in 2021) that as little as 2% of their data is 3G originated data. 2G networks may remain in use for longer than 3G because it offers wide coverage and comparatively low power requirements which make them ideal for some IoT deployments.

Smart gas and electricity meters use the O2 2G network in much of England and Wales. In the north of England and Scotland, smart meters use a long-range radio network (400MHz) provided by Arqiva, which also provides telecom networks for the emergency services, including RNLI. Smart meters may require upgrading to 4G technology in the next few years.

The radio frequencies used by the 3G networks will be re-purposed for use in the 5G networks that the MNOs are busy installing in many areas of the UK. MNOs spent some £22.5bn for the rights to use these radio frequencies at the auction of the UK radio spectrum in 2000. Three launched the UK’s first 3G network in 2003.

Some areas of the UK do not have a good 4G (or 5G) signal and depend upon 3G for data. Based on coverage data, approximately 2.2% of the UK is only covered by a 3G signal. For the most part, this is in remote locations such as rural Scotland, parts of North Norfolk, Wales and Cornwall. The MNOs should be expanding their 4G networks to provide coverage to these areas before the 3G shutdown.

Does this affect me?
If you’re a customer of a UK MNO or MNVO with an older mobile phone that doesn’t have 4G or 5G, you will no longer be able to use it for data once the 3G network is switched off by your MNO.

To check if your phone works on 4G or not, visit the IMEI Info website. By following the website’s instructions, you’ll find and type in your phone’s 15-digit IMEI number. After typing in this unique identifying number, you will see a webpage listing your phone’s specifications. If it has a tick in the ‘LTE’ box (LTE or Long-Term-Evolution is another term for 4G), then your phone can use mobile data on 4G networks.

What does 3G mean?
2G is short for the second generation mobile phone network.
Terms like EDGE and GPRS refer to 2G technologies. Data rates of 48 Kbps are possible.
3G is the third generation of mobile phone technologies.
Terms like HSPA, HSPA+ and refer to 3G, Data rates of several Mbps are possible.
4G is therefore the fourth generation.
Terms like LTE refer to 4G. Data rates of 100Mbps are possible.
5G refers to the fifth generation. Data rates measured in Gbps are theoretically possible but, in practice, speeds up to 500 Mbps can be expected in early 5G networks.
6G is in the planning and design phase.

Vodafone has announced it has closed its 3G network in February 2024.
EE is reporting it has turned off the last of its 3G network in February 2024.
Three say they will close their 3G network by the end of 2024.
O2 announced their 3G network will close by the end of 2025.

The British government is aiming to shut down all 2G and 3G networks by 2033 at the latest. EE has said, as coverage of 4G and 5G is rolled out, it hopes to be able to shut down its 2G network as soon as 2025.

Will my older phone work?
If you use an old mobile phone that is not 4G capable then you may no longer be able to access the internet when your MNO shuts its 3G service, unless it uses the O2 network. You can search to find your phone’s capabilities here on GSM-Arena’s website.
If your phone did not receive the Emergency Alert (Apr 23, 2023) then it may not be 4G capable.

What should I do if I have an older mobile phone
If you have identified that your phone is not 4G capable then you have options

Switch provider to O2
If you are happy with your 3G phone, then you need not worry – you can switch providers to O2 which is not shutting down its 3G service until the end of 2025. Go to the O2, Giffgaff, Tesco mobile website or the O2 local shop and get a suitable SIM. Go through the procedure to transfer your phone number to the new provider. This option may be cheaper than your existing supplier.
Acquire a 4G capable phone to replace your existing phone. Plenty of new or refurbished 4G phones are available on eBay for good prices – well under £100 for a new phone. It is suggested that you don’t go out and buy a new state-of-the-art 5G capable phone costing hundreds of pounds, as there are cheaper routes to resolve your dilemma.

The Guardian

Wikipedia explanation of 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G

Smart Meters and Issues

Toob progress

In late 2020 there was a big fanfare when toob announced it was to install gigabit internet connectivity in Camberley and Frimley.

Benefits of new technology internet services.

Who is toob?

Toob is a Portsmouth based ‘altnet’ company that is installing gigabit internet networks in Portsmouth, Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford and Southampton. Locally toob is expanding its network to Blackwater and beyond.

Toob’s infrastructure build

In Sep 2020, toob sought planning permission to erect a cabin at Camberley Cricket Club to house the necessary infrastructure for a fibre-optic gigabit network hub. The company already operate a gigabit internet service in Southampton, offering speeds of up to 900Mbps (both download and upload speed).

By Apr 2021 the cabin had been installed and design and implementation works were in progress. Ducts were being surveyed and cleared in several areas of Camberley. Toob planned to use BT/Openreach ducts, where it could, and to deliver to houses using Openreach’s poles where this was the means of delivery of telephone service. This work and new duct laying work continued slowly and neat green roadside cabinets started to appear. It seemed that there was only a small workforce deployed on this phase of the project.

By Feb 2022, some progress was being seen in Hillcrest Road. The route seemed to be along Crawley Ridge, Portsmouth Road, into Wellington Park. Work was in progress to connect the various telephone poles to the underground ducts. New sub-ducts were being installed, where necessary. Strange markings appeared on Openreach chambers. I suspect there may need to be a new duct laid in the lower parts of Hillcrest Road. There was a significant amount of new duct laid to the flats opposite Seymour Drive from Highbury Close. Work was also seen in neighbouring streets like Beaufront Road and Iberian Way.

In Feb 2022, toob’s website announced that it was taking orders for some parts of Camberley, other parts were ‘in build’ while our area remained ‘in design’.

I wondered how long it might be until we were in the ‘taking orders’ category. A few months I expect. But I am sure it will be worth it.

March 14 2022 – I saw CBTs being installed on poles in Church Hill. CBTs have been spotted on poles in Hillcrest Road as well. Also work is starting north of the A30

Toob has connected users already – Surrey Live March 4

Users of the new toob internet service are generally very pleased with their offering.
Their installation experience was good, performance is as described and others report no interruptions in service. The WiFi is much superior to VM’s WiFi offering and one user reports he has been able to dispense with all WiFi repeaters in a larger house, and their toob WiFi reaches into their garden.

In early April 2022 – Toob started to dig in Hillcrest Road

Then I saw some fibre appear – so it looks like they have installed fibre to the pole. Have they installed it all the way up the road yet?

Next, they will install the pole connector block at the top of the poles and then the fibre to the houses can be installed.

April 25, 2022 – I hear that toob is asking Wellington Park residents if they wish to have toob internet installed. Installation happens after a few days.

toob installation – May 2022

April 29, 2022 – received notification that I could now order toob. I completed the order and scheduled the installation. Hopefully, it will happen in a couple of weeks. Now I need to plan the internal stuff – where to locate the NTE, the router and associated switches, and sort out the power sockets.

May 5, 2022 – toob phoned me to delay the installation as they were not ready. The connector blocks have been installed at the top of the poles in the last few days. I don’t yet have a new date for installation. Wellington Park residents are having toob installed this week and have reported no issues. These houses have underground delivery. Facebook link (Private Group)

May 9, 2022 – toob arranged a new date for installation

May 16, 2022 – Installation Day – toob arrive on-site and start the installation. A cable was run from the top of the pole in the street to my house and then 10m across the front of the house (out of sight) to an entry box on the outside wall. Then through the wall to the ONT.
Within an hour after arriving they were demonstrating the toob service was running 900Mbps+ (to the ONT). It’s a bit slower out of the router and (of course) WiFi does not deliver anywhere near 900Mbps; but 450Mbps was seen in the same room as the router.

See my post on Toob Installation and Performance

Boost your Wi-Fi

If you’re hitting your internet providers top speeds, but things still aren’t fast enough for you, upgrading your internet service might be your best bet. However, if you test your connection and see you’re nowhere near the speeds of which your broadband should be capable, you don’t always need to pay to improve your performance. There are ways to boost your wifi performance absolutely free.
Are there paid solutions to your wifi problems? Absolutely. You can throw more money at your ISP, or you can buy a new and improved router. Of course, those methods will cost you, so first you should see if you can speed up your digital life without spending a fortune.

Move your router into an open space

One of the best things you can do for your wifi performance is to move your router out in the open. It’s tempting to hide the router away somewhere no one will see, since who wants to stare at a boring, blinking box? But, the truth is, your devices want to be free. Your router is responsible for sending out your wifi signal, and that signal is only as good as its environment; if it runs to any interference, the signal isn’t as effective. Interference can come from physical elements in your home like walls and doors, or other electronic signals coming from devices like microwaves and wireless phones.
Keeping that in mind, try to move your router somewhere free from those types of interferences. If you can elevate the router, such as putting it on an open shelf, all the better. As a result, your connected devices will receive a stronger signal than they would if your router was hidden behind walls, doors, and microwaves.

Stay close to the router

In a similar vein, try to use your devices as close to your router as possible. There’s no need to sit directly next to your router on your laptop or force your PlayStation and router to be attached at the hip, but if you’re looking for your wifi signal to be the best it can be, you’ll want to stay within sight

Too many devices on the network?

You might be used to doing a lot on the internet at once, like streaming a 4K show on Netflix while playing games online with your friends, all the while downloading a series to your iPad. All this multitasking is wonderful, but it puts a strain on your overall internet speeds.
If you’re looking to boost wifi speeds and performance for something in particular, say to download a file as fast as possible, you don’t want other internet-intensive tasks running in tandem. For these times, make every effort to pause those other tasks. If you live with other people, that might involve politely asking friends and family to pause their favourite TV shows for a while.

How fast can I expect my WiFi to be?

Firstly, your WiFi speed cannot exceed the speed of your internet connection.
Secondly, the speed you get depends on several factors. One of these is the WiFi technology your router and connected devices employ. The WiFi standard is known as 802.11 with various versions (a, b, g, n, ac, etc). Examine your router to see what standard it supports. WiFi also uses 2.4GHz and/or 5 GHz radio frequency bands.

2.4 GHz	Theoretical Speed	Real-World Speed
802.11b	11 Mbps	2-3 Mbps
802.11g	54 Mbps	10-29 Mbps
802.11n	300 Mpbs	150 Mbps

5 GHz	Theoretical Speed	Real-World Speed
802.11a	6-54 Mbps	3-32 Mbps
802.11ac	433 Mbps – 1.7 Gbps	210 Mbps – 1 Gbps
802.11n	900 Mbps	450 Mbps

The old classic, turn-the-router-off-and-on-again

Routers follow the same rules that all electronics do: If something’s wrong, turn it off and on again. If your internet is acting up and you’re not sure why, toggling the power on your router is one way to get things back to where they should be. However, if you find yourself doing this too often, you might want to find the underlying cause of the problem.

Is there a better DNS?

DNS, or Domain Name System, is commonly referred to as the internet’s phone book. When you visit a website, your device goes through a DNS lookup to confirm the site it’s trying to reach. After all, your computer needs to know the website’s IP address, not the name itself. This lookup communicates with a database to see if your entry’s IP address is listed. If not, the search goes out to a larger pool of databases and the end result is sent back, allowing you to connect to the site. If you’ve never tinkered with your internet setup before, you’re likely using your ISP’s DNS, which is usually slower than it needs to be. Luckily, it’s not terribly difficult to switch to a better DNS.
There are lots of good DNS – most are better than your ISP’s DNS. Search on Google for ‘free public DNS’. Some of these prevent access to malicious, phishing and adult sites and some provide ad-blocking.

Provider	Primary DNS	Secondary DNS
Google	8.8.8.8	8.8.4.4
Quad9	9.9.9.9	149.112.112.112
OpenDNS	208.67.222.222	208.67.220.220
Cloudflare	1.1.1.1	1.0.0.1
CleanBrowsing	185.228.168.9	185.228.169.9
Alternate DNS	76.76.19.19	76.223.122.150
AdGuard DNS	94.140.14.14	94.140.15.15

as at Feb 2022

If you are using IPv6 then you may need to know the IPv6 addresses for the DNS servers.

Thanks to LifeHacker

Smarty and Three issues

I have a Smarty SIM in a router which I use in the caravan and when I go away from home. I have had it for some time and it has always worked well. I chose Smarty as it uses the Three network and offered lots of data for a small cost.

All was working well on December 8 and 25 (2021) – according to my Ookla logs, I was getting download 48Mbps and upload 18Mbps.

In the first couple of weeks of January 2022, I have no cause to use this router. Then on January 12, my son wanted to borrow it for a sports event that he was organising and he wanted a backup internet access method for logging scores. I got the router out to show him how it worked and found it didn’t work! No problem, or so I thought; I popped the SIM into another router but that didn’t work either. The sports event went well and he didn’t need to use a spare router/SIM.

I reported the issue to Smarty (Jan 16) and I explained the problems I was having:
— Windows, Android and iPad devices on the router wifi get ‘no internet’ errors
— Windows device gives a wifi connection error, iPad reports “no internet connection”
— was working OK before January 2022
— didn’t work in either router
I advised Smarty that my nearest cell site was eNB ID 1657
Smarty offered to send me a new SIM – fair enough.

The new SIM arrived (Jan 19) and I went away for a few days to the north of England; I took the router as I expected poor internet service where I was staying. When I arrived, I powered up the router and it worked; it worked very well – download 13Mbps and upload of 3Mbps. Strange, I thought. Not working at home but working well away from home.

When I returned home (Jan 25) I tried the router/SIM again – no internet. Voice was OK but there was no internet connectivity with Smarty/Three. So I swapped out the Smarty SIM and put in a Plusnet SIM – changed the APN and the router worked fine with Plusnet. Back to Smarty and changed the APN back – no internet.

I took my router/SIM to a friend’s house a few kilometres away and tried it there – it worked fine. The problem seems to involve my local cell site. Back on the phone to Smarty
— was working in December
— didn’t work in either router
— SIM has been changed
— does work well on other cell-sites
— does not work on my local cell-site
Smarty put it down to poor signal coverage; but I saw 4 or 5 bars on the router. Smarty said there were no network issues reported in my area. A load of rubbish – just try to keep the customer happy.

I looked at the user interface of the Huawei B535-232 router in some detail.
I noticed I could change the router to 3G – I did this and it worked at 3G. Yes, I had an internet connection, but slowly – <10Mbps.

The UI showed some useful info including the cell-id:-
CELL_ID 12841728 — RSRQ -5.0dB
RSRP -96dBm — RSSI -77dBm — SINR 17dB
No poor signal here

Location of the serving mast
Looking at cellmapper.net, it became obvious that I was not connected to my nearby cell-site eNB-id 1657 as first thought; but to eNB-id 50163 which, according to cellmapper.net had first appeared at the end of December 2021. The blue spot is eNB-id 50163 or at least where its signals are strongest. My home location is several hundred metres SW of eNB-id 50163 off the yellow road.

I put the Smarty SIM into an old phone and ran the Cell Info Lite app to collect information.
Note the 4G indication always shows upload data but no download.
The screen capture below was taken near the blue spot on the cellmapper.net map below.
Judging by the signal strength the mast 50163 is a few hundred metres away

Open image in a new tab to see the other nodes

I thought I would try to report it to Three directly, but I had no Three SIM and no Three account. After trying several times, I spoke to Three customer services who offered to report the issue to the customer services manager. Oh yes… voice was working as I was using the SIM in the phone with which I called Three.

Feb 5 – I am now fairly sure the site in question (eNB 50163) is located on the Fire Station tower on the A30 (GU15 3UH). I got much stronger signals in the vicinity of the fire station. Cellmapper reports the location of eNB 50163 rather more accurately after I took a walk to the Old Dean shops. I believe the site is shared with EE and is in direct line of sight (through some trees) with my house.

Old Dean Residents
Some residents on the Old Dean estate are also experiencing the same issue. See this Facebook post on Feb 4, 2022 and this Facebook post on Feb 14. Residents are pretty hacked off with the situation. They confirm the problem started early in January 2022. I have asked them to report to their network provider (Three, Smarty and IdMobile). Some users who reported the problem say that Three acknowledges the problem, while others say they are fobbed off with the ‘poor signal’ or ‘use 3G’ excuse.
Below are some of the stories from Facebook

I’ve just reported it. They have said that yes there is an ongoing issue in the area and it is taking longer than expected to fix. That’s the first time in 3 weeks of dialogue with them that I have been given that information.it will be repaired soon!
I am with IDmobile and found out they use Three masts. I’ve had no internet data/access for almost 3 weeks. I had only been able to message them re the issue to be told, yes there was planned work in the area and on 3 separate occasions told it will be resolved in 2 to 3 days and still nothing. I was offered £20 compensation and told it would be completed by the end of today.. and it has not been!! Once I’m in Bagshot it works, so it’s got to be a local mast. I eventually spoke to a real person who told me they had planned work in this area….a heads up would have been helpful…
My daughter can’t get her data to work on the Old Dean and some surrounding areas. After many phone calls and live chats they said that they can’t see anything wrong. They advised that she just use 3G, which isn’t that good!!
Thanks, so not just me then, the issue for me is the standard “1 to 2 days to rectify” lie. Probably what they are told to say but just be honest and if they don’t know, then say that! I’d respect them more if they didn’t just read from a script
I’m with 3 and have been told by them 3 signal ok. I had to change settings to 3g to get a signal as 4g was not working
I know the issue was raised but my provider ID mobile (seems no one has even heard of them) are claiming Three mobile are saying there is no issue. I can’t complain or communicate with Three directly as I don’t have an account with them
I’ve been in store and got an exact same answer, the only thing I can advise is to go into your network settings and set it to 3G only as anything 4G or higher doesn’t work
Haven’t had a signal for nearly a month, messages come through when I get to Pennyhill or the bottom of the hill towards Camberley
I’m now looking to go to another provider as I’ve had enough

Customer services?
It’s now Feb 9 and the problem still exists – I have been in touch with Smarty customer services, almost on a daily basis, but they seem to have lost interest. It seems to me that they cannot escalate a technical problem. I suspect the customer service scripts are designed to deal with problems in the customer realm, but cannot deal with a problem in the network realm.
I have tried communicating with Three via Twitter and Facebook but always get fobbed off to the Smarty helpdesk team. Neither the Three nor Smarty helpdesk seems to be able to report a network issue to the Three network team. Not a really helpful helpdesk.

Feb 15 – Almost as a last resort, I searched for and found the email address of the CEO of Three and wrote to him. I got a reply the next day and the issue will be passed to the relevant team; hopefully, we’ll get a resolution.

Is the problem solved?
Feb 17 07:30 – Overnight, the faulty eNB 50163 mast looks to have been shut down. I am now connected (slowly – due to poorer signal) to other masts; the water tower on Black Hill, and the Maultway/Red Road junction.

Feb 17 10:30 – It appears that the eNB 50163 is operational again and 4G data is working – (perhaps for the first time on this mast) !!

I wonder if it’s a case of “turn it off at the wall, wait 30 seconds and turn it on again”

Something is going on?
Feb 17 16:15 – I noticed erratic performance from time to time. Speedtests would either run well, not start or not complete.

I noticed that my connection was flipping between bands (1, 3 and 20). Signal strength measurements are up and down. I wonder if the work has been completed yet. I’ll keep monitoring for the next few days.

Feedback from Facebook
Here are some comments and feedback for Three from the Facebook posts on Feb 17

UPDATE 07:30 – overnight the faulty Three mast at the fire station has been shut down. Hopefully, it’ll be fixed and brought back into service soon to restore normal Three UK service to OD residents. By 10:00 it was back online and working normally.
I just wish that the network will admit and communicate that they must have multiple reports of issues and that it will be addressed, ,that’s all I want. I dislike being told that there has been no other indication from other users that there has been an issue. I accept and am undertanding that services, especially technology connection is subject to weather, new buildings and updates can effect connectivity, I just disdain ignorance, lack of communication between departsments/partners and being treated like I’m an isolated complaint. Communication is key and realistic time scales are all I require actually
I did speak to someone and they credited me £20. But asked when it was going to get sorted and couldn’t say!
Same, I was refunded my monthly paymemt and for me it’s not really the point. I just want to know if and when it will be fixed!?!? I’m with IDmobile who obvs use other providers masts and in the 4 years I’ve been with them, I’ve never had an issue but I just want acknowledgement and confidence that they know there’s an issue. Everytime I speak to anyone they just tell me 3 mobile claim the connection is good and it obvs isn’t. Come on!!
Still waiting for an update from my provider who assure me that Three mobile connection is showing as “strong” in this area although we all know that’s not the case

It’s worth noting here that some users of Three, Smarty and IdMobile SIMs are (anecdotally) reporting other intermittent issues – poor signal, no data, unable to make or take calls – during January and February this year. They also report poor response from the helpdesks and from the retail outlets and they are not at all happy with their providers.

Some issues remain
It would appear that the technical issue has now been addressed and resolved. I hope so. However, in my opinion, that leaves Three with its real problem as yet unresolved.
This technical issue was reported by me to Smarty customer services a month ago and almost every other day since. Anecdotally, this was reported to the local Three shop and to Three customer services. The Smarty and Three customer services teams, as well as the Three retail outlets, do not seem to be able to escalate technical issues to the appropriate teams within Three.
I hope Three are able to address this issue with a view to improving users’ customer service experience and restoring the reputation of Three with its customers and ex-customers.

Oh Well – It’s not fixed
Feb 18 23:45 I noticed there was no 4G data flowing again. The same problem is back!
The node came up at about 10:30 yesterday but was faulty again after about 36 hours.
I’ll report it to Smarty tomorrow. When I reported it I was advised that Smarty ‘can see some planned maintenance work is scheduled, which is due to complete on 20/02/2022 – Sunday’. I guess this is the tail-end of the work done Feb 16/17. Well, we are in the middle of the weekend and there’s not much more that can be done until Monday.
Feb 21 – 07:30 – Monday morning – still no 4G data on eNB 50163 4G
Feb 21 – 11:45 – Node eNB 50163 is down again – off the air – I am connected to eNB 1657
Feb 21 – 15:30 – I also notice the EE co-located node eNB 29082 seems to be down
Feb 22 – 09:30 – Same same – both down still
Feb 22 – 14:00 – Both nodes are UP again – 4G is not working on Three eNB 50163

It’s working again
Feb 24 – 15:20 – 4G is working again with a good B20 signal

Local users report they are able to get 4G data for the first time in weeks.
Feb 27 – 18:00 – It’s still working – it’s been working for three days…

eNB 50163 – 4G Not Working Again

Feb 27 – 23:15 – 4G is not working
Feb 28 – 09:00 – 4G is not working – 3G and voice OK
Feb 28 – 14:35 – 4G working again
Mar 1 – 10:50 – 4G is not working – 3G and voice OK
Mar 2 – 16:25 – 4G remains down
Mar 5 – 18:00 – 4G remains down
Mar 7 – 09:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 9 – 11:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 11 – 19:30 – 4G remains down
Mar 13 – 14:30 – 4G remains down

Mar 18 – 07:00 – 4G remains down
Mar 18 – 14:00 – eNB 50163 – down – work being carried out
Mar 18 – 20:00 – eNB 50163 – UP and working again – 4G OK

Mar 19 – 18:00 – It’s continuing to work well
Mar 20 – 09:00 – It’s continuing to work well
Mar 21 – 11:00 – It’s continuing to work well

Broadband & FTTP for geeks

The website THINKBROADBAND.COM is a useful resource for information on UK internet service providers (ISP)

How broadband works
A guide to the various technologies employed to deliver internet service to UK consumers

Fibre – FTTC/FTTH
A useful guide to terms, technologies and speeds

Map
https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/index.php

Map from thinkbroadband.com
A very useful map showing internet availability across the UK.

Broadband checker from OpenReach
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/

Author: Tim FitzGerald