Bt Broadband

[FarmerPug]

Has anyone got bt broadband, why does it create a further 2 networks one called btfon the other btopenzone which the computer always incorrectly picks over the main one?

[sirwiggum]

I believe that btfon is for phones. Not sure if these are BT cordless phones or their mobile network, but each router creates that network.

Also, each network creates an openzone network. This is a network that any BT broadband customer can use. You can go to any openzone hotspot and use the net.

Think that put me off BT is that Phorm tracking that they use.
And their customer services are as useless at Virgin Media.

[rwb]

Yes, they're both wifi hotspots for other BT customers.

It's a good idea.

And yes, BT customer support are useless. I spent over 26 hours on the telephone to their call centres trying to get a telephone line connected. You'd have thought they'd never donet before. In the end I started calling their head office and asking for the managing director and leaving messages for him. The next day a native English speaker called me back and sorted it all out just like that!

The broadband support is painful; you have to walk the poor non-native English speaker through their script before they'll listen to what the problem is. The last time when the router kept losing the broadband connection they kept trying to tell me there wasn't a problem. I kept asking "are there any other checks or tests you can do" I finally got "well there is a dropping connection test but it isn't that", so I insisted they run this test and guess what

[steve_earwig]

Ty unplugging it, and plugging it in again

If you think BT is bad, you need to come to Croatia and sign up with HT (Croatian Telecommmmmmmmunications). You can't do anything with them on line or over the phone (they're a communications company for Christ's sake!) so you have to go into one of they're offices, which they closed down in all the towns so you need to go into a big one (another damn trip into Zagreb). They "upgraded" my internet package for me, without telling me of course, then charged me accordingly. When I phoned up to complain they denied everything, saying that I'd always been on that package, so I had to make a trip into town to change the contract. Eventually, after the ADSL had been down for a couple of months with no sign of anyone coming to fix it, I ceased the line. Of course this meant a trip into Zagreb again... They said I'd get one final bill which I duly paid. Then another one turned up, then a third, so I called them up and they told me not to pay it. Then a fourth turned up, then demands for money with menaces... Eventually I had to make an official complaint and finally they stopped billing me, I'm pretty sure the bastards over-charged me but after all that bollocks I was just glad to see the back of them.

The alternatives are either mobile internet ($$$$$$$), satellite internet ($$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$) or two baked bean tins and a piece of string.

Edit: I just remembered, you can't buy baked beans here either

[highlander]

Yes, they're both wifi hotspots for other BT customers.

It's a good idea.

No, it's not. It means some other bugger can come past your house and use your broadband line without your knowledge or explicit permission. This includes your neighbours and any house guests they have, unless you are in a fully-detached house or a flat with REALLY thick walls. Their online activities could potentially be sapping away at your monthly bandwidth usage limit, and therefore costing you money. Or worse - they could even be downloading child porn, and it would appear to be getting downloaded from YOUR IP address. Sod that.

Either disable that SSID (and the BTFON one if you don't use it) or the stupid BT locked-down hub router won't let you, then go replace your BT Home Hub router with any other decent ADSL2+ router and only add in your own SSID.

[mjb]

Yes, they're both wifi hotspots for other BT customers.

It's a good idea

Good idea? Someone parks their car near your house, logs onto openzone using stolen credentials, then starts trading kiddie pr0n. Next thing you know your life is ruined...

http://btsupport.custhelp.com/app/answe ... /1812,1822

What happens if someone uses my broadband connection to access an illegal site?
You can prove it wasn't you because the visitor's access to the Internet will be through a separate channel. This means we can tell the difference between the home user's Internet activity and visitor Internet activity.

Do you completely trust that:
1) The police will bother asking BT before arresting you?
2) The police will bother asking BT after arresting you?
3) The police will bother chasing down the right person in the right department in the right branch of BT and then waiting for a response before telling the newspapers that you're sitting in jail on suspicion of being a kiddie fiddler?
4) BT will actually do as they say for the first time ever and clear you?
5) The police will bother listening to BT when they've got a kiddie fiddler (YOU!) arrested and locked up?
6) Your friends, neighbours and family will completely believe you're not a kiddie fiddler if/when you're released?
7) You'll be able to completely remove all traces of yourself from the sex offenders register if/when you're released?

[lozz]

Bts wifi is not very secure,
even if passworded, theres a back door key for it, iwont say what it is but its floating about the net,

[steve_earwig]

My wlan here is behind a wep key, apparently it's as secure as it goes. When my nephew came here a couple of weeks back his Blackberry had cracked it before he'd even sat down

[FarmerPug]

At the moment the broadband is driving me mad with fecking problems. The open zone thing is a pain in the arse, every time i go to use the phone or computer (or anyone else in the house tries it) it picks btopenzone which has a stupid login screen which even after typing my bt account details in doesn't work.AAAAGH
Then when it is on the proper network it keeps cutting out, and then the computer decides to go back to open zone, then i select the home hub again but up comes a message of it being timed out.
Although if you think bt is bad the company we were with before them' utility warehouse was in a completely different league.

[lozz]

My son, used to go on the net with his laptop,
using someones wifi, total strangers no one he knew, told him off for it, its not right nor fair imho,
but it just goes to sure how easy it is to use someones internet if a 15 yr old kid can get past there password,

[highlander]

My wlan here is behind a wep key, apparently it's as secure as it goes. When my nephew came here a couple of weeks back his Blackberry had cracked it before he'd even sat down

WEP is the easiest form of WiFi encryption to crack, especially if your wireless access point / wireless router is set up to broadcast the SSID (network name). Broadcasting the network name is exactly like handing someone your user ID - that way, all they need to do is guess your password. Hiding the network name means they need to guess both the username and the password in order to get logged in.

If you can, reconfigure your device so that:

1) The SSID (network name) is not broadcast, so it appears as a "hidden" network
2) Ensure you use WPA2 encryption (the strongest currently available on most consumer-level wireless devices)
3) Change the SSID so that it is something unique (not the name/number of your house, and certainly not the name of the manufacturer of the access point/router)
4) Don't use a dictionary word as your password for the SSID; use a mix of upper and lower case as well as at least one number

[steve_earwig]

Cheers for that, I had a quick look but I don't think I can change very much I'll have to dig out the handbook later (when I get back from Zagreb )

[highlander]

(when I get back from Zagreb )

Being microwaved/irradiated/tortured again? Hope your back feels better soon